Cheap lodging for 3 adults

Well, it sounds little tiring, to be frank. Keep in mind that when you stay in a place for 2 nights, that really only gives you one day there. Sometimes that's enough but I can tell you that Salzburg definitely deserves more time (imo, of course). And you really don't need 5 nights in Munich - 3-4 nights would be plenty.

You've lot a lot of places listed here, which means you will spend a lot of time on the train and checking in and out of hotels. That takes a lot of time away from sightseeing. I would consider omitting a few places. It would help if you could tell us what your interests are. Scenery? History? Museums? Hiking? Quaint villages? Castles?

In Salzburg, we stayed at Hotel Hohenstaffen. Its a few blocks from the train station and about 15-20 minutes to the historic center. Its small, family owned and budget priced. There was a substantial included breakfast. There were 3 of use and we were very comfortable in a large room with huge bathroom. Staff was very helpful. We day tripped to Munich from Salzburg. It would have been nice to overnight in Munich, but we were concentrating on Austria and Switzerland and a day was what we had. Munich was requested by my daughters, and it was their trip. We did see quite a bit.

In Munich, on another trip, I really liked Hotel Uhland. Its moderately priced, and is a remodeled mansion close to Oktoberfest grounds. The room nicely accommodated 3 of us. It is spotless with an amazing breakfast. It is about 15 minutes on flat ground mostly sidewalk from the train station. However, I do recall there have been many recommendations on the forum for places to stay closer to the train station. I recommend using the search function on this forum.

We daytripped to Fussen from Munich when I was there with my sons, We visited both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, we had purchased tickets online and left somewhat early. We used a Bayern ticket which is quite cost effective for 3 people within Bavaria. And, incidentally, for ticket purposes, Salzburg is included with the Bayern ticket even though it is not in Germany.

Have you tried the Rick Steves guide? I get most of my lodging from them and he also has budget and moderately priced accommodations.

I am 62, we've done a number of trips at your pace. Whenever possible, I try to do at least 3 night stays. However, some like to stay in one place and do lots of day trips. We like day trips just fine, but our criteria is no more than about 1.5 hours round trip travel time for a day trip. We find sitting on trains/buses on long commutes for day trips to be exhausting. If we only have a day or less of things to do in a city, then unless it is within our criteria for a day trip, we just switch accommodations. Another factor, for us, is that some places are just too darn busy. Hallstat and perhaps Salzburg falls into that category. For those cities, I love to stay overnight to be in the town when the day trippers are not there.

We travel light using packing cubes. Unless we've been somewhere for 4+ days, it takes no more than 20 minutes to pack up and leave. We tend to check out the night before. Here's an example. If you are in Salzburg and day trip to Hallstat, I think the commute is at least 2 hours round trip. So the traveler is already on the road 2 hours. If instead, one does Hallstate with an overnight, the travel time is half the distance, and then you move onto another destination. One thing I completely agree with is 2 nights generally yields 1 day at a destination. You can end up with fractions of days depending on travel time, but make sure you account for the fact the number of nights does not equal number of days. I use Google maps for planning, a lot. Your places are all somewhat close together (with the exception of Berlin and Dresden), so you shouldn't be on the road for hours.
EDITED TO ADD:
I've not been to Rothenburg, but seems to me that one night is a little short, I do think you can do a little rearranging and get yourself another night there. Unless you are doing a few daytrips (Maybe Dachau?), I agree 5 days may be more than you need for Munich.

Berlin is a large city with a lot of sights, both museums and historical sites, especially 20th-century historical sites. If you're interested in such things, 2 nights will be very short. If you don't care about them or have some other special reason to go to Berlin, you should consider omitting it. Berlin was obliterated during the war, so it lacks the half-timbered buildings many of us imagine when we contemplate a trip to Germany. (For me, six days was not enough time for Berlin.)

All that time in Germany and you will be using up so much of that precious time checking in lodging, checking out of lodging, and traveling from town to town. This sounds like bucket list travel as opposed to experiential travel; if I were 67, I would not waste precious time schlepping from town to town. You are not really experiencing these towns and cities. I am 53 and there’s no way I will be doing that when I go to Germany in September.

"Does this sound feasible or reasonable for a 67 year old retired teacher accompanied by my wife(61) and daughter(40)."

No. It's an unwise itinerary no matter what your age is. Try this plan showing the number of nights for each.

(3) Bacharach
(2) Rothenburg
(3) Salzburg with 1 day outing in Hallstatt
(4) Munich with 1 day outing in Füssen
(3) Leipzig
(3) Dresden
(5) Berlin

This plan streamlines your rail journeys and reduces the check-in + check-out hassles that your first plan created. It includes the destinations you have chosen - not necessarily the destinations I would recommend for your family unit, or for cheap rooms, or for the best introduction to Germany.

I omitted "Frieberg" which is probably FREIBURG misspelled. There is no solid reason to make a huge detour so that you can see this city.

What price point for accommodations are you shooting for on average?

I've been to Rothenburg and I think one full day(one night and two half days) would be enough. I would also not waste my time on Neuschwanstein Castle. I've been to Fussen and Rothenburg but not Munich(except the train station) and have no plans to go there.
I spent two nights in Berlin and that was enough, but WWII is not a travel interest for me.

1. I might start by looking at booking.com to see what’s available. I also use Google maps and search hotels, just for more ideas.
2. You might consider apartments as opposed to hotel rooms, for cost savings and more space.
3. I would not limit myself by what is close to train stations. In some of your cities, it might be just as cost efficient and convenient to stay further away but close to bus or tram and what you want to see.

Have you tried using Booking.com to find your lodgings for this trip? Using it you can get basic results for your group of 3 adults, the dates and the location and then filter them for more specifics. The filter that may be best to put you close to the train station is Distance from City Centre -- Less than 1/2 mile.

Once you narrow down your choices, you can either book through Booking,com or go directly to the lodging to book. Many of us on the Forum prefer the latter.

Things to be aware of or watch out for are below. You may not be able to filter for them and will definitely benefit from looking closely at the descriptions, reviews and pictures.

Size -- Is the place big enough for all three of you and your luggage? If you chooses English for the language, the size will be listed in square feet. Anything else and it'll probably be square meters. Pictures will definitely be helpful at visualizing the space.

Beds -- Rooms for 3 adults (often called triples) have any number of variations on these.
Will the daughter's bed be a real bed, an added bed or a sofabed?
Will the main bed be a small double, something like a queen size or the most common in Germany -- 2 twins pushed together?

Bath -- There can be more variety in baths than you might imagine, especially in less expensive places.
Is the toilet in the bathroom or a separate room by itself?
Is the shower a walk-in, a tub-shower combo with the shower head or wand above or hanging on the wall, or a tub with the shower wand in a cradle on the edge of the tub?

Personally, I never filter by stars (*) since they don't mean the same thing in Europe as they do in the US. Using Reviewer Score is a much better way to judge the quality of a place and applies to all listings including B&Bs and apartments. As you explore, you may find that renting an apartment for the 3 of you is a better choice than a hotel room.

I also like to set the currency to EUR (€) so I can start thinking in the local currency. Seeing the price now in USD ($) may be helpful for initial planning, but who knows what the exchange rate will be next summer?

And about booking for next June, you may be able to look that far ahead on Booking.com, but the prices may not be accurate. And it's possible that some facilities won't actually allow booking yet.

Finally, planning for so far in the future, it might be good to make sure that the place you decide to stay has Free Cancellation and what the rules around that are.

Check out staying in apartments ( ferienwohnungen ). Most are suitable for 3, prices are excellent - like having a suite for less than 2 rooms. That said, for Bacharach I would look at getting 2 rooms at Irmgard Orth’s small b&b

This is sort of a "side trip", but I'm looking at Russ's response and it brings up something I've wondered for a while. Let me first just say, this forum is amazing, and I always appreciate the great advice I can get here from experienced travelers. I take in all the help I can get and do my own research including a lot of time with google maps and plan a trip that works for us.

When people say it takes a half day to pack, check in and check out of lodging, I always wonder why it takes so long. Maybe its because we stay at small properties, but to check in is usually 10 minutes, unless we are getting advice about restaurants, etc. Check out, 5-10 minutes, and often it can be done the night before. In Russ's comments, he says check in/check out "hassles". What kind of hassles are happening?

For us, there are times that day trips definitely make sense. In this current itinerary, I think for sure, Fussen is a good for a day trip. For Hallstatt, its more like personal choice. I'd want to be there overnight so I could have some time without crowds. Either way (day trip or overnight) I'd have to get transportation to Hallstatt. If I'm there overnight, I just move on to my next stop on the itinerary. If day trip, I have to go back to Salzburg.

We like to avoid backtracking and we do have a bias towards an overnight, even if its just 1 or 2, to experience a popular tourist destination with fewer people.

In terms of packing, 20 minutes for me, tops, and I usually organize and get much done the night before.

If it makes sense for my itinerary, I'm all for longer stays vs. shorter. But, there are some places I only want to be for a day or two. Maybe because we've road tripped for 20+ years with four kids, mostly tent camping all over the U.S. and Canada, I don't find moving around some in Europe to be all that taxing. It's an adventure, for us.

There is definitely some stream lining and tweaking I'd do for the OP's trip, and I think Russ has outlined a good itinerary, but had to laugh when I looked at the trip we are taking in a bit over a Month. Haarlem (1 night) Delft (3) Bruges (4) Lille(2) Durbury(1) Luxembourg(3)Moselle(4)Champagne(4)Senlis(2) For us, that's slow paced.

We've done a lot of trips to Europe, now. I don't feel its bucket list travel and we "experience" every place we go. We've met and talked to a lot of locals, and we are pathetic with learning languages, In our last trip, which was Portugal, we had a great time with locals at a bar/pizza joint in Batlha, so much so that we were there 4 hours. There were many of these quirky little stops, even just interactions to get directions, that make such great memories. Futball (Soccer) is such a great icebreaker. We had a great time watching a soccer game with the staff at a restaurant in Braga.

Whatever works for people. For us, travel is such a great way to make our world smaller.

jules m writes,

We've done a lot of trips to Europe, now.

Us too. But I try to adjust my suggestions to the travel group I'm addressing, in this case a group that apparently is less experienced at independent European travel and will, without travel experiences such as yours under their belts, find the logistics trickier than you or I do... the checking in-out / packing-unpacking / shuttling to new hotel locations... it's familiar routine to the experienced and intimidating to the inexperienced, generally speaking. For newcomers the more often you force yourself to move, the greater the chances are of not making a train or not getting to your next BnB by the agreed upon time. Also, the BUDGET accommodations they desire are often found more easily in less-than-central locations and take longer to reach... and the more overnight stops you book, the greater the number of shuttle-runs you are likely to impose on your travel schedule.

For newcomers to European travel, it's not unheard of to leave things behind at your hotel, or at some restaurant. A little time cushioning here and there gives you time to figure out what to do about your train schedule or your next reservation, etc., all of which can be time-consuming and stressful if you lack the knowledge and experience to remedy the situation. It's not like you can just turn to your tour guide for advice.

AT 47 we traveled with my in-laws (early 70's) and MIL contracted bronchitis. She was down and miserable for 4 days, but I was able to make the logistic changes needed. On another trip I was treated to a surprise gout attack that impacted my right knee - after injuring my left knee. But my familiarity and comfort with independent travel made the needed changes of plans easier and quicker.

It's not my intent to scare anyone! It's just that occasionally stuff happens. Time cushions where possible - and where desirable on other grounds anyway - serve as a minor insurance policy when you have no tour guide or personal experience/knowledge to fall back on. IMO what eltoepfer first suggested was a bus-tour-style itinerary that IMO would be a hat trick for novices.

Whatever works for people.

Yes. but you really don't know what you're getting into and what will work well for you unless you've got some experience with it already.

I don't recommend German Rail passes to just everyone. But based on the destinations, the distances, and the make-up of the group, there's a fairly good chance that I might suggest it this time.

It's always better to assume things will take longer-then you will be happy when it's easier and less-time consuming than you expected, rather than being frustrated at how long it's taking.

I am so sorry, Russ, it was not my intent to cause dissent. When you said it was an unwise itinerary for anyone, I took it at face value and thought I'd provide a different perspective. Also, I've seen this bias towards doing many day trips vs. moving location more frequently on the forum fairly often and I've been genuinely curious about people's process.

No worries, jules, I thought you detailed your perspective well. Your comments just made me realize I had not done the same in reference to this OP's plans and situation.

I share your concern about day trips that require too much travel time and day trips to destinations that themselves are too "big" to cover in a day. I think Salzburg is one of those, which is why I gave it 2 nights plus another for Hallstatt. which is less time-demanding, I think, and in summer solstice week it might be a doable day trip if it's really important to the OP.