Thanksgiving trip to Germany

You won't need a car. Use Nuremberg as a base and you'll find a dense network of train routes with direct trains to Bamberg, Würzburg, and Munich (connecting trains to Rothenburg.)

Day trips to Bamberg are easy and very cheap with the VRN Tagesticket Plus - a daypass (or good for Sat + Sun) that costs €17.50 and covers your family. Use it for Rothenburg too.

Tagesticket Plus

Day trips to Würzburg can be done on a Bayern ticket daypass.

The Romantic Road is a series of roads connecting some of the interesting towns in Bavaria - many towns can be reached by train (like Rothenburg, Würzburg, Nördlingen, Füssen, and many others) but there's no train that follows it exactly. But this is hardly a downside as there are SO many interesting towns around Bavaria, including many on the RR, that are accessible by train, places you'll miss if you stick only to the Romantic Road...

Iphofen is a non-RR town betweem Würzburg and Nuremberg that you might not want to miss, just for example.

There is no real castle in Füssen - just the palace Neuschwanstein, a mock-castle built in the late 19th century.

If you want a great castle experience, make a day trip to Coburg from Nürnberg, particularly if your trip coincides with the town's Christmas market. It's a very enjoyable former royal capital (the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, from which the British and Belgian royal families are partially derived), and the huge castle is one of the best in Germany.

I usually tell posters not to bother driving the Romantic Road, for the reasons noted by Russ above- it's just a normal series of secondary roads, nothing that special except some of the towns that lie along it. But in late November, there's even less reason to drive it, since the usually damp and overcast weather and the shorter hours of daylight will limit how much you can see of the countryside. I'm neutral on whether or not to use a car, but at that time of year, just use the most time-efficient manner of transportation.

Köln is mostly a modern city that just happens to have a large cathedral. I wouldn't go out of my way to see it's Christmas market.

Hi Kevin,

Double check Christmas/Advent Market opening dates and open days. Some are not open every day of the week. Many in Germany start in very late Nov. or early Dec. For example, Rothenburg's and Wurzburg's Markets start Nov. 28 this year. In Fuessen they are only open Dec. 5-7 and Dec. 12-14. Munich's start Nov. 27.

If seeing Neuchwanstein is a must, then go. I know it's not a "real" castle, but I also had to see it for myself. After visiting Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee, I will say I like the other two better interior wise. Be sure to tour Hohenschwangau along with Neuschwanstein. Salzburg and Innsbruck are beautiful, especially during the markets, which open in mid Nov. In both old towns. If interested, we have photo's of our 2 "Christmas Market" trips (2010 and 2013) in Salzburg and Innsbruck, among other places.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pjbassplyr/sets/

Paul

The Hohes Schloß JG mentions is indeed a "Schloß" - a residential palace - not a castle; the original plans did call for the building of a castle there, but it failed to reach completion before the plans changed.

"Monday 11/24 take train to Frankfurt. Here is where we need advice."

That trip from Brussels to Frankfurt could either be a boring one or a rather scenic and special one... I suggest you take the Middle Rhine Valley route and make a stop at one of Germany's more impressive castles, Marksburg, one of the rare examples of a never-destroyed / rebuilt castle. It's in Braubach, just a few miles south of Koblenz, the gateway to the MRV, where there are 40 castles and castle ruins in a 40-mile stretch of river. To see the MRV and to tour Marksburg Castle, just make sure that you specify Koblenz as a stopover on your journey (some routings avoid the MRV entirely.) In Koblenz, stow bags in a locker and take a train 11 minutes to Braubach.
Marksburg photo
Marksburg Castle info

Return to Koblenz for your bags after your tour and continue to Frankfurt.

Thanks for the advice!
I assume that the train from Brussels to Frankfurt or Nuremburg via Koblenz would require a specific ticket? That sounds like a good suggestion and one we may try to take.

I also assume that once we arrive in Nuremburg for our "home base" for a few days, we could buy a rail pass to use for our day trips? Where would I look for information on that?

Also, we would then move on to Munich for the weekend of Nov. 29-Dec. 1 as we fly out of Munich. We'd like to see their Christmas Fairs and visit a beer hall, etc.

Thoughts?

Kevin

Here's a good website for 2014 dates for all of Germany's Christmas markets. I like that it has pictures of the markets so you can get an idea of what they are like.

http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/