help with planning southwest germany

We were in Munich for four nights in September. We went to Dachau. I had been to Auschwitz and had no desire to go to another camp but my husband had not been previously. With both perspectives it appeared to us very sanitized and rebuilt. A completely difference experience than I had in Poland but that was 11 years ago.
We also took the train for the day to Salzburg and took a "Sound of Music Tour". This was my request as it was also my first movie in a theater. The best part of the tour was being able to see the lakes and countryside. The SOM tour was disappointing but our tour guide was perhaps having an "off" day (we all have them from time to time). It was very different than what I was expecting as far as fun went.
The train ride was restful and easy and we had an amazing lunch in Salzburg.

Maybe spend 3 nights in Munich without a car. Not a very car friendly city. You can get where you want to go with trains and buses, including a day trip to Salzburg. Then rent a car to go to Fuessen, Rothenburg and St Goar. My druthers would be one night in Fuessen and 2 nights in Rothenburg. What time is your flight from Cologne-Bonn airport? If it is early, maybe spend the last night in Cologne and turn in the car, then take the train to the airport.

"5. Any advice on our itinerary is welcome!"

I want to focus my advice on just two areas you mentioned.

Somewhere near St. Goar for 2 nights:

I am a huge fan of the Middle Rhine Valley and the adjacent Mosel Valley (St. Goar, Boppard, Oberwesel, Bacharach, Braubach, Cochem, Winningen, Bernkastel, and Trier for starters.) You can have a wide variety of experiences here. But 2 nights is just a way to shortchange your experience. Spend 4 nights here. You won't regret it.

Braubach:
http://www.romantischer-rhein.de/uploads/pics/Altstadt_02.jpg
http://www.marksburg.de/en/

Boppard:
http://www.deutschlandgourmet.info/bilder/gross/5710-Restaurant-Weinhaus-Heilig-Grab-Boppard.jpg
http://ext.pimg.tw/samlucky5711/1379089584-1923285561.jpg?v=1379089585

Cochem:
http://www.der-takt.de/typo3temp/_processed_/csm_NEU_T_Reichsburg_Cochem_3_087e83a8d1.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Germany_(9),_Rhineland-Palatinate,_Cochem,_Markt.JPG
http://www.weingut-rademacher.de/en/

Rothenburg for 1 night:

IMO a lot of visitors to Germany make this mistake. You can actually see Rothenburg in a few hours so the mistake lies in neglecting all the other great places near Rothenburg.

Würzburg:
http://www.wuerzburg.de/en/visitors/must-sees/index.html
Nuremberg:
http://media.belocal.de/120712/1152x768_0,0c.jpg
Iphofen:
http://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org/forum/index.php?thread/2985-iphofen/
Bamberg:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/624
Bad Windsheim:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g198421-d284746-Reviews-Frankish_Open_Land_Museum_Fraenkisches_Freilandmuseum-Bad_Windsheim_Middle_Francon.html
Marktbreit:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Marktbreit_BW_6.JPG

You can stay in one of these towns and visit all the others. See Rothenburg while in the area if you want. I'd spend 3-4 nights here too.

What Lubitsch told you above is harsh but the message is accurate. Most of the places on your plan will mean rubbing elbows with your fellow Americans and international tourists all the time. Your plan is like many others' plans for Germany - go to the places with the glossy photos in the guidebooks. But such places tend to reinforce stereotypes about Germany and Germans, as though the country were only about Nazis and Lederhosen, a place to hunt down the roots of Hollywood movies and Walt Disney's theme parks.

Much much better IMO to spend your time in areas where Germans actually live and work in fields other than tourism - and where German is still the main language in shops and restaurants. The places I've suggested of course get lots of visitors, but they are not the huge international tourist magnets that your plan emphasizes.

My preference for the above destinations would be the train. But you can use the car if you don't mind the extra expense and hassle.

Don't know what time you fly out on Day 9 but I imagine you'll need to spend Night 8 in Cologne if your flight is early. It's only a few minutes from downtown Cologne to CGN by train. We overnighted in Köln-Deutz when using CGN. It's about 12 minutes from the Köln Messe/Deutz station to CGN.

I appreciate all your comments. I definitely do not want to be rubbing elbows with tons of other Americans. Planning this trip has proved to be overwhelming with all the possibilities of places to go. That's why I turned to this forum for ideas and suggestions. My previous itinerary was very similar to what Rick Steves suggests.

Perhaps you could give me less touristy ideas that represent "real Germany" if I tell you the areas that we really want to see, which are: Munich, the Alps, Bavarian villages, and the Rhine area. So, we don't need to go to Salzburg or Fussen, but I don't know where a good destination would be that would allow us to see some beautiful sites in the Alps and do short hikes. Would the Black Forrest be better?

Lubitsche, I am interested in your thoughts. I can tell you have some very good insight into what a good itinerary would be.

Regarding car vs train. I figured that the car would actually end up being cheaper when 2 are traveling and allow us a lot of flexibility to stop at interesting sites along the way.

Kathy,

Touristy areas are touristy for a reason! June shouldn't be quite as bad as July and August would be. If you've never been to Salzburg I would go. Just be prepared for the crowds - however RS does say Salzburg on June 26 is much different that Salzburg on July 26!

For Fussen with a car you could avoid some of the crowds by staying in a small village near by - and just arrive early at the Castle.

I do agree with Russ about the Mosel. It's really wonderful and will be a little less crowded than the Rhine. You could easily stay in Cochem and day trip to the Rhine. I've spent time on both. We really loved the Mosel - so much so that we are doing a bike tour there next year.

I disagree with Russ about Rothenburg. I definitely prefer staying overnight there - that's when the crowds are gone!

You might consider doing a combination of train and car. Salzburg is easily done by train, but the rest of your trip will probably be easier with a car.

I personally would skip Munich. I've been many times over several years - most recently in 2014. In 2014 we really noticed a difference! Much more crowded and just not as appealing. If you want to see a concentration camp you could consider Mathhausen between Salzburg and Vienna.

Kathy,
I to am a fan of Rick Steve's and have never been disappointed with the towns and sights he recommends. As someone else mentioned the top tourist towns are visited for a reason. I can understand why people who have already been these top spots would suggest less touristy towns but then again they have already seen them. I do think you are packing way to much into a week. Maybe just stick to Munich, Salzburg and Fussen.
Jackie

Kathy,
I to am a fan of Rick Steve's and have never been disappointed with the towns and sights he recommends. As someone else mentioned the top tourist towns are visited for a reason. I can understand why people who have already been to these top spots would suggest less touristy towns but then again they have already seen them. I do think you are packing way to much into a week. Maybe just stick to Munich, Salzburg and Fussen.
Jackie

Touristy areas are touristy for a reason!

But is some cases (Rothenburg), they aren't nearly as unique as all the tourist literature suggests.

"Planning this trip has proved to be overwhelming with all the possibilities of places to go."

Your main problem, as Lubitsch has pointed out...

...you're covering too much ground, your destinations are all just a
tad too far away from each other...

... is the reason for my two-base-town suggestion above. You have predetermined an end-destination (Cologne) that is several hundred miles from MUC, a distance you MUST travel. You have 8 days for sightseeing - well, less, really, as Day 1 is probably going to be compromised (security and luggage lines, airport transfer, possible flight delay, jet-lag/drowsiness.) The way to maximize your boots-on-the-ground time in Germany is to minimize the total number of ground miles and to minimize the number of times you have to pack up, move, and unpack - and that is the logic I've used - hit the places on your list that lie in between MUC and Cologne, and include some other really great places. (It's nothing to do with grouchiness - I'd hand the above plan to my best friend.)

"the areas that we really want to see... are: Munich, the Alps, Bavarian villages, and the Rhine area."

Iphofen, Rothenburg, and Marktbreit are all Bavarian villages. (Bamberg, Würzburg and Nuremberg are Bavarian cities of differing size. Bamberg (like Regensburg, which Lubitsch suggests) has an authentic medieval old town core with UNESCO World Heritage status.)

If Munich and the Alps are each worth a day in your schedule and the extra miles... You can try to make it work by subtracting one night from each base of my two-base plan... so 3 nights on the Rhine, 2 nights in the Rothenburg region... Spend those 2 saved nights in Munich. See what you can of Munich in one day, then spend a 2nd day on an outing to the Alps. Salzburg isn't in the Alps. But you can reach Mittenwald in 1:51 by direct train from Munich's main station. Mittenwald is really in the Alps.

http://requisitosparavisa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/mittenwald_-3.jpg
http://www.raoul-kieffer.net/Mittenwald-(500)-Geigenbaumuseum.jpg

This guide to Mittenwald should help you spend your time there wisely.

"I definitely do not want to be rubbing elbows with tons of other Americans."

A travel plan based on Rick Steves destinations alone won't guarantee the company of other Americans - but if you book his hotel recommendations, you are almost assured that you'll share the breakfast room with your fellow countrymen. Rick's followers follow his tips. To avoid disappointment, I'd make a point of choosing places that have escaped his pages.

But is some cases (Rothenburg), they aren't nearly as unique as all the tourist literature suggests.

That may be true in terms of architecture. It is not in terms of the history of ideas: Rothenburg is the place, where, literally, the German romantic movement was invented shortly after 1800. Invented by north German literates and artists like Tieck and Wackenroder, who, being on their (not so grand) grand tour, detected in Rothenburg the ideal of a medieval town: so truly medieval (since being in decline for over 250 years), so far from any modern influence, so catholic - well, no, Rothenburg is in the midst of protestant Franconia, but that unwelcome point was overlooked readily. Being the topographic counterpart to the romantic "Blaue Blume", Rothenburg was, for almost a century, the "place of longing" for Romantics of Europe. It's today tourism industry is the déclasée successor of that spiritual movement.

So, if you are interested in the historical memory a place is connected with (and I think many Ricknicks are, if unconsciously - why else are they going up to what they are pleased to call the "Eagles Nest", an ordinary inn on top of an ordinary mountain?), you have to go to Rothenburg rather than to Büdingen or other nice but historically insignificant old world towns.