Cheap travel base in SW castle region of Germany

If you are a poor college student are you sure that a railpass will be the cheapest way to go? BTW, Munich is not in the SW.

Germany is absolutely littered with castles throughout the entire country, and one of the best isn't too far from Eschwege (the Wartburg overlooking Eisenach). I can think of more than a handful than are within 100 km or so. I'm less familiar with the area around Rothenburg, but I don't believe there are too many castles in the vicinity. Perhaps James from Ansbach can fill us in... I haven't priced hostel rates in over a decade, but less than $20 per night sounds unrealistically low. If you need more funds for lodging, you can free up a lot of cash by not blowing your money on a global railpass. Tell us more about your proposed plans (are you visiting any other countries, can you commit in advanced to traveling on specific trains for the long distance portions of your trip, how old are you, etc?) and we (well, namely Lee from Colorado) can inform you on how to save a significant amount of money on transit costs.

"I could really use some help finding a really cheap base camp (hostels or B&Bs less than $20 a night). I will have a global eurail pass so it must have good rail access and the closer it is to some good castles, the better :D" The best concentration of castles that you can visit is probably in the Rheinland south of Koblenz. Marksburg, Rheinfels, Rheinstein, and Reichenstein, and Burg Arras and Burg Eltz on the Mosel, are all accessible to visitors. Burg Stahleck in Bacharach and the Grafenschloss-Jugendherberge in Diez are castle-hostels. http://www.burg-eltz.de http://www.marksburg.de http://www.st-goar.de/17-0-burg-rheinfels.html Rheinfels in St. Goar is located only a few steps from the cheapest DJH hostel in the area - 14.40 Euros per night if you're a HI member. The Bacharach and Diez Castle hostels and the numerous other hostels in the region that you might use for a base (Cochem, Bingen, Kaub, maybe Trier) are more expensive. http://www.jugendherberge.de/en/ A global pass is definitely overkill to travel this compact region. Maybe you're using it elsewhere in Europe, but it's still very possibly a poor choice for someone on a budget. When figuring how long you need a railpass or if you need one, I would not count the 5 days you speak of here. You can get a 3-day railpass to cover you around most of the Rhine/Mosel castle area for a mere 34 Euros.

Ok well this has been very helpful :) I am 19 and I will be traveling for 39 days (leaving march 15 2012 from Manchester) throughout Germany Italy and eastern Europe, and I am planning on spending the last week or so in Istanbul using cheap airfare. I saw the wartburg on my last trip and it is a great castle but I can't afford to see it again. I guess I need to do some more research on where the best castles are lol. The concentration mentioned in the previos post sounds perfect. Also, I'm very interested in how to save money on cheaper transportation? I honestly thought a global pass would be the cheapest just because I could always take the train just for within-city travel/ day trips and it would save me money, is that incorrect? I havnt booked anything yet so any money saving advice will be extremely appreciated!

Railpasses don't generally cover within-city travel very well - maybe the S-Bahn lines in certain German cities, but not buses, etc. Don't jump on the global pass until you've chosen your specific destinations and read some more about how to save. These ways usually mean planning your trips in advance. Germany offers a lot of deals - advance purchase tickets 92 days out at deep savings, both for domestic and foreign destinations. For example, you can travel from Cologne or Munich to Milan for about 40 Euros. German rail itin. page: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en A "Happy Weekend" ticket good on Sat or Sun that allows you (and up to 4 fellow travelers) to travel all day long, across the country if you like, for 39 Euros (buy at ticket machine or online for this price: http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany/happy_weekend_ticket.shtml Within the German states (Länder), daypasses ("Länder Tickets") run about 20 Euros per day. If you need to travel within a large city, like Munich, on the same day you travel somewhere else, these daypasses often cover within-city buses, trams, and subways, like the Bavaria ("Bayern") Ticket does : http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany/laender-ticket.shtml Consider pass options for Eastern Europe: http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/easterneurope.cfm Or fly. Ryanair will get you from Frankfurt Hahn (near the Rhine Castles) to Poland for about 20 Euros. http://www.ryanair.com

Ok here is a sample of my itinerary so you can get a general idea: march 15 (fly from Manchester) land in Frankfurt or as close as possible to castle region, sometime before the 22 arrive in eschwege and stay with friend for the next week, after that spend time in Prague, Vienna, and budapest. Making my way south. Then to Italy hitting the big three(Rome, Venice, Florence) and visiting friends in bologna area. Make my way back up to Munich on the day my 31 day pass would expire ( if I keep that plan) and fly to Istanbul for about a week then back to Munich where I buy a railpass to schladming Austria where I will spend the spring semester. Still think it will be cheaper to travel by methods other than railpass? My budget is 2500-3000USD. As Rick would say... I'm going to be seeing Europe "through the gutter" but I think I can make it happen.

For really inexpensive lodging (free), check out couchsurfing. You could also buy a tent. However, you then have to find, and get to, a campsite. Have a great time roaming around Europe for a month.

Isaac, For a Hostel stay IN a Castle, you might consider Burg Stahleck in Bacharach. It's in a great location with a fantastic view of the Rhine, however it's above the town so there's somewhat of a hike to get there. Although it has 168 beds, it's often booked so you'll need to reserve well in advance. The rates for a Dorm room are as low as €18.90 per night, which includes sheets and breakfast (don't forget a towel and a Padlock). One point to note is that since it's an ]i]HI Hostel the cheapest rates are provided for members. You may wish to sign up for an inexpensive membership before you embark on the trip. You should be able to do that on the Net with a credit card, although receiving the membership package by mail could be a problem if you're living in the U.K. If you decide to stay in Bacharach for a few days, you might also consider staying in a Pensione, as it may not be too much more than a Hostel. Happy travels!

Another option for a base in a castle-rich region would be Heidelberg, and I think this may better suit the needs of a college student. Heidelberg, of course, hosts a large university and probably has many more services available for young travelers on a budget than the Mittelrhein. Several of the towns located on the Bergstraße (route 3 as it travels north from Heidelberg) have a castle overlooking them from the Odenwald mountains. You can reach all of these towns by a quick and easy ride on regional trains, although you would actually have to hike up to most of the castles. One of them, Starkenburg over Heppenheim, hosts a youth hostel. None of these castles charge admission. Up river from Heidelberg, the Neckar Valley also has several castles, at least a few of which are completely intact. Once again, easy to reach by public transit. The Odenwald Naturepark (of which Heidelberg sits in the southwestern corner) also is littered with castle ruins, although many of them are difficult to reach without a car. The Mittelrhein overall has a higher density of castles, but other than the magnificent Marksburg, I wouldn't go out of my way to specifically visit any of the others. This region, however, is easy to visit as a daytrip from Heidelberg, and well worth the effort. (to be continued)

There are also at least 4 Versailles-style palaces ("Barokschloßen") in the area. A small one in Weinheim, a larger one in Schwetzingen, a huge one in Karlsruhe, and a large one without a garden in Mannheim. All easy to reach by public transit. So, you asked about discounts for rail and other forms of travel. I'm not the resident expert here, but here are a few suggestions. The first suggestion would be to get accurate price estimations from the websites of the various national rail companies. Deutsche Bahn for Germany, SBB for Switzerland, ÖBB for Austria, etc. RailEurope and EUrail won't show you all the available trains, they usually mark up the price and they'll never show you the advanced purchase discounts. For long distance rail travel, if you can commit in to riding a specific train, you can often obtain significant discounts with advanced purchases. For regional travel within Germany, Deutsche Bahn sells various passes for the individual states... Lee from Colorado can give you more information. As a student, you may also qualify for a lower rates on everything from rail tickets to rail and transit passes sold by the national rail companies and local transit authorities. Finally, if you choose Heidelberg as your base, the local transit authority (RNV) sells various day and weekly passes for use on the buses and Straßenbahn.

Thanks for all the great info everyone! I guess I just need get more specific on my itinerary so I can look into specific transportation options to save money.