Itinerary Suggestions welcome 9/27/2018 - 10/22/2018

Welcome to the forum! Hope you are able to put together an enjoyable trip. I have real doubts about this itinerary however.

Only 2 nights in A'dam? Much of one day will be spent just getting there and checking in.

"10/8 Train to Trier train to Koblenz then to Bacharach to stay 2 nights..."

This is roughly 6 hours on the train in one day with inadequate time for visiting Trier or Koblenz.

(Only) one night in Frankfurt? Why not just skip it and travel by train from the Rhine to Rothenburg (or thereabouts?)

The Romantic Road bus schedule will mean almost no time at all in the towns along the way. Neither is it especially scenic.

A day trip to Salzburg will be quite rushed.

Less than one day each for Nuremberg and Dresden?

This itinerary looks somewhat like a "copy-cat" tour of Rick Steves 13-day trip around the whole country. It's more than a bit of a whirlwind. It's probably wise to avoid bus-tour-like scheduling when you're on your own. You would be better off adding 6-7 more days or cutting destinations. For the best advice, include some personal interests we can focus on

Nothing wrong with skippng the Black Forest - you are skipping at least 75% of Germany anyway.

The trip to Trier makes little sense.

Just go from Rothenburg then to Munich. Do the Royal Castles either as a daytrip or overnight ( better ) from Munich.

Why the day in Frankfurt?

I was not a fan of tours mid-day (10/19, 10/21) when I was 22. I am less of a fan 40+ years later.

Thanks sure wish I found this forum months ago! Thanks to for the feedback!
I was trying to figure this out without using more than the 15 train travel days, but guess for short trips we could just pay for those tickets. I really thought the Romantic Road bus would be more scenic than the train but guess not:(
We are interested in nature, awesome scenery, history and people. We don't enjoy hours in an art museum or really long hours in any museum. My husband is an engineer and loves structure, function etc.

Would it still be 6 hours to Amsterdam if we took the train from Hanover to Emmerich then the Netherlands train to A..dam?
Would it be better just to stoop in Cologne see the Dom than go to Trier to stay there for a night?
I did look at a LOT of itineraries to try to come up with a plan, esp for Munich and after, Rick mentioned the trip to Salzburg was an easy day trip from Munich not so?
We aren't totally interested in Martin Luther but the town of Erfurt seemed interesting.

We were mainly going to Frankfurt to catch the Romantic bus from there it leaves at 8 am.
I thought going to Trier we would see more of the Mosel not so?
What 75% are we missing even without going to the Black Forest?

I'll toss out a sample itinerary for the first part...

10/4: 7:46 Hamburg (if that's your starting point) - 13:00 A'dam = 5.25 hours. About half a day left. (3 nights)

10/7: 8:05 A'dam - 10:45 Cologne - 2.7 hours. Spend several hours in Cologne. IMHO it's possible to enjoy the place adequately without staying 24 hours (Dresden and Nuremberg definitely not.) Then take train south to BOPPARD instead of Bacharach in the evening. It's a lovely riverfront wine town with lots of hotels and restaurants that works much better as a base town for the Mosel than Bacharach ever will. (3 nights)

(Day trips on 10/8 and 9)

• Train to Bacharach, spend 2-3 hours. Train to Bingen, board 14:30 cruise boat north to St. Goar (the best cruise segment.) Tour Rheinfels Castle. Train back to Boppard.

• Train to Trier for a full day - enjoy the river scenery - it's great for most of this trip.

10/10: Train to Rothenburg (8:12 - 12:50.) (1 night)

10/11: See more of R'burg if you think you need to. Train to next destination...

"Rick mentioned the trip to Salzburg was an easy day trip from Munich not so?"

It's "possible" in a very long day. I think that's definitely a high-energy undertaking. It's bigger and more interesting than that, I think.

Keep in mind Cologne Cathedral is only open 1:00-4:30 on Sundays. Many stores are closed on Sundays; museums closed on Mondays. If you want to tour the Reichstag Building in Berlin, you have to go online and pre-book, so they have time to do a background check. The Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology. Highly recommend tickets ahead of time to the castles near Fussen. Hop on hop off tours are always great to get an overview of the city. Middle Rhine cruise is a must.

You have not much time planned in Berlin. At time of your stay there is Berlin Art Week: http://www.berlinartweek.de/en/berlin-art-week/

In Lübeck I recommend to visit European Hanse Museum: https://www.hansemuseum.eu/museum-2/
It is a gret time travel through some of biggest European cities.

In Hamburg the Emigration Museum is worth a visit: https://www.ballinstadt.de/?lang=en

To Amsterdam prefer train because of autumn vacations in some German states. This means traffic on Autobahn (bus affected). Your planned time in Amsterdam seems also very short.

In total my impression is that you are very much rushing through. You can do that but in my eyes quality beats quantity, means staying at a place and getting deeper in culture and something based on your interest increases the travel experience. You memories will stay longer than tons of mid-quality smartphone pictures.

In Germany I recommend to have some cash with you because not all places accept cards, some places do but not under a certain amount of total purchase , e.g. 5 EUR.

Erfurt is a very attractive place, so I hope you're able to keep it on the itinerary, but I agree with those who thimk you're moving around a great deal.

I would be madly frustrated by having only two days in Berlin. The arrival day--probably sleep-deprived and jetlagged--doesn't count. Berlin is a very spread-out city (time needed to move from place to place) chock-full of interesting historical sights (especially 20th century) that take considerable time to visit. The Pergamon Museum is great. Even if you return to Berlin late on 10/21 (and you should, with a transtlantic flight hanging in the balance), you won't have any really useful sightseeing time on 10/22. If you 16:30 departure is back to the US, you'll need to be at the airport by 13:30, and breakfast/packing/checking out/traveling to the airport will take up a good bit of time.

I think I'd drop Amsterdam without agonIzing over it too much, for logistical reasons.

Thank-you everyone. The itinerary for the 1st part seems good staying 3 nights in Amsterdam then on to Cologne etc.
After our one night stay in Rothenburg( 10/10) would it be better to go straight to Salzburg for 2 nights?
Then to Munich for 4 to 5, leaving 10/16 or 10/17. For sure we want to stay in Berlin the night before our trip home 10/22. What would you recommend for 10/16 or 10/17 until our departure? Nurmburg, Dresden??
PS We don't have the option for longer time in Berlin as our relatives have the plans for us, taking us to Hamburg,Lubeck and Bad Schwartau, and a family reunion in Walsrode for family unity day.They said they will take us to the train station in Hannover or back to Hamburg our choice either 10/4 or 10/5.