A Week in Germany

We had a car because we also did a day trip to the Ludwig castles.

A day trip to Ludwigs castles not a valid excuse to have a car. It very easy to get there with the train. The train is amost as fast, assuming you don't get delayed on the highway by an accident or construction, or make a wrong turn. The cost of a Bayern-Ticket is about the same as round trip gas alone, not including the cost of a car rental for the day.

Wow, after seeing all the wacky proposed itineraries over the past few weeks, finally a sensible idea!

Both Munich/Rotheburg/Berlin and Rothenburg/Munich/Salzburg would work in one week, but the second would be a little easier to arrange, due to the shorter travel distances.

"Also would train be the most efficient way to travel between cities?" Absolutely!

We based in Munich and did Rothenburg and Salzburg as day trips. We had a car because we also did a day trip to the Ludwig castles. We chose a hotel outside Munich's city center so we could have free parking and easy access to the autoroute. Our hotel was also only a block from the suburban train station which took us straight into Munich's main station in about 20 minutes.

Same thought as Tom: After a lot of blitz itineraries posted here in recent weeks, we've got travelers that are new to an area (Germany)and actually want to take/make the time to absorb what they're seeing! Good for you. There's lots of history and culture in either of the two itineraries suggested by Tom.

On one trip to Germany we did Munich and surrounding towns and then took an overnight train to Berlin.

Love all of Germany and Austria and I think the combination of Munich, the Romantic Strausse and Salzburg would be great. It is actually a wonderful drive and you can go at your own pace and stop and see other small villages on the Romantic Road in addition to Rothenburg (wonderful, but very touristy)
There are lots of great places to be discovered along the way. Roads in Germany are great and well marked. Have a great time!

I'm going to put a vote in here for Berlin. It's an amazing city and is the country's capital. It's a wonderful place and the energy is so strong. You can see 20th century history and visit wonderful museums for art and architecture. I loved it. Pam

I think missing Berlin would be sad. This is such a great city to see. There is so much to do, and when you get there, you can almost feel the excitement in the air. As far as history goes, you can't beat it. It is also wonderful for day trips. I don't see many people on this forum talking about the Sans Soucci palace in Potsdam, but this place is so fabulous, you wont believe it. Potsdam itself is really interesting too. Going in another theme direction, Berlin is near both Sachsenhausen and Ravensbruck concentration camps.

If you go to Berlin, you won't regret it and will then drive all your friends nuts raving about it!

Last October I became, as Rick would say, your Guinea Pig for the Romantic Road (Romantische Strasse). I spent 5 days (101 hours, actually) on the Road, starting in Oberammergau and visiting 11 places; Wieskirche, Schongau, Landsberg, Donauwörth, Harburg, Nördlingen, Dinkelsbühl, Feuchtwangen, Rothenburg, Weikersheim, Bad Mergentheim - just about everything worth seeing on the Romantic Road -, ending in Würzburg. In addition to 4 nights, about 40 hrs getting ready for bed, sleeping, and getting ready in the morning, I spent almost 50 hours sightseeing, and 11.6 hours (2-3/4 hr/day) traveling. I think I know the RR pretty well. During bus travel on the road, I never saw anything I would have stopped to see if I had a car. I concluded four things:

The traveling on the Romantic Road, itself, is not that thrilling.

Most of the towns, although nice, were not worth the time. Füssen and Rothenburg are probably the best towns on the road. The next best is Nördlingen.

Doing the Road in a day, you would spend all of your time traveling, and not see anything.

If you really want to spend time and see some things, public transportation works.

Before I went I got quotes for a car. The best one was $272 for a VERY small car, without CDW. With gas, the car would have cost me $350. I did it including a day in Oberammergau and bus to Linderhof, for $126. So, doing it by car would have cost over $220 (175%) more.

Munich - Berlin is feasible but would talk away a whole day of travel (maybe there are night trains?) As great as Berlin is, I think that it might make sense to skip it because you need a few days there in order to really take it in! I would suggest Rothenburg, Munich, and Salzburg, and if you want, maybe another city close by as a day trip, probably in Bavaria.

Two years ago we did a month long trip that included these places. You've received a lot of good advice here and I'd add only two things: if you're comfortable driving, it's hard to beat the flexability a car affords (we had a 3 week Eurorail and an 8 day car rental for the Munich to Fussen to Rothenburg to St. Goar portion) and secondly, if you're put off by touristy areas (as I am), you might be disappointed with Rothenburg (as I was). BTW, I did considerable research before rightly deciding that the car rental was the way to go for that part of the trip.
If you're after culture and history, you're in for real treat with this itinery. Enjoy!
Duane

Thank you all so much for your input. It is so helpful to hear about other people's experiences. I'm still weighing my options. If I go the train route would you recommend reserving tickets or seats ahead of time?

Thanks again!

If you are flying into Munich, I would not recommend buying tickets or reserving seats for most trips in Bavaria in advance. Most of your travel in Bavaria will be by regional trains, which aren't reserved anyway. Munich to Salzburg can be done less expensively by regional trains and it only takes ½hr longer than by more expensive express trains.

However, DB has some online discount fares. From Munich to Vienna can be as low as €29 pP with a Europa-Spezial Österreich fare on express trains. That fare is only for the date and trains that you specify when you order the ticket online, but you can build in stopovers. I just "practice ordered" a trip from Munich to Vienna in March with a 48 hr stopover in Salzburg.

Please don't miss the Rhine! Probably the best yet in Germany. Berlin is not an actual "German City". I would choose Munich, but Salzburg has the wonderful gardens. In a week? Romantic Road, Rhine and Dauchau. The best (and perhaps worst?) in Deutschland...

Wondering why Berlin is not a real "German city"? What does that mean? It is the capital you know. Everything in Germany is German. It would be like saying San Francisco is not as American as Columbus. Berlin is fantastic and one of the great cities to visit.

Okay, Tracey, you got our attention, now inquiring minds want to know: why is Berlin not an "actual Germany city"?

Berlin is not a real German city to those who are looking at places like Rothenburg ODT and St. Goar as the benchmarks for what Germany is supposed to look like. I am very fond of Rothenburg, because it is very close (20 minutes) to my mom's hometown, and shares a lot of the same culture. However, I have never spent more than a few hours there, and I don't know that I would want to do so. My family loved Rothenburg, but nobody wanted to spend days there.

We spent 3 nights in Berlin, and I wish we had spent a week, because we just scratched the surface on things I would have liked to have done. We will definitely be back. If you are going for just a week total,though, it is probably not worth the trip due to the distance.

We had a car most of the time and then switched to a train before Berlin. There are pros and cons to both.

Berlin is a pretty good haul from Munich. It's a great city with too much to see for a brief visit.

I would stay in the South for your first visit. Fly into Frankfurt, back track to the Rhine for a day and night, head to Rhothenburg for an afternoon and night, then to Munich and be sure to spend one night in Salzburg (a short hop from Munich). Fly home from Munich.

It's busy but each leg will be a short hop so you don't spend all your time traveling. It also assumes you will deal well with jet lag. With only a week you will have to hit the ground running.