Itinerary help

I fly Frankfurt and Munich open jaw. I would forget Berlin on this trip. The Rhine Valley is worth seeing. This fall I will stay for a week - my 6th visit.

Trains do not follow the Romantic Road. Wurzburg, Rothenburg, and Fussen can be visited by train.

I agree with Stephen. The Rhine Valley and the Mosel Valley are both among my favorite places in Europe. I would also forget Berlin unless you really have your heart set on it. The Romantic Road can only be done in a car or bus, but you can definitely get to Rothenburg ob der Tauber by train, and that is a wonderful, walled city. You will love it, I think. I sure do. I have been there about 8 times and I am going back there in Sept. when I take my daughter and granddaughter on their very first European Adventure. I love the trains!!

Most of the Romantic Road towns can be done by train - but it's a bit inconvenient. If the RR towns really tug at your sleeve, the best train strategy is to pick a base in the north and a base in the south and see a couple of towns at each end. But IMO the RR route is "oversold," in part because it doesn't include some of Bavaria's best destinations. (And how could it? What are the odds that the greatest towns all line up along a single north-south route?) What you might do is stay in Wuerzburg (northern end of the RR) a few days or a week. From W'burg you can do outings to Rothenburg and some great places the RR travelers miss - Bamberg, Iphofen, Nuremberg, Marktbreit, and Bad Windsheim, for starters, very attractive places that as a group offer a huge variety of things to see and do.

The Rhine/Mosel region is superb as well. You might spend a little time in the Black Forest region as well - Baden-Baden with its casinos and high-end spas isn't very typical of the region. Frankfurt would be a convenient airport for these 2 regions and Northern Bavaria.

Thank you. I guess you just hear so much about the romantic road. I just want a good taste of Germany. Beauty, old towns with charm, castles, so if the romantic road is not best than I am open to all ideas!!!!!

Meredith since you live in Phoenix maybe you can relate. The Romantic Road is just a highway route, like Route 66 in the US. The interesting points are the towns and cities it connects, not the road itself. Hitting a town or two on the RR is enough to get the point. I think the Rhine Valley is more worthwhile than the RR. Trains will make your trip less stressful than driving. Two weeks is not a lot of time for all the destinations you have in mind. It will eat up 1/2 to a whole day just getting from one place to the other.

From your comment about airfare being high (looking at into Frankfurt and out of Berlin) I am inferring that you are looking at two one way fares versus an open-jaw multi-city fare. If that is true you need to search on multi-city and the fare will be pretty close to roundtrip from one city.

"I just want a good taste of Germany. Beauty, old towns with charm, castles..."

The Middle Rhine Valley is your best "one-stop-shop" for all that - amazing scenery, 40 authentic castles in 40 miles of river valley - and old-world towns like Braubach (Marksburg Castle,) Boppard, Bacharach, Oberwesel, and St. Goar (Rheinfels Castle.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxFF80wORNQ

These towns are well served by train on both sides of the river - and while there are no bridges, there are ferry boats here and there (St. Goar, Boppard, for example) for crossing the river. The 2 castles named above can be toured (many cannot) - you can enjoy views of the others with a river cruise (I recommend Bingen-St. Goar or Bingen-Boppard, 1.5 and 2.3 hours, respectively.)

http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/index.php?id=318&L=3

https://www.k-d.com/de/welcome-to-kd/

If you make Boppard your home base, you will find it fairly easy to visit the Mosel River by train as well (Cochem, Burg Eltz Castle.) Day passes make train travel easy here - and they include some of the ferries as well.

http://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets-and-fares/ticket-offers/leisure-ticket/

The Romantic Road has a few castles scattered about as well. But some of those that we call castles in English are actually modern residential palaces - the Fuessen (southern Romantic Road) area buildings that attract tourists from around the globe, for example, rather than the 800-1,000-year-old castles on the Rhine and the Mosel - so it's really a choice of apples vs. apples + oranges.

I agree with the others about the Romantic Road... it's the towns that are the attraction. The road itself is just a conveyance. In fact, Germany has almost 100 official designated Ferienstrassen (themed tourist routes), of which the Romantic Road is probably just the most well known.

Now that being said... Your direct driving route from Baden-Baden to Munich will have you moving in the general direction of the Romantic Road. If you have time there's no reason not to drive portions of it, other than the fact that you can hit the towns on it quicker by just taking at A7 Autobahn and existing as needed.

I understand it just being a rode. I am not interested in the road itself. I want to see villages and quaint towns. If there is a better way to do this in other areas and doesn't take up as much time...that is what I am interested in.

Another question....is it possible in 2 weeks to fly into Prague then see Munich, Salzburg, Rothenburg, Baden, Baden, The Rhine and any other small towns along the way or is that just too much? Thank you again!!