Day trip from Berlin

Laura, Rothenburg is out of the day between Berlin and the other two major airport cities of Germany (Frankfurt and München). Munster is not a reasonable day trip as well. If the museum in Munster is important, I would drop Rothenburg, pick a location in the Harz area for your "half-timbered town experience", and visit Munster from there, heading to Frankfurt (or maybe Schiphol in the Netherlands) to fly out.

What Andre said. You might want to have a look at Quedlinburg, which is half-way between Berlin and Munster and is chock full of half-timbered buildings. For similar towns, check out the Half-Timbered Route that runs through Germany. http://www.deutsche-fachwerkstrasse.de/uk/index.php

Agree with the others. A visit to Rothenburg odT is worthwhile if you're driving by anyway, but if it takes longer than 2 hours to reach, you will have inevitably passed any number of good alternatives (but those that have less trinket shops and tour buses). If you're going to fly out of Frankfurt, Quedlinburg, Goslar and Wernigerode in the Hartz would all make worthwhile stops and they're located about halfway between Berlin and Frankfurt.

Erfurt is also between Berlin and Frankfurt, according to Rick Steves the "untouristy Rothenburg": http://www.ricksteves.com/tms/article.cfm?id=348
http://blog.ricksteves.com/?p=7809 Erfurts old town is almost 2x bigger than Rothenburgs, but without a town wall.

I may be the only weirdo here that would go out of their way to get to Rothenburg....I have done it before, coming from Prague, just to spend 2 nights in Rothenburg. We flew out of Frankfurt, leaving Rothenburg at 7am, to catch a 2pm flight. And if I am ever in Germany again or in any neighboring country, I will get to Rothenburg. I loved it that much.

Kelly, no problems visiting Rothenburg. It is a matter or prioritizing, though. While every city is somehow unique, the uniqueness level of Rothenburg, at least for me, is not really that high. I actually like a lot the half-timebered cities of Thuringen. Somehow the paranoia of the former East Germany government with poeple living near the border made some of them be left untouched throughout the post-war years.

Hi, If Berlin is the nearest you will be to Munster/Oertze, any way to do the day trip by train (via Hamburg-Lüneburg or Hannover) will take just under or over three hours. Still, it's easily done, ie, well worth it, esp if you're only focused on seeing the Museum without the town. I did it each time from Lüneburg. You'll arrive before/by noon. From the Munster train station to the Museum is ca. 20 mins walk. Given the subject matter it's a very esoteric and excellent museum. Overwhelmingly, the visitors are German, very few, if any, are American. Expect to spend 2-3 hrs perusing the place.

Thank you so much everyone I should have said that we will be in Berlin from Sun to Thurs. We have a completely free day on Tues that we were thinking of using to go to the museum in Munster. We then were planning on going to Rothenberg at the end, leaving fron Berlin on Fri morning early, around 7 am and having Friday after 12 to see the city as well as all day Sat, then head off to Frankfurt Sun morning to catch a direct flight home at 5 pm. It seems like we could work that all in using a three day rail pass or we could rent a car for Munster and take the train for Rothenburg and Frankfurt. I appreciate any of your input on this plan and I will also look into your other suggestions. I was leaning towards Rothenburg for my son (age 10). We have been reading King Arthur and wanted to show him a walled medieval city. I am not sure when we will get out that way next time and I do remember going to see it about 20 years ago and thought it was impressive. Thanks
Laura

While walled towns are not exactly a-dime-a-dozen in Germany, neither are they particularly rare. Look at this list from the German language Wikipedia. Some of the towns they list only have a fraction of their wall remaining, but many of them are complete or near complete.

Hi, That day trip to Munster/Oertze is absolutely doable since you have reserved Tues for that very purpose, even more so if you get a rental car. But taking the early train from Berlin ca. 0700 to Hannover will get you to the Museum earlier. Two-three hours viewing the Museum still gives you time to see the town and return to Berlin by early evening.

PS- if your son has an interest in chivalric orders (like Arthur's Round Table), here's a castle heavily associated with the legend of the knight Tannhäuser, the famous Wartburg above Eisenacht.

This comment is in response to the question of whether to use a rail pass or drive. I'd opt for a rail pass. Look at the Deutsche Bahn website for deals and buy your pass before you go. It's almost always cheaper. The train is usually relaxing, and you'll arrive in center city without having to find a place to park. And then there's the matter of how fast the Germans drive...