How to travel from Budapest to Rothenburg, Rhine Blitz Tour, and then to Gimmelwald?

Gotta say, it goes firmly against my better judgment to provide this advice. Far too many useless hours on the train for far too little Rhine time and far too touristy Rothenburg - leaving you with a far too limited and cliched experience in Germany.

How many days do you have between Budapest and Florence, and what time of year?

You can FLY from BUD to Nuremberg in 1.5 hours for about €10 on Ryanair if you book well in advance. I did that last summer. From Nuremberg station, it's only about 1.5 train hours to Rothenburg. But you'd be much better off staying in Nuremberg, a real town, not a place whose only existential purpose is housing and serving tourists. Not sure, but I'll bet you can fly from Nuremberg to Florence.

Rick's Rhine Blitz Tour is a truly ridiculous way to pay a visit to the area. Just.... DON'T. Depending on how much time you have, the Rhine might certainly be worth visiting. It's my favorite part of the country. You can probably fly to the Rhine region instead of Nuremberg from Budapest - and from there to Florence. The Rhine towns are blessed not only with castles but with lots of half-timbered architecture like you'll find in Rothenburg. But you really can't appreciate this place in just a few hours.

Thank you for your quick response Russ. I’m sorry that I wasn’t specific with the timeline, but I just have a list of what we want to see on our next trip in early

Thank you Russ for your quick response! I appreciate you sharing your experience in Germany. I am planning now for another Europe trip in early September 2020. After leaving Budapest we will have 6 nights before flying to Florence. We travel with Ryanair and are always pleased with the value. We want to see the above mentioned places, but I would appreciate some tips for travel in the area to connect the locations.

Thank you,
RobBC

6 nights isn't bad as long as you're flying from BUD into Germany.

I would first figure out the flight to Florence. Which is best for you to exit from? FRA? NUE?

FRA puts you close to the Rhine, NUE close to Rothenburg (and the other more - IMHO - worthwhile destinations in this area, known as Franconia.)

So if it's BUD - NUE, you'd then use the train from Nuremberg to Rothenburg (or other places) and then the train to the Middle Rhine Valley (Because of its position and the ferry crossing there, St. Goar is a very good base town for a short visit if you're getting around by train.) Then one final train ride to FRA for the flight to Florence.

If it's BUD - FRA, you'd use the train from FRA to St. Goar (or possibly to Bingen and the cruise boat from there to St.. Goar. This is the best cruise segment, and it's best done from south to north anyway - so doing it on the way to St. Goar makes sense. Cruise takes about 1.5 hours.) Then you'd take the train to Rothenburg, and later to NUE to fly out.

Train schedules:
https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de//bin/query.exe/en

The ground transportation is mostly by regional train - you can buy your train tickets locally at the station. You can find schedules for your trips at the DB site linked to above, but you may or may not find prices for some trips at the since those tickets are sold by local transit authorities.

The journey between Rothenburg/Franconia and the Rhine - no matter which direction - is one that you might want to pre-purchase online before your trip. Saver fares at DB for these journeys, if they include any long-distance high-speed trains, are very reasonably priced, though they come with refund fees and are train-specific (pre-set schedule you must keep.)

Flying into FRA and out of it is also possible, just involves a little more train travel.

KD cruise boat schedule (doesn't change much from year to year.)

https://www.k-d.com/fileadmin/schiffstouren/KD_Fahrplan_international_2019.pdf

3 nights in each area would be about right if you have only 6.

Do a forum search on my posts if you want my input on what to see and do in the Rhine towns.

If you're inclined to visit just ONE of the two areas you've targeted, rest assured that there's more than enough to keep someone busy for much longer than 3 days.

Thank you Russ!
I have a lot of homework to plan this trip.
RobBC