First Trip To Germany

I lived for about five years in Nurnberg as a kid/teen. Granted, that was the 80s, but it's still a great place. I'm sad to see not so many people seem to be visiting there, because it has a lot to offer.

First, you may well find Neuschwanstein to be a bit of a letdown. It's pretty from afar, but if you research the building itself, you'll find that the story around it is more interesting than the building itself--only a tiny portion of the building was completed, and Ludwig only lived there for a few weeks before his death. So, read up and decide for yourself.

Rothenburg is delightful. Yes, very touristy, but really fun. You can walk on the wall all around the town. Cool story: during WWII, a top German general and a top American general reached an unofficial treaty over the town. The German agreed not to use it for nefarious purposes and the American agreed not to bomb it. It's completely unscathed as a result. It's a real fairy-tale village. Fun fact, most of the Christmas ornaments sold at the famous Kathe Wohlfahrt shops are (or used to be) made in the Erzgebirge, the southern part of what used to be East Germany. East Germany desperately needed western cash, so they exported their finest products to the West. Kathe Wohlfahrt has an origin story, but the name literally means "Welfare" and I theorize the entire business was run by East Germany to generate dollars. (Which they earned! Half our family Christmas tree ornaments are from there!)

Nurnberg. My old home... I have not been there for nearly 30 years. It's a fully modern city built on truly ancient bones. After the war, the city vowed to rebuild, and the project took 40 years--when I lived there in the 80s they had just completed some areas. There's a lot of interesting public art, like the Ehekarussel; there are restaurants that are hundreds of years old, there's the Spielzeugmuseum (Toy Museum) and the Germanisches National Museum where you can see one of the oldest globes ever made, as well as now the Dokumentationszentrum at Dutzendteich. There's the Heilig Geist Spital, which was supposedly a hospital in the middle ages. The nuns used to wash out the linens in the river, and in this way, spread plague throughout the city through the drinking water. There's the wonderful Schonner Brunnen (Beautiful fountain) in the Hauptmarktplatz. And there's the Burg and the artisan's village and the Durer house. Anytime you have gone to a museum and seen German decorative art from the middle ages and Renaissance, you have seen work made in Nurnberg. Its artisans were incredibly proficient and prolific, turning out beautifully made silver, glass, and wood objects for burghers and magnates and royals all over Europe. They developed distinctive styles that are unmistakable. And if you feel up to it, you can go out to Dutzendteich and see the Zeppelinfield, the infamous 3rd-Reich parade grounds that were seen in newsreels all over the world. (It also served as my high school's football field from 1949-1995.) The Dutzendteich chain of lakes are artificial, and were constructed in the 1300s as a game preserve for royal tables. And you absolutely have to try Nurnberger Bratwurst from a street stall, with senf (mustard.) And a cone of pommes frites, with German ketchup (sweeter and more vinegary, perfect against those salty fries!) And a Radlermass (beer and lemonade 50/50). Or just a cool glass of Tucher....

So that's way too much information, but I encourage you to consider spending a couple of days in Nurnberg! I don't think you'll regret it.

"We are also interested in medieval villages and castles."

The Rhine Mosel is probably a good place for you. Besides Burg Eltz, there's Marksburg Castle in Braubach (also intact, with English tours at 1:00 and 4:00 pm) and Rheinfels in St. Goar (the one set of ruins you ought to see.) Bacharach, Oberwesel, Boppard, and Braubach are among the numerous old-world villages here. I'd also look into Bernkastel and Linz am Rhein.

"How much time should I plan for this?"
It depends. Interested in scenic walks? The Rhine Castle Trail is a great one. A river cruise? How about an open-air museum? The one in Bad Sobernheim offers a great view of local life over the last few centuries. Or how about a visit to Trier (see Rick Steves' Trier page.) The WW II museum in Remagen (where American troops crossed the Rhine; see the film Bridge at Remagen first?

I bring all this up not to confound your planning but just to demonstrate that this region offers a lot of options that are very close to one another - as you said, you "don’t want to spend all of our time traveling from place to place." Nothing worse than getting stuck in the back seat for 10 days of driving around.

Also, a family of four could rent an apartment inexpensively in a compact area like this one and stay on for 5 or so days to explore these nearby places. Less checking in and out, less packing up of your things, less traveling around with all your things. Makes good sense. Just as an example, my family stayed in the 2-bedroom "Rhineview" apartment in St. Goar a number of years ago for a few nights and did the sorts of outings I mentioned above. It was great having the kitchen and extra space.

Honestly, to chase down all the "top" tourist destinations you've mentioned in a 10-day road trip... Rothenburg... every last palace built by Ludwig II (like the others, N'stein is NOT a real castle)... Dachau... Munich... AND Nuremberg... It's a lot of logistics and coordination, and a lot of work and trouble. So I would slice off some of these Bavarian travel goals. Spend half your time in the Rhine/Mosel region, then the other half doing some more modest road-tripping within Bavaria.

If you fly into Frankfurt Hahn airport from Italy, you're very close to Cochem.

Like Russ, I enjoy staying in apartments. To find them, look at the town website - usually www.TOWN NAME.de, if not that, look at the wikipedia entry where it is probably listed. There will be a TOURISMUS tab and then a UBERNACHTEN or other tab that will take you to listings of ALL places to stay in the town and perhaps the surrounding area. FERIENWOHNUNG is the word for vacation rental. Usually considerably cheaper than 2 or more rooms

Thanks for the replies and so much info! You guys are great. The more I think about it I'm leaning towards sticking with Rhine River and Munich. I'll talk it over with everyone and I'm sure I'll be back for a lot more questions! :)

Franken - including Würzburg, Nürnberg and Rothenburg - is my favorite area in Germany. None of these cities were unscathed by the war. Rothenburg was about 40 % destroyed. Nürnberg was uniformly bombed. Würzburg was nearly leveled by a firebombing storm. The German government refused to recognize its defeat, and the allies were resolved not to lose any more men than necessary in finishing the job. Maybe, the will to rebuild makes Franken appealing to me. I have followed the rebuilding of St. Sebaldus (Nürnberg) the last few years with great pleasure. Rising from the ashes...

Munich (München) and the Rhein Valley are great. You can not lose with any of these three destinations. I agree it is best not to spread yourself too thin.