Bought tickets flying in and out of frankfurt for Sep'24, with plan to do a 2/3 days detour within Germany while enroute to visit friends who are based in Rodreko of Denmark.
As I will travel with a 6yo child and my wife, thus plan to rent a car whole travel across the border.
Thus wish to ask what itinerary would be ideal? Cutting straight through Hanover, Hamsburg? Or is it worthwhile to do a detour of the Rhine Valley?
Thanks.
A few comments:
Crossing a border with a rented car need confirmation from the car rental company. If you drop it of in another country you will pay a heavy drop fee - because the branch in Denmark cannot rent it out, but need to return it to Germany - so better to take it back to Frankfurt for your return.
If you rent a car in Germany for driving in Germany, then take the train to Denmark (Flensburg has direct train connection to Rødekro), you can rent a car in Denmark.
I suggest you look into going back from Denmark instead of back tracking to Frankfurt by car. If not directly, then with a plane from Billund to Frankfurt - easier (and maybe even cheaper with accomodation on the way) and faster.
Enure you have valid driving permission for Germany, not driving license only.
As said cross-border travels need to be allowed in contract. Shall be no issue for Denmark (country category 1).
Germany has tons of sights and interesting places on the direct way left and right (example). The question is what you and your family are interested in.
With a 6yo child the German fairytale route came to my mind.
In Hamburg the Miniatur Wunderland is a German top 3 sight of tourists.
Within Germany I would drive from Frankfurt up the Rhine to Cologne. You can stop at any number of places along the way for quick stops (e.g. a beer at the Lorelei), use a ferry to cross, visit a castle, etc. From Cologne I would take the Autobahn again and just power through. You can spend a few days along the Rhine or in Hamburg. Those are the most interesting places.
What country are you flying to Frankfurt from? Is it hard to fly to anywhere else in Germany from your home? Have you been to Germany before?
I personally would not want to SO MUCH tedious driving, on crowded autobahns. You could rent a car after getting near your family destination in Denmark, for example. I guess it is too late to price a "Multiple Cities" ticket into Frankfurt and out of Copenhagen (or Hamburg, if you are still saddled with a Germany-rented car to return.) I would avoid major cities if I had a car in Germany. My wife and I have made many trips where we only visited major cities, by train.
It's certainly possible to go back-track to a car by train after taking a dayboat on the Rhine, but it's not an area where having a car is essential - especially for the short time you will be there. I simply mean that you are going to be focusing on easy-to-get-to places along a river that has train lines on both sides. Cologne, if you go there, is good for 2-3 days alone, if you like a variety of museums and historic sites by walking.
It is entirely convenient to take a single train from northern German cities to, say, Copenhagen.
