Modifications of RS 21 day driving tour

Any prepackaged itinerary is only as good as it's intentions. It is a plan, not necessarily an operational agenda. What do YOU actually want to see? What are your particular interests? Do you like museums? Zoos? Etc. If you are three months out from the trip you are not particularly late since it will not be high season. Hotels will be available, but may not be at the best price, as time gets short. I have not spent three weeks driving, since we never saw the need given the rail options.

Pick your subjects/places of interest. Pick your activities. Lay out your plan with three nights (ideally 4 nights in each major stop. Have fun. The major thing you will remember other than one or two outstanding sights or works of art will be the cafe you spent too much money on, watching the world go by.

Any tour itinerary or suggested itinerary is an attempt to be all things to all people. It may not be ideally suited to any single person. As already pointed out, you are you, not an average person. It's highly unlikely the RS itinerary is as appropriate for you as a plan you would work out yourself. Furthermore, every time I look at one of the RS-suggested routes, my reaction is that it doesn't spend enough time anywhere, with the possible exception of the very tiniest towns.

Quite a number of our Germany experts have said they don't particularly recommend Baden Baden, so it seems your instincts are good on that score.

There have been many, many posts on this forum suggesting alternatives to such overly touristy, often-recommended, spots as Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Skimmimg back through this forum will no doubt turn up a lot of good suggestions.

For more specific suggestions it would help to provide your anticipated departure date, the number of nights you plan to spend in Europe and the sketched-out itinerary you're working on. We don't know what RS recommends as a 3-week trip through Germany.

The suggested 3-week itinerary from Rick's Germany guidebook is reproduced at https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/germany/itinerary.

For myself, the main changes I made on my first trip were simply to have more time and include more that is (now) in the book, but not all on the 3-week itinerary. For instance, I've slept on both the Rhine and Mosel rivers, instead of day-tripping. I happened to have time for some Luther sites. While Dachau is the most convenient Concentration Camp memorial to visit without a car, you could have a deeper experience to substitute Buchenwald (near the Luther sites) or Sachsenhausen (near Berlin). I did not necessarily spend more time at destinations, as most towns on the plan are small.

If you're interested in local events like fall wine or beer festivals, see if one fits into your plan. For me, the one in Heilbronn was worth a special stop (see https://www.travelsignposts.com/Germany/food/german-wine-and-beer-festivals or similar sites).

I have spent years driving around Germany, although it's been a few years since the last time. My last 3 week trip was 4 years ago. I landed in Munich and basically did a round trip to Salzburg, Prague, Nuremberg, and back. I did hit other places, but that was the main route.

A lot of what's "right" for you is going to depend on what you "must" see. I helped one of my brother's plan a trip of that length just a year after I was over, and it was his chance to see places he likes and show his wife her first look at Germany. They basically flew into Frankfurt, drove up to Koblenz, came down the Rhine, over to Wurzburg, down the Romantic Road, hit Nuremberg, then to Munich, down to Garmisch, then to Salzburg. To me that would be better than the RS drive, as I think doing the West side of Germany should tie into the Alsalce-Lorriene and Eastern France and Switzerland. Bavaria, Tyrol, and the Czech Republic (in my mind) tie together better.

You might consider Koblenz, Wurzburg, Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg, Prague, Dresden, and Berlin as a route. It's about as long as the RS drive, and (IMHO) a nicer drive. Also that way you could drop the car in the same country, and flying into Frankfurt and out of Berlin should be no problem.

I'd like to point out also that I really don't think any major city can be seen in 2 days. Not even close. As you can see from my last trip I like to plan 4-5 days in any city. I spent 3 days in Regensburg that trip and that was just because I hit town as the fest started and stuck around. I also drove past Rothenberg and spent an afternoon and overnight in Nordligen because I didn't want to deal with the normal tourists (and I lived close enough to RodT to be a local for years). If you're driving you have to leave time for things like this that are not in the guidebooks. Nothing makes a trip more "yours" than that unplanned "find".