Rhine cruise or Munich?

I spent a couple days in Munich and did not go to Dachau or museums except for the Residenz. We did a day trip to Neuschwanstein.

Munich sounds fun with its beer gardens and Neuschwanstein Castle

The 25-minute tour of Neuschwanstein will subtract at least 7 hours from your day - it's nearly 5 hours round trip from Munich on public transport plus a walk of like 45 minutes to the entrance plus the same time coming back. Also... it's not a genuine castle, just a much more modern residential palace with a fake castle facade. Even if it were a fantastic experience, it'd require too much time if you plan to see Munich too.

What is not clear is where you will be exactly before traveling to one or the other of these destinations.

The Rhine cruise... Bingen > St Goar being the best cruise segment - is surrounded by old-world towns, dozens of genuine castles, several of which have tours (Marksburg in Braubach and Rheinfels in St. Goar are both great,) and lots of nice places to have a beer... This is Gedeonseck, a short walk from the top of one of the Rhine's best chairlift rides (Boppard.) All these places are well-connected by trains, and very close to each other, so a 2-day visit here is extremely doable.

http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/walking-hiking.php

All great European cities are worthy of more than a 2 day stay--and Munich is a great city. We've been to Neuschwanstein and were somewhat disappointed with it. We would have preferred to have spent the time an hour south in Tirol and the Alps.

Choose the Rhine. Unless you want to drink a lot of beer. You don't have much time to do justice to more.

But you didnt say where you're coming from or where you're going after. That might make a difference

We will be coming from Rothenburg ob der Tauber and we are going to Annecy, France.

Thanks for all the advice! It sounds like the Neuschwanstein castle might not be good. We are doing a lot of train traveling as it is so a 5 hour train trip just to see a fake castle and the fact that I am not a good walker doesn't seem like a good idea. The post from Russ and the picture of Gedeonseck was so beautiful. I think I know what to do!!

We will be coming from Rothenburg ob der Tauber and we are going to Annecy, France.

Whoa, major game changer... I think you may not be aware of the huge number of train hours you have a head of you. If you were to head DIRECTLY to Annecy from ROTHENBURG, you'd already be looking at 10-12 hours. Adding a very large detour to the Rhine Mosel in between R'burg and Annecy is probably NOT the right move for a mere 2-night stay, especially if you want to limit your train travel, as you indicated.

If I HAD to start in Rothenburg and be in ANNECY 3 days later, I would look at stopping somewhere about half way on the main train route between those two cities.

That route is defined by changes of train in Ansbach, Karlsruhe in Germany and Basel, Geneva in Switzerland. My choice would be to get off the train in Offenburg (between Karlsruhe and Basel) for 2 nights in the town of GENGENBACH (7 minutes from Offenburg.) Gengenbach is a lovely old-world town at the edge of the Black Forest. It has good connections to several good nearby sights, including the Vogtsbauernhof Open-Air Museum in Gutach and the summer bobsled run next door, the mountain town of Triberg, the Alpirsbach brewery (tour). Along with the Rhine and Mosel Railways, the Black Forest Railway is one of the top scenic train routes in Germany - and Gengenbach is right on it. The free KONUS card you get from your hotel hosts in Gengenbach will put you on the Black Forest trains for free:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkgzMXQ7blQ

You'd arrive in Gengenbach around 5-6 hours after leaving Rothenburg. And you'd be in Annecy about 5-6 hours after leaving Gengenbach.

Gengenbach: https://www.orte-bw.de/grafik/uploads/10557_2010_1040.JPG

@stan

Had no idea that Munich is only about drinking beer. I'm not a beer drinker at all. Not sure what I did in Munich the last 55 years?

@OP

In your case I would suggest Rhine cruise. If still Munich is an option I would skip Neuschwanstein because it takes you 1 day. In case you go for Munich I could come up with some ideas.

@Mignon, the OP specifically mentions beer gardens as her known point of attraction to Munich, so thats why I made such a flippant comment.

I've been there three times and know it's a great city, but I wouldn't go there just for the Biergartens. But for the OP, it seems to be of less interest.

@Stan

OK understood. I love my beer garden and I'm always drinking water :-)

Hard choice. Munich is my favorite city in the world, but Rheinfels Castle in St. Goat is my favorite castle. I envy your dilemma!