i am planning a trip to europe this august. i'm going backpacking for only 3 weeks and don't have a lot of time to look at everything, but my sister really wants to see the rhine river with castles. (basically ride the boat and enjoy the scenary). If there is a good place for trying out wine, that would be great too but it is not a must. i will also be staying at munich for taking a sleeper train and a day trip to newschwanstein castle. i will also go to lucerne/engelberg in switzerland. i need to either start or end in munich. i can maybe spare one extra day for the rhine, and was wondering what order would be the best way to make this most painless. (because it'll be a lot of transportation...)
so far what i need is:
1 day in munich, 1 day trip to newschwantein, 1 day in zurich and 1 day rhine river.
the hardest part is transportation. I don't know what would be the best city to stay and which order i should do this in. i can let a day or two extra for transportation etc but I would really prefer to keep it compact. i was thinking of just doing the lower parts of the rhine river, but my sister really wants it to be scenic. are there other parts of the rhine river with a nice view and castles? i am considering to stay at frankfurt/stuttgart/rudesheim while seeing the rhine. any suggestions?
I'm thinking of doing this as train rides. I am open to flights but because of going to the airport, check ins, waiting etc, i think the time required would be pretty similar. is this fine?
thank you very much for your help!