Amsterdam to Munich via Boppard & Fussen

"Day 4: Drive Amsterdam to Boppard (too much driving for one day?). Overnight in Boppard.
Days 5: Visit Marksburg. Overnight in Boppard.
Day 6: Visit Eltz. Overnight in Boppard."

In February, Eltz is closed - Rheinfels too - and the Middle Rhine Valley towns are deadsville. I'd suggest just one night in Boppard, not 3. Drive to Braubach for Marksburg first, then on to Boppard for the night. The next day you can drive south along the Rhine spotting castles and stopping in Oberwesel and Bacharach on your way south; Mainz could be a good place for you, or perhaps you want to make some further progress toward Füssen. I personally think it's a huge waste to drive that far, then to have to fly back to A'dam. If you want to see some palaces (that's what N'stein is really, not a real castle) there are some good options much closer. Ludwigsburg for example. Or the UNESCO World Heritage Residenz in Würzburg. Bamberg and Nuremberg, both with castles, are not far from Würzburg. Heidelberg or thereabouts could be a good place for you to book (lots of castles you can spot along the nearby Neckar River Valley as well as the Heidelberg palace) on your way south. You can drive the CASTLE ROAD between Heidelberg and Bamberg/Nuremberg.

It would be wise to drive back to A'dam anyway since dropping the car outside the country of pick-up in Munich or anywhere in Germany is likely to result in a heavy drop-off fee.

I would not drive from Amsterdam, train would be so much easier. Rent a car once you are well inside of Germany.

Whoa. Huge thanks Russ...it didn't even occur to us Rheinfel and Eltz would be closed. Any thoughts in Schloss Lichtenstein? We wanted to get down south to also see some mountains/scenery. Sam, appreciate your input but with 2 kiddos we aren't brave enough to attempt long distances on the train!

I understand the amount of gear you will be carrying. We traveled when my daughter was 10 months and then again when she was 22 months. Our daughter loved trains, she could get up and walk up and down the train car. No pulling over to use the bathroom or change diapers! We brought enough formula for the entire trip because she did not do very well when we changed at home. We bought more diapers on the trip. But toddlers do slow you down. I think your schedule with the above changes make sense.

I hope "halfway around the world" means Australia or Asia, because I can't find the value in flying so far to spend endless hours locked in a car with two kids. This is too much time driving. You have also underestimated how dreary the weather will be.

I would recommend driving no farther than Cologne, stopping in Aachen and Monschau. The kids might have enjoyed a boat ride on the Middle Rhine, but you can't do that in February. There are many sights in the Netherlands nd Belgium, including hiking and child-friendly activities. Maybe the castles aren't as good. But I found the interior of Burg Eltz to be too modernized and "occupied" for any feeling of medieval life. How about some Open Air building museums instead? Actually, the tacky Castle of the Counts in Gent is perfect for a toddler! Many old-towns in Belgium and the Netherlands have a nice, smaller scale feel of castle times, and are only short drives: the Hanseatic League towns, Deventer, the royal palace, biking in Hoge Velewe ...

"We wanted to get down south to also see some mountains/scenery." If both Amsterdam and the German Alps are musts, then I suggest you skip the Rhine and catch a flight into Munich from A'dam. That would save you a lot of boring ground travel. Then you'd have a week in Bavaria - hardly enough to scratch the surface there, really, as Bavaria is much, much larger than the handful of miles between Füssen and Oberammergau.

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Germany_Bavaria_250-338.jpg

For more mountains you might want to visit Mittenwald and Garmisch, or Berchtesgaden as well. You can rent at car at MUC and drive to the Alpine overnight stop of your choice, then drop it back at MUC prior to your return flight to A'dam.

As a substitute for Marksburg Castle, you may wish to include a visit to BURGHAUSEN, A Bavarian town on the border with Austria between Salzburg and Passau. The Hohes Schloß in Füßen is a castle/palace hybrid that people often race past in their rush to Neuschwanstein

North of Füssen you could visit Landsberg am Lech, Augsburg, Donauwörth, Harburg, and Nördlingen, all towns worth seeing on the "Romantic Road." Harburg has a castle, though I'm unsure about hours.

If you venture NORTH of Munich you'll find more interesting countryside and attractive in some places. PAPPENHEIM is an adorable little place in the Altmühl River Valley. Eichstätt and nearby Weißenburg are fine towns too.

"Any thoughts in Schloss Lichtenstein?" It's well to the west of Bavaria, which is already full of interesting and scenic spots without the long road trip.

We are going to experience an 11-hour time difference from home, so yup, pretty much halfway around the world :-/ (again...airfare was so cheap we thought there must be some mistake!). And yes thankfully we have seats for all 4 of us...meaning we are also hauling 2 car seats. And unfortunately, we already purchased our Munich-to-Amsterdam flight so we're locked in to our Amsterdam-Munich driving route unless we want to eat that approx $300 cost.

Thank you all for your honesty; it is helping us revise the itinerary and set appropriate expectations. We did do a road trip through South Island in New Zealand last year with our then-1.5-year-old, and had a blast stopping at random points along the way. Lots of driving, 2-6 hours per day. I guess you could say we are not your typical tourists in that we live in a tropical, tourist-centric spot, so what we seek out to visit is a little different than the norm. Hence the vacation to Europe in February.

Now I'm thinking we take 2 nights off Boppard, add one in Heidelberg, and maybe one in Garmisch (Partnachklamm looks interesting) on the back end. Any additional suggestions are most welcome!

"And unfortunately, we already purchased our Munich-to-Amsterdam flight so we're locked in to our Amsterdam-Munich driving route unless we want to eat that approx $300 cost."

I wasn't suggesting you drop/eat the flight and drive from Munich to A'dam - but that you keep that flight and also fly A'dam to Munich (or thereabouts,) then just drive within Bavaria, thus avoiding the drop-off fee and minimizing the long drive from A'dam. But it sounds like you'd be happier making the 9-10-hour drive A'dam-Boppard-Heidelberg-Füssen, then driving around Bavaria as well.

Before finalizing your plan I would again encourage you to pin down the exact drop-off fee for renting in A'dam and dropping in Munich.

Accoding to the Harburg castle website, the season doesn't start until March 18 this year.

Also something to keep in mind for Baden-Württemburg (Heidelberg) and Bavaria (Fussen, Oberammergau, Munich) (The two states in southern Germany,) a lot of the shops are closed on Sunday. Museums are open, but stores are closed. Then on Mondays a lot of museums are closed but the stores are open. This could have changed, but a lot of stores tend to close before 6pm. So if you need things like diapers or formula, you might want to get it early in the day.

I bring this up as we hit both Munich and Heidelberg on a Sunday and a Bank Holiday and we wanted to do some shopping. In Munich NOTHING was open. In Heidelberg only the really touristy shops were open.

Russ--understood, and thanks for all the suggestions and helpful advice! I'm quickly realizing there are so many neat places in Germany we will have to come back someday. Especially Bavaria ...that area alone is worth 2+ weeks of sightseeing. We have been researching car drop fees and they vary widely.
Susan--we have 2 in diapers so that is very good to know, much appreciated!