I’m curious about traveling to Germany in Sept 2025 with 4 adults, 2 very active seniors (one will be 66 and the other 83), a 7 year old and a 5 year old. We’d like to use trains and must go to Mainz and Cologne for family history exploration. We are also interested in visiting Grafenburg where my husband served during Vietnam. We are happy to train to a base and stay there while we explore an area and then move on to another area - perhaps renting cars for a day or two or hiring a driver. We’d like to see “The Sound of Music” stuff as well as the castles. Not sure what else there is and what would work for us all. We are happy to split up if someone wants to go hiking up a mountain and someone wants a day off. Just looking for ideas, thoughts, places to stay, etc.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
5438 posts
How many days will you have for this? Remember that you can only travel as fast as your slowest member., and with this makeup of people you would need 2 vehicles and child seats if you choose to rent a car. The "Sound of Music stuff" is in Salzburg Austria, not Germany; but you could add a couple of nights there by travelling through Munich. Which castles are you interested in? There are castles all over Germany. If you mean the tourist magnet Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, those would also likely require travel through Munich. Just from this brief overview, it looks like you would want multicity flight tickets into Frankfurt and home from Munich instead of RT Frankfurt tickets.
With a year to plan, you've got lots of time to read through a Germany guidebook to refine your plans.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
We plan on staying 3 weeks minimum. I realize Salzburg is in Austria but’s it so close to southern Germany. We really want to avoid renting cars because we need 2 and it’s expensive. Can we take trains and buses?
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8021 posts
If you're going to be in Mainz, I would suggest visiting Burg Eltz, which is a magnificent castle in an absolutely breathtaking setting. It's easy to get to from Mainz or Koblenz and is well worth a visit. The castle has been owned by the same family for over 600+ years. https://burg-eltz.de/en/homepage
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8021 posts
We plan on staying 3 weeks minimum. I realize Salzburg is in Austria but’s it so close to southern Germany. We really want to avoid renting cars because we need 2 and it’s expensive. Can we take trains and buses?
Yes, definitely. You can go with the D-ticket, aka the Deutschland ticket, which lets you have unlimited travel on regional (aka slower) trains for €49 per month, throughout Germany and also Salzburg. It's by subscription so you have to order it and then cancel it once you stop using it. Children under 6 are free, but if you aren't going until September of next year, your younger grandchild will probably have aged out of that. You can find more info here on that. https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/regional/deutschland-ticket
For general train info, you can check out https://int.bahn.de/en, which is where you would book tickets. there are also regional tickets available. For example, if you went to Munich, you could take the train to various area there (including Salzburg) with a regional Bayern ticket. These are daily tickets and do have some restrictions. https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/regional
For overall info about Germany and trains, I would suggest you read The Man in Seat 61, who has a wealth of information about it (and other countries). https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-germany.htm
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8974 posts
Do you mean Grafenberg (there are two of those)? Or perhaps Grafenwöhr (big US Army post there)? The spelling makes a difference when trying to find rail/bus connections.
Posted by
Paradise
7072 posts
Welcome to the forum.
...must go to Mainz and Cologne for family history exploration. We are
also interested in visiting Grafenburg where my husband served...
I'm clear about Mainz and Cologne, but not "Grafenburg" as a place name for some US military installation. Is it possible you are referring to Grafenwöhr in northeastern Bavaria?
You are asking about base towns to stay in, and you mention hiking and castles as interests. You could in fact find a good base town right in between Mainz and Cologne on the Rhine River... a base town that would be close enough to both Mainz and Cologne to explore those cities. I would suggest either KOBLENZ or BOPPARD for several days. Koblenz (a city of some size) and Boppard (a smaller town with old-world character) are only 15 minutes from each other and have good rail connections to both Mainz and Cologne. See map below.
https://www.seat61.com/images/rhine-train-map.jpg
Trains serve all the towns in this area on both sides of the river:
http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/walking-hiking.php
Boppard is located on the Rhine Castle Trail (Rheinburgenweg) a popular hiking venue which connects castles and towns along the west side of the Rhine; this town provides free train local train transportation to all its guests with the VRM Guest Ticket.
Marksburg (in Braubach) is the most significant castle on the Rhine. Tours are available in English.
Mardee has also mentioned Burg Eltz, not far from Moselkern on the nearby Mosel River.
Please advise on the location of your husband's military base.
Posted by
Greeley, co, usa
2588 posts
Russ mentions 2 places to stay along the Rhine. There are several good ones. I would look at finding an apartment ((ferienwohnung ) that is suitable for your group. More space and almost certainly cheaper than two hotel rooms
Posted by
OP
3 posts
I think I mean the city with the big army base - I was going by the way my husband pronounces the word! And we have a Grafenberg here in KY:)
Also - thanks for the all the responses! I’ll be looking at all of your suggestions soon:)