Day Trips from Mannheim and Itinery help

Frankfurt? Mainz?, Worms? Würzburg? Marburg? Kronberg? Büdigen? Bad Homburg? Seligenstadt?

For a cool swim experience, go to Mirimar in Weinheim.

There are thermal bath places eveywhere, with spas, etc.

"Is it feasible to do Cologne as a day trip". Yes. It takes about two hours to drive from Mannheim.

Personally, for exploring the Black Forest, I would prefer Tubingen or Freiburg as a base over Baden-Baden any day.

My favorite town in the Black Forest is Bad Herrenalb. After that, Freudenstadt (Spa), Alpirsbach, Calw, Bad Wildbad. I wasn't at all impressed with Baden-Baden, but I guess you can avoid the mixed nude parts of the spa better than in most German spa towns that I mentioned.

After that, just south of Stuttgart there is Herrenberg, the university town of Tübingen, and Hechingen with it's Hohenzollern castle.

The Schwarzwaldbahn, a rail line from Hausach to Triberg and on to Donaueschingen is very scenic.

Is it Good to go to towns named Bad? (okay, I admit it's late and I've had the 2nd glass of wine)

"Is it Good to go to towns named Bad? (okay, I admit it's late and I've had the 2nd glass of wine)"

I remember seeing a map of US army bases in Germany when I was a kid. I was particularly struck by the name "Bad Kreuznach". Wow, something awful must have happened there to get a name like that!

"Hechingen with it's Hohenzollern castle." One more comment. Why isn't this castle better known among US tourists? Although I've never been there, looking at the video "Images of Germany: Along the Rhine", that has to be one of the most stunning combinations of architecture and landscape in the world.

The "Bad" places are the bath towns that Jo suggested. So while most Americans would stay away from a town called Bad Something, you should actually go there.

Schloss Schwetzingen is a nice place to go to. Pretty palace, beautiful gardens, cute town.

You might be there for the start of wine season (Jo would know more about that). If so, there's a lot of little towns around Mannheim that have wine festivals, you can even take a turn at picking grapes at a vineyard. Don't miss out on getting some Neuwein and Zwiebelkuchen at any cafe that advertises it.

Hohenzollernburg is really impressive when you see it from outside. It just sits up on top of this cone shaped mountain, dominating the surrounding area. It is one of two places in the world where I have looked down on an airplane in flight (the other being Loveland Pass in Colorado).

"Only one English tour a day". And only two buses from the train station to the castle, timed to meet trains from Stuttgart at 11:25 and 13:25. It's a little hard to get to, but I suspect that's more because of number of visitor rather than vice versa.

"It's not that impressive on the inside". Actually, it's not some medieval castle, although castles have occupied that hill intermittently for 1000 years. It's just a big apartment. The current castle was built in the mid-1800s as a residence for Wilhelm, who eventually became Kaiser Wilhelm I.

Thank you for all of the great responses! I appreciate the additional ideas - especially the places that aren't in the guidebooks. I am looking forward to my additional research. I am certainly going to plan a spa day and find a festival to go to; last year we stumbled upon a festival in Ladenburg and it was a nice treat!

Koeln has got the great cathedral, but I wasn't impressed with much else there. I think two hours is enough,

I really don't agree with that comment. With two hours you barely manage to see the cathedral from the inside and walk up the 500+ steps of tower. Definitely do not skip the tower climb!

There are a couple of great museums on either side of the cathedral: the Museum Ludwig (Modern Art incl. one of the world's largest collection of works by Picasso) and the Roman-Germanic Museum. Each of them will fill 2 hours easily.

And if you aren't into museum just walk around the Altstadt and sit down for a glass of Koelsch (the local beer),