Lost ALL my Germany info!

They aren't lost forever. All your posts should still be here. Just click on your name where it says 'signed in as' and then choose view topics Judy has participated in. They're all there.

"I remember there were some excellent replies to my old posts, as well as others posts. I had saved them all, but now they are lost forever. "

You can go back to all those threads and that great advice by clicking on your name.

I just did that and I see you have 71 posts on 14 topics - with 57 replies. Just click on View Topics Judy Has Participated In

Phew. Looks like you can retrieve much of your previous work. In the meantime, here are the dates for the 2017 Rhine in Flames. This is on our bucket list as well. I am sure you will have a wonderful trip and I think you are picking the best time of year to go.
http://www.firework.rhine-river.com/

Your wish list of places jumps around a lot. I wouldn't try to do the Rhein unless one end of my flights was in Frankfurt.

Neuschwnastein, Wieskirche, Andechs, Oberammergau, Linderhof, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Zugspitze), and Mittenwald are all relatively close to each other. You could use a base (I like Oberammergau) to visit the other sites. the Eagle's Nest is near Salzburg.

Get a map and figure out an itinerary. Then use the Bahn website to put it all together. Use this forum as a resource for planning transportation. Remember, a lot of the sites around Garmisch are connected by bus.

@ Russ: Thanks!

@ Lee: Thank you. I tried searching on a flight in to Frankfurt and out of Munich (or vice-versa) and it was a lot. I read of these people booking flights for under $1000 per person and I am wondering what I am doing wrong here!!

In 2013 my family stayed in Munich for 2 weeks and visited many of the places you mentioned as day trips. We did use a tour group for the castle visits and stayed at a hotel with a small kitchen. There are pros and cons in staying in one place. I would stay in the Mosel /Rhine area and Munich and day trip from those 2 locations. It may be cheaper flying in and out of Frankfurt.

are you using the multi-city option when looking at flights or trying to do two one ways?

Nigel, multi city

Judy--all those fabulous cheap flights are from east and west coast cities. Maybe you can find a cheapie out of Chicago, if you can get there and back. It was outragousely expensive where we fly from too.

Those lower prices may be harder to find now; there was a period in late fall when there were crazy good prices. I usually fly into Italy from Detroit for $1300-1600 (multi-city), so a ticket for $1000 was a real bargain for me (included Economy Comfort upgrades).

You are not too early for a September trip. Have you checked Skyscanner?

No to Skyscanner. I am not familiar with it.

I just checked it out, the website seems easy enough to navigate. Thank you for mentioning it.

Judy, are you flying out of Detroit? I checked some dummy dates in Sept and I found good flights into Frankfurt home from Vienna for around $1200. That may be the best you can do from Detroit (don't feel bad, it's worse from Portland and around what I have paid from Mpls and Denver). I saw flight under $1000 but they were 2 stops and 20hr duration. I don't know anyone who would do that just to save $300.

You probably will not find cheap flights to Munich in September - it's Oktoberfest in Munich from September 16 to October 3. The demand for flights and hotels rooms in Munich is mind boggling during Octoberfest.

Judy: We, like you, have to travel to an "exit" city to go overseas. We usually use Chicago or Boston. Boston is served by Iceland Air and if I'm not mistaken, all their Europe flights stop at Reykjavik. You might check Iceland Air and see what options you have for the second leg (to Germany, Austria, etc.).

You may have said, but I missed why you don't want to rent a car. If you get a mini-something (my wife calls what we rent a roller skate) with standard transmission it shouldn't break the bank. With the car, you can make a "general" itinerary, then "fill-in" as you go. This would be aided by getting a GPS with the car, but it does add cost. I didn't see any larger cities (other than Salzburg) on your itinerary, so parking the car should not be a hassle (or an expense).

On an earlier visit we rented a car in Munich and drove to many of the places on your itinerary. We finally ended up in Bremen (as we were doing genealogy research). Our only plan was to book where we wanted to stop at night, but during the day we did as we pleased. I second the notion of limiting the number of lodging places. Packing and unpacking and re-packing 18 times would be anathema to me, maybe 4 times total and everything else is a day trip. This is made easier with a car as you can start as early (or late) as you want each day and return whenever you want; so you are in control of your visit and not limited by bus/train schedules.

Judy -- I would urge you to arrange your schedule to include Rhine in Flames if at all possible. We saw this amazing fireworks display in 2014 from St. Goar. Germany was a last-minute addition to our schedule so we weren't able to book a hotel in St. Goar or St. Goarshausen. Instead we stayed in Boppard and took the short train ride to St. Goar. We watched the fireworks from the river bank along with thousands of other people. We were shocked at the size of the crowd ... there were lines of tour buses parked along the highway, including some from England.

We wished we had a hotel with a balcony facing the river to watch the fireworks, as it rained that night while we waited for them to start. We ducked into restaurants or bar to escape the rain but everyplace was packed. Luckily the rain stopped just before the fireworks began. And then, the experience of watching the fireworks from the riverbank was actually very cool. It started with Rheinfels Castle "exploding" in flames, and then came the main display from a barge in the river. Twice we thought it was over, and then a new display would start up somewhere else along the river. The actual fireworks displays lasted well over an hour.

Admittedly we did envy the people on the riverboats. There were dozens of them, all lit up, so that might be a fun option.

You can see from the schedule that there are Rhine in Flames events in several cities on several different September weekends, including Boppard. I would imagine all are spectacular. It was one of the highlights of our trip.