Summer 2 Week trip

You don't need to rent a car, you can everything do by taking our trains. This would be much more comfortable and safer then driving via our cramped Autobahn, full of trucks, lots of traffic jams and traffic accidents.

Day 3: Please note that the train journey from Hamburg to Munster Museum takes about two hours and the journey from Munster station to Nuremberg takes 5-6 hours; a car won't get you there any faster. So this will be a very long day. You might want to break up the trip depending on your interests (e.g., in a half-timbered town: Göttingen, Einbeck, Hannoversch Münden; Göttingen is the most convenient in terms of rail connections) or in a Baroque town like Fulda.

Day 6: I assume you mean Illesheim. That goes much better with Rothenburg than with Bamberg. You won't need much time there, as it's only a village with 900 inhabitants (unless you get access to the base). However, the nearby Franconian Open Air Museum in Bad Windsheim, just a few kilometers away, would be interesting.

So i am not planning on using the car too much once we get to our general locations and do plan on using local mass transportation where it seems feasible. But dealing with luggage and other things, it makes sense for us to get rent a vehicle.

Response to post by "Fritz".

• Regarding Munster (Lower Saxony) to Hamburg. i originally thought of taking the train for the whole trip. but when i looked at the connections, I decided for flexibility i would drive from Munster to Buchholz and catching round trip train to Hamburg.

• Munster to Nuremburg: I figured we would get done with the tank Museum around 2P. So 5-6 hour drive gets us to Nuremburg a shouldn't be an issue (especially since this will be in the summer and be daylight most of the drive). Plus i really tried to make is so we don't change hotels too often.

-Illesheim would really only be about a 30 minute stop (Max 1 hr) just for my dad because he lived there in late 50's and to show my son where his granddad lived. not much more than that.

-Regarding Rothenbug vs Bamburg: I know Illesheim is close to Rothenburg (been there in the 1980's). I also know it is were everyone goes so it would be crowded. Heard Bamburg is pretty neat and never been. may do both on diferent days.

• Franconian Open Air Museum in Bad Windsheim in the early 1990's. it was ok.

Is Miniature Wonderland really worth going that far out of your way for?
Also, Munster is a pretty long drive after that overnight flight.
If it were me, I'd look at a connecting flight (or a train) into Hamburg and then using the trains and local transportation for the whole trip.

Responding to "G3rryCee"

Original trip planning was to do Rhine day cruise and Heidelberg Castle and Sinsheim technical museum before going to Munich and Nuremburg.

However, my son has been talking about the German Tank Museum in Munster for several years. So we decided to delete the stuff above and make sure we went to that museum. Since that is so close to Hamburg, makes sense to do Minature Wunderland as my dad is a model train hobbiest and my son likes them as well (i would like to go and my wife after seeing it on youtube, thinks it will be neat also.

It looks like about a 4-5 hour drive. Not ideal but i could think of a better way to schedule it. i did think of flying into Hamburg but that would require a layover in Amsterdam. whereas flying into Frankfurt is direct from ATL.