17 Day Germany Itinerary

Okay, here it is.
Day 1. Driving Time (DT)- 1.5 hrs. Land in Frankfurt at 9:00. Take Rick Steve’s self-guided tour (SGT). Jewish Museum. Drive to Mainz: Gutenberg Museum. Kloster Eberbach: Cistercian Monastery. Bacharach: RS SGT. Sleep in Baccarach.

Day 2. DT-3 hrs. St. Goar: Rheinfels Castle RS SGT. Bonn: Beethoven-Haus, Munster Cathedral. Koln: Dom, Imhoff Chocolate Museum. Sleep in Baccarach.

Day 3. DT-2hrs. Burg Eltz Castle Tour. Chochem:. Castle. Beilstein: Castle ruins and Jewish Cemetery. Zell & Bernkastel: quick stops to browse and shop. Trier. RS SGT. Sleep in Treir.

Day 4. DT-4hrs. Baden-Baden: Quick RS SGT. RS Extended Black Forest Drive to Freiburg, stopping at 1 or 2 of these museums: Black Forest Open-Air, Black Forest (Triberg), German Clock. Freiburg: Cathedral.

Day 5. DT-4hrs (that’s more guess work than any of the others). Meersburg: Altes Schloss & Neues Schloss. Friedrichshafen: Zeppelin Museum. Weingarten: Basilica. Fussen: Huges Schloss, RS SGT. Sleep in Fussen.

Day 6. One Day RS Trip from 8:00-20:00: Hohenschangua Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Luge Ride, Wieskirche RS SGT, Linderhof Castle, Ettal Monastery & Pilgrimage Church, Oberammergau. Sleep in Oberammergau.

Day 7. DT 4hrs. Berchtesgaden: Eagle’s Nest Tour @ 1:30. Salzberg: RS SGT, Mozart’s Birthplace, possibly take in a concert. Sleep in Salzburg.

Day 8. DT-1-1/2 hrs. New Town RS SGT in Salzburg. Chiemesse: Castle. Munich: Return car. Laundry. Sleep in Munich.

Day 9 (Monday, most museums are closed). Munich: Two Radius Tours-Talking Tour Highlights @ 10;00 and Hitler and the Third Reich Tour at 15:00. Deutches Museum. English Garden. Sleep in Munich.

Day 10. Dachau. Munich City Museum. The Residenz. Jewish Synagogue. Alte Pinkothek. Sleep in Munich.

Day 11. Train-3 hrs. Rothenberg: RS SGT. Medieval Crime & Punishment, St. Jacob’s Church, City Wall Walk, Night Watchman’s Tour. Sleep in Rothenberg.

Day 12: Train-1-1/2 hrs. Nurnberg: RS SGT, Nazi Stuff. Train-4-1/2 hrs. Dresden: RS SGT. Sleep in Dresden.

Day 13: Dresden: The Zwiser, Historic Green Vault, New Green Vault, Frauenkirche, New Town. Laundry. Sleep in Dresden.

Day 14: Berlin: RS Bus #100 Tour-Brandenberg Gate, Kennedy Museum, German History Museum (closes 18:00), Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe (closes 20:00), Reichstag (closes 24:00).

Day 15: Berlin: Third Reich Tour 10:00. Pergamon Museum. Egyptian Museum. Old National Gallery. Checkpoint Charlie. Jewish Museum.

Day 16: Half day trip to Lutherstadt-Wittenberg: Lutherhaus, Melanchthonhaus, Stadtkirche St. Marien, Schollkirche, Haus der Geschichte. Berlin: Kurfurstendamm, Kaufhaus des Westens.

Day 17: Fly to London for five nights.

We’re really looking forward to seeing what all of you experienced German travelers have to share about this itinerary.

James, thanks for the feedback on driving times. I was using the times on the RS map that came with the tour book. Now that I read your posts, I did a Google search and see that there's several route planners, such as Drive Alive that gives distances and times between two cities. I should have used something like that first. Well, I guess I'll be doing some deleting of stops along the way and adding more to the driving time, or taking less scenic routes. Better to learn about now than while I'm over there. And now I know what a stau is. Living in the Los Angeles area, traffic jams are more the rule than the exception . . . just didn't know it was so common in Germany. At least in that regard I'll feel like I'm at home.

I think your Day 1 is way too full. Just to see the absolute minimum of the historic sites in Frankfurt takes at least 3 hours and leaves out all the good museums and galleries and leaves you no time at all to enjoy the city in any way.

There are 2 Jewish museums and I know that Rick likes one of them and not the other, but that is a personal opinion and many people think the Judengasse is much more meaningful, being able to walk into and touch the foundations of the Jewish Ghetto. He also neglects to mention not only the Medieval Jewish Cemetery next door to this museum, but also the Holocaust Memorial there too. Amazing! You say you like History and Religion. Why would you not want to stop in some of the old churches in Frankfurt or the Kaiserdom? (his info about the Kasiserdom is wrong too)the Alte Nikolai which is the "red and white church" that Rick has you walk past on the SGT, has been a church since 1160. What about St. Leonhards, one of the pilgrimage churches for the Santiego del Compostelo? Built in 1217, and containing a "hanging vault", something you won't see anyplace else, it is well worth a visit. Don't you want to see one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world? What about a visit to the Städel or the Liebig House museums and all of the fabulous artworks they contain?

Then you plan to drive to Mainz and all you are going to see is the Gutenburg Museum? How long do you think you will spend in there? What about the beautiful 1000 year old cathedral in Mainz or St. Stephens? Or all the Roman ruins? And then you are driving on to Bacharach, all in the same day after landing from a transatlantic flight? I am not talking about jetlag, but I don't think you are giving justice to either of these two very old cities which have played such an important role in German history.

Tim, day 6 will be busy, but feasible, we did something similar last year, don't miss the grotto at Linderhof. We ended our day by sleeping at Schloss Linderhoff, nice hotel, good food too. day 10 is a bit busy, going to Dachau will take half a day at least. Have a great trip!

My advice? You're trying to pack far too much into 17 days. You will be exhausted. Also, there's little allowance for flexability, should you encounter something that interests you along the way that you hadn't planned.

Don't miss the Roman-Irish Bath House in Baden-Baden, although your plan for the first few days look too busy as it is. You need some time to relax, and Baden-Baden is the place for it. As much as I like to be on the go all the time, I would have some down-time built in, with nothing scheduled, to be spontaneous, to take a deep breath, enjoy a leisurely lunch, and an afternoon just walking around, getting lost and watching people.

On day 10 I would highly recommend the Radius tour to Dachau. You can do it on your own, but we got so much more out of the experience with our knowledgeable guide than we would have just reading signs or listening to a canned audioguide.

Seriously, I keep looking at Day 1. You are planning on visiting 3 cities AND Kloster Eberbach all in one day. Plus driving. After a long flight. Talk about a blitz tour. Please re-think this first day.

I would drop the Choc. Museum in Köln. I thought it was a complete waste of time and from others who have gone, unless they had little kids, they also thought it was fairly boring and a waste of vacation time and money.

In Berlin. Riding around on bus 100, while ok, takes quite a while. We sat at a lot of red lights and traffic jams and then at some of the cool stuff, whizzed by too fast to even hardly see it. I would fork out 12 € and go on one of the 4 hour walking tours instead. This will take you to all the important places in Berlin that you have on your list, along with giving you valuable info about the city and its history, plus you can ask the guides questions. Or do one of the bike tours.

www.insidertour.com

www.berlinwalks.de/

www.brewersberlintours.com/tours.html

Tim This looks like a great trip and Im jealous. Ive been to almost all of these places at least once. Now the sad part. I think your scheduling has been done over many hours but you are not leaving time for fun, emergencies,busy roads or crowds. Something always and I mean always happens to change a schedule and half the fun of being there is changing on the fly. A trip is no fun if you cant sit in an outdoor cafe with your favorite beverage and soak in the ambiance of all you are seeing and enjoy who you are seeing it with. When you are inside the fantastic churches you have to sit down sometimes and contemplate the great art, the people and what went into building it. You will meet fun people there that you will want to talk to or even share a meal with. What Im trying to say is seeing less but really enjoying what you see and really learn about it instead of needing to run to the next location is I think the better way to go. Day 6- to see the first 2 castles and Marys bridge is about 5 hours. The drive to get to Linderhof, Weiskirche and Obberamergau is along a very thin road that is hardly enough for one car so you must slow alot to get by cars when the road goes along a large but very beautiful lake. Linderhof is a long tour. I did your day 6 in 2 days and loved every minute but never could have done it in one. You will become addicted to Germany and Austria if you are like most of us so plan on going back right now cuz you will and maybe leave some of this for your next trip. I hope you have a great trip. Im planning and saving for my next one for next year.

Thanks to everyone for their well-thought out suggestions, questions, and tips. I'll respond to each of you with a separate reply. To all of you, I do know that I have a FULL plate. Two years ago we did a 15-day Paris, Madrid, Toledo, Villadoilid, Venice, Milan, Florence, Rome trip. It was our first excursion to Europe, and basically just took Rick's advice, customized for our interests. We did not get to do everything that we wanted, but did get to do about 80%. For this trip, especially after reading the responses, I can say I once again planned too much. So, I'll be cutting back some (I mean, fourteen castles may be just a few too many).

I did add a day to Germany, and may add another, which will mean only 4 nights in London. I'll keep working on it . . .

Tim

To Jo in Franfurt,

You are so right, there's so much to see in Franfurt, and Mainz, and, frankly, everywhere. We are going to spend some extra time in Frankfurt at the Jewish Ghetto and Holocaust Museum. As far as the other sights you mentioned in Franfurt, we may just end up spending all day and night there and taking in what we can (which would be our extra day in Germany).

Mainz was added at the last minute, really just to spend about an hour at the Gutenburg museum. There is so much more to see there, but we do have to pick and choose (if only we had all summer). We have deleted Kloster Eberbach. From your recommendation, we have also droped the chocolate museum . . . that was an "if we have time" kind of thing, but it's obvious that we won't, especially since it isn't all that.

I will definitly check out the walking/biking tours in Berlin. I'll post later on what we decide to do.

You assistance is greatly appreciated!

martine, you may have helped us out a lot with Day 6. If we skip the Ettal Monastery and Pilgrimage Church and also Oberammergau, then we can make Linderhof the final destination for that day and just sleep there. As far as Day 10, we'll be taking the 5-hour Radius tour. We may not have time to check out the Residenz, which we can live with. Thanks for your help!

Tom, you're right, it is a heck of a lot. We're cutting back some, but are determined to see/do all that we can. As far as being flexible, if something really calls to us, or if stuff happens, well, we'll just have to skip stuff. Thanks for the words of caution, sometimes I just get too gung ho and bite off more than I can chew!

Jo from Chicago. My wife and I talked about kicking back in Baden-Baden. But, that would be at the expense of doing and seeing the Black Forest, and we weren't willing to do that. Of course, that's just us. We'll just have to relax on the trains (and back in the USA). Thanks for the suggestions!

Andrea, I left out in my itinerary just what you suggested. We will be using the Radius tour to Dachau. Thanks for giving it a vote of confidence! Always good to know others liked what you plan on doing (but good to know also when they had a bad experience).

I would stay in St. Goar rather than Bacharach. I don't think I would spend the night in Trier but spend two nights in Baden Baden.

Do you actually plan to see any of these places on the inside, or do you just drive up, cross them off the list, and go on?

Bacharach to Trier, via Cochem, Beilstein, Zell, and Bernkastel, according to Michelin, which everybody says is optimistic, is 3 hours, without the side trip to Burg Eltz.

Trier to Freiburg via Triberg is almost 5 hours, per Michelin.

The biggest problem I have is Freiburg to Füssen. I probably spent 4 hours in the Zeppelin Museum alone.

I also spent 4-5 hours at Linderhof, but then I wanted to enjoy it, and I did have lunch there.

Keep your final destination each day in mind, and be willing to cut out attractions if you see you cannot fit everything in.

Realize that you are are doing a lot of one night stands. That involves checking in, at least partially unpacking, repacking in the morning, and checking out.

I guess, since you will have a car, you can just bring along lots of clothes and won't have to allow time do laundry.

I'm looking at Day 10. You said you liked classic art so I wanted to see if you had planned the Alte Pinokothek, which is one of my favorites.

You did but along with four other major sites.

I spend a half day at the art museum. I think you would also like the Neue (up to impressionism) but probably not the Moderne. There is so much to enjoy, it's almost better to cross it off your list than rush through it.

My general rule is to plan two major sites a day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. I keep a note pad with other sites that I may want to visit if I find the time.

Expect more than two major sites in a day to be unworkable and decide which sites you will skip or else add time in places where you can't bring yourself to skip some.

Tim, thanks for the thoughtful replies to everyone. Glad to see you are open to suggestions. We do like to help!

Hi Terry. You're right about cramming a lot into Day 6. I'm sure stretching it into two days would make the experience more rewarding, but there's just not the time to do that. In otherwords, I'd have to give up another day, and I'm not willing to do that. I have crossed off doing the luge run and Obberamergau, not because I want to, but from the responses I've recieved it just doesn't seem practical. I'm looking at this trip as a "crash course" on traveling in Germany. Like you, I hope to repeat the experience, and when I do, I'll know what to see more of and what to cut out. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for your suggestions and encouragement!

Audrey, initially I planned on staying in St. Goar, but went with Rick's suggestion of Bacharach. If you wouldn't mind, would you tell me why, of the two, your prefer St. Goar? I could go either way. Thanks.

St. Goar is quieter and smaller. There is a such a nice feeling to the little town. Bacharach can be noisy if you are close to the train tracks. BTW, Rick's tour groups usually stay in St. Goar. The people in St. Goar are so nice and friendly. I would stay in ST. Goar again and again when I am in the Rhine area.

Lee, I've gone ahead and added more driving time to those areas that you've expressed concern about. I should have done a better job of researching that. As far as the Zeppelin museum, I'm only planning 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Now, if this was the Led Zeppelin museum, then I would dedicate more time. In all seriousness, we are definitly going wide instead of deep with this itinerary, and even with that in mind, we are trimming away some stops. As far as the laundry goes, we don't do Rick's one piece of luggage. We each take two. Yeah, it's a hassle hauling up to the third floor of an elevator-free hotel (yes, I'm the pack mule), and it's no fun loading/unloading from the train. But the benefits (fewer trips to the laundromat, more room to stash purchases) outweigh the costs.

Thanks for the advice!

Thanks for the quick response, Audrey. Quieter, and away from train tracks, are definite pluses, as are nice, friendly people. I'm leaning to staying in St. Goar now.

Hi Brad. We've whittled that Day 10 down from five to four sites, booting the Residenz. The Jewish Synagogue will be brief (less than an hour). Since this is day is a Tuesday, the Alte Pinkothek will be open until 20:00. We're not huge fans of art, but we did want to get some more culture. So, while 2-3 hours may not be much, at least we'll get a taste. Thanks for your suggestions!

I also stayed in St. Goar and was glad I did.

Tim,
We just returned from a trip last week where we spent seven of our nights in Germany. I don't know your budget, but I can tell you that the hotels we stayed in were fabulous-great customer svc, location and comfy beds! Munich - Hotel Torbrau (we left our passports in the safe and they overnighted them to Berlin for me...customer svc!!, plus they are a three min walk to Marienplatz). Rothenburg - Hotel Markstrum (perfect location, built into one of the walls-great cust. svc). Dresden- Westin Bellvue (across the bridge from the Old Town, but the views are spectacular and the hotel is wonderful). Berlin- Westin Berlin (right on the Unter den Linden, five min walk to Brandenburg Gate, ten min walk to Museum Island, fabulous cust svc and great views!!). We also stayed in Salzburg at the Sheraton and it was right next to the Mirabell Gardens. I hope you have a wonderful trip! If you have any other questions, feel free to email me.

Tim,

My favorite in the Bacharach, St. Goar area is Burg Stahleck, a castle converted to a hostel. It's well run and clean but usually full so get reservations. It's above the town so no noise from the trains.

Deanna,
I checked out the hotels you stayed in. The look very appealing, but, unfortunately, a little higher than we wanted to spend. The exception is the Westin Bellevue in Dresden. For 109 euros, I can't pass that one up. That's going to be our most luxurious two nights on this trip, that's for sure. Thanks for the tip!

Tim When you get back please advise us on what you did and how you did. Youve done as much planning and research as anybody Ive ever seen so I wish you luck and fun on your trip and would love to hear the results. Take care and happy travels

Terry, I've had a great time researching, planning, and making many adjustments to those plans, based chiefly on recommendations made here to my original post and the continuous information that flows on this message board. I will definitly be writing about our experiences when I return. Seven days and counting . . .

Wow, your itinerary looks overwhelming to me. I don't think I've done that much sightseeing on any of my dozen or so trips to Germany.

But I say 'go for it'. My mom always says (when she's gallivanting around Europe) that she'd rather do all that she can while there. After all, she can sleep when she comes home.:)

And of course, in my family we tend to measure the most fun times around where we ate or where we shopped. So, when you're in Berlin, check out the 'Opern Cafe', close to the Opera House. It's virtually a 31-flavors of tortes and cakes on display. Have a bowl of their 'soup of the day' and a slice of cake. It's heaven. We ate their twice a day, 3 days in a row. It's also featured briefly in one of RS's dvds.

Alexandra, I will definitly try the Opern Cafe . . .if I can't walk it off in Europe, I'll run it off when I get back home.

Yes, that itinerary is jammed packed. I tried to edit it today to mark the changes that we've made (from impossible to improbable). After typing it all in, and submitting it, I got a response that the web site was having a problem. So, I'll try again later. I do agree with your mom . . .I can always rest when I get home.

Have a great time! Hope you get to do most of what you planned to do. We are leaving for Germany and France next Monday and I have the first 2 1/2 weeks packed full of things to do too.

Tim, we have just returned from a month in Europe. We spent the last 10 days in St. Goar. We rented an apartment in St. Goar. It was very large and reasonably priced at 39 Euro a night. Completely furnished and very clean. Only problem might be the stairs, no elevator. We travel very light so not a problem for us. Kitchen is well equipped even has a dishwasher and washing machine. We did not have a car, used the river and train for our transportation. The website is WWW.lorely-apartments.de. Have a great time!

Day 1. Sat.-Sun. June 27-28. Fly from LAX to Washington DC. Depart 9:00. Arrive 5:12. Fly from Washington DC to Frankfurt am Main. Depart 18:59. Arrive 9:10. Driving Time (DT)- 2.25 hrs. Pick up Rental Car. Take Rick Steve’s Frankfurt self-guided tour (SGT). Jewish Museums. Drive to Mainz: Gutenberg Museum. Bacharach: RS SGT. Sleep in St. Goar (Hotel Hauser)

Day 2. DT-3 hrs. St. Goar: Rheinfels Castle RS SGT. Bonn: Beethoven-Haus, Munster Cathedral. Koln: Dom. Sleep in Koblenz (Ibis Hotel Koblenz)

Day 3. DT-3 hrs. Burg Eltz Castle Tour. Cochem:. Castle. Beilstein: Castle ruins and Jewish Cemetery. Zell & Bernkastel: quick stops to browse and shop. Trier. RS SGT. Sleep in Treir (Hotel Constantin).

Day 4. DT-5.5 hrs. Baden-Baden: Quick RS SGT. RS Extended Black Forest Drive to Freiburg, stopping at Black Forest Museum (Triberg), German Clock Museum (Furtwangen), Freiburg: Cathedral.Sleep in Feiburg (Hotel Alleehaus). If wiped out, we’ll just save the Extended Black Forest trip for another time and go straight from Baden-Baden to Freiberg.

Day 5. DT-4.5 hrs. Meersburg: Altes Schloss & Neues Schloss. Friedrichshafen: Zeppelin Museum. Weingarten: Basilica. Fussen: Huges Schloss, RS SGT. Sleep in Fussen (Alstadt-Hotel zum Hechten GmbH).

Day 6. DT-1.5 hrs. One Day RS Trip from 8:00-20:00: Hohenschangua Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Luge Ride, Wieskirche RS SGT, Linderhof Castle. Sleep in Oberammergau (Das Posch Hotel).

Day 7. DT 3 hrs. Berchtesgaten: Eagle’s Nest Tour @ 1:15. Salzburg: RS SGT, Mozart’s Birthplace, possibly take in a concert. Sleep in Salzburg (Instut St. Sebastian).

Day 8. DT-2.0 hrs. New Town RS SGT in Salzburg. Mozart’s Residence. Chiemesse: Castle. Munich: Return car. Laundry. Sleep in Munich (Hotel Reinbold)

Day 9 (Monday, most museums are closed). Munich: Two Radius Tours-Talking Tour Highlights @ 10;00 and Hitler and the Third Reich Tour at 15:00. Deutches Museum. English Garden. Sleep in Munich. (Hotel Reinbold)

Day 10. Dachau. Munich City Museum. The Residenz. Jewish Synagogue and History Museum. Alte Pinkothek. Sleep in Munich. (Hotel Reinbold)

Day 11. Train-3 hrs. Rothenberg: RS SGT. Medieval Crime & Punishment, St. Jacob’s Church, City Wall Walk, Night Watchman’s Tour. Sleep in Rothenberg.(Hotel Hornburg)

Day 12: Train-1-1/2 hrs. Nurnberg: RS SGT, Nazi Stuff. Train-4-1/2 hrs. Dresden: RS SGT. Sleep in Dresden (Westin Bellevue).

Day 13: Dresden: The Zwiser, Historic Green Vault (11:30 Reservation) , New Green Vault, Frauenkirche, New Town. Laundry. Sleep in Dresden (Westin Bellevue).

Day 14: Berlin: RS Bus #100 or Berlin Walks Tour-Brandenberg Gate, Kennedy Museum, German History Museum (closes 18:00), Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe (closes 20:00), Reichstag (closes 24:00). Sleep in Berlin (Hotel Bogota Berlin).

Day 15: Berlin: Third Reich Tour 10:00. Pergamon Museum. Egyptian Museum. Old National Gallery. Checkpoint Charlie. Jewish Museum. Sleep in Berlin (Hotel Bogota Berlin).

Day 16: Half day trip to Lutherstadt-Wittenberg: Lutherhaus, Melanchthonhaus, Stadtkirche St. Marien, Schollkirche, Haus der Geschichte. Berlin: Kurfurstendamm, Kaufhaus des Westens. Sleep in Berlin (Hotel Bogota Berlin).

Day 17: Fly to London from Berlin (TXL).

Tim, on your half-day in Frankfurt, you mention the Jewish Holocaust museum, there is no such thing. Just to clarify: There are 2 Jewish museums here. One is along the river in the Rothschilds' former villa and is quite nice, goes over lots of things about Jewish life in Frankfurt.

The 2nd museum, called the Judengasse, is along Braubachstrasse, about 3 blocks from the cathedral. It has 5 cellar foundations from the Jewish Ghetto that the city used from 1462-1796. It has all the exhibits about Jewish life in Frankfurt from 1150 on thru life in the Ghetto during the Middle ages and onwards. It is all in English and I know RS does not like this museum, but it is one of my favorite museums in the city. Next to it, is the Holocaust Memorial Wall, which surrounds the very large, medieval Jewish cemetery that was used from 1272-1828. This wall has the names of the 11,133 Jewish citizens of Frankfurt on it, who were killed by the nazis. They are in alphabetical order, so you can go down and easily find Anne Franks' name along with her sister Margot and her mom Edith.

Since you are extremely short on time, may I recommend the smaller Judengasse museum next to the Memorial Wall? I think it is more meaningful.

On the guided tour, Rick says to walk past the red and white church on the Römer. Please do not go past it, but go inside. The Alte Nikolai started as a hall church in 1150, but exists in its present form since 1270 or so. They have brochures in English inside with the other historical churches of FF. If time allows, do try to go into St. Leonhards, built in 1217.

In Mainz, I would really try and go into the cathedral there. It is VERY impressive.

Tim Just saw the new itinerary and it is still aggressive but wow what a great trip. You will love day 6. If you are going to Linderhof via Reutte the drive along the lake is beautiful between Reutte and Linderhof. The only other comment I have is make sure after your concert you take an hour to walk through the oldtown of Salzburg when the lights are on. We actually did the RS SGT of the oldtown during the day and night under the lights,and have a good camera that can do night shots...you wont be sorry. Its a 10 min walk from Oldtown across a bridge and up the road to St Sebastian(our window there overlooked Mozart seniors burial place). You have been one of the most fun and engaging writers I have read on this helpline so I hope your trip is great. You and your wife will be talking about this one for years. Good luck

Kathleen, have a wonderful 2-1/2 weeks. I hope to be reading about your travels and if you were able to fit in all that you have planned.

Delores, thanks for the best wishes. 10 days in St. Goar must have been a blast.

James, thanks to you, I really modified my driving times. Even though I'll have a GPS, I mapped out all the routes and times on Google maps, just in case . . .

Jo, thanks for clarifying about the Jewish Museums. We are going to try to visit both the Jüdisches Museum and the Museum Jüdengasse. I Googled St. Leonhards, and we'll be stopping there too. And thanks for the tip regarding looking for Anne Frank's and her relatives names on the Wall!

I hope we have time to stop at the Mainz Cathedral . . . it certainly looks and reads like a just-see. Thanks again for sharing your insightful knowledge!

Terry, picturing taking is not something I'm good at, so to compensage I just take a lot of them and hope some decent ones are captured. I did buy a new camera just for this trip, and the features it has for taking pictures at night was an important consideration. I'm looking forward to seeing what you described in nighttime Salzburg; I hope my photos do it justice.

I am so pumped about this trip. It's playing havoc with my sleep (mostly cuz I'm still working on what to do my five days in London). Hopefully, that'll be completed by tomorrow.

Looks like a fun trip! Just wanted to say that some things might be packed in a little much on each day, but I can just comment on places I've been to. I think that Munich day 10 might have one museum too many. Remember that you have to travel between museums and spend some time to eat, and it's better when you can take your time in a museum and not be always rushing through.
However, the Dresden day seems like it'll be full but possible and still with some more time.
It seems like throughout the trip you do a good job diversifying what you're seeing and I think you'll get a well-rounded experience. That also makes it harder to cut things, but if needed, maybe identify a few overlaps and make priorities.

Hey Tim! Please take the advice that many of the nice folks on this helpline have been offering and really take a look at how much you're trying to work in each day. I just wrapped up a month and a half long trip in Germany & Austria. Like you, I had a very ambitious itinerary. Believe me you'll enjoy yourself so much more if you slow things down and really concentrate on a fewer number of places. You're going to find that as you begin your trip that some places really deserve more time or take more to see. Also, some may interest you more than others or friendly locals may turn you on to other attractions you may not have thought about. Or you could stumble upon a festival that you just can't pass up. There were a lot places I would have liked to have gotten to during my trip but I realized early on that by skipping them this go around it would give me more reason to make a return trip. I wish you well in your planning and best wishes!

Tim is practically done with his vacation, as they arrived in Germany almost 2 weeks ago.

Hopefully, he will come back and tell us all about the trip and what worked and what didn't and what he wished he had changed. Plus it is nice to read peoples trip reviews.