Two weeks in Germany help

How old is your son? I am not sure that a river cruise is the best experience for both of you.

Avoid cross-border rentals. They are very expensive. Return car in Freiburg.
Ensure you have driving permission, sometimes driving license is not sufficient. Take this seriously.

Heads up: Munich with Oktoberfest is expensive from mid September on.

You do not plan to visit Berlin and / or Hamburg area. Any reason(s) for this?

This forum is - likely driven by the host - very keen on Rothenburg. I do not share this ratio of fascination because half-timbered houses we have all over Germany (see map) and also old towns which are UNESCO World Culture Heritage, e. g. Bamberg (on the way between Munich and Berlin); Lübeck (close to Hamburg) and Goslar. Btw: Harz mountains can easily compete with Black Forest.

So with all respect to Rick but there is more to explore than Rothenburg odT.

For more inspiration finally the list of top 100 sights and attractions in Germany - voted by visitors.

Munich is not near Rothenberg, any more than it's near Fussen, and those two places are in opposite directions. if you must see Rothenberg, fly into Nuremberg or Frankfurt.

Not knowing how much time you have I'll just say that, at a minimum, you should plan on a week from Munich to Fussen, to Basel.

Rothenburg is only a 3 hour drive from Munich. They are not that far apart. You might look at a Michelin Green Guide to check for sights en route. There are several great places to stop and stay along the way. I am a fan of Rothenburg and the area between Munich and Rothenburg.

I assume that your son is not a minor as Viking does not allow minors on its cruises. My wife likes Viking Cruises for the 1 or more guided tours each day. I am not that much into non-stop guided tours. I like to go out on my own. The Basel to Amsterdam cruise often did not stop close enough to some main attractions to allow me to easily visit the locations on my own.

I love train trips to Germany as the train stations are right in the towns with no parking issues. It takes more independent planning than a cruise.

For us there were better connections from Amsterdam than either Frankfurt or Munich. No reason to travel through the same airport.

Thank you for great feedback and tips. My son is 25. We thought river cruise would save time because we don’t have to spend days driving. We were not hitting Berlin this time because I felt it deserves several days on its own and we would have only a week to roam if we take the Rhine cruise.

Do you think it would be better to just roam on a train or drive?

Another question- how reasonable is it to travel without booking hotels in advance? May be booking a day or two in advance. Too much of a risk?

I would use trains for a domestic round trip.

Use DB journey planner: https://int.bahn.de/en/

A cruise is very slow and trains rreach more locations. A plus is that train stations are in most cases very central, compared to some ports.

Have a good journey.

You can save huge amounts of money by not going with Viking. Plenty of other good quality river cruise lines that don’t cost as much but have similar itineraries and ships. Look at European based lines such as Nicko cruises or Gate 1.

I like to mention Phoenix Reisen as a provider of river cruises in Germany. They are over 50 years on the market and the selected cruise line by public German TV production. Their ships and cruises are shown in real-life documentary serieses in Germany, one for sea and another one for river cruises.

Thanks for more tips! Some great new info. Will check these out.

River cruises tend to attract an older crowd. If I was 25, it is not the way I would want to see Europe.

You can do a river cruise for a few hours on the Rhine. Cheaper and probably the same sights.

As a former 25 year old, doing a Viking river cruise would not be on my itinerary. I'd rather go by train.

When in September? Is Oktoberfest on your radar? Or would you be interested in what locals consider a warm-up Oktoberfest (the Volksfest Freising)?

We would be there first week to around the 21st-we won’t be there for Oktoberfest but the warm up ;)