Germany/Austria travel advice

Your biggest problem is spending 6-7 nights in Bavaria, but flying into Frankfurt. Is it too late to change your flight plans? I'd fly in and out of Munich and skip Bacharach (particularly since you are currently planning only 2 partial days there). As it is now, your longest travel days will be Bacharach to Munich (~5 hrs) and Salzburg back to FRA (~6 hrs). Munich to Füssen is only about 2 hours.

If you can't change Frankfurt, I'd still skip Bacharach and stop in Rothenburg on the way from Frankfurt to Munich.

The best way to get from Füssen to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Zugspitze) is by bus to Reutte and then train to Ga-Pa (2 hours). Or you could also take a bus from Füssen (Hohenschwangau) to Ga-Pa via Oberammergau (2-3 hours).

For ticketing purposes, it looks like you have 5 adults (15 and up) and 6 kids (max 14 yrs). How many people, total, in the family with the 15 yo? (There is only one 15 yo, right?) Hopefully there are only five people in the family with the 15 yo. A Bayern-Ticket can be for either 5 people, not necessarily related, for 49€, OR 2 adults and one of the adult's children and grandchildren under 15.

I agree that it makes better sense to save the Middle Rhine, Cologne, Trier, Mosel valley for another trip. A possible addition is Innsbruck, although the scenery could be too much like Zugsptize. However, it looked to me that mountain walking (month of the year, please?) is much easier, safer, and more practical (even maybe walking down, instead of the cable car) in Innsbruck. We rode both ways, however. Note in your planning that the cable car in Garmisch is very expensive, AFAIR.

It depends on your routing, but we have found that a second segment in Germany (say, United/Lufthansa) costs much less than the local in-tour transportation, and saves even more valuable ... TIME ... in a rushed vacation like your proposal. You should book open jaw, if possible. This should be possible from a big place like Boston.

Thanks very much for your advice.... I think that we are locked into Frankfurt, but I'll look into some of these other options.

I appreciate it!

Best, Lora

You might want to consider saving Bacharach for your next trip and connect from Frankfurt to Munich the day you arrive. It will maximize your more time in Bavaria.

11 people (7 of them young children) moving from hotel to hotel 4X for 8 nights' lodging? This is a recipe for unpleasantness and misery.

Cut back on the hotel moving and take your time ENJOYING the culture and environment you're traveling so far to see.

Your train to Munich would be a little over 3 hrs. Would spend time in the Marianplatz Lots walkable from there. Salzburg is a good 3 days. Lots to see. Kids would enjoy sound of music stuff and bus trips thru the surrounding lake area. Bacharach is a good down time recovery from air travel. Rhine cruise is peaceful and beautiful ... and inexpensive.

Im flying into Munich and need to get to Salzburg. Best option?

Best option would have been to fly into Salzburg.

Next best: buy a Bayern-Ticket (25€ first person, 6€ each additional) at the Munich airport and take the S8 (every 20 minutes) to Munich Ostbahnhof (east station) and catch the next RE (every hour) from there to Salzburg. Takes about 2 hours and the Bayern-Ticket covers the entire fare. Look up schedules on the Bahn website.

Caution: there are two S-Bahn(s) leaving from the airport. The S1 goes around the west side of town and comes into downtown at the Hbf, then all the way through town to Ost. Because it terminates at Ost, the destination board will say "Ostbahnhof". However, that is not the fastest way to Ost. The S8 goes to the east and comes into Munich at Ost much sooner, then goes through town to a final destination to the west, probably Herrsching or Weßling. Take the S8.

Im flying into Munich and need to get to Salzburg. Best option?

Take the S8 to Munich East (München Ostbahnhof), then transfer to the Meridian train to Salzburg. Travel on a Bayern Ticket (valid after 9am on workdays, all day on weekends), which you can buy from a vending machine in the Airport Center (or, with a service charge of €2, at the ticket window).

Your train [from FRA] to Munich would be a little over 3 hrs

More like a little over 3½ hrs. And, unless you have arranged for a Rail&Fly ticket to Munich, the cost would be 105€ per adult (5x).

If you are going to blow off Bacharach, you can pick up somewhere else in Bavaria. I would suggest Rothenburg odT because it is on the way and takes just a few more minutes (less than 4 hours) than to Munich. You can do it with the S-Bahn from FRA to Kahl am Main via Frankfurt Hbf, then one of the hourly REs to Würzburg, then regional trains to Rothenburg. Buy local (RMV) ticket from FRA to Kahl am Main (the first stop in Bavaria), then Bayern-Tickets to Rothenburg.

Again, what is the distribution (number and ages) of kids between the two families?