Looking for suggestions for a car trip in western Germany

May I ask if you considered using public transit instead of renting a car?

Bruce, We travel with a wheelchair and find a car the easiest. Also, we will be flying into and out Paris so will pick up our car at CDG airport.

Becky, from where will you be driving directly before Stuttgart and how long do you have in Germany? If you like smaller towns, you are spoilt for choice (none of the intended destinations you mention are small towns).

The towns I mentioned are to give an idea of the general area will be in. Dusseldorf is the only real city we plan to visit (have an acquaintance there). We will have about 5 days in western Germany. Thanks again.

It's a large area for five days. Where will you be coming from before Stuttgart and is Stuttgart itself a definite for you? Do you fly out of Dusseldorf?

My husband wants to go to an antique Mercedes parts store near Stuttgard. We're flying in and out if Paris. We have 2 weeks total for our trip. Just looking for a couple of village/small town recommendations.

A good travel guide, like this Michelin Green Guide Germany, should be worthwhile. The Michelin guide has two maps that should be helpful. One has recommended cities color-coded in three levels of recommendation. The other map has recommended touring programs. Rick Steves guide only covers a relatively few places and would not be my first choice if you're looking for small cities.

The link above is for the recent version of the guide. Because it was recently released, there aren't any reviews. Look at the previous edition if you want to read user reviews of the guide.

There's a big distance between Dusseldorf and Baden Baden. I would focus on the Rhine River; wonderful and so much to see and do, with all the old castles/fortresses in view. Some are great to visit. We loved Cologne Cathedral as well. We also enjoyed the Mosel River, staying in a little village of Beilstein (straight out of a fairy tale), then drove by car to Cochem, Trier (dates back to Roman days), and toured Burg Eltz.

Thank you, all for your tips. We'll keep planning. Happy summer!