Frankfurt to Munich with side trips by car

I go with AutoEurope.com or Hertz.com--whichever is cheaper.
If you want to see the Rhine River Va!ley, you could stay in Bacharach. See Bavaria Ben.online.for places to stay in the region.
I personally prefer to head south into The Alps and Western Tirol (Austria.) It is incredibly beautiful and very easy to travel in a southerly circle around Munich. We have traveled The A!ps and The Rhine a number of times.

Hi Irbis,

My wife and I were in Germany in May and found driving through the country very easy. We too landed in Frankfurt, rented a car (I used Enterprise and had zero issues with them) and headed to the Rhine. We stayed that first night in Koblenz, where the Rhine and Mosel rivers meet. The next day we got our early, hit Burg Eltz castle (roughly a 30 minute drive) and then went to the town of Bacharach, were we stayed the next night. Bacharach was a charming, walled town with plenty to keep us busy and would recommend it as a place to think about staying if you're thinking about the Rhine.

The next day we drove to Rothenburg, which was a fairly easy drive as well. Rick is right, however, in that Rothenburg during the day and Rothenburg at night are two different experiences. Packed full with tourists who visit by bus during the day, I fond that I didn't care for it as much. By 4:00 in the afternoon, we had the town to ourselves and loved it. I'm not sure that I would spend two days there, but that could just be me.

On the way to Munich, Dachau is another stop we made with our car. While not exactly a festive time, we felt that visiting this site was something we had to do while in Germany.

The cool thing we found by driving was this. You will see brown tourist signs all over during your travels that indicate a point of interest. Sometimes they are churches, sometimes castles, etc. Being able to play it by ear like that, we visited places like Ettal Abbey, Wieskirche and Rheinstein Castle (all places we loved) because we were flexible with our time, as opposed to a train schedule.

Enjoy your trip, Germany was wunderbar!
Robert

We are flying in to Munich 10/20 and doing almost this exact trip, 2 days in Bacharach, and 2 days in Rothenburg. Stumbling on the rest of the trip. Thinking 1 night in Fussen and the rest of the time in Munich with a side trip to Salzburg. We rented a car from Costco, a first for us, but a good price and includes a second driver. Would appreciate your input.

Jet lag, lack of sleep, and not being familiar with the local road system around Frankfurt might be a problem. Some people are not bothered by any of those things. Others think they are fine but are really driving somewhat impaired. And others are complete zombies and should never drive on arrival day. Don't mean to rain on your parade, just offering food for thought.

For your itinerary, consider taking a train to Aschaffenburg, stay overnight, and rent the car the next day. Plenty to keep you busy in A'burg that first day. Take the old road to Wurzburg. En route stop at Messelbrum Castle. After Wurzburg you can head to Rothenburg and then to Munich. These are all in the same general direction and eliminates backtracking.

Google those places and see if they hold any interest for you.

Between Frankfurt (or Aschaffenburg, as suggested above) and Munich my first stop would be Würzburg. Then you have basically two routes. The western one can include Rothenburg, Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen, Dillingen an der Donau, Augsburg, and Landsberg am Lech, the eastern one Bamberg, Nürnberg, and some smaller pittoresque towns south of Nürnberg like Eichstätt, Neuburg an der Donau or Ingolstadt. There are numerous possibly interesting points in between - please tell us about your special interests.

Welcome to the forum.

What time do you arrive on the 30th? That day will likely be compromised if you are arriving at FRA after a transatlantic red-eye flight. Do pay attention to TC's comments about jumping in a car there. And don't plan to see/do too much that day, even if you arrive early - one or both of you is likely to be pretty groggy. Set up a tentative plan that lets you play it by ear.

I'm surprised that no one here has mentioned the Rhine Cruise. It's the main goal for some visitors, and it's quite nice. Also, it takes very little time. It would be a perfectly low-key thing to do on Day 1, and a perfect intro to the Rhine Valley. The segment from Bingen to St. Goar is the most-cruised part of the river; it takes only 1.5 hours and is considered by many on this forum to be the most scenic part. I agree entirely. I would not skip either the cruise or the Rhine (as TC seems to suggest.)

So if you take all this advice on Day 1, you'd catch a train at FRA airport's regional train station for Bingen (€8.35 each, 45-60 minutes) and you'd probably sleep that night either in Bingen or St. Goar. (There are several nice places in St. Goar to stay. In Bingen I'd probably book at the NH Bingen on the waterfront, which has a great view and is convenient to both train stations in Bingen that you might have occasion to use.)

• If you choose stay in Bingen, drop your bags at your hotel first, then catch the next boat to St. Goar. Visit Rheinfels Castle if you have time and see the town. Then catch a train back south to Bingen; you can step off the train in Bacharach or Oberwesel as well (if you have the time and energy) for an hour or two.

• If you choose to stay in St. Goar, take your bags on the boat with you to St. Goar (of course) and drop them at your hotel there - then tour Rheinfels, and catch a train to Bacharach (10 min.) or Oberwesel (5 min.) (if time and energy allow that is.) Train back to St. Goar for the night.

Remember to show the train ticket you used to reach Bingen at the KD boat kiosk, and you'll get a cruise discount of 20%.

October 1
You're refreshed now and hopefully your inner clocks are adjusted. (If you wake up in Bingen, you're a little closer to Rothenburg.) Check out and take the train from Bingen into Mainz (€8.80 each) or Bad Kreuznach (€4.40 each from the Bingen Rhein Hbf station) to pick up a car and get on the road.

Rothenburg is cute but extremely touristy and near the bottom of my personal list of priorities in that part of Northern Bavaria (known as Franconia.) Würzburg, Iphofen, Bad Windsheim, and the Main River towns of Sommerhausen, Ochsenfurt and Marktbreit are a few places in the are where you might choose to spend what time remains before you must head off to Munich.

Best wishes for a nice stay.

You could possible squeeze in a night in Nurnberg rather than a second night in Rothenberg, then to München the morning of 3 October down A9. Without Stau the drive from Nurnberg to München could be under three hours. Could be hectic around Nurnberg and finding a hotel in or near the Old City with parking. Good underground and street trains in Nurnberg, but a lot to take in in a day/night. Have a car Navi. I have had good experiences with Europcar.

Driving time from Nürnberg to Munich (center to center) takes 2 hours under normal conditions. As for parking in Nürnberg, some chain hotels outside the city wall offer limited space (e.g. Motel One in the Bahnhofstrasse); I don't know of any hotel inside the walls that does. However, there are a number of car parks inside the ancient town, the easiest accessible being the Parkhaus am Sterntor right behind the southern wall. Or, coming from Rothenburg, you could leave your car in the free communal car park in Röttenbach at the terminus of U2. The U-Bahn will bring you in 8 minutes into the center.

Thank you everyone for a great suggestions and car rental recommendation! Never thought about Costco, will check them out. And the option to use the train on the first day now is on the list. I just assumed that renting car in the Frankfurt is the better option.
RobertF, thanks for the tip on the brown tourist signs, will pay attention!

TC, I looked up Aschaffenburg and Messelbrum Castle, thank you, we might go this route.

sla019 , Our interests are history: architecture, castles, being a tourist but get a feel of life of locals, hope to experience the Oktoberfest :) You mentioned two routes western and eastern, we like small picturesque towns, would taking eastern route would be a better choice? The Romantic road is famous, that is why we planned to go through Rothenburg.

Russ, we are arriving at 9:30 am, so have enough time on the September 30th. But now after reading all the suggestions I am torn between going to Rhine Valley right away or exploring more around Franconia and Main River towns, they look so beautiful.
We will have a whole day in Frankfurt on our way back from Naples , will arrive at 9am on October 15 ( Sunday) and flying out next day . If we go to Rhine Valley ( train) in one day, will we miss a lot giving that it is a Sunday and some places might be closed. I am inclined to do the itinerary you suggested just because my friend was raving about the Rhine Valley and how beautiful it is. And what would you suggest to do on October 15 ( Sunday) in and around the Frankfurt?

If you are heading from FRA to Franconia first, then I'd suggest using the regional trains to Würzburg on 9/30. It won't take long, it will not be expensive, you can use those trains at any hour you like without pre-purchasing anything, and you can pick up a car at Würzburg station. I've done that myself.

"Our interests are history: architecture, castles..."

Then you cannot afford to skip the Rhine Valley, especially with flights into and out of FRA.

"...will arrive at 9am on October 15 ( Sunday) and flying out next day . If we go to Rhine Valley ( train) in one day, will we miss a lot giving that it is a Sunday and some places might be closed."

No... on Sunday, retail shops in Germany close. Castles, cruise boats, museums, restaurants and the other things that draw visitors to the Rhine do not.

Part of one day is not much but at least on the 15th you'll at least be awake and alert for your Rhine visit.

No clue when your flight out of FRA on 10/16 might be. I would normally suggest booking in Mainz (which is en route to the Rhine Valley and only 25 minutes from FRA airport by direct train.) On 10/15 you could probably drop bags in Mainz first then do a visit to the Rhine towns and tour a castle or two... then return to Mainz in the early evening. Direct trains to FRA from Mainz run every 15-30 minutes or so starting at around 4:00 am.

I'll suggest a plan for Mainz/Rhine on 10/15 if you indicate the hour you must be at FRA on 10/16.

Our interests are history: architecture, castles, being a tourist but get a feel of life of locals

The main attractions of the eastern route are Bamberg and Nuremberg. The western route follows basically the so-called »Romantic Road« and includes besides Rothenburg two similiar towns (Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen) and a whole bunch of minor but lovely sites, if you are willing to do a bit of zigzagging around your main route. To enumerate just a few: Weikersheim, Bad Mergentheim, Creglingen, Schloss Schillingsfürst, Bad Windsheim (a short detour to the east from the main north / south route), Öttingen, Ellwangen, Neresheim, Schwäbisch Hall (a detour of ca. 40 km to the west), Harburg, Dillingen an der Donau, Augsburg, Landsberg am Lech, and the Ammersee. So, while the eastern variant concentrates more on two (or possibly three: Ingolstadt and / or Eichstätt and Neuburg an der Donau) focal points, the western one is more like wandering around with numerous shorter stops.

Thank you all ! That is a really great plan! Our flight out of Frankfurt is at 11 am so we can make it from Mainz. And now we will have more time on arrival zigzagging around the Romantic road :) !

For 10/15 I think this is just about the best option on your plate to see some Rhine towns, a castle, and to take a cruise through the most scenic part of the river.

• FRA Regionalbahnhof station to Mainz (9:29 - 9:55 or 9:59 - 10:25 depending on when you are ready to leave FRA.) Leave bags at hotel (Königshof?) front desk near station.

• 11:13 train to Rüdesheim (12:04.) w/ chg. in Wiesbaden. Walk around R'heim and have lunch.

• 14:15 cruise to St. Goar (15:55.) See Rheinfels Castle and town.

• 17:56 train to Mainz (18:55) OR... 17:56 train to Bacharach (18:05) for 1-2 hours there before returning to Mainz (trains run every hour.) Sunset should occur at around 18:30.

Tickets: Buy RMV ticket for two to Mainz (€4.80 ea.) AND Rheinland-Pfalz ticket for two (€29) from a station ticket machine (the R-P ticket is a day pass that covers all trains from Mainz on.) In Rüdesheim buy the KD cruise ticket for €16 ea. by showing your R-P ticket (gives you a 20% discount.)

The R-P ticket could be used on other trains at other times but they must be regional and local trains (no IC or ICE trains.)

Thank you Russ!