Greetings, all. My wife and I are taking a Danube cruise, ending in Vilshofen on June 25 . We fly out of Stattgart on July 1, so have those 6 days to see sites in the area. What would you suggest? I was thinking maybe 2 days in Munich, 2 in a smaller village, and 2 in Stuttgart before we leave, but I really have no idea. This trip came up rather suddenly, and I’ve not really thought of visiting Germany before, but … here we are! We enjoy visiting picturesque smaller towns, eating in restaurants that aren’t too fancy, and wine tasting. But we’d rather do less and enjoy it more, than try to do too much. I appreciate any insight and help.
I was thinking maybe 2 days in Munich, 2 in a smaller village, and 2
in Stuttgart before we leave, but I really have no idea... We enjoy
visiting picturesque smaller towns, eating in restaurants that aren’t
too fancy, and wine tasting.
You can stay in the picturesque smaller towns on your way to STR without the fuss of staying in the large cities. Rick Steves' materials do not address many of the nice places that meet your criteria on the way to Stuttgart, so you'll want to consult other sources. To get you started, here are some links below for places I like along the way.
Regensburg is just northwest of Vilshofen and is well known as the most well-preserved medieval city in Germany (UNESCO World Heritage status.) The train will get you there from Vilshofen in about 1 hour.
https://www.regensburg.de/welterbe/en
Noerdlingen is one of the finer old walled towns on the Romantic Road and on the way to Stuttgart. A train ride of roughly 3 hours from Regensburg will get you there.
Esslingen is a handsome old-world town that enjoys its wine; it's located in the Neckar River Valley just a short distance from Stuttgart and is about 2 hours by train from Noerdlingen. Tübingen is another very fine town nearby which makes for an easy outing from Esslingen.
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Esslingen
https://www.esslingen-info.com/entdecken/essen-trinken/wein
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g198539-Activities-Tubingen_Baden_Wurttemberg.html
https://www.bayerwald-ticket.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Streckennetz_Bayern_2012.pdf
Visit Passau 30 minutes southeast of Vilshofen if not done on the cruise Its on the Danube river
As the already mentioned Regensburg which is 1hr northwest of Vilshofen
In that area visit small town of Kelheim nearby on the Danube river See Kloster Weltenburg and the Danube gorge
Go to the Altmühltal (another river valley from Kelheim) visit Essing and Riedenburg and the castles
All 30 minutes from Regensburg
For your interests, I would actually skip Munich. Stuttgart is the wine region more than Munich.
Another factor--FIFA Euros
June 25th sees games in Cologne, Munich, Berlin, and Dortmund.
June 26th has Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Stuttgart, Hamburg
June 27th and 28th there are no games
June 29th are Dortmund and Berlin
June 30th Cologne and Gelsenkirchen
July 1st Frankfurt and Düsseldorf