visiting college student in southern Germany with grandparents

Looks like a great trip. Should be no problem finding higher end accommodations. Since I am generally a budget traveler, I have no specific recommendations to make.

Wondering about that first night. Are you planning on spending first day in Frankfurt and doing the Rhine journey on the next day, then going from St Goar to Stuttgart? Might be a good idea for the grand parents to have a little jet lag recovery, although I am close to that age and still hit the ground running. But I must admit it is getting tougher.

PS assume you fly back to Chicago from Munich.

since you will be there, give Tübingen enough time. it is a lovely town, grandparents may be a bit slower on the hills but it is worth it. Plenty in the vicinity too.

Depending on your parents' preference, I'd mention that we were surprised to find that two or three high-end German hotels we stayed in during a past summer, had air conditioning that was unable to keep up with a brutal heat wave. It's just not engineered the way systems are in the United States.

Are you going by auto ? train ? combination ?

They said primarily by train.

I would rent a car for schloss Lichtensein, burg Hohenzollern, and Kloster Benenhausen ( altho it is an easy bus ride )

One consideration could be the White Rose sites as a DIY tour (as much or as little as interests you; the sites themselves are not all super exciting per se) https://www.destination-munich.com/white-rose-walking-tour.html and the associated museum. It's a great profile in civil courage and restores the faith in young people--great for a 17 year old and a college student but also great for older folks.

Thank you for the suggestions! I had been thinking we would tour the Rhine the first day to keep us awake, but I'll make sure we have the option of doing it the second day if we need a rest. We're now planning to skip Nürnberg to extend our stay in Tübingen and keep changing accommodations to a minimum. Thanks, too, for information about the White Rose walking tour—we would all appreciate that powerful perspective of history.