G/A/S Itinerary help, please!

Hard to give advice without dates/length of stay.

I would consider using the trains for Munich to Salzburg (28 Euros for the whole family on a Bayern Ticket) and Salzburg to Füssen (same ticket and price.)

I'd pick up a car in Füssen for your trip to Switzerland. Drop car in Germany where convenient to avoid out-of-country drop-off fees. I believe a travel vignette is required for Switzerland for out-of-country vehicles. Freiburg or nearby might be a good spot to drop.

You can get all the way from Freiburg to Würzburg, near Rothenburg, with a Baden-Württemberg ticket by train (28 Euros for all.)

Also, you can ride the rails for free during your stay and on the day of departure within the black forest region if you stay in one of the listed Konus towns where the Konus pass is issued at no charge; Freiburg isn't included, but Hinterzarten (hiking area) or Titisee are and are attractive and popular places to stay:

Konus (free rail travel) towns

The Rhine/Mosel region has some mighty impressive ancient castles; go there if you have time. Cheapest rail deal for a family from the Würzburg/Rothenburg area would probably be the "Happy Weekend" Ticket for 37 Euros on Sat or Sun.

Hi Libby,

Is that 10 days for your entire trip? Knowing your time frame will make all the difference in helping you.

Paul

Yes, 10 days for the entire trip from mid- to late-June. Thanks for suggestions - please keep 'em coming!

Hi again Libby,

With 10 days for the entire trip, I'd concentrate on Bavaria (plus maybe Salzburg). I'd skip Switzeralnd all together. Here's a link to a "trip report" we wrote starting in Frankfurt and ending in Munich (reverse of your trip).

www.fodors.com/community/europe/moselrothenburgbavaria-report-with-photos.cfm

Paul

That is a lot of driving.

As much as I love Switzerland for hiking, I'd say it is a long way off your path for a short trip like this. Why not do your hiking in the Bavarian Alps? There is fantastic hiking in Garmisch-Partenkirchen---very different from Switzerland, but wonderful in its own way. The "Klamm" hikes are exciting---an engineered path through a gorge on suspended walkways, bridges, and thru short tunnels---all the while with a roaring cascade of water next to you.

Or try the Alpspitze--there is an trail across the face, with a few ladder sections that are safe but really fun. Or ride a chairlift up Wank and watch the paragliders take off before heading out on a hike through the green trail on the mountaintop.

Google "Hollentalklamm" for photos of the gorge hike. You can continue from there up to a hut, and then traverse around to the top of the Alpspitze cablecar, and ride that 4000 feet or so back down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

And then head into town for a Spaghetti Eis at the Dolomiti Eiscafe. The best vanilla ice cream/strawberry sauce you ever tasted.

This is all very close to Fuessen. We visited the castles on a dayrip from our base in GP.

Definitely get the spaghetti eis. We got it on our first trip to Germany 15 years ago, and every trip since. I love that travel tradition!

I agree with the others, with 10 days I'd focus just on Bavaria and Salzburg. You may want to consider making a home base for a good part of it, like Garmisch. You can rent an apartment for a few days, it'll actually be cheaper than a hotel and give you more space, plus your own kitchen and washer and dryer. You can also find apartments on working farms. The best way to find them is to search on the town's website, which will be www.(name of town).de. We started doing the home base/apartment stay thing once we started traveling with our kids, and it's been the best.