need last minute suggestions: in Nuremberg and cannot get to Salzburg

I liked Rothernburg, went in Aug. You can walk the medieval wall, tour the Crime and Punishment Museum, and tag along on the
legendary Night Watchman’s tour. I enjoyed the walk. On part of the wall walk, is a lovely view of the forest with some hiking.

Rothenburg is charming. But it is best in the evening and morning, when the crowds are not there. In other words, its great if you stay there overnight, not as a day trip. Other places, south of Munich to consider: Garmisch, Berchtesgaden, Lindau, Passau, Oberammergau, Regensburg.

I have a couple of ideas. None of them include Rothenburg. We stayed two nights there and thought that "cheesy" is the best adjective to describe it. You have MANY other better options that fit with your stated parameters.
1. Travel to one of the cities on the middle Rhine. We stayed at a castle hotel in Oberwesel, and did day trips by boat to some of other small cities on the Rhine. Lots of nice scenery and good beer.
2. Go to Munich and spend more time there. Great day trips are possible from there including the Konigsee, the Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden, Herrenchiemsee, Regensburg, Garmisch Partenkirchen, and of course Wurzburg.
3. Spend Friday and Saturday in one of above locations before going on to Munich. The two lake areas (Konigsee and Herrenchiemsee are beautiful), Berchtesgaden is lovely and Eagle's Nest location is spectacular on a clear day, and GP is beautiful also.
Hope this helps.

Innsbruck is an option, although with cloudy weather maybe not so rewarding with the tops of the mountains covered. This is an entirely different train that goes to Italy, nowhere near Salzburg.

Hi, we just returned from a trip to Germany & Austria. Our 2nd stop after Munich was Mittenwald, which we enjoyed. If you like to hike, there's lots of options. We traveled to Mittenwald by train from Munich. If you go there, stop by Momma Lucia's Italian restaurant - excellent food options and popular....when you're tired of German food.

Hi,

There is still the other option of getting to Salzburg, ie from Austria. If train service is cancelled for Munich to Salzburg, and that's all, then go Munich to Passau via Platting. Change at Passau to Salzburg via Wels. Very doable , if you don't let the current Munich-Salzburg closing deter you. You would be flanking Salzburg from a different direction.

"Maybe we extend our stay in Nuremberg and do a day trip to Wurzburg?"
Not a bad choice at all.
Iphofen is on the way to Würzburg - it's a very nice, "undiscovered" walled-town alternative to Rothenburg (which gets 2.5 million tourists per year.)
IPHOFEN PHOTOS

A day pass ticket for two from a ticket machine will cost €18 to Iphofen (if that's as far as you're going.) Get the "Tagesticket Plus" day pass for the whole VGN network. It's 45 minutes by direct train.

If you go to Würzburg you'll need a Bayern Ticket - €28 for two.

We are a fit early-30s couple that like history, great beer, great food, beautiful landscapes, new experiences, etc. We're not into shopping or cheesy tours.

From Munich take the S-8 southwestbound to the end of the line at Herrsching. Walk from the S-Bahn platform to the street and you'll see a directional sign, "Fußweg nach Andechs." Follow the trail three miles up into the forested hills to Andechs, where the Benedictine monks have been brewing great beer since the 15th Century. Or walk about 200 meters to the lakefront and take one of the stately paddlewheel ships across the beautiful Ammersee to Dießen. An old market town of about 10,000 inhabitants, Dießen is not at all on the international tourist grid, but is a popular, friendly resort destination for German weekenders. Some good restaurants there, too. Walk through the town up the hill to Marienmünster Abbey (1729). Photos here.

In Munich itself, visit the newly-opened NS Doku-Zentrum on the site of the old Nazi headquarters building, just east of Königsplatz. The D-Z's website offers free downloads of maps and audio guides for thematic walks of Third-Reich-era Munich.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! We spent most of today in Wurzburg, then spent three hours in charming Iphofen on the way back to Nuremberg. Both were great fun in their own ways, and I think we had at least as much fun as we would have in Salzburg.

Now we are planning tomorrow's itinerary, which is much easier with advance notice. Planning last night was especially difficult because not only did we discover the train disruption at 11pm local time, on the way to bed; the DB website was mostly non-functional until mid-morning today, presumably because of all the people like us trying to make new plans. Thanks again for your help!

"all train service is now cancelled between Munich and Salzburg"

Because of an out-of-town visitor, I didn't notice your post until today (9/26), but I have been tracking the rail situation between Munich and Salzburg closely. I have not seen all train service cancelled. The RailJets between Munich and Salzburg, as well as most ECs, have been cancelled. I've seen a few ECs shown as running. But the Meridian regional trains have reported that they are running between Munich and Freilassing. They are busing passengers from Freilassing across the border to Salzburg, but not from Salzburg to Freilassing, so getting back from Salzburg to Munich could have been problematic. It was probably best that you didn't go to Salzburg, and I'm glad that you enjoyed you alternate experience.