Germany, Prague, Germany then ??? Help

Where are you flying out of afterwards?

Two nights is entirely too much for Rothenburg alone. It only takes, at most, maybe 3-4 hours to see, and that's if you linger. Perhaps use it a base to see other towns. Maybe you could knock out Dinkelsbühl during your full day in Rothenburg.

Austria is well placed for you to finish out your time, but we don't know from where you fly out. That makes a big difference. Switzerland isn't as close as it appears on the map, and May isn't a good time for the high Alps anyway.

BTW, are you staying with a friend stationed in the military in either Ansbach, Vilseck, Grafenwöhr or Katterbach?

How about spending more time in Germany? Only 3 nights in Berlin for example is very little, especially compared to the two nights in Rothenburg, which is a tiny town. It would be a shame to miss the parks and gardens of Potsdam in late May, or the world-class museums on Museum Island and the DHM. Berlin offers enough for weeks, and IMHO 3 nights are simply not enough. Berlin wasn't built to impress at first sight like Paris, it grows on you the more time you spend in the city.
And Varena and Castelrotto? OK, the latter is quite nice (and very small), but Varena? I would never travel for several hours just to see them. You just lose a lot of valuable time for sightseeing. There are enough sights for months along your route. Between Berlin and Prague for example is Saxony, with Dresden, Saxon Switzerland, wonderful small towns, castles and palaces, vineyards and much more. Have a look at this or this gallery, which both show these small towns. And this is Saxon Switzerland. Try to spend less time on trains and do more sightseeing.

Hi,

I wanted to ad that since you'll be picking a car up in Germany, you'll want to return it in Germany. Dropping it off in a country other than the one you picked it up in comes with a "drop off fee", which can be quite costly.

Just a few comments... Castelrotto, I'm not a big fan of, BUT I love the Dolomites. Very worthwhile destination and about 3 to 3:30 from Fuessen. I'd stay in the Val Gardena or Alta Badia instead of Castelrotto. We spent 4 nights in Val Gardena and 6 nights in the Alta Badia over 3 trips to the area.

www.val-gardnea.com
www.altabadia.it

Rothenburg... We loved it. We stayed 2 nights and thought it was just about the right amount of time. We visited Dinkelsbuehl and the Herrgottskirche from here also though.

Fuessen... loved Fuessen also. We stayed twice for a total of 4 nights. Nice old town and besides visiting Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, it's also easy to include a trip to the top of the Zugspitze. The Wieskirche is also a "must see" while in the area. So is a ride on the luge ride (Sommerrodelbahn) just a mile or so from Neuschwanstein. Linderhof palace is also nearby.

IF you make Rothenburg 1 night, add the "extra" night to Fuessen.

Other worthwhile area's are the Innsbruck area, the Mittenwald/Garmisch area and the Zillertal, but as I wrote before, to get sound advice and recommendations, you need to let people know where the trip is ending and where you're flying out of.

Paul

Thanks so much! We have not booked our flights yet, but wanted to depart out of a city other than Berlin! So we are open at this point to rearrange or change anything. We are energetic, in our 50's, hate to shop, well travelled, more with Eco travel. Have not seen a lot of Europe though, so we want to see, but also experience, as much as we can. Have a daughter who will be in Luxembourg studying at the same time, not sure if we should go see her, or have her come see us for a weekend. Thanks again!

• BTW our friends are actually German and they live in a small town outside of Erlangen.
• Also we definitely plan to return to Europe, hopefully many times.

Hi,

I would suggest skipping Rothenburg or change the stay to one night, add the extra time to Berlin or spend a night in Meissen en route to Prague. Dresden is sort of mid-point between Berlin and Prague. Choose one or the other, Dresden or Meissen if you want to see a smaller town.

Unlike the horrors of the bombing of Dresden, Meissen came through the war intact, ( something you can see), which was not the case with other small towns in the general area, like Bautzen, also worthy of a visit. To get to Meissen, take the direct EC train Berlin-Dresden, transfer from Dresden Hbf.

Fuessen's okay, but Neuschwanstein's really not that big deal to me.

I'd suggest dropping just south of Fuessen into the beautiful West Tirol, and making a circle through Innsbruck and back up into the Munich area. Munich is a great city with much to see. Or, you could drop into N. Italy and tour the Dolomites around Cortina. Depending on time, Venice is not out of range from Innsbruck.

If you're driving a German rental car, you'll do best to fly home from Munich--a great airport.

You could easily add a night to Berlin ( OMG, the museum isle!), and one in Nurnberg . Both of those cities have much to offer, was there last summer. Have been to all those cities except Dresden/Meissen. I can also suggest Trieste or Regensburg.
Realize when you spend 2 nights somewhere that you arrive on day 1, check into the hotel, have only one full day there before checking out the following morning and traveling again. You are moving around so much that you might not get the pleasurable rhythm of life abroad.