Itinerary advice

Consider flying back from Frankfurt after visiting Bad Wimpfen

I encourage you to track down your family roots and to spend some real time in the Bad Wimpfen area. Around Bad Wimpfen - which is very charming itself - you'll find the Neckar River Valley, the Bergstrasse wine towns (Heidelberg and north) and the Oden Forest (Odenwald) towns - all of these are among Germany's most charming places. Some examples:

Michelstadt
Miltenberg
Heppenheim and the other wine towns on the Bergstrasse route
Guttenberg Castle in Gundelsheim (Neckar)

Half-timbered Route towns in this area:

https://www.deutsche-fachwerkstrasse.de/en/Routes_Cities/From-the-River-Rhine-to-the-River-Main-and-the-Odenwald-Forest.html

https://www.deutsche-fachwerkstrasse.de/en/Routes_Cities/From-the-River-Neckar-to-the-Black-Forest-and-Lake-Constance.html

Füssen, Hallstatt, Salzburg... These are scenic areas that the guidebooks tend to overmphasize, places which cater heavily to the international tourist crowd (which you of course are part of) but I would advise you not to overdo them if. Note that in April, weather in/near the Alps may not be very cooperative.

What you might do is spend 2-3 nights in Munich, 3 nights in the general Füssen area, and 3 nights in/near Bad Wimpfen. Flying out of FRA airport afterward is probably wiser than returning to Munich, but either way is possible

Thank you both for your replies. Yes, your suggestions have given us food for thought. Guess we need to figure out if Salzburg should be eliminated this trip. If we take your suggestions, would train travel work, or would car be preferable? Thanks again.

Salzburg is a very popular place, and you should keep it on your itinerary. It's easily reached by train from Munich or automobile.

Thanks, David! Yes, Salzburg looks beautiful and we hope to include it in our itinerary for likely three nights. Three nights in Munich, three in Salzburg, and hope to see Bad Wimpfen. Need to investigate all the information posted. First visit to Germany. Would Munich, Salzburg, and Bad Wimpfen possibly work, and then fly out of Frankfurt? Thank you very much. Will travel around the 20th of April.

"If we take your suggestions, would train travel work..."

Yes. Germany's train network is extensive. There are local train connections to Bad Wimpfen and the towns I mentioned, which you can find on this map:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Bahn_RheinNeckar#/media/Datei:S-Bahn_RheinNeckar2015.jpg

For Michelstadt - not shown on map - follow the Eberbach - Erbach (Odenw.) arrow.

You can find travel times for all of Germany from town A to town B at the DB itinerary search page:
https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de//bin/query.exe/en

I like Salzburg and the local day trips from there (Berchtesgaden, Werfen, and more) very much. But with 9 days you can't do everything, and I think it makes sense to indulge your husband's search for roots at a time when he's motivated to do so - especially considering the fact that Bad Wimpfen is in such a nice part of the country.

Whether you would drop the Füssen area or the Salzburg area in order to include Bad Wimpen + .... that is your decision of course. It won't make that much difference for your trip which one stays and which one goes. I will say that for future trips, Salzburg combines well with a visit to Vienna, the Austrian and Italian Alps, and possibly Venice. Füssen is a bit isolated at the end of a train line - perhaps not so far from Innsbruck, but generally trickier to combine with other places outside Germany.

Day trip guide for Miltenberg: https://hastingshouse.typepad.com/hastings_house_us/2008/05/miltenberg-germ.html
Day trip guide for Michelstadt: https://lifeslittleadventures.typepad.com/lifes_little_adventures/2010/03/michelstadt-germany.html

Russ,
Thanks so much for all of your input. Will read through all of your information this evening. Yes, Bad Wimpfen looks so lovely. What if we flew into Frankfurt and then made our way to bad Wimpfen and then ended in Munich for a few days, omitting Füssen and Salzburg? Thanks again!

"What if we flew into Frankfurt and then made our way to bad Wimpfen and then ended in Munich for a few days, omitting Füssen and Salzburg?"

So reversing your route... with maybe 3 days in Munich at the end before flying home... is that the idea? Flying into FRA and out of MUC shouldn't be a problem as long as those airports work well enough for your home airport.

You'd have no trouble finding nice places to spend your first 6 days. (In Germany you can often throw a dart and you have a mini-vacation.) The suggestions I gave you were options that you might choose from just for that area surrounding Bad Wimpfen. There are surely many other good places en route to Munich as well. Besides your "roots" search, do you have any other specific interests or activities in mind for Germany? If you share those, you might get suggestions that are more tailored to the two of you.

Well, I’ve certainly learned a lot about Germany today thanks to your guidance. Thinking now of flying into and out of Frankfurt. Head to Bad Wimpfen first and explore the area, and then head to tour towns along the Rhine, such as Boppard, St. Goar, and Mainz. Nine day trip. Do the KD river cruises operate in April? Thanks again for your guidance as we try to create a good itinerary. We are interested in exploring the culture and history of the area.

"Do the KD river cruises operate in April?"

Usually a few days before Easter.

Your itinerary has certainly taken a spin-around.

With 9 days and your stated interests, I think you should include some of the Mosel River towns since you'll be on the Rhine. Look into Trier (Roman History) for at least one full day as you check out the options. Cochem is a pretty good base town.

The Rhine towns come alive around Easter too. St. Goar is a good base if you're using trains and crossing the river (ferry there) and for river cruising - and the scenery there is great. And of course Rheinfels Castle is right there in town; across the river and north is the truly outstanding Marksburg Castle. While on the Rhine, I'd probably include a detour to this open air museum (local culture and history) and to Cologne for a day as well (Cathedral, Nazi Documentation Center, and more.)

Mainz is a great little city too - lots to see there and a good place for your last night since you're so close to FRA airport (20-25 minutes by direct train.)

You might think in terms of 3 nights around Bad Wimpfen, 5 nights split between the Rhine/Mosel regions, and a final night in Mainz.

Bad Wimpfen: We spent a leisurely morning there, including coffee and terrific pastries in front of a little Bäckerei on the main street. It's a picturesque stop even w/o the family ties. This was en route between Heidelberg and Mondsee (near Salzburg) when we were shaking off jetlag after flying into Frankfurt the day before. Unless you plan to visit family or track down the homestead, I think "a night or two" might be excessive. Depending on your final itinerary (and connections if you stick with rail for this leg) you might consider making Bad Wimpfen a stopover vs. sleepover.

(FWIW: Last year we made a similar visit to the village in Ireland from which my wife's family had immigrated. After a few hour spent in the cemetery and chatting with locals in the pub/restaurant, we were ready to move on.)

Thank you very much for all of your help and expertise. We would very much like to spend four or five nights in the Rhine/Mosel river area. Yes, your suggestion of spending our last night in Mainz sounds perfect so we’ll be close to Frankfurt for our return home. Also, Trier looks amazing along with all the other places you mentioned. Spending one night in the castle Burghotel Alf Schönburg looks lovely. Have you stayed there or would you recommend it? Also, would Boppard make a good base for the remainder? Or would someplace closer to Trier be better, or a combination? Thank you very much!

You'll need 5 nights for sure for the Rhine/Mosel if you'll be including Auf Schönburg and overnighting in Mainz at the end.

Auf Schönburg is an awesome place on the clifftop above Oberwesel. I'd leave it for your next-to-last Rhine/Mosel day, after your sightseeing in the area is over with; get a view room - with a balcony if you can - and taxi up from town, and check in as early as you can - have dinner there - and stay as late as you want the next morning before heading to Mainz for sightseeing and your last night.

So that's your last 2 nights. And I'd suggest the following prior to that...

Day 1 on the Rhine: I would probably spend the first night in St. Goar. To get there, take a morning train from (wherever) to Bingen Rhein Stadt station and the KD cruise boat from there to St. Goar. This is the best cruise segment and a nice way to see the river gorge for the first time. Drop your bags at your hotel and visit Rheinfels Castle.

Day 2: Leave bags in St. Goar at front desk. Morning train to Boppard - see town and ride the chairlift, walk over to Gedeonseck once you're up top. At around 2 pm ferry over from Boppard to the other bank and catch the 14:46 train to Braubach (8 min.) You'll have time to see the small but attractive old town before walking up to Marksburg castle for the 4 pm tour (English.) After the tour, take the train (20 min.) to St. Goarshausen and ferry across to St. Goar. Fetch bags and catch a train to Cochem for 2 nights.

Day 3: Train to Trier for the day; return in pm to Cochem.

Day 4: Leave bags at front desk, see what interests you in Cochem (Bundesbank Bunker? Reichsburg Castle? Or just get lost in a stroll around Cochem's tangle of streets?) Fetch bags after lunch and head to Oberwesel... (see above.)

Note: You mentioned overnighting in Boppard... If you prefer to overnight in Boppard on Day 1, you could do so. Cruising to Boppard will take a little longer and costs more, and you'd probably want to skip Rheinfels on this day (But on Day 2, you could instead backtrack to St. Goar by train in the morning for Rheinfels, then use the St. Goar ferry for crossing and the train to Braubach and Marksburg; then after the Marksburg tour, train to Filsen and ferry back to Boppard for your bags.)

Thanks so much, Russ & rca for all of your help with our itinerary. It has been fun and interesting to read about all of the towns along the Rhine, etc. that you've recommended. It appears that our best flight options will be to fly into Munich and out of Frankfurt (but won't be certain until we actually lock in our dates for April). That being said, here are this morning's thoughts on an itinerary:
Day 1: arrive Munich 9:30 a.m. - go to hotel to drop off bags and do some sightseeing
Day 2: sightsee
Day 3: head to Bad Wimpfen where we will spend one night (Russ, would you recommend more than one? We won't have a car.)
Day 4: head to St. Goar - spend night
Day 5: head to Cochem for 2 nights
Day 6: Cochem
Day 7: Auf Schonburg
Day 8: Mainz
Day 9: Return home (Frankfurt airport)
Russ, thanks so very much for your guidance and expertise as we work to put our itinerary together. Thanks to ALL for your input. We can add a day or two to our itinerary if need be.

Your first 3 days look very rushed; on Day 1, right after a transatlantic red-eye flight across several time zones, you'll probably find your time compromised by different factors - jet-lag, lack of sleep, the baggage/security/ATM/train ticket/transit rigmarole, etc. One day + for Munich really isn't much for a city this size. Then you have a packing/unpacking/check-in again day, a fairly long train trip to Bad Wimpfen and half a day there (which, as rca points out might be enough for BW itself - but it's not enough for anything else in the area.)

So I don't know on what grounds you've decided flying into MUC is an improvement, but I look at FRA as preferable. After arrival, within an hour or so you could be in, say, Heidelberg - a much more walkable city than Munich - and spend 3 nights there. During that time you could take in this attractive and old-world town (unlike bombed-out Munich it was mostly undamaged in WW II) and also make a day trip (without your bags) up the Neckar River Valley to Bad Wimpfen and maybe another place or two. From Heidelberg, you'd also be very close to the Rhine for your trip there on Day 4.

Do a little research on Heidelberg and see if it holds any interest for you. It probably will, but even if it doesn't, there are several places right nearby that probably do.

Thank you! I like your thinking!! Will research. Sounds like an optimal plan.

Are any boat trips in the Neckar Valley to Bad Wimpfen available in April? Thanks.

Just added 2 additional vacation days to give us some wiggle room and allow for 3 nights in Munich at the beginning of the trip. That leaves us with one more night to fill. Following one night in Bad Wimpfen we will head to St. Goar as recommended for one night, followed by 2 nights in Cochem, 1 at Schonburg Castle, and last night in Mainz before returning home from Frankfurt.
So...we have one more night to fill. Would adding a second night in St. Goar be advisable, or do we have enough for that area? Considering Rheinhotel St. Goar which gets nice reviews. Thanks!

Also, considering Pension Winnemuller for our two night stay in Cochem. Any thoughts on that? Any recommendations for one night in Mainz?
Thanks again for all of your help! It is greatly appreciated.

"So...we have one more night to fill."

So if the current distribution of nights is decided and stands as follows ...
Munich (3)
Bad W. (1)
St. Goar (1)
Cochem (2)
Auf Sch. (1)
Mainz (1)

...and you wish to add just one more, I'd say toss it in either in Munich or St. Goar, depending on your interests. If you have nothing pressing in/near Munich, I like your idea of adding a night to St. Goar. Why? Well, even though you already have 5 nights in the Rhine/Mosel region, you have almost no sightseeing time for the Rhine Valley. So with an extra night in St. Goar - which is only a few minutes from the towns of Bacharach, and Boppard, and Braubach (the home of Marksburg Castle, the only intact medieval castle on the Rhine, w/ tours in English at 1 and 4 pm) - you will have some very good choices for short outings.

Rheinhotel St. Goar: Great choice. Opt for a river-view room.

I am unfamiliar with Pension Winnemuller. It's location means a bit of a walk from the station, but it looks reasonably close in to the old town and the reviews look good.

In Mainz, the greatest # of choices are near the main station (Hauptbahnhof) which is a mostly tidy and safe area, but not especially atmospheric. The Königshof is a good choice there. Also, there are a couple of options- the IBIS Mainz included - near the Mainz Römisches Theater station (one stop and about 3 S-bahn minutes closer to the airport.) What the IBIS itself lacks in charm it makes up for in proximity to the nicer part of Mainz. The IBIS is on the south end of town and not far from the Zitadelle and the pretty Stadtpark, and closer to the river and the old town zone. From the IBIS you just go a couple of blocks up Neutorstrasse into the pedestrian zone.

You can find the Hauptbahnhof at the left of this map - the MRT station is at the bottom. The pink streets are for pedestrians only. Mainz is nice that way.

http://ontheworldmap.com/germany/city/mainz/mainz-sightseeing-map.jpg

Thanks again for all of your help. Where would you recommend staying in Cochem? Would love some recommendations. Thanks for the help with Mainz. The itinerary is shaping up nicely thanks to everyone’s help. Looking forward to a wonderful trip!

We are now considering eliminating Mainz from our itinerary and taking either a train or taxi to Frankfurt main airport for our return to the States. Our flight leaves at 13:00. Wondering where best to leave from on the Rhine/Mosel if we were to do so?
Planning to include two nights in St. Goar, one night at castle in Oberwesel, and two nights in Cochem. If this plan is feasible, which order would be best? Thanks again!

I would not schedule the final night in Oberwesel if it's at the Auf Schönburg castle/hotel (a place you probably want to linger at in the morning.) St. Goar is a shorter train trip to FRA than Cochem is - of the 3 options, it's probably your best final overnight.

That said... I still like the idea of a final night in Mainz, even if you wish to spend your final day in the scenic zone to the north and do zero sightseeing in Mainz. You will have a very long flight day coming home, and staying in Mainz provides a little extra time cushion for sleeping in that morning and for a leisurely breakfast. Also, trains from Mainz to FRA are DIRECT - no changes of train to make, no waiting around for a later 2nd train if your first train out of St. Goar is delayed.

To extend your final-day sightseeing into the late afternoon and evening, leave your bags at the front desk of your St. Goar hotel - and arrange to fetch them at a certain time - most hotels don't mind doing that for you. Then catch any train you like into Mainz for the night.

If the primary reason for going to Munich is its Springfest, Germany's largest Springfest (and Europe's largest spring festival) is in Stuttgart, just south of Bad Wimpfen.

https://www.stuttgarter-fruehlingsfest.de/en/home/

Unfortunately, it looks like there is no direct connection from Stuttgart to Bad Wimpfen via train/bus, but the journey can be done in about an hour with a connection.

Thank you Russ and Dave! It has been fun learning so much about Germany and planning our itinerary. Still have plenty of time to figure it all out. Yes, the springfest in Stuttgart looks great and we had considered it, but since we'll be flying into Munich and spending two or three nights there we will explore it there instead. Wish we had time to see it all! We are already planning for a second trip. Anyway, we are still planning to go to Bad Wimpfen after leaving Munich and then head on to the Rhine and Mosel river towns.

Expect we will take the train from Bad Wimpfen to Bingen and then the KD boat to St. Goar for two nights (does that make sense?) followed by two nights in Cochem, one in Oberwesel (castle), and the last one...who knows? Yes, Russ, your advice to stay in Mainz is right on the money and probably the smartest move for us, but sometimes we aren't so smart! Ha! Would Bacharach work? Or perhaps add a night to the castle (least expensive room). I realize we'd still go to Mainz and then on to Frankfurt Main. How complicated would that be? Our Lufthansa flight leaves at 13:05 on Saturday, May 2. Definitely still thinking about staying in Mainz - just working to see how all of our itinerary fits together.
Thanks again. I appreciate your candor.

So, if neither St. Goar or Mainz looks right for your last night, look into Bacharach, or Bingen (closer to FRA.) You can find some direct trains to FRA from both towns - have a look at the schedule and click the "only local transport" box when you search to eliminate high-speed train options (more expensive, not necessary) and you'll find the direct trains (there'll be a "0" under the "Chg," column.) Connections in Mainz (or elsewhere) aren't complicated if you have to make them - but they can result in delays if your first train is late. I always prefer to avoid connections if I'm on my way to an airport.

Staying in Bacharach can mean train noise depending on your location - scan the reviews for complaints before booking. Bacharach has no real riverfront hotels with nice views since the town sits back from the waterfront behind the railway. Bingen can be a good choice if you stay in the waterfront; there aren't a lot of choices there - the best being the NH Bingen, located on the long and enjoyable Rhine promenade, which is lined with cafes and park grounds. The NH Bingen was my wife's absolute favorite on a trip we took a few years back - the expansive breakfast room takes full advantage of the setting. Ask for a riverfront room. There's a direct 9:47 RE train on most days to FRA (10:35) from Bingen Hbf station - and several departures with a connection prior to that. Trains from Bingen Stadt station will all require a connection. It's roughly the same walking distance to either station from the NH Bingen hotel. See Map.

I was thinking more about the possibility of starting your trip in Stuttgart (instead of Munich) and narrowing down the geographic scope of your trip if the primary draw of Munich is its Springfest. In that case, you could save Munich for a future trip that includes the geographically close Füssen and Salzburg. There are non-stop flights from 5 US cities to Stuttgart (plus connecting flights through European gateway airports). If you are committed to Munich, though, kein Problem (as the Germans say).

Thanks again! Dave, we have our tickets and will be flying into Munich, so unfortunately Stuttgart would have to be via train. We plan to visit art and history museums while in Munich. (In addition to a beer hall or two!) Agreed though that the geographic scope is way too large with a couple of days including many hours on trains, but guess we will have to deal with it. We’ll make the best of it I’m sure. So much to see and do.
Russ, we will likely take your initial advice and stay in Mainz, but will look into the Bingen hotel your wife enjoyed, and also consider Bacharach. Thanks so much for the train information. Wish we could afford to stay for a month! We had no intention of visiting the Rhine and Mosel river towns a couple of weeks ago, and now they have become a focus thanks to your suggestions. Looking forward to exploring! Thank you both very much for your help.