Itinerary advice.. 2 wks in Germany

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds doable. Journey planner for train connections: https://int.bahn.de/en

Exhibition tip in Berlin (Aktes Museum): Ancient Worlds. Greeks, Etruscans and Romans

What are your interests regarding Berlin sights besides top 10?
Special interests of your daughters?
When in June do you plan to be in Berlin?

Roman ruins would be interesting

You will find these along and south and or western of German Limes Road.

For rental car ensure validity of your driving license and care for IDP.

As MarkK points, most of the Roman occupation or settlement (depends upon your perspetive) occured more to the south and west of where you plan to travel. The border between Rome and the barbarian world was defined by the Limes https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14517/map-of-the-limes-in-bavaria-germany/.

In addition to sites along the Limes, a restored fortress outside Frankfurt at https://www.saalburgmuseum.de/en/ may be interesting. Or a Day in Trier https://www.trier-info.de/en to see the amazing sites there.

its our first trip to Germany - so seeing the top 10 in Berlin and Munich on the list, as well as main sights barvaria. don't have the heart to any of the camps though. In the past in Europe tried to go off the tourist track and ended up in not very friendly places ie being ignored in restaurants so will go mainstream this time. We were planning to go June 15-30. Thanks!

I should add - we speak English, French, Spanish but not a word of German!

On the way from Rothenburg to Fuessen, there is a town called Aalan that has a Roman Limes museum. It is in German, but you can get the audio in English. It is a small museum, but it had some really cool things to see. Outside it had some ruins as well. https://www.aalen.de/limes-museum.36942.644.htm

Personally, I think you're light on time in Berlin--especially given the side-trip to Potsdam and that this is your first stop, so 4 nights is probably 3-1/2 days, some of that time jetlagged. I wonder about the 4 nights in Munich, too, since you will have already been to Fussen. I believe there's a great deal more to see in Berlin than in Munich. On the other hand, I dislike both beer and wine and am uncommonly fond of 20th-century history museums/sights and art museums. Since my interests are atypical, my time allocations are as well.

I'd recommend going to Salzburg - either as a day trip from Munich, or an overnight, which would be optimal. I prefer Salzburg to Munich, and Berchtesgaden is just outside of Salzburg.
Have a wonderful family trip!

Pretty good plan.

Driving from Rothenburg ob der Tauber to Fussen, you should enjoy The Romantic Road. There are several great towns with Medieval walls and you can take in for 2-3 hours. Also, Augsburg, is a larger city that is over 2000 years old and you could spend half a day there and perhaps spend the night.

https://www.romanticroadgermany.com
It's not too hard to see the reason for the popularity - despite the modern roots of the idea, the tour combines the historic cities of Würzburg and Augsburg with the three medieval walled towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen, and then finishes off with the tourist highlights of Neuschwanstein Castle and the Alps.

Hi elizbarn. I am planning a trip through Germany in October 2025. Your comment about a previous trip being in unfriendly towns and being ignored in restaurants caught my attention. I have not heard this before and was wondering if you or others could add to this. Thanks.

That was Portugal when we had bad experience- I am sure a one off. While in general we are fine exploring off the track places, but given we know no German just wanted to play it safe this time.
Thanks v much for the advice so far. Will look into an overnight stay in Salzburg - just didn’t want to pack up and move for one night too many times - my daughters don’t pack light!

Having been to the Saalberg Roman Fort, I will comment that it is more of a "rebuild" and less of a "restoration". It is quite large, and has lots of room for younger guests to run around. They have a nice small museum, but it struck me as more of a family day-out, or a school-trip destination, in a rural location. However, it is physically near some of the Limes. We did not try to see them because they seemed to involve serious forest hiking (beloved of Germans ... ) with long pants and real boots.

Your route does not currently go near Cologne, but for a big city, it has more Roman monuments than most. The underground Praetorium is now reopened, but I believe the suberb and large Romanisches-Germanic Museum (walkable from the HBF) is closed for 5 years of renovation. Some of the Cologne Roman pieces are simply standing beside the public sidewalks. Cologne is a favorite of mine, because it has so many, varied, museums, and is unusually walkable.

I agree that Trier is a rich destination, but it is also outside your current itinerary. I personally found Munich underwhelming.

suberb and large Romanisches-Germanic Museum (walkable from the HBF) is closed for 5 years of renovation

There is a smaller, yet still worthwile, version that is open.

From Fussen drive to the Salzburg area, staying either in the city or ( better I think ) in one of the nearby lakeside towns. Then drive to Munich and turn in the car.

"...given we know no German just wanted to play it safe this time."

You are not alone in your lack of German skills. The Dutch send far more tourists into Germany than any other foreign country. But very few of the Dutch speak German - instead, the Dutch, who all learn ENGLISH at school, rely on their English skills while in Germany to communicate with Germans - who also learn English. Like the Netherlands, Germany is largely a German/English bilingual country these days. Most German-born Germans can talk your leg off in your own language.

It's the same with the Scandinavians and Eastern European countries. They learn English at school and use English frequently in their own countries, and when they travel to Germany, they use their English there too.

Other European countries - France comes to mind - may not emphasize English skills as strongly as Germany does; different countries have different sensibilities about these things. I would not project experiences I may have had in France or Portugal onto a stay in Germany.

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RE: "not very friendly places"

In this category I have heard of one such restaurant located in eastern Berlin , may be even anti-American, etc. I tried finding this unique place located somewhere close to the S-Bahn station, Jannowitzbrücke.

I ended not being able to locate it. My aim was to check this restaurant out to see actually if its purported anti-American image was valid.

Thanks to everyone’s advice.
I was thinking then
4 nights Berlin
Train to Nuremberg spend 2 nights, pick up rental car
1 night Rothenburg
2 nights Füssen
2 nights Salzburg
Drive to Munich drop off rental car, 3 nights then fly out of Munich
Doable (???)

Doable (???)

Yes. Do you need the car in Salzburg?

Why you would go to Salzburg from Fussen when Lake Constance is closer I can't imagine. And I like Salzburg. But I'm pretty sure Mainau (and the butterfly house) would be more fun than anything in Salzburg for a couple teenage girls. And then there's the beach, Lindau, Meersburg Castle, the cable car ride up the mountains by Dornbirn (make reservations and eat looking down at the lake come sundown), and the small towns on the Swiss and Austrian sides of the lakes. Plus you can take a boat tour, ride the ferries, hit the local markets, etc.

Stop in Landsberg am Lech or Memmingen on the way back to Munich for a couple old towns off the beaten path.