Germany - 10 days

Bacharach is a good place to start since on the 3rd there's a wine festival (beer too) called the Rheinwiesenfest on the grassy riverbank, with evening fireworks (train FRA - Bacharach, 10.50) The Middle Rhine/Mosel region, where Bacharach lies, has a heavy concentration of real knights' castles that are 800 - 1,000 years old. I would spend 3 nights here to adjust, visit the other villages and some wineries, and see these castles (Burg Eltz, Marksburg, Rheinfels, Reichsburg all can be toured) instead of the overtouristed King Ludwig castles that lie 2 hours south of Munich. http://www.burg-eltz.de/e_index.html http://www.marksburg.de http://www.st-goar.de/17-0-burg-rheinfels.html http://www.burg-cochem.de/ (excellent free-flight falconry show here - http://www.falknerei-reichsburg-cochem.de/fotobuch.htm )

Overall, your itin. is really rushed. You're trying to see too much, trying to cover too much territory, spending too much time in transit. To maximize your experience and shorten your journeys, I would delete Munich, Dachau and Salzburg and keep Berlin, where you can take an outing to Sachsenhausen concentration camp instead of Dachau. I would stay an extra day in the Rothenburg area and see nearby Würzburg and charming Bamberg. Rhine: 3 nights; Würzburg, 2 nights w/daytrip to Rothenburg and Bamberg - or visit Bamberg on way to Berlin; Berlin, 5 nights with trip to Sachsenhausen. A car is not going to be helpful in Munich or Berlin; driving into and out of these cities can be nightmarish. It's not much help on the Rhine either, where the trains run up and down both sides of the river day and night, connecting all the villages. I'd snag a 5-day German railpass for $273 (on sale now) and fill in gaps with daypasses like the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket (21 Euros for 1): http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany/laender-ticket.shtml

I would keep Bacharach or even St Goar as a home base for a couple of days. I would keep Munich with only one day trip. There is just too much to see and do in Munich to leave 3 different days. Salzburg would give you the most bang for your buck. But Salzburg is good for 2 or 3 days too, so expect to miss a bunch. Then on to Berlin for 4 days. You will have a couple of heavy travel days, but as long as you know that up front, it shouldn't be to bad for you.

Do you have RS Germany 2011 Guide Book yet? If so, good.
If not, I suggest that you get one as it has lots of good information that we used to plan our Germany trip this coming summer.

I think I would visit Sachsenhausen in Berlin rather than Dachau. They have many of the original buildings there, as the Communists used this camp after the war, thus preserving the barracks, etc. This is a very moving experience. The womens camp, Ravensbruck is also near-by. Visiting Potsdam from Berlin would also be on my list, stunning palace and grounds. I wouldn't spend any days, nor time at all in Ruedesheim, but instead pick something farther up the Rhein, as Russ suggests. This is going in the opposite direction from Munich though. Have you thought about a day in Wuerzburg perhaps after landing, as this gets you going in the correct direction to Munich?

Dachau will give you all you need to "relive" Hitler's regime believe me. Do not skip Munich. Beer halls are a must to experience and of course the beer is great. Salzburg is a very good choice also. As for the Castles? Beautiful works of art but Ludwig's palace was too restricted for us in how they limit your visit. Very regimented to say the least. And getting a ride back down in one of those buses is pure persecution.