Need Itinerary Advice for Austria and Germany

Hi Megan- Suggest that you switch travel plans on Sep 11 and 12 to save a little time. Your proposed routing for those 2 days and the 13th will create some backtracking- Travel Fussen to Rothenburg on 11 Sep, Rothenburg to Baden-Baden on the 12th, and Baden-Baden to St. Goar on the 13th. If your flight from FRA flughofen is noon or later, just stay in Cochem on Tuesday nite, 16 Sep, and catch train from Cochem to FRA Wednesday morning. If the flight is earlier, travel Cochem to MaInz on Sep 16, then Mainz to FRA on the 17th. Trip from Mainz to FRA flughofen is less than 30 minutes.

You do realize that you won't have time for much sightseeing in Rothenburg and Baden-Baden because you won't get there and checked into your hotel until mid-to-late afternoon. For example, there appears to be only one train from Fussen to Rothenburg with only 2 changes and that train still takes almost 5 hours. Personally I would skip Baden-Baden and spend an extra night in Rothenburg or Cochem...

Have a great trip!!!

Either way you slice it, these smaller towns in the second half of the trip require 2-3 train connections on each leg. You could also travel Fuessen-Rothenburg by the once daily Romantic Road bus, which makes brief photo stops at other towns en-route, and you only have to load your luggage once; no reservation necessary.

"Need Itinerary Advice..."

I agree. The first tip is that a fine 1-week trip to Germany does not need to hit all the touristy destinations Rick's book emphasizes. Attempting to do this will indeed mean a lot of zig-zagging around when your short time should be spent experiencing Germany.

Take Neuschwanstein, for example, your only chosen destination in southern Bavaria. The train takes you from Salzburg into Munich (1.5 - 2 hours) and since you are headed north after N'stein the next day, you have FIVE hours of train/bus time (and an overnight stay) tied up just for Munich - Neuschwanstein - Munich. That's a lot of trouble and expense and all for an overpriced 30-minute tour. And it's not a castle anyway.

So if I were you, I'd save time by sticking somewhat tightly to the Salzburg - Rothenburg - Rhine/Mosel route and drop both Baden-Baden and N'stein. Have a look at what you might see along this route in the way of spas, palaces, and medieval towns. There are spa town options in the Rhine/Mosel region. There are also many late 19th-century palace tours you can take - even a King Ludwig II palace which lies almost directly on the Salzburg - Rothenburg route about 1 hour out of Salzburg; Herrenchiemsee Palace is on an island in Chiemsee lake, right beneath the Alps near Prien. Check it out:

Chiemsee Lake
Herrenchiemsee Palace

Bad Sobernheim is a spa town quite close to Bacharach; it also has a fantastic open-air museum with a collection of rural buildings from the last several centuries:

Bad Sobernheim open air museum

The Romantic Road bus plods from town to towns but leaves you almost no time at all to see any of them. I've taken it. A nearly wasted day unless you love long bus rides, IMO.

Near Rothenburg (before Würzburg on the train route from R'burg to the Rhine) you can see another truly fine medieval town - Ochsenfurt, with all sorts of handsome half-timbered buildings, an old town wall with towers, etc. Too bad the Romantic Road skips Ochsenfurt, but no matter - you can get there easily by train:

Ochsenfurt photos

Once on the Rhine, I'd advise a cruise from Bingen to St. Goar - 1 hr. 25 min. from south to north. Otherwise you miss the nice scenery south of Bacharach. The much smaller St. Goar - Bacharach segment (which as you have it planned, from north to south, will take almost as long - 1:10.)

Also, there's a big wine festival in Oberwesel, one town north of Bacharach, from Sep 12-15; on the 13th, there's one of those amazing fireworks displays.

Skipping Baden-Baden would relieve some of the time stress. You are moving around too much to enjoy the places you are visiting.

Seems to me that Baden-Baden is overrated. All it has to offer is the Casino and a spa. I don't gamble and there are better spas, IMO, than those in Baden-Baden. All I found was a glitzy pedestrian street with overpriced shops.

Wow. Thanks, everyone! Your tips and expertise have given me much more clarity and confidence about our destinations. If we cross paths with you in Germany, I owe you a giant pretzel or a giant beer.

Way too many stops with too little time in each place to comfortably somewhat you want. Rent a car with GPS in Germany and you will have shorter travel times and more flexibility.