Southern Germany road trip

You didn't give your age or activity level, but this is a lot of time in the car. It seems like this trip is really about Oktoberfest. It's ambitious to fly into Duesseldorf for Salzburg and Munich. Can't you fly home via Munich? You don't show your home city in your visible profile. If you are (so far) unable to list other attractions in Munich, would you consider skipping Oktoberfest and instead, search for harvest/wine festivals in the other areas of Germany you already want to visit? Perhaps you don't care for wine and love beer.

I wouldn't go to the BF without walking from one town to another, in the forest. I found the roads to be curvy and hilly, making it hard for the driver to enjoy the drive as much as the passenger. Are you familiar with the KONUS transportation pass? Inclusion of (attractive) Strasbourg is puzzling - do you think you have American Interstate Highways to whisk you from one place to another?

While it is nice to get rid of the luggage and/or car, you should download the KD boat schedule and see if you really want to take a time-consuming round-trip boat ride. I recommend taking the train to Bingen and boating back, downstream, to Bachrach or wherever you want to seek. Note how relatively few boats there are. Make sure you have the right seasonal schedule for the boat.

Have you already been to Cologne? Except for the many modern buildings (and I might add, Cologne is famous for its Roman ruins ... ), I find it more interesting than several of your proposed stops. But I like museums. And a car is useless there. Although I haven't been to all of them, it seems to me that there are a lot of charming and historic cities (I mean, superior to Baden-Baden, if not superior to Trier) along the southern route. But you have so much mileage to cover, you can't stop for long. There are also the sights just inside Switzerland

Edit: When researching the KONUS pass, note that hotels in Freiburg can't offer it.

Edit 2: Another reason to find some wine festivals is to get a chance to taste some unusual products that aren't exported, like Neuer Susser wine.

We are nearing retirement but still pretty active.
I chose Dusseldorf as an in/out due to the very convenient travel times, short duration due to being direct and the $800 RT.
As for the selection of sites, it is loosely based on a car trip recommendation from RS book on Germany.
Driving distances did not strike me as being too excessive and no, I am not familiar with the German roadway conditions.

I appreciate your information.

Too many destinations, too little time. Too much driving.
Driving on Day 1 after an overnight flight is dangerous.
Too much dependence on Rick Steves for destination and sightseeing guidance.
Not enough time on the Rhine, on the Mosel, or in Trier. You're missing the Rhine wine fest in Oberwesel due to your rush to head south.

"Driving distances did not strike me as being too excessive..."

Americans (and Australians,) because of their vast homelands, are preconditioned to think that vacation = driving around a lot and seeing things through a car window. In Germany this isn't so productive and it's wise to think about keeping your feet on the ground and traveling less. You will have more time to see more this way. You're going all the way to Munich but not sure what all to do there? From (and back to) Düsseldorf you can see castles, great scenery, attend beer fests and wine fests, wander through old-world villages with half-timbered houses, visit interesting museums, enjoy regional specialties... you can do just about everything you have on your plate with a MUCH smaller travel radius. Here are some things that you have missed and that you could enjoy within a D'dorf - Trier - Stuttgart - Würzburg - D'dorf loop.

Cologne

Near Koblenz:

Cuckoo clocks? Try St. Goar.
Marksburg Castle
Linz am Rhein
Winningen
Oberwesel
Oberwesel wine fest
Günderodehaus in vineyards above Oberwesel
Rheinfels in St. Goar
Frankish open-land museum in Bad Sobernheim
Chairlift and Vierseenblick lookout near Gedeonseck terrace in Boppard

Elsewhere:
Cannstatter Volksfest near Stuttgart
Michelstadt
Büdingen
Marburg and other towns on the southern "Fairy Tale Route"
German Castle Road (western segment)
South-central part of the Half-Timbered House route
Würzburg
Sommerhausen, Ochsenfurt and Marktbreit

News flash! Germany is not the United States. You don't need a car to get everywhere. Germany, and particularly southern Germany, has the most extensive, dense, efficient, and economic transit system in Europe. Unlike the US, where you need a car to go anywhere, a car is unnecessary in Germany. I've spent around 150 days in Germany in the last 15+ years and only once drove a car, and then I didn't need to.

In particular, arriving on a trans-Atlantic flight and immediately jumping into a car and driving is as irresponsible as driving drunk. You'll be sleepy and jet-lagged. Wait. If you arrive on time, there is a Regional Express connection leaving Düsseldorf airport at 8:50. That gives you an hour and 10 min to go through immigration, get to the train station and purchase your ticket. The trip by train, with a 22 min change in Koblenz, will take only 2h45min, less than a half hour longer than the estimate (if everything goes right) of the driving time by ViaMichelin, and you won't have to worry about falling asleep.

After you have lunch in Bacharach, the next boat to St. Goar leaves at 3:15 pm and gets to St. Goar at 3:55. If you have a Bahn ticket to Bacharach, you'll get a 20% discount off the boat ticket. Rather than wait for the 5:20 pm boat back to Bacharach, that doesn't get there until 6:30 pm, take the 4:56 train to St. Goar and get there at 5 min past 5 pm.

The next day, if you really think you have to have a car, pick one up in Koblenz.

If you have a car, don't take it into Munich and have it sit for 3 or 4 days. Drop it in Freilassing, across the river from Salzburg in Germany and take the train from Freilassing to Munich.

Thank you all for your input.
My first trip to Germany meant to do some research via travel books.
Being my time is limited, I choose to cover part of the country.
Doing so by car allows be the freedom to pull over wherever I wish to see, eat, or do something unplanned.
Besides, a car is about $200 for two weeks.

Russ - thank you for your input as it had some great content to consider.

a car is about $200 for two weeks.

How do you plan to get the car from place to place? Push it? According to ViaMichelin, your basic trip - Düsseldorf to Bacharach to Trier to Baden-Baden to Friburg to Füssen to Salzburg to Hallstatt and back to Düsseldorf via Salzburg and Munich, with no other side trips, will be 2340 km and you will spend at least 259€ on fuel.

Do you actually have a quote for $200 for 15 days? I just got a quote from the rental company (broker) most recommended here for 21 days for 431€, about 20,50€/day. At that rate, you're looking at over 300€ for your trip.

I looked at AutoEurope for your dates. AutoEurope compared rates for 14 different rental companies, and the lowest rate they could find was for a "mini" car that they say is suitable only for city driving and short trips and has only 1500 km for your time. That rate was 258€ (~$275). A larger car, suitable for your longer trips, with 3000 km, was 367€.

Even if your car rental is only $200, with fuel, you're looking at $475. Several years ago we spent 21 days traveling from Frankfurt through the Black Forest and along the Alps to Berchtesgaden, then to Munich, all by rail and bus, for only $370 for two.

I've compared rail fares with rental cars for every trip I've made in the last 10+ years, and a rental car (with fuel) has never been close to being less than train tickets.

Yes, your trip will spend far too much time driving. Look up the word "Stau", you will become very familiar with this concept if you follow your proposed itinerary.

I'm fairly neutral on the train vs. car debate. Either can be a convenient method to get around the country. However, in a country where driving is mostly pretty easy, Munich is a huge exception. Even with a GPS, navigating the city can prove difficult even in the best of circumstances, but the nearly constant road construction at some vital artery of the city rarely gives you the best case screnario. And parking in the city center is as expensive as it is scarce. I have seen lines of cars waiting to enter parking garages. Unless your hotel can guarantee parking (and only the most expensive can), you will find taking a car into Munich an extremely painful endevour.

Oh, and yes, don't attempt to drive after a trans-Atlantic flight without first getting a good night's sleep. Even if you don't feel tired, jet lag will cause your reaction time to slow down to little better than a drunk's.

Tom,

I cancelled my city hotel and found another outside the center.
It looks better with free parking and less dough.
15 minutes to central om the train (stop is outside the front door).

As for driving, I am hearing a lot about that.
Each leg is not all that long and assume it is a pretty drive.
We do want to see Munich and surrounding area including Salzburg.
Going to route back on the Romantic Road.

I'll take suggestions to to any part.

Thank you again.