Hello, I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts and suggestions for the last few weeks. Here is what we (husband and I) are thinking of doing from June 7-30. Flying in and out of Frankfurt on reward ticket.
Schellweiler - 3 nights with cousin and recover from jet lag. Hopefully day trips to Trier and Heidelberg.
Cochem/Mosel - 2 nights,
St. Goar/Rhein - 2 nights,
Rothenburg ODT - 1 night (don't scold me on this one) 😀,
Fussen - 2 nights,
Garmisch - Partenkirchen -2 nights,
Salzburg - 2 nights,
Munich - 2 nights,
I have one night for Regensburg, Nuremberg, or Bamberg - yikes!,
Dresden- 2 nights,
Berlin - 2 nights, I know not enough,
Erfurt - 1 night, we really want to see some of the Luther sites,
Frankfurt - 1 night before we fly out.
We thought 3+ weeks would be enough in Germany, but it is not!
No accommodations booked yet, but want to do so soon.
First week we will have a car as cousin says she does not live convienent to trains/buses. Then we will be on the train.
Looking at 5 day flex pass for days we are going to Rothenburg, Dresden, Berlin, Erfurt, and Frankfurt as we don't want to be locked into a specific train. Local passes look like they will work the rest of the time.
Thanks for reading this and making suggestions.
Posted by
Salt Lake City
1528 posts
"We thought 3+ weeks would be enough in Germany, but it is not!"
You are going to sacrifice much of your trip just moving from place to place. You might consider seeing fewer places more thoroughly.
https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de//bin/query.exe/en
BTW, I love Rothenburg.
Posted by
Paradise
7079 posts
"I have one night for Regensburg, Nuremberg, or Bamberg - yikes!"
This whole region (Franconia) is MUCH closer to extreme southern Germany AND it's on the way to Frankfurt. That is where you ought to spend most of the following 5 nights rather than in Dresden-Berlin-Erfurt (which adds a lot of travel hours and is way too rushed - you are really shortchanging your time there - so see it another time when you have 8 nights or so, maybe in combination with Prague.)
You could visit REGENSBURG in one day as you make your way to Nuremberg (stow bags in a Regensburg station locker.)
You could use NUREMBERG as a base town for day trips to Bamberg (as well as Rothenburg and other great towns like Iphofen, Bad Windsheim, Amberg, Würzburg, and Bayreuth.) Obviously 5-6 nights aren't enough for Nuremberg AND all these towns - so pick and choose the ones that you find most interesting.
You might be able to stay over in Nuremberg or Würzburg on your final night instead of Frankfurt if your plane out of FRA takes off in the afternoon. Trains from Würzburg take only 1.5 hours.
Posted by
OP
88 posts
Thanks Russ and Gary Mc for the suggestions! I was certainly feeling like it might be rushed, so I will condsider your input as I tweak our itinerary.
Posted by
Washington DC
28155 posts
At the very, very least, drop Berlin. There's just no sense in going there for only two nights, and it's a geographical outlier.
I'm not sure the rail pass is going to save you money. Take a careful look at the next-day fares for your travel legs after you've tweaked your itinerary. It looks as if much of the cost lies with the Rothenburg odT - Dresden trip. If you end up eliminating Dresden and Berlin, that will cut your train mileage a lot.
Posted by
Nederland, CO
1530 posts
I agree! I would cut Dresden and Berlin and add the nights to Nurenburg, Munich or Erfurt. Or you could add another stop in southern Germany such as somewhere in the Black Forest.
I also love Rothenburg!
Posted by
San Francisco
14990 posts
Hi,
It would be better if you dropped a place or two. There is a night train (FYI) between Munich and Berlin, if you decide on that option and drop Dresden. I've taken that night ride but you have to transfer in Hannover Hbf, which train arrives in after 6 AM. It used to be direct until 2016.
The discount tickets do exactly that, ie, locking you in to a specific date and time of departure.