Will try to keep this brief. My husband has his last weekend off for a while so I'd like him to be able to travel with us someplace he hasn't been, that would also be appealing to two seniors visiting us who are somewhat hard to impress.
We can travel by car or train, would like the travel time to be less than 3 hours, include a real "wow" site. The seniors are the kind of people who giant coach tours of 15 countries in 14 days are made for. They have little interest in experiencing local culture, food, history, but are strangely amenable to museums. I've already taken them to Esslingen, on a scenic drive through the Remstal, the half timbered town of Schondorf, on a walking tour of Stuttgart and it's botanical garden, Hohenzollern, and the amazing. town of Haigerloch. I've been more impressed by the places new to me than they are and I've lived here for ages. They don't drink so the wine attractions in the area are not useful.
The downside is the husband has been most everywhere in the region (ditto for grandma) and the Bodensee is out because the long weekend means it's gonna be overbooked.
Our initial thought was Metz, France because hubby and I want to go. But idk how it would play with the ladies. WWI battlefields would in theory be involved but that probably has less interest to them.
Another possibility is the Zugspitze, somehow we've never gone and it would be the only opportunity for alpine scenery on this trip.
We're also pretty happy to just go to Nuremberg or Munich as we like those cities (and can enjoy nightlife after the ladies go to bed). Another possibility is the Mosel and Burg eltz or a Rhine cruise, we've done both before but it would probably be appealing to them.
Normally I'd default to Alsace but we did Colmar, haut-Königsberg, monkey mountain with grandma on her last visit less than 2 years ago.
I'm really at a loss. Possibly someone has a great idea I haven't thought of? The basic problem is our travel styles are so radically different and I'm torn between just giving into what I know they'd enjoy most or something we all might enjoy. Help!