7-day road trip from Berlin to Munich

Your route doesn't take you anywhere near the Alps, and not that close to the Mosel either. From Frankfurt, however, you are not very far from the southern end of the scenic Rhine gorge. There's plenty of wine to be found here. The direct autobahn route from Frankfurt to Stuttgart takes you along the Bergstraße, which was a wine growing region as long ago as the Roman period. Be aware, though, that traffic between Frankfurt and Stuttgart is horrible. For some reason, the state of Baden-Württemberg decided to renovate about half of the length of its autobahn network all at once. Expect some painful driving.

Tom, thanks for the heads-up on the traffic from Frankfurt to Stuttgart. Our mentioned route is just the general direction of travel and we are looking to branch off to the scenic areas for the day and perhaps stay the night. Suggestions are welcomed.

I bought the DK Eyewitness "Back Roads Germany" in anticipation of a 7-day car jaunt and ended up on a guided tour instead. The book has several routes in the areas you mention, though nothing specific that goes from city to city. I think this book would be pretty helpful. Friends of mine used the "Back Roads Tuscany" in May and said that even though they only did one of the routes, the book was worth every cent. This seems to be a new series DK has started.

Yes, I am also using the DK Germany book. In the past 2 hours, I have revised our route to be Berlin to Frankfurt to St Goar to Wurzburg to Hohenschwangau and finally Munich. So we have the wine country and the alps to finish off. I would have loved to be able to spend more time especially in the cities. Perhaps the next time. Now I am hoping the weather would be kind in the second-half of September this year. Would there be already a forecast of what it may be for this year? Would it still be bright at 6pm that time of year?

Teik, you may wish to use viamichelin.com as a planning source for your routes. It shows construction, tolls, distance and suggested routes. Add 20% or 25 % to their estimated time for stops.I also like GPS for driving trips. Have you chosen your car yet? Lots of Audi/BMW/ Mercedes models that you don't see in the US are on the bahns.

Thanks Melissa. Yes, I will be using my trusty Garmin 3790 GPS. This is a great model with voice command and also bluetooth connection to my mobile phone for hansfree operation through voice command no less. It worked beautifully when I was in Paris and London last year. There is pedestrian mode and you do not need to work with physical maps. We are booking cars through Avis Prestige Germany and have requested for Porsche Panamera, 911 and Merc SLK. We will be changing cars along the way to enjoy the various cars, so it will be fun. If these are not available, then we have asked for other car options. Now waiting for Avis to confirm our bookings.

If you really like cars that much, it's a shame you're cutting out Stuttgart. It looks like you'd be in Stuttgart during the Volksfest (Stuttgart's Oktoberfest). Stuttgart is home to a great Mercedes museum, Porsche museum, as well as factory tours of each. They are fascinating for those that don't care so much about cars, and not to miss for those that do appreciate the cars.

That was our original plan to visit the Mercedes Museum but since there will be traffic hold-ups due to roadworks and we are on a really tight schedule, we will have to make a return trip to vist the major cities that time.

Forgot to mention in Munich the BMW Welt is worth a detour, just for the architecture- walking thru won't take too long as it's largely for the new car delivery. The beemer museum across the street is OK, too, but the double helix is striking inside or out ( YMMV!) Hope your mandatory yellow hazard vests are in all the rentcars, but you can always get a souvenir one at the Welt to take home.

If you are leaving in 2 weeks, you might want to plan on stopping in Frankfurt for at least a day to visit the IAA, which is the international car show. This is the largest car show in the world and an absolute treat for car lovers. Even if you don't enjoy looking at cars that much, you may find yourself enjoying this. Dates are 15-25 Sept. Hotel rooms are scarce and expensive, so you might want to just make it a day stop before driving on, though I saw the Intercontinental still had rooms for about 124 euro a night. Actually a bargain during this trade fair. If you want to see the Alps, why not go on down to Garmisch to the Zugspitz? Wine country is everywhere, from all along the Rhine, down along the Neckar, and even along the Main, near Würzburg.

Thank you for all your suggestions. This is our first trip through Germany and we are finding that there is simply so much to see and so many things to do but so little time. Gotta save some of them for our next trip then.

I second Jo's suggestion of Garmisch for your Alpine thrills. On a tight trip, it's the most convenient Alpine area from Munich.

You should end up in Munich around Oktoberfest?? If so, look out for hotel costs off the charts. I didn't think people frequent Germany for their wine? For it's w/o a doubt a beer drinkers paradise. Well anyway have fun.

Yes, we happen to arrive in Munich for the last weekend of Oktoberfest and will definitely make a stop. We managed to get a hotel which is rather close to the festival site. And reasonably priced at EUR159 On the issue of luxury car hires, I would like to share the following with regards of out of town hires. From Berlin, Avis does not allow these cars to be returned in another city. So we had to get a normal sedan for that leg of the trip. But we were able to hire a couple of Caymans from Frankfurt and return them in Munich but only this model. Nothing else was available. Our trip ends in Amsterdam and in looking for hotels during this period it is quite a nightmare. The reasonably priced hotels are either dingy and barely passable while the better ones cost an arm and a leg. So we got the idea to stay at a houseboat which will be a totally new experience. Bed and Breakfast at private homes is another option but they may not be in the centre of tourist attractions. Looks to be an interesting trip before it starts.