France and Germany

We traveled along the western part of France and there are plenty of castles in the Loire Valley and the Dordogne area but cannot help with Provence. Somebody will weigh in. Plenty of places in Germany for good scenery and photos. The Alps in Bavaria with towns such as Mittenwald, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Oberammergau and Berchtesgaden to name just a few. You could dip into Austria easily from Berchtesgaden and go to Salzburg and surrounding areas without much trouble at all. The Rhine valley and the Mosel River area are also very scenic. I am not sure about public transportation in Provence but in Germany the public transportation is really good. You could rent a car for a day or two here and there but you would be fine using public transportation while in Germany. There will others here who will offer some good tips for you.

Thank you for your reply. Just to let you know....I have been to Austria

Provence is a great choice, though I do not think of it as any kind of chateaux country. It is beautiful country, and the Roman antiquities are stunning.

It will be hard to get the very best of it without a car, but still feasible if you are patient and do not balk at taxis or tours or buses to the areas not served by rail.

I don't know how to advise you on lodging, everyone has different standards and priorities. I think prices are up all over these days.

Hi Virginia,

Since you have almost a month you could consider renting an apartment for a week or more at a time in a small city to use as a home base. I'd check www.vrbo (Vacation Rental by Owner.) Not sure if the cost work out less for a single traveler but it would be worth a look and you could certainly save $$$ on meals.

"I also want to see places that have the most beautiful scenery."

There's no shortage of that in Germany. I suggest you look into the Black Forest - should be beautiful in May, and there are several lovely villages.

Some of my favorites include Gengenbach (walled town with towers), Schiltach (lovely half-timbered buildings), Tübingen (gorgeous university town to the east of the BF), Titisee (heavily touristed but nice setting), Löffingen (nice village to use as a base, attractive buildings) and Hinterzarten (good walking routes.) All these towns are connected by train. The innkeepers and B&B owners have low rates, generally, and train travel is free with the "Konus" card they give you once you check in (Tübingen is not included in this freebie, but I think all the others are.)

Castles: I like the Rhineland castles most. These are rustic medieval castles, some of which are 1000 years old, perched cliffside in some lovely scenery. There are dozens of them between Bingen and Koblenz. Most can be walked to, a few can be toured, like these:

Marksburg (not hard to reach from Braubach's center.)

Burg Eltz (on the Mosel River, a healthy 1-hr walk each way from Moselkern station. My 75-year-old in-laws managed.)

Walking to Burg Eltz

Burg Rheinfels (in St. Goar)

"I kinda hope I can use strictly rail and bus service in Germany"

Should be no problem. The two regions I mentioned have extensive rail networks and daypasses for individuals at 20 Euros per day: the "Rheinland-Pfalz ticket" works in the Rhine and Mosel towns mentioned. A "Baden-Württembert ticket" does the same in the Black Forest region w/o a Konus card.

Accommodations:

Ben's website/

We have booked a lovely B & B in Avignon. Check it out www.closdurempart.com I have been in conctact with the owner by email and phone and she is an absolute delight. It is a quintessential Provence style cottage consisting of two guest rooms. Rates for two people per night are 120 euro including breakfast. We are doing a doing a day tour to from Avignon through Viator

You might enjoy reading the trip reports on Ben's site: here's one for the Black Forest:

Black Forest

I also posted at Frommers to your post.

My wife and I also have been looking for inexpensive B&B's in both France and Germany. Although I see lots of ones outside of my budget of less than 60 euros for 2, I still manage to find ample in my price range. Usually I just do a google search with the name of the town I'm interested in followed by "bed and breakfast". By using this method I found where we will stay in Provence on our trip in May. I also discovered on trip report on Fodors where the writer had sayed at this B&B, so at least I got a recommedation. We only make reservations for our first two stops and rely on the tourist info center to locate a place in our price range when we arrive in a town or city. This works well when traveling in the off season. I also discovered a web site with rural B&B's that have many in my price range. Here is a link to the B&B in Provence in the small town of Venasque and to Top Rural web site.

http://en.toprural.com/

http://www.masdukairos.com/