14 Days - Germany / Austria

Hi Ron,
Plan looks very good, although I'm not one for 1 and 2 night stays. I'd stay 4 nights Berchtesgaden area and visit Salzburg (30 min. drive) from here. At least most driving days are relatively short. Things to see...
Baden baden - haven't been here
Rothenburg - Nightwatchmans tour!
Fuessen - Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, Tegelberg luge ride/cable car.
Fuessen to Munich drive - Wieskirche, Andechs Monestary
Munich - Didn't care for it
Berchtesgaden area-
"Mad"King Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee/Neues Schloss
Ramsau church (more for it's setting)
Bad Reichenhall (20 minutes away)
Day trip to Hallstatt, Austria (1:30 min. drive)

Our recent trip reports of these area are at:

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?screen_name=pja1

Our photos are at...

www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/index.html

Paul

Wow. You could send months in So. Germany, particularly Bavaria, and never see it all. I think the main thing is to plan it to minimize travel time. I would skip Baden-Baden; it's kind of out of the way. Instead I'd spend a night in Würzburg and see the Fortress Marienberg. You can get from FRA to Würzburg in less than three hours by regional train using a €6,60 pP RMV ticket to Kahl and a Bayern-Ticket from there. Then it is only an hour (€10,60 pP ) to Rothenburg.

From Rothenburg I would go next to Munich, then to Füssen, since Munich is kind of on the way anyway. Maybe stay in Munich and do Füssen as a day trip.

Finally, I think I would spend the entire time based in Berchtesgaden and do Salzburg as a day trip. The bus from Berchtesgaden (Watzmann Express) takes 50 minutes and costs €8,50 RT with an RVO (Regionalverkehr Oberbayern) dayticket.

But that's just what I would do. I have been to all those places.

Thanks for the great advice and input. A couple of points I would like to add / ask. First - we will be renting a car - so transportation is not a problem. I also am not the fondest of moving every couple of days but would like to see as much as possible. We are basically flying into Frankfurt and returning from Vienna - everything else is up in the air. 2) Two of the posts mentioned staying in Berchtsgarden and doing Salzburg as a day trip - would the choice by Berchtsgarden over Salzburg (if choosing one) and do the other as a day trip? 3) I have been thinking about dropping Baden-Baden and adding a day somewhere else - thoughts??
A lifelong dream has been to buy a hand carved black forest cuckoo clock from Germany myself (vs. an imported one) but I here I can find any / everything I need in Rothenburg.
THanks again for your advice and input - I am looking for all the help I can get.

Dear Ron, you selected a wonderful travel schedule and you will have a good overview about our country. For such a trip a would rent a car but there are drop off charges if you return it in Austria.
Baden-Baden (http://www.baden-baden.de/en/index.html) is an excellent first stop as you will be tired and suffer from jet leg. This city is about a 1,5 h drive from Frankfurt. You could go there to the thermal baths (Caracalla Therme or Friedrichsbad) and replenish your batteries. You will then be ready for the continuation of your trip.Here you could also buy your cookoo clock (they also ship) and other Black Forest souvenirs. If you need further information please advise.

My wife and I travel to Europe every 2 years. In May we will stay for 17 days. We have decided that choosing a few places as a "base", then doing day trips from there is the best way to go. No packing/ unpacking every day or so. We are flying to Munich and staying in Salzburg and Garmisch. No car, just train & bus. In Salzburg's outskirts (Moosstrasse) there are plenty of quiet B&B's for around 50-60 Euros with breakfast. Bus & train service is fantastic, only 45 mins. to Berchtesgaden from Salzburg Hbf. One of the great joys is traveleing in Bavaria and Austria by train. In Salzburg, buy a Salzburg card, which give you free admission to many sights. Salzburg city transportation is included in the price of the card. Vienna has a lot of wonderful sights. You could easily spend a week (or more) exploring this jewel of a city. Also, if you have a car, parking will be a problem, especially in Salzburg/ Vienna.

Ron, I've done roughly that same trip and I only have one piece of advice (Martin from Baden-Baden isn't going to like this). Don't go to Baden-Baden. You can include that one a different trip to Switzerland or the Alsace region of France. It's a far enough drive from Baden-Baden to Rotheburg that it's really not worth all of that time in the car.

Baden-Baden is worth seeing, no doubt! But you're traveling in the wrong direction at the beginning of your trip, especially because the rest of your trip is all east of there.

You won't need a car in Vienna- the public transport is excellent and there are loads of excursions you can get to any places of interest that are outside the city. You probably know this already, I just thought I would mention it, in case it might save you some car rental charges.
I just got back from Vienna- it's absolutely beautiful!

Thanks for the additional input. The help I have received to date has been great. I might try and drop off the car in Vienna a few days early to save on the costs. After all the input and further web searching I think I might head straight to Rothenburg from Frankfurt and save Baden-Baden for when I go back and do Switzerland, Rhine and Mosul - on a subsequent trip. Just way more to see then I have time for. Thanks again for everyone input.

I like Cologne,Bonn and Trier in the West.

I agree that Baden Baden might be out of your way if you're not going to visit anything else that way.

If nothing else, you should see the Rhine and travel one hour by boat as Rick suggests. It's really close to Frankfurt.

Wurtzburg is nice. Nightwatchman's tour in Rhotenburg is good.

I think Fussen first works better than Munich first. Don't do as a daytrip because it's better to be at the castles early.

Salt mines in Berchtesgaden were also great unless you will see them elsewhere.

I really like Salzburg and wouldn't do it as a day trip. It's beautiful in the morning, day, evening and night. I would rather do Berchtesgaden as a day trip from Salzburg.

Just as Baden Baden adds travel time, Vienna is also out of the way but worth seeing.

I did Rothenburg than to Baden-Baden by train and it was completely do-able. Great stop for middle of the trip...take a spa and visit the casino. If you want to see the black forest I wouldn't dump it, Rick has a really great driving tour of the black forest area in his Germany book that you might want to check out. I agree with the other poster who said to think about doing Fussen from Munich. Save yourself from having to pack and unpack yet again!

One more point of view: I think that you have the Salzburg/Vienna part of your trip planned correctly. Do not reduce the amount of time you plan for these two places UNLESS you omit them completely and leave them for a later visit.

Vienna is an especially charming small city on many different levels. We made several trips to Europe before visiting Vienna. Our mistake. We eventualy combined Vienna with an Eastern European trip to Prague and Budapest and several smaller towns. That worked out very well.

This site is fantastice! Thanks again for all the wonderful suggestions and ideas. I can hardly wait for my trip (June 2008) but wishing days away does not seem like a good thing to do. Thanks for all the information!

I'd suggest more time is Salzburg- Vienna can be done in a day or two. Also consider a day trip ( or even a day or two) to Budapest- you can catch the train in Vienna- it's only about a 2 hr ride. We did that in Nov. and enjoyed our quick "taste"- we will be going back.