Germany in December - travel advice needed

The car is a good idea (and since you're from NJ you know about driving in snow). My advice would be to rent a full size or "luxury" car. This will give your children more room to play, snooze (while still safely fastened up of course) and plenty of room for all that stuff necessary for traveling with a 4 & 7 year old. Remember your daylight hours will be short. My cousin loves Germany in December. Rothenburg on der Tauber has a wonderful Christmas fair although it is probably to late to get reservations at a hotel there. But you could stay an hour away. It's the best Christmas fair in Germany (according to my cousin). Much fun for everyone.

You are going to cover a lot of ground. How much time do you have?

We are also going to Germany in December. Several folks warned us off the typical visit to the Rhine river. There are few cruises in the winter. St. Goar is said to be dead, though that might not be bad. We may focus on the Christmas Markets and Roman history in Mainz, Koblenz and Trier.

We really like trains but you know your kids best. The good thing about a train is that you can focus on the kids, and not worry about driving or navigating. The bad thing might be luggage for four.

Regards, Gary

As for the Rhine cruise, the K-D ship line, which most people use for day cruises stops running on 6 Oct. I don't know about next year, but this year (2008) it didn't start running (reduced schedule) until 25 March. If there not running, I wouldn't expect any other line to be running, either.

In St. Goar, Rheinfels castle, from November until March, is only open Sat/Sun, weather permitting. However, there is more to see on the Rhein. I'm sure you can walk around Bacharach any time of year, and Deutsches Eck (Koblenz) would be open.

Definitely rent a car. Your trip reads very much like the one we took last year in September. Yours will be colder, but I think just as wonderful!

St. Goar, Bacharach - stay in one of these places if you can find. Do the K-D cruise between them (you can do a one way and take the train back, it's easy).
Even in this short distance you will see some great castles!

I recommend visitng Burg Reinfels in St. Goar; it can be a self-guided tour (use Rick's tour in the Germany & Austria book), so your kids can take it at their own pace. It's a ruined castle, so it's fun to play in.

In the Black Forest, I recommend at least an afternoon in Baden Baden. It is the most beautiful, quaint looking city at the north end of the forest. If you can get down to Triberg, that's a great place to have lunch, get your cuckoo clocks and see the waterfalls!

With children especially, I highly recommend visiting Rothenberg. It's just a day trip, but the Night Watchman tour and the oldness of the city are just too wonderful to pass up. See Rick Steves' book describing.

If you head down to Neuschwanstein, I recommend driving about 45 minutes around the mountains to Ludwig's other castle, Linderhof. It doesn't get as much press, but it is simply beautiful, with beautiful grounds.

In Munich, head up to the north part of the city where the Englischer Garden is located. There's a beerhaus with a pagoda near the center, or you can have a picnic (bundle up!)

And don't let anyone tell you differently: The food in Germany is INCREDIBLE! Take recommendations from Rick Steves' book, he never steered us wrong. Order potatoes and salads to go with your sausage wherever you can.

Have a great time!

If it were I, and I have spent considerable time (most of 12 weeks) traveling in So. Germany, I would use the trains, not a car. I think your kids would really enjoy the train. It would give them some room to get up and move around.

One thing you should realize. If you buy full fare tickets for the two adults, the children are always free traveling with you. Also, most of your travel looks like regional rail travel, and there are special day passes, called Länder-Tickets, where you and your kids can ride all day on regional trains for €26-35 for all of you.

Do visit plenty of Christmas markets. They're in almost every village in Germany (the village ones usually only open Sat and Sun, the town and cities one open daily). Freiburg has got a very pretty one, so has Frankfurt (yes, that big city has got one of the oldest and most beautiful xmas markets right on the city's main square called Römer). The one in Wiesbaden is disappointing, the one in Mainz is ok. There are merry-go-rounds and other attractions for children as well.