I'm travelling to Germany this summer and would like to spend 5 days on the Fairy Tale Road. I plan to fly into Frankfurt and travel north to finish in Breman at the end of a week.
Can anyone please tell me whether I need a car for this, or can I get away with trains and buses? If trains and buses are possible, can you please tell me where I can find these schedules?
Thank you so much for any information you are able to provide!
Are you referring to the Romantic Road?
What exactly is the "Fairy Tale Road"? I've never heard of it.
I have heard lots of "fairy tales" about traveling, though...
Kate, a car would definitely allow you to get off the beaten path. In smaller towns and villages parking would probably not be much of a problem. Trains and buses would definitely be possible, too. The train schedules are to be found on the Deutsche Bahn website (www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml) this one is in English - or you can just use www.bahn.de. I don't know if they show bus routes but I have found bus schedules when I googled a German city, they often advertise on those sites. If you speak and read German, I would suggest you get a Baedeker guide for Germany (maybe it comes in English?), trace your route from Frankfurt to Bremen on a map and then look up all the places that interest you. Most of those never show up at all in the usual guide book. Also, Kate, you might want to post your question in the "Transportation" area and ask for suggestions - Frankfurt to Bremen in one week, train/bus or car, something like that. There are a couple of terrific experts on this forum that could be of lots of help to you. And to the other posters, Germany has named a lot of more or less scenic roads with enticing names for travelers and tourists, Fairytale Road (Maerchenstrasse) is just one of them.
Kate, all these places are accessible with public transportation, mainly trains. I don't think you will need to rent a car. Hanau is just an S-bahn trip away from Frankfurt, Marburg just an hour by train, and so on.
There is also the Castle Road & the Vinyard Road.
.... and let's not forget the newest of the "tourist marketing" roads: The Crystal Road and The Fachwerk Road.....isn't there also a Porcelain Road ?
We had a great time on the Fairy Tale road a couple of years ago. Many interesting towns, Sleeping Beauty castle, Rapunzel's tower, etc. There is a very complete website as mentioned by a previous poster. In order to see what you really want to, a car is necessary as many of the sites are in rural areas. Our experiences are available on our trip report:http://www.bensbauernhof.com/greateuropetripof2007.html.
Enjoy!
The website you got from Steve is the same one I found. Really good information on there. You can get to most of the towns by regional trains. For travel, your cheapest bet is to either use a Laender ticket, a Happy Weekend ticket or a Quer Durch Deutschland ticket. Depends on if it is the weekend or if you have anyone traveling with you. Or check the regular ticket prices between the various cities on the Deutsche Bahn website.
From Frankfurt to Hanau, you can take the S-bahn. Trains will go to Steinau, then Schluechtern, then perhaps go onto Marburg, which is a great university town. Your best bet after that it to travel to Kassel, the Goettingen, the on to Hameln, ending in Bremen. This should pretty much use up your 5 days. There are so many smaller towns along your route, but you really don't have time for them.
Looks like a fun trip. I hope you will come back with a trip report for us.
If you do it on your own, make sure to leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Don't eat any apples. Avoid trolls.
