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Anyone want to critique my southern Germany tour plan?

Posted by on

I know some people enjoy weighing in on itineraries, so I'm tossing it out there for critiques and suggestions.

Husband, myself, and 7 (will turn 8 mid trip) year old son, backpacking and using trains (still working on p2p tickets or flexipasses thanks to help in the transportation forum). Our trip is starting and ending in Luxembourg City. Son and I spent a month in Europe last year (Lux, Cologne, France, and Athens) with my brother, this is my husbands first time overseas. Any hotels booked at this point have 100% free cancellation until the day before arrival, so there is flexibility. I just jumped on ones that had good reviews, vacancies, and were decently priced.

11/21 Day 1: arrive in Luxemburg 11/21 in the evening. Staying there that night.

11/22 Day 2: Leave Lux in the morning and head to cochem. Exploring Cochem that afternoon/evening, staying at Hotel Heironimi that night.

11/23 Day 3: Breakfast and depart for Rothenburg ob der tauber. (Hotel Glockeweingut)

11/24 Day 4: Full day in Rothenberg points of interest: General sightseeing, night watchman tour

11/25 Day 5: Leave Sunday morning after breakfast and head to Munich. I'm worried that a day and a half is too much time (off-season) in Rothenberg, but knowing Germany's penchant for shutting up house on Sunday, it seemed like a natural day to travel.

11/26 Day 6: Munich Points of interest: general sightseeing/shopping, day trip to monastery out of town maybe, Christmas markets

11/27 Day 7: Munich (Opening of Christmas Markets! yay!)

11/28 Day 8: Depart for Cologne/evening in Cologne *Points of interest: Christmas Markets, Dom tour, maybe chocolate museum, drinking a Kolsch :-) *

11/29 Day 9: Cologne (meeting up with family)

11/30 Day 10: Cologne (with family), depart in early evening and head to Krefeld

12/1 Day 11: Krefeld Points of interest: time with friends

12/2 Day 12: head towards Luxembourg

12/3 Day 13: Tour Luxembourg points of interest: The Grund and general walking tour

12/4 Day 14: Head home from Luxembourg

I'm debating on shortening up the time in Rothenburg and adding another day in Munich, but it'd be an extra day that's a Sunday. I'm open to other stops along the route as suggestions. I'd love to consider going to Salzburg, but I don't think I have time. I'm pretty locked into the 29/30th in Cologne and obviously the arrival and departure dates, but otherwise, I'm flexible.

Posted by
2592 posts

If that’s what you want to do, fine. I wouldn’t go farther south than R’burg and would spend time on the Rhine and Nuremberg/Bamberg

Posted by
1679 posts

Cochem is busy and nice. I would not bother with the chair lift, if you are considering it, not much of a view from up there. Do the castle tour - some will chip in with the opinion that it is not a real castle but our guide was an interesting chap and you can take some nice photos looking over the river. A nice hiking trail up there as well.

I think Rothenburg is fabulous, some on this forum do not share my view. Last year I visited twice from my base. Unlike some places, it does not really shut down on Sundays. Walk around the walls, nice hiking in the valley below (winter weather?). We ate here one day, the staff were accommodating and the food was good: https://www.hotel-reichskuechenmeister-rothenburg.de/en/food-drink/restaurant.html

Munich has enough for you to do without seeking a monastery out of town. To add to Stephen's point, you could save Munich for another trip, unless it's a must for you. I know nothing of the Cologne area. I don't know too much about public transportation options but you could spend more time in Cochem and the Mosel, or from Rothenburg visit Dinkulsbuhl, Iphofen,Wurzburg and Nuremberg, which I read has a famous Christmas market. From my visits, it is easy to base for a week anywhere in Germany.
Luxembourg City looks good.

Posted by
85 posts

There are multiple Christmas markets in Cologne. Depending on day of week, they can be very crowded. Decide which you want to visit. The chocolate museum there was actually pretty interesting. There is a small but unique Christmas market close to it near the river.

Posted by
17 posts

My son and I went to Cologne with my brother last year and spend two days doing all of the markets there. We esp. enjoyed the St Nicholas market and gnome market and the markt am dom (although NOT on a Saturday night! HOLY COW.) We are meeting back up with him again (and with some other family members) and having "family time" in Cologne for those two days. Cologne is such a fun city that I don't mind going back there again!

Posted by
3020 posts

Looks OK in general - may be distances of travel are wide compared to the time you will spend there.

At day 8 do not forget to put the beer mat onto the glass to show the waiter that you do not want to have a new Kölsch automatically :-)

May be at another journey I suggest to visit Hamburg and Berlin (spring time or early summer). Try a "Berliner Weisse" in red or green then.

Posted by
4046 posts

I'm a big believer in "it's your trip; do what you want to do." Since you asked for critique, though, I will offer a few thoughts.

Is the Cochem stop primarily to break up the trip to Rothenburg? It looks like with your current plan, you have a 2-hr train travel day to Cochem, followed by a 5-hr train travel day to Rothenburg. I think I would bite the bullet and do a 7-hr trip to Rothenburg on your first full day in Europe and spend 2 nights there unless you have a particularly compelling reason for the stop at Cochem. That gives you an extra day in Munich, where you would arrive on Saturday. I think you will find plenty of things to do there on Sunday, but you could also do a day trip to Salzburg (since you mentioned it), if you like. Its main Christmas market will be open Sunday 11/25 from 9 am to 8:30 pm. The decision to go to Salzburg may rest on your 7/8-year-old's tolerance of more train travel at that point in the trip.

Posted by
88 posts

We just got back from Trier and it was way better than I thought it would be. The archaeology museum really showed how important Trier was to the Roman Empire and all the artifacts are from the local area! The Port Nigra was one of many gates but is the size of a small castle. Many other interesting sights. And Trier is a short train ride from Luxembourg.

Posted by
5210 posts

Rothenburg ob der tauber. (Hotel Glockeweingut)

Unless it has been discontinued, the restaurant there has a special lunch. In addition to the food, you get to sample four or five different Franken Wines. And it's not that expensive. Of course you might need a nap afterward.

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