Itinerary Help on 1st Trip to Germany Please (Bavaria & Dresden)

welcome to the Forums, B

You have done a lot of thinking about this trip so you are well prepared.

One question to kick off - you said that you are considering a D-Ticket for your 22 day trip (plus a couple of ICEs) because you will be within one month. Do you mean that 22 days is within a month's time or that all 22 days will be within one calendar month?

I expect that you know that the D-Ticket is for calendar months only, not for periods of 30 days?

OK, two questions, you have no interest in Frankfurt or the Rhine Valley?

Make sure you get the bus w/o transfet to/from Dinkelsbuhl

Nigel - thank you. Yes the 30 days is within one calendar month. I would love to explore other areas and cities, but only have limited time and want to focus on these areas for this trip. I hope to maybe one day return, and if I do, I will def be looking into more places.

BigTyke - I haven't spent as much time yet on trains and buses, so I'm not sure what that means with the bus w/o transfer?

Thank you both for your help.

If you are flying into Frankfurt, do consider spending the night there. This allows you to 1, get over your jetlag, 2, buy a cheap ticket for the next morning going to Munich, 3, see a very historic city. Do you really want to sit around the airport after a long flight, waiting for a train, and then sit in that train for a few more hours just to get to Munich? If you stay overnight in Frankfurt, you don't have to stress about missing the train, and you will arrive in Munich the next day a lot more rested and fit.
There is so much to see in Frankfurt that would match your interests, even if you only have the one day.

Here's my $0.02 worth...

1st day - fly from FRA to Munich. Just as cheap as the train and faster since you're already at the airport.

Day 3 - There's no need for a tour to Dachau, and you probably don't want to fit that visit into a fixed schedule.

Days 5-6 - I'd go to Garmisch and stay overnight if I was trying to do these places. If I was driving; probably Mittenwald.

Day 7 - it's a very short trip from Munich to Nordlingen. You can easily walk the wall that day, and it being a Sunday the wall will be open. The RiesKrater Museum is only open Tues-Sun and you want to see that. This is a small town, you can circumnavigate the entire wall in less than 2 hours.

Day 9 - If you drive it's a short trip of less than an hour. Parking can be hard to find. If you take the bus make sure you get the direct one. There is no train.

Day 10 - Those castles are up some hills. I'm not sure you'll find an E-bike rental in Nordlingen. A car would be best.

Day 14 - The parade grounds, Hindenburg Field, is easy to get to by train. It's only a couple hundred meters from the platform. But the place is really run down, and the signage is decrepit. There's nothing nearby that will be open on a Sunday, and train schedules will be (normally) limited, so plan accordingly. It may take 3-4 hours round trip.

If you rent a car, which may be a good idea, you should rearrange your itinerary. Drive from Frankfurt to Nuremberg, stay there, and do what you plan in that area, then drive down to Nordlingen and from there to Munich. Ditch the car in Munich and fly to Dresden.

Welcome to the forum. I'm fairly certain that I've responded briefly to your plans on the T/A forum. I mention that here in case you wish to send a private message, which is no longer possible on the T/A forum. You are welcome to do that on this forum, however, if you like.

An additional response for you here...

Day 5 makes more sense as a paid bus tour from Munich; as a day trip, it would be a long unwieldy travel day and very tricky to do both N'stein and L'hof independently by public transport. That said, I have not done the bus package, so this isn't a personal recommendation. Neither Neuschwanstein nor Linderhof are castles - both are more modern palaces completed in the late 19th century.

Day 6 also makes for a very long day trip from Munich to the Berchtesgaden area. If you are going to make that trip, then I suggest you spread it out over 2-3 days. Stay there, make the trip worth the trouble. Spend some time in the Alps! See a beautiful lake or two, as you suggested! How to do this?

• I would cut Dachau as has been suggested already and move that day to B'gaden.
• I would SHORTEN the time you are spending in Nördlingen by 1-2 days.

Then you will have time not just for the Eagles Nest, but also for Berchtesgaden itself, the Königssee, the Jenner Mountain Bergbahn, the salt mine, perhaps even a detour to Salzburg.

https://www.berchtesgaden.de/en/home

I’d personally stay all nights in Munich for the castle and Eagle’s Nest trips to keep the luggage simple, and the day trips are long enough that moving hotels just adds stress. Smaller towns will have limited restaurants and attractions, so I’d plan meals ahead. Dachau I did on my own and it worked well. Overall, I’d treat Munich as a base for the two major day trips and keep your travel days mostly on weekdays for easier access to restaurants and museums.

You have some very long day trips, consider staying at some of these places.
Also, consider doing The Romantic Road.
It included several small cities or towns with medieval walls like Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
https://www.romanticroadgermany.com

Because the OP's goal is the Eagles Nest (Kehlsteinhaus,) the suggestion that this trip be done as a day trip from Munich should be considered with the real-world logistics from DB. The trip involves 1) standard public transport PLUS 2) a shuttle bus to cover the final approach to the Kehlsteinparkplatz.

München Hbf (Munich Central Station) > Dokumentation Obersalzberg (bus stop at The Documentation Center)

• 1 transfer in Freilassing, 1 transfer to local bus in B'gaden; 8:55 - 12:27 (3 hrs, 35 min.)

Dokumentation Obersalzberg > Kehlsteinparkplatz

• shuttle bus departures every 25 minutes... the 12:40 bus arrives at 12:50.

From there, you walk through a tunnel a few hundred yards to the Kehlsteinhaus elevator (maybe 5 minutes or so for this part.)

My personal ballpark for reasonable transport time on a day trip is around 4 hours (or less) round trip. This one from Munich is 4 hours each way - and that's only if you are staying at Munich's central train station; add travel time to and from the station within Munich if not.

Berchtesgaden is not your average "service-deprived" small town. The Berchtesgaden region is well developed for both summer and winter tourism; it gets more than 1 million overnight stays per year from visitors and is packed with basic services and things to see/do.

Ms. Jo - thank you so much for the info on Frankfurt.
KGC - thank you as well. I have found a bike rental in Nordlingen - I guess my biggest ? Is there a bus or train to Harburg to see the castle instead of biking?
Sharon - I am trying to keep as few "home base" locations as possible. Thank you for your input.
Geovagriffith - yes Russ has been a great help and I am looking into staying near one of those long day trips near Berchtesgaden as he has highlighted in his post.
I appreciate all of your input and help. Thank you again.

Either the RE89 or RB89 train will take you between Nordlingen and Harburg. There's one train an hour.

If you like trains, take a look at the historic collection behind the bahnhof in Nordlingen.