Flying in to Frankfurt

Most people are going to want to know your interests. My wife and I like to travel by car and just meander. We have a general direction on which way we are going and then stop at whatever interests us along the way. I have never spent a lot of time in Frankfurt so I can't help you there. Heidleberg has the castle ruins, further south is Baden Baden. Or, we drive east from Frankfurt and head towards Bavaria. We like Rothenburg ob der Tauber for a night or 2 inside the walls of the city. The Kirk in Weiss, Neuschwanstein (good view from the Marien Brucke), driving through Bavaria, Munich (lot to do).
How is this for a start?

One of our favorite regions to travel is Bavaria. We start in Munich going southwest to Fuessen (Neuschwanstein Castle), south into West Tirol, over to Innsbruck, up to Salzburg and Hallstadt and back into Munich. Roads are good, and it's an area that flows well.
Munich is another great European city that has many, many great tourist sights, including Nymphenburg Palace, the downtown Royal Apartments, great beer halls, the Deutschmuseum and Dachau.
Only problem is that it's 250 miles from Frankfurt Airport to Munich. I prefer to fly closer to where I'm touring.

Part of my problem and the reason to ask for ideas is that I really don't know what to do while in Germany. I was there for 2.5 weeks when I was 17 and as part of an exchange program. Had a terrible time and now that I am in my 50's I have an opportunity to have a do over. Thank you for your ideas so far, good ones too. Keep them coming. Truly appreciate it. :-)

Schwandorf... are you staying with someone in the military who is stationed at Hohenfels or Vilseck? I've actually driven through that town once. It has a really nice public square (I remember seeing at least a few cafes and ice cream shops), but the town itself isn't huge. There's some kind of underground labyrinth in the immediate area that you can visit, but I was never able to check it out.

Some good daytrips in the region would be Bamberg, Regensburg and Nürnberg. You can find enough written about these elsewhere, so I won't go into great detail. I also found Coburg to be a beautiful little city and it has what I think is Germany's best castle, Veste Coburg. I didn't immediately fall in love with the city of Bayreuth, but it grew on me over time. If you're a Wagner fan, than I guess visiting here would be obligatory.

The region that forms a rough triangle between Bamberg, Nürnberg and Bayreuth is known as Fränkische Schweiz (Franconian Switzerland). To me, it looks nothing like Switzerland, but it's still a wonderful place to hike, or just drive. It's filled with low mountains, scenic rock formations, caves, attractive old towns and plenty of castles. This Wikipedia article is in German, but it has some nice pictures of the area. The two most attractive towns are probably Pottenstein and Gössweinstein.

If you have any interest in Napoleonic history, you may want to check out the Befreiungshalle above Kelheim, near Regensburg. Don't bother if you're not an enthusiast, though.

Some other places within daytrip distance that would be worth your time are Eisenach and Erfurt in the state of Thüringen, and Landshut further to the south in Bavaria.

There are a multitude of interesting towns all around Frankfurt, and the best castle region is going the other direction than towards Bavaria and Munich, because the Rhine gorge is only an hour away. Check out the castles that dot the Rhine river, like Burg Rhinefels, the Marksburg, Rheinstein, Reichenstein, and more. Quaint towns line the river banks - Eltville, Bacharach, Ober-Wesel, Lorch, St. Goar, or the Rheingau. Then there are gorgeous medieval towns scattered everywhere, like Marburg, Büdingen, Idstein, Michelstadt, Seligenstadt, or Gelnhausen. Visit some of the oldest monasteries in Germany, located in Seligenstadt and Eltville, (Eberbach) or some of the oldest churches like St. Justinus in Frankfurt Höchst, or the Mainzer Dom, both over 1000 years old.

If you like Roman history, the Saalburg is a 45 min. ride from Frankfurt. Want to see how people farmed in earlier centuries, Hessen Park, a huge open air museum, is less than an hour away. Interested in the witch trials of Germany? Büdingen is the place to go, as they killed 400 of them there. Celts more your thing? Head up to Glauberg and Celtic World for one of my favorite museums. The scenery here is beautiful too.
http://www.saalburgmuseum.de/english/sb_en_home.html
http://www.hessenpark.de/index.php?id=english
http://www.buedingen.info/en/
http://www.keltenwelt-glauberg.de/en/
http://en.idstein.de/Startseite/Tourism/Discover-Idstein/K357.htm

Schwandorf is kind of a rail hub for trains to Nürnberg (1h10m), Regensburg (30m), and Munich (2 hr) as well as to Prague (3½ hrs). You can get to a lot of places in Germany and the Czech Republic by rail. You might not need a car. After you make a list of places to go, use the German Rail website to find rail and bus connections.

From Nürnberg you can get to Rothenburg ob der Tauber (1¼ hr), Würzburg (1 hr), or Bamberg (45 m). From Munich you can get to Füssen, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and Mittenwald. From Schwandorf iyou can go by rail to Regensburg, then to Plattling to the Bayerischer Wald, a German national park. All these trips can be made for 11 € each (33 € for 3) with a Bayern-Ticket.

BTW, flying into Munich would make more sense for staying in Schwandorf. There are hourly train connections taking less than 2 hours from Freising (a 20 min bus ride from Munich airport) to Schwandorf. 11,00 € each, including the bus, with a Bayern-Ticket.

Thanks again for all the input. We fly into Frankfurt so we can do some traveling before we stay in Schwandorf. One of us has a friend living in Schwarzenfeld, and will stay there - therefore the other two need a place nearby to stay. We don't plan to stay in Frankfurt but probably travel south and then east and arrive in Schwandorf in the second week. Really appreciate all your help. THANKS

Hi,

How far east of Frankfurt? You can go all the way to Berlin you have the time for that. There is evidence of Napoleonic history in Berlin (and Munich too regarding your intent to "probably stay south") if you want to track those down....monuments, statues, plaques, etc dedicated to the event (the war of liberation) as portrayed at the Befreiungshalle in Kelheim.