Bavarian road trip

I think Rothenburg odT get a little more attention than it deserves, mainly because it isn't as unique as advertised, but since your itinerary is Bavaria-heavy, why not go for it? I personally think it only takes a few hours to see, so you may want to check out nearby Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen as well.

If you're giving four nights to Berchtesgaden, consider a daytrip to Chiemsee.

She wants to see some snow and mountains. Mountains she'll see, but in Germany, most of the snow in the Alps has melted by September. The peaks may get a light dusting, but it usually melts quickly. To really see snow, you would have to go deeper into the higher Alpine ranges in Austria or Switzerland.

Would Trier be a better choice than RODT? I like Trier better, but it's a very different kind of town. Trier is a market-university town with a lively mixture of old and new, whereas Rothenburg is a moth-balled (and rebuilt) representation of Franconia in the 1500-1600's (people describe it as "medieval", but most of the surviving buildings date from much later). Rothenburg is mostly a tourist funhouse, whereas Trier is more of a living city that hosts a large university population.

Has anyone driven the mountain road, I assume you mean the Alpine road. I've driven the portion from Lindau to Oberstdorf... and I was driving at night, so any scenery advantage was lost on me. But at least, it drove me through some very attractive towns at the foot of the Alps.

"Drive from Frankfurt to Rothenburg ODT (only because my husband was stationed in Hahn, and says RODT is beautiful and old... Would Trier be a better choice than RODT?"

September is a nice month for most places in Germany.

Rothenburg looks old but a lot of it was rebuilt after WWII, when it looked like this. If you want alternatives to Rothenburg (not a bad idea if you want to avoid the heavy tourist crowd - 2.5 million per year!) there are many options. For "beautiful and old" there are some old-world towns that share the Mosel River with Trier and are not too far from Ramstein. BERNKASTEL is fantastic. So is COCHEM. Trier's claim to fame is its Roman Ruins.

It seems to me you have an excess of time in alpine Bavaria. Rothenburg provides a good location to break the trip on your way to B'gaden, but R'burg's surroundings are full of other great places you could see instead. I would transfer some time from the Alps to this region for maybe 3 nights:

BAMBERG (Unesco World Heritage old town.)
WUERZBURG
BAD WINDSHEIM and the Franconian open-land museum
IPHOFEN (site in German but has photos.) Amazing art/wine walled town.

These places are much more "living cities", as Tom put it, than Rothenburg, where the only game is tourists.

Hi Lauri,

Personally, I like your plan. Loved our stay at Rothenburg also. Sadly Rothenburg gets a very bad rap here on this site. If it were my trip, I MIGHT switch the 5 nights to Berchtesgaden and area and put the 4 nights in Garmisch area. We LOVE the Berchtesgaden area and it makes a great base for day trips. We have spent 18 nights based near Berchtesgaden over 5 trips to the area. (We've also spent 6 nights based in Mittenwald, 20 min. from Garmisch).

Sights could include:
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden Salt Mine
Konigssee
Jennerbahn cable car trip
Luge Ride (Sommerrodelbahn) above Berchtesgaden
Eagles Nest/Kehlsteinhaus
Rossfeld Panorama Road
Salzburg
Hallein, Austria Salt Mine
Mad King Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee palace
St. Gilgen and cruising the Wolfgangsee (Salzkammergut)
Werfen, Austria - Hohenwerfen Fortress, Werfen Ice Caves
Hallstatt
Zell am See

Our one visit to the top of the Zugspitze was in early October and there was snow and ice at the top.

We have driven the German Alpine Road from Reit im Winkl area to Berchtesgaden. Nothing really worth seeing that you won't see in the other places and drives you'll do. Found it very ordinary. We do like the section from around Schneizlreuth to Berchtesgaden, or vice versa. Quite scenic. The Rossfeld Panorama Road above Berchtesgaden is much more scenic.

We can highly recommend our favorite place, in Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, the Pension Mayringerlehen. Great location, wonderful hosts and the animals should be a hit with the 5 year old (and the adults).

www.mayringerlehen.de
www.flickr.com/photos/pjbassplyr/albums/72157646958077741
www.flickr.com/photos/pjbassplyr/albums/72157646627881107
www.flickr.com/photos/pjbassplyr/albums/72157646391509589

Hope this helps.

Paul

About Rothenburg: Like a lot of destinations, as it's attracted more and more and more tourists, a lot of people just find it's reached a point of "diminishing returns." I prefer towns where at least some of the German residents have jobs that don't involve serving tourists and where menus and most everything else are in English. Even Rick Steves (who still recommends the place) admits that "Rothenburg is well on its way to becoming a medieval theme park." And it's not just this forum where you can find similar comments - at least we didn't call it a "tourist trap..."

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Rothenburg_ob_der_Tauber-23630/Tourist_Traps-Rothenburg_ob_der_Tauber-TG-C-1.html

If you were coming to New York and wanted to see Times Square... Should I say that it's packed with tourists and you should instead go to Rego Park, Queens, where "real" New Yorkers live, work and go out to dinner?

Rothenburg is well worth seeing. As is Neuschwanstein (here it's regularly called a fake castle and not worth visiting). And Linderhof is worth seeing.

Thing is, most people, including myself at one time, have always "seen" Germany as Neuschwanstein, Rothenburg, etc. etc. So what if they are touristy. These places are popular for a reason. If they weren't interesting, people would have stopped going long ago.

Paul

With a 5 year old, he will love the "theme park" atmosphere:) I have been there a number of times and always enjoyed it, for what it is. I usually do stay in Dinkelsbuhl however. My grandson loved the south of Germany and we did a sort of 'Castle Tour'.. I also stay in 'real towns' but I am okay with most anything, but I would not miss RODT if you want to visit. Also, you are close to Salzburg my grandson loved that too. With a car you have lots of flexibility, but might be too far to drive just for daytrip. Another beautiful place that I love is Bodensee (Lake of Constance) Absolutely stunning... beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.
Have a great trip.

One of my favorite parts about a road trip is roadside picnics. We always load up the car with breads, cheese, ham, german pickles, fruit, mezzo mix, paprika chips and some great chocolate.... yum... we just pull off the road and usually have a wonderful view of mountains in the background.