Recommendations for traveling south from Lüneburg (and back)!

Quick question - when in July? There is extensive trackwork planned between Hamburg and Hannover from May 1st until July 10th, and Lüneburg is going to be severely affected (the current plans for alternatives including buses are not ideal). So factor in some extra hassle getting around up north if you're travelling in the first half of the month.

It sounds you underestimate Northern Germany a little bit.

Instead of Black Forest I recommend much closer Harz Mountain area for "some creepy troll-and-witch-filled ... areas". Harz is known for this and imo more authentic than the south-of-Limes areas. Mount Brocken can be reached by a steam engine train.

Before Harz the Wendland is a nearly undiscovered treasure with world unique rundling villages, a great nature and sights such as Dömitz fortress. From there Schwerin and Ludwigslust are not far away with great castle ensembles. From there Lübeck is close. In this area you will find a few of Germany's largest churches in for the region typical Brick Gothic. All this I would explore by rental car, IDP needed.

On the way with ICE train to South, e. g. from Göttingen after Harz, make a stop at Kassel WIlhelmshöhe if you like parks with landscaped water. then from Würzburg down the Romantic road down to Füssen and Zugspitze. But this is a long way.

Plan 2-3 days finally for Hamburg.

I am just trying to give my daughter what she wants, which is to explore south more since she will have lived in the north for a year.

Good to know about the track work, because we will be there in that window, so we will definitely have to accommodate the work. We lived in NYC for a decade so I know how inefficient the workarounds are when they shut trains down!

Yes, I'd assumed that as an exchange student your daughter has seen a bit of the area around Lüneburg. Though I would second the recommendation for the Harz Mountains on the way down towards Munich if your daughter hasn't been. (Wernigerode or Quedlinburg are lovely). I've done that trip south two ways - via Würzburg and Rothenburg, and via Weimar, Coburg, Bamberg and Nuremburg. (Pick a few stops, not all of them!) Then after Munich and points south you could come back up and return via a more westerly route - with either a focus on the south-west (Lake Constance, Black Forest, Tübingen) or at more of an angle (if you came down further east, you could go back up via Würzburg), or potentially express transport towards Frankfurt to access the Rhine Valley (lovely, though maybe not my first choice for someone your daughter's probable age).

That's way too much for two weeks, but perhaps gives you some ideas of where to start depending on your and your daughter's interests and travel pace. Cities? Small towns? Alpine peaks? Forests? Museums? Lakes and rivers?

(You could also fly Basel-Hamburg to finish if you want to focus on Bavaria and the Black Forest and less on the middle of the country.)

These are all very broad suggestions, but hopefully something appeals.

And you may be right to worry - my first trip to Germany was also as an exchange student. I've been here permanently for quite a while now...

Something near Lüneburg and totally off the beaten path is the little Village in the Lünebutger Heide(Heath)
ca 1h southwest of Lüneburg by car

Wilsede

(Can only be reached by Horse Carriage ,Bike or by foot from a nearby carpark at Overhaverbeck and other nearby villages)

For overnight nearby Hof Tütsberg or Haverbeck Hof

Stay in one of the Hotels above Do a Horse Carriage Ride to Wilsede - Have lunch there - Walk to Wilseder Berg or Totengrund
Enjoy the Heath (Blooming in August/ September)

Nearby Village Bispingen has more Leisure Attractions

When you make down to the "Sleeping Beauty Castle" Neuschwanstein near Füssen I do have a Hotel recommendation
15km/20 min northwest of the castle by car in a small village with a nice church a brewery with pub and a wood carving shop

Hotel Christine in Eisenberg-Speiden

But definitley need a car for that again

When you are interested in some other scenic remote spots on the way down to Füssen from Lüneburg let me know

But you ll need a car for all that

"Her wish is to travel down the country, with a must-do of Sleeping Beauty's castle and Munich."

The Sleeping Beauty CASTLE, with roots in the 1300's is in Sababurg. It is the one which inspired the Grimm Brothers' fairytale. Sababurg is only a few miles outside the border of Lower Saxony, near Hannoversch Münden. The German FAIRYTALE Route connects dozens of towns in this area. That may be worth your while if anyone is interested in German literature/culture - or if you just wish to see some fantastic old-world architecture.

If it's Neuschwanstein PALACE that she has in mind, that is said to have inspired Walt Disney. It was built in the late 19th century.

Fantastic that she has found so much to like and admire in the area of Lüneburg, which were among my first 2 cities in Germany having been enticed to go there by its travel brochure in July of 1971. I always go back to Lüneburg over the years.

I would heartily recommend spending a good deal of time exploring Schwerin and Ludwigslust, 2 absolutely captivating and lovely places in eastern Germany totally off the international and North American tourist radar, as expected.

If you want to stay up north but going somewhere south of Lüneburg, my suggestion is Hildesheim, especially its Zentrum and for a small town in Lower Saxony, Soest/Westfalen . If it's about specific historical sites she is interested in seeing, then Minden an der Weser, Münster/Westfalen, Hameln , Kassel (only to see the famous historical Schloss (chateau) Wilhelmshoehe).

What I would do is take a train from Luneburg toward the German Fairytale Route and rent a car around Kassel. Visit Munich for sights, then Zugspitze via train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and after a short stay in somewhere like Triberg for Black Forest, return north via the scenic Rhine Valley train (stop in Bacharach) before heading back to Hamburg.