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Germany in August 2017

Hello, we are a couple from Canada going to Germany for the first time this August. We already have our flight booked to FRA July 28 and returning from Amsterdam Aug. 10, 2017. We are renting a car at FRA. We got a place booked in Mainz for 3 days. We are thinking of driving to Munich & stay for the next 3 days and driving back to Dusseldorf & stay for 3 days then take the train from there to Amsterdam on Aug. 7, 2017. My husband gets motion sickness very easily this is why we need to drive to places ourselves. My question is that between Frankfurt and Munich, where can I download a direction map that go through pretty towns on the way to Munich? Also we want to stop somewhere for couple of hours since we can't check in until 3PM, where would you suggest? Thanks.

Posted by
6590 posts

"We got a place booked in Mainz for 3 days."

3 days in Mainz might be a bit long for you. Perhaps you're planning to drive upstream into the Middle Rhine Valley from there? This is probably the premiere outing from Mainz. You probably won't want a river cruise with the motion sickness issue, but there's a whole lot more than the cruise... Suggest you look into visiting Braubach (home of Marksburg Castle,) Bacharach, Oberwesel, St. Goar (home of Rheinfels Castle) and Boppard. Also suggest that you move 1 or 2 of your Mainz nights to this area.

To your specific question: Let's assume you like to meander... You may want to use this part of the German Half-timbered House Road as you proceed to Munich. The German Castle Road or "Burgenstrasse" also gets you moving toward Munich. Just south of Würzburg on the Main River are Sommerhausen, Ochsenfurt and Marktbreit - further south are Rothenburg and Bad Windsheim.

Now then, with your interest in pretty places, why race your way to Munich? I would book at least a couple of nights in THEM prior to Munich, a mostly modern metropolis.

You could hit some of the other half-timbered-route towns on the way north to Düsseldorf. Again, D'dorf might be a nice city, but it isn't a pretty little town. I wouldn't race there either if it's small, old-world Germany you hope to see. Stay in some of these places.

Posted by
6 posts

Thanks, Russ. We are getting in FRA around 6:30AM, so our first day in Mainz is very questionable! We plan to sleep a bit then maybe go into downtown Frankfurt for dinner and some sightseeing. I checked the distance from Munich and Dusseldorf is a bit over 600km, so I presume it won't take 6 hours on the autobahn. So far this is our rough itinerary, we do need to get back near Dusseldorf on Aug. 5 for our friend wedding anniversary. Do you think there are more things to do if we travel up north toward Dusseldorf? I can't read your reply while I am typing this and I don't know why.

Posted by
14481 posts

Hi,

On the way to Düsseldorf I suggest seeing Bonn, Neuss,

Posted by
19649 posts

With the advent GPS, I don't know the availability of purchased German road map books, but I have a 1999 "Strassen & Reisen" road atlas next to my computer. All the towns considered "picturesque" have a red rectangular border. This includes big cities like Nuernberg, to small towns like our old friend Rothenburg ob der Tauber. So if they are still around, might want to pick one up. Helps with navigation too. Gives you the big picture rather than the microscope of GPS.

Posted by
6 posts

Fred, Sam, sla019: Thanks so much. Yes, I did go to the bookstore. I bought a small Fodor's 25 Best for Munich, I will bring this . I took out a Germany travel book from library, it is too heavy for me to consider bringing it. I did find a Germany travel map in the bookstore which I might ending up buying. I will bring an unlocked phone to use while we're there. I have been reading about Germany on trip advisor and on here, I am a bit overwhelmed :). There's so much to see. Thanks again everyone.

Posted by
26835 posts

ViaMichelin estimates the driving time from Dusseldorf to Munich at 5 hr. 58 minutes along the fastest route. Folks have stated that VM tends to be optimistic, and it definitely does not include stops in its calculations.

Posted by
6 posts

Thanks Acraven. I did try the ViaMichelin site. Do you know how do I print the route out? I can't find any print button.

Posted by
4730 posts

I hope I read one of your posts correctly and you do not plan to drive on the day of arrival. Jet lag, lack of sleep, and not being familiar with the local road system around Frankfurt can all be a problem. There are some people that are not bothered by any of those things. Others think they are ok but are really driving somewhat impaired. Still others are complete zombies and should never drive the same day. Suggest you stay overnight in Frankfurt and rent the car the next day. Don't mean to rain on your parade, just something to think about.

Posted by
6 posts

Hi TC, yes we will drive the first day we arrive from Frankfurt airport to the apartment we booked in Mainz. I believe the distance is about 35km. It should take us around 40 minutes. We will be tired for sure since it is an overnight flight to Frankfurt. That's why I don't plan anything on the first day. Thanks for your input :)

Posted by
6 posts

Hello all, just want to drop a note to tell you all that we had an amazing trip! We love Germany! We couldn't get to Munich this time. We did Mainz, Heidelburg, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Bacharach, Koblenz, Dusseldorf & Amsterdam. What we learned from this trip is to rent a smaller car the next time. We got talked into getting a bigger car. We had great weather. We love all the places that we visited.
We got to see Heidelburg castle, Burg Sooneck. We walked around in Bacharach, it is such a pretty town. We took the cable car up to visit the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, it was such a magnificent view. We will definitely go back to see other parts of Germany. So glad that we went.