Itinerary Help, Part II

I've made a change already...added a 3 night stop in Trier after Boppard. Took out Muenster.

Tracy

Looks to me like a nice round trip touching main parts of Germany.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern you can also do on your way from Lübeck to Berlin, e. g. Schwerin or Wismar.

I would consider Hamburg instead of Lübeck, of course Lübeck as day trip. Hamburg's main celebration is the port's birthday - annually a huge fest. In 2025 it will happen around May 9-11.

Any specific interests for one or the other tip at / around destinations.

4 nights in Nuremberg seems a bit much.

3 nights in Fussen, if you use some time to visit Garmish and explore the Zugspitze (highest mountain in Germany).
3 nights in Augsburg. We lived there for 4 years, it is a great city, but you can see it in one full day. Don't miss the Cathedral, Rathaus and Fuggeri.
Consider adding Berchtesgaden and nearby Salzburg, Austria for 3 days.

Have you planned WHAT you will see in those locales? Use TripAdvisor.com under things to do.

It would help to know what day trips you are already thinking from each city. But here are my thoughts.

First, I disagree about 4 nights in Nuremberg being too much. I was there for 4 nights and enjoyed it very much. Having said that, two of those days I was there were spent on day trips—one to Regensburg and one to Bamberg. I would highly recommend visiting those 2 towns if you can, while you are in Nuremberg (another option is Wurzburg). They are very easy to get to by train and I enjoyed my visits there very much; especially Regensburg.

I think that's a good idea to drop Muenster. I liked Müenster but the only reason I went there (on a day trip) was that I was staying in a nearby town doing research on family genealogy.

I would consider visiting Augsburg as a day trip from Munich instead of spending 3 nights there. It's only about an hour away by train, which makes that easily doable. in fact, if you give up the extra days in Augsburg and Münster, you could squeeze in a trip to Salzburg, which is wonderful! It's one of my favorite places. It's easily reachable by train, and is considered part of Bavaria, so you can use the Bayern ticket or the D-ticket to get there.

• The Rhine/Mosel should be near the END of your trip, not April 1. Fly FRA or LUX to Seattle.

• I'd use COCHEM or thereabouts for a Mosel base. Trier can be a day trip from there, and Cochem is much closer to Burg Eltz, Beilstein, and the best river cruise options.

• Nuremberg could use an additional night or more... for day trips to Regensburg, Bamberg, the Franconian Open Air Museum... unlike Rothenburg, Nuremberg is an ideal rail hub for visiting the area by train.

• While I liked Münster and Augsburg, I see them mostly as pleasant one-day experiences, maybe 6-8-hr. stops on the way to somewhere else, or day trips from some other place. If you do stay in Augsburg... on my recent trip I found the City Hotel Ost am Kö well located and most impressive in every way.

• Please see my most recent post to you on thread #1.

I saw your reservations about Salzburg on another thread of yours, but will say that it really is a beautiful place and not at all "touristy." When I first went there, it was with reluctance and only because a friend pushed me into it, but I wound up loving it. FWIW, I am not a Sound of Music fan (when I worked in theatre, we used to call it "Sound of Mucus." :-)). At any rate, if you can swing it, I highly recommend it; preferably for 3 nights, but even 2 would work.

If you are staying 2 nights in Cologne, I would recommend a day trip to Aachen, which is a short train ride away. I loved Aachen. Its cathedral is quite beautiful (especially the interior, which is drop-dead gorgeous) and houses the remains of Charlemagne, leader of the Holy Roman Empire. The town is also very charming and has a lovely vibe to it. It's smaller than Cologne and you could easily spend some time just walking around and enjoying the sites. Don't miss the Granus tower, which is next to the Rathaus (town hall) and is one of the few pieces remaining from Charlemagne’s palace. It dates back to the 8th century, making it over 1200 years old.

Love all your great input and suggestions. Thank you all!

Mardee- I love the idea of adding Regensburg and Bamberg day trips to Nuremberg. Sounds perfect. Good to hear dropping Muenster was a good idea.

I’m seriously considering how to add Salzburg (back in). :) Your comments on Sound of Mucus are hilarious, thanks for including that info. We like the SOM, but aren’t crazy for it, ya know. But it does sound very worth a visit…

Aachen sounds so lovely - will definitely try to incorporate a day trip from Cologne! Thanks!

I guess I don’t have any other daytrips already on my plan, except now I do based on these suggestions! If (I mean when) I post an update, I’ll include daytrips to be more helpful.

I will look at visiting Augsburg as a day trip from Munich. I’ve toyed with the idea of including Salzburg several times, but there are so many places to see that I ended up dropping it. Perhaps I will add it back in. :) We visited Vienna a few years back and I really loved it.

MarkK: Thanks for the suggestion to see Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and/or Schwerin on our way from Lubeck to Berlin. I had both Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schwerin on my radar and they both look amazing. Looking at the trains, seems like only stopping at one would make sense. Which would you recommend?

Geovagriffith: I’m considering adding Salzbrg (back in) haha. Keep going back and forth. So hard to get it all in and not be massively rushed. I’ve decided to do Augsburg as a day trip from Munich. I am doing a cursory look via tripadvisor and other online sources to see “the best” to-do’s in each location to help determine the number of days. I’m going to add a day trip or two from Nuremberg, as several have suggested, so probably will keep that at 4 nights.

Russ: Yes, ending our trip near FRA would be ideal (that’s where we’re flying into), but my challenge is finding a location not terribly far from FRA so we can head straight there when we arrive around noon on April 1. We’ll be tired and I didn’t want a complicated travel day, but also didn’t want to “waste” a day in FRA overnight. Currently, the itinerary heads in a circle from FRA kind of north and clockwise, but maybe I could switch that up to counter-clockwise (ugh). I’ll check what that would do to our travels on April 1st. Or maybe we’d just have to stay in FRA and wait until the 2nd to start out on a longer travel day.

I’m also trying to be careful (as I mentioned before) about where we land over Good Friday/Easter weekend. I think it was you that mentioned train travel on that Saturday should be ok, if we make reservations ASAP.

Thanks for the Cochem suggestion - that looks like a very good idea (vs. Trier). I’m going to try to add another night in Nuremberg, per your suggestion. I’ll plan on Augsburg as a day trip from Munich.

I'm sure I'll be updating again here at some point soon! Thank you all again.

Tracy

Ok, here's my latest revision to the Itinerary.

Now a 35 Night Itinerary!

Fly SEA to FRA
Arrive FRA noon, train to NUREMBERG, 4 nights
Daytrip: Regensburg, Bamberg, the Franconian Open Air Museum
ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER, 2 nights
FUSSEN, 3 nights
SALZBURG, 3 nights
MUNICH, 5 nights
Daytrips: Augsburg & Bamberg
DRESDEN, Sat Holy bonfires (Easter Weekend), 4 nights
BERLIN, 5 nights
LUBECK, 3 nights
Day trip: Schwerin Castle in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
COLOGNE, 2 nights
Daytrip to Aachen
BOPPARD, 3 nights
DAY TRIP: Trier
FRANKFURT, 1 night
Fly FRA to SEA

Thoughts? If anyone feels strongly I should swap out a city for another, or revise the number of nights (and why?) please let me know. I don't like to stay places less than 2-4 nights (ideally), so don't feel I can add any other cities, unless I take one away.

Thank you!

Tracy

3 nights in Nuremberg won't cover Nuremberg + 3 separate day trips. You really need 5 nights as Day 1 is an iffy day.

You now have two day trips to Bamberg, one from Munich, another from Nuremberg???; do it from Nuremberg only, a shorter day trip than from Munich, to save time. The subtracted day/night from Munich moves to N'berg... but 4 still isn't enough in N'berg . So I suggest you subtract an additional night from Munich (the day trip to Augsburg.) That leaves you 5 for N'berg + 3 day trips and 3 dedicated days to Munich only.

But you can still see Augsburg... You will in fact be stopping there already on your Rothenburg > Füssen journey, which requires you to get off in Augsburg to change trains. Augsburg is a good place to break up your train trip for several hours anyway. You could leave R'burg at 9, spend 5-5.5 hours in Augsburg, and arrive in Füssen before 19:00. Augsburg station has lockers for your bags.

Thank you Russ. Good ideas and information. I appreciate your help and wisdom!

Tracy

Russ - oops, didn't mean to have two daytrips to Bamburg. :)

Not sure if we'd be up for three daytrips from Nuremberg - if we dropped one (would decide when we're there), which would you suggest we skip?

Love the info about stopping in Augsburg in route from Nuremberg to Rothenberg - thanks.

Tracy

Of the two well-preserved medieval cities, Bamberg would probably be the keeper over Regensburg. The outstanding Freilandmuseum in Bad Windsheim gives you a unique look at life in this area over the last 7 centuries. I cannot de-recommend it myself. I spent about 3 hours there not including meals. Some say you need 2 days to see it... but that's probably impractical... You can preview and read reviews at the links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o1o-nnGD0Y

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g198421-d284746-Reviews-Frankonian_Open_Air_Museum-Bad_Windsheim_Middle_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

There is an option for taking a 1-2-hour tour in English for an overview of the museum with an English-speaking guide for less than €10 p.p. Not something I've done but sounds like a good plan if you don't know some German. Reserve this with the museum in advance:
E-Mail: buchungen(@)freilandmuseum.de

Otherwise, purchase an information booklet in English to help get the most out of your visit.

Without a Mosel River base town... A Boppard > Trier > Boppard day trip means a long time on the train. Scenic route, just long, and Trier will require some time if you are serious about exploring it. Make sure Trier is what you want to see; you won't have sufficient time to add stops for Cochem, Beilstein, Bernkastel, or Burg Eltz with just one day trip that takes you to Trier.

Adding Salzburg to the mix has definitely put the vise grips on multi-night stays. If Trier is not critical to your 3-night Boppard stay, you can do a single day trip which at least gets you to Eltz and Cochem. But a stay of 2-3 nights in Cochem would be a big improvement. Swiping one night from Füssen and one night from either Boppard or Salzburg would get you those 2 nights in Cochem.

I think 4 nights in Nuremberg is plenty for 2 day trips. I spent 4 nights there in 2022, which included seeing all of Nuremberg's attractions, plus Courtroom 600 and the Nazi sites, and 2 day trips to Regensburg and Bamberg, and did not feel rushed at all. Nuremberg's Altstadt is relatively small and very concentrated so it's easy to see most of the sights in one full day, plus your "left-over" time from day trips, etc.

With regards to the open-air museum, if you really want to see it, why not try to see it on your way to Rothenburg? It's pretty much right on the way.

Overall I like your updated itinerary a lot, and think it will work well for you.

With regards to Trier, I agree that it is a long train trip (2+ hours each way) but Trier is well worth a visit so only you can decide if it's worth it. I'm participating in a thread right now with a person who is taking a trip to Paris next year, and wants to take a "quick" day trip to London to spend time at the British Museum. It's been pointed out that this will take almost 2 1/2 hours on the train each way, plus 90 minutes beforehand waiting, plus time getting to the museum and waiting in line, plus the very expensive ticket price on the Eurostar. I would never do that, but this person is willing to. :-) Crazy? Maybe, but they know what they want.

All of us here have our personal preferences when it comes to travel, and we all tend to promote them, so just keep in mind that this is your trip and you should do what you want to do.

With regards to Dresden over Easter - I highly recommend you visit Bautzen on Easter Sunday for the Easter celebrations. The Sorbians (slavic minority) there does processions on horses. And a lot more.

Russ - I'm torn between staying in Boppard or Cochem - sounds like you definitely favor Cochem. It does look awesome. I'll need to do some more reading. I'll keep reading about the different day trips, but understand that Trier might not be a good idea - I agree that a day trip should be around 1 hr or 1.5 hrs away maximum.

Ibren - Thanks for that great info! Sounds wonderful. Do you have any idea what time of day the horse procession would be? I'm sure I can do some research and find out also. Thanks!

sounds like you definitely favor Cochem.

No, not quite so...

I'll restate my idea...

If you intend to visit Trier, my suggestion is 2 nights in Cochem (day trip to Trier on 2nd day) + 2 nights in Boppard.

The same 2/2 plan would be possible if you will not be visiting Trier, but I understand that you prefer a longer stay, so... a 4-night stay in Boppard would be OK in this case.

I would not recommend a 4-night stay in Cochem, with or without Trier, because that would mean extra back-tracking to/from the Rhine towns.

About 4 vs 5 nights in Nuremberg: I don't disagree with Mardee about 4 nights with TWO outings. But for the THREE outings you listed, I recommend 5 nights.

Tracy,

check out this article of a regional newspaper for more infos (for 2024, nothing up yet for next year):

https://www.lr-online.de/nachrichten/sachsen/osterreiten-2024_-zeitplan-_-routen-in-der-lausitz-73098413.html

Google will help with translation.

The horse procession starts at Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) in Bautzen at 10.30 after mass, going via the square in front of the Dom (cathedral) and Friedensbrücke (the large bridge that spans the Spree river valley from where you have the best view of the old town). They return via Nikolai cemetery and finish in front of the cathedral.

Btw, most years I go to Cistercian convent St. Marienstern to see the procession but I am afraid it is not as convenient to get there for you as to Bautzen. And Bautzen as a larger town offers more to see and do.

The Spring Beer festivals in Munich (April 18 - May 4) and Stuttgart (April 19 - May 11) should be great fun if you can go...and like beer, food and music. I am planning to go, still working on specific dates.

Nothing wrong with that Itinerary at all. Youre spending plenty of time in each place!

Good call on going to Trier. Its a gorgeous place. There is a lot to see.

Just want to give you a heads up on my DB experience though. There is a LOT of work being done on the lines. More than 80% of my trains were delayed (no more than 20 minute, one for an hour) and 2 of them were cancelled completely. Make sure that any transfers have about an hour between them to make things easier in case there are delays. Every single route I took had instances of trains stopping to allow others to pass since many trains are using one set of lines. Its not a big deal and everything happened as was planned, just keep in mind that there are going to be delays. So an hour is the best time between trains. You could probably do ok with 30 minutes.

Also keep in mind that IF your trains are cancelled or there are delays of 20 minutes or more for your arrival time, you can use ANY train going on that route to your destination for free. Just use the DB app to find the route and hop on that train. The staff are understanding of the stress and pain that it causes and I had zero issues. The system keeps track of that pretty well in my experience. So if it happens dont panic. Keep an eye on the app and if any cancellations happen, or missed trains search on the app for the soonest train and get ready to take action. Not saying this to stress you out but its something that you do need to be prepared for. TBH it made the trip for me more memorable, and I was part of the locals sitting there grumbling and making jokes about it.

Might I suggest seeing Aachen while in Cologne if time allows? Its a nice quick hour and a half day trip from there, and it is a gorgeous town that Charlemange is buried in. The cathedral is amazing.

Thank you ALL for the great insights and information!! Even links!! Thank you so much.

I'm still puzzling it all out, reading, googling, etc. haha

There are way too many DO NOT MISS SITES! But that's ok, it's all part of the fun and planning....

I appreciate the train delay information too - I'd much rather be prepared and now will be! Thankfully, we're not in a huge hurry and so the train days will be whatever they will be. Like you said, nothing can be done but be patient! That's kind of a bummer though...but we'll muddle through.

Thanks again all,
Tracy