Germany-Romantic Road

Given the time allotted, I would agree about staying in Cologne for the day, as the cathedral is a must see. You should be taking a train to Munich the next day. You really won't have time to see much of the Romantic Road with 5 days. Spend your Munich days doing tourists things, using public transit to get around to see Nymphenburg Palace and the City Palace. If you get brave, rent a car and head south of Munich for a day rambling through the Bavarian countryside. Or, ride over to Salzburg on the train for a day trip. You'll love Munich and Bavaria.

After your day in Cologne (you don't say what your interests there will be, museums, exhibits, cathedral, etc.) consider traveling with regional trains to Frankfurt. This takes about 3.5 hours, but you get to see all of the castles along the Rhine. If you like cathedrals, add in a stop to Mainz and see the Mainzer Dom. In my opinion, more stunning than the one in Cologne. Add in St. Stephens with its' beautiful Chagall windows. Continue on to Frankfurt and again, depending on what your interests are, you could spend at least a day there for the highlights. Are you interested in Jewish history, Gothic or Carolingen churches, Imperial coronations, or museums? From Frankfurt, just take a train to the destinations you want to visit. You haven't told us what cities or towns you would like to see, but a bus tour is not needed.

You say the Romantic Road Coach does not run when you are going there. No great loss. Although the RR Coach starts in Frankfurt, that is not the start of the Romantic Road; ths start is Würzburg, an hour and a half after leaving Frankfurt. From Würzburg, the coach makes seven stops, including 50 min for lunch in Rothenburg. Except for Dinkelsbühl (45 min), the rest of the stops are not long enough to really see anything. So for most of the time you just sit in the bus watching a really boring, 2 lane road with traffic. From Frankfurt, go to Rothenburg for a night, then on to Munich. If you want to see Füssen, make it a day trip from Munich.

The Romantische Straße is one of about a hundred Ferienstraßen (themed tourist routes, literally "vacation roads") that criss-cross Germany. The intention for most of them is that they link together sites or towns sharing a certain theme, not that the drive itself is especially scenic. Visit some of the towns along the route if they interest you (and there are plenty of nearby "Romantic" towns that aren't on the road, and hence usually get ignored by North American Rickniks... um, I mean travelers...) , but otherwise, as Lee mentioned, the actual experience of driving the road is nothing special. The only really breathtaking view along the whole route is the southern end as you approach Füssen and the Alps, but the view is more or less the same from the A7 Autobahn.

Thanks for all of the input everyone! I looked through some of my books again and here's what I'm thinking about doing... Cologne-1 day to see Dom, Chocolate Museum, NS Dokumentationszentrum and have some Kolsch beer. If I wanted to do a Rhine River tour would I need an extra day? Frankfurt- stop for a few hours or so and go to an apple-wine tavern Rothenburg-spend the day and night there Munich- I want to see the Palace and the BMW Welt, go to one of the beer gardens (or a few) and go to Dachau...should I spend 1 day in Munich or 2?
Fusson- I want to take a day trip here to see the Neuschwanstein castle. I found a day trip that tours that, Linderhof and visits a town called Oberammergau do you think this would be worth it? Particular interests of mine architecture, Jewish and Holocaust history, food and beer/wine tasting. Any other suggestions you have on stuff I must see please let me know! Thanks!

"If I wanted to do a Rhine River tour would I need an extra day? " I believe so, at least with a scheduled cruise on a boat of the K-D line. There is one boat leaving Köln at 9:30. You could go up the Rhein as far as Linz before having to return to Köln, but the first boat back to Köln arrives at 6 PM, so the boat ride alone would fill the day. The only alternative I know of is a 1 hr Panorama trip (if that's enough time for you ) on a K-D boat around Köln. There's five or six of those trips throughout the day. When I went to Dachau, it took a full half day. I know nothing about how long BMW World might take, but the Palace(?), Nymphenburg or the Residenz, will also take a half day. Munich is a really neat city. Spend two days. In my opinion, those package tours are not worth what they charge. You can easily do the trip on your own. However, to come out on the train and do Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, and Oberammergau in a day would be pushing it if on your own. On the other hand, I spent half a day at Linderhof; I don't think the tour will let you do that. There are several buses during the day from Füssen to Oberammergau. I might suggest coming out on the train, seeing Neuschwanstein, then taking the bus to Oberammergau and eventually the train from Oberammergau back to Munich. You could do all of that travel in a day with a Bayern-Ticket (€21 single, €29 2-5pp). Alternatively, come out on the train, see both castles, then take the bus to Oberammergau for the night. Next morning take the bus round trip to Linderhof (about 20 min each way), then return by train to Munich in the early afternoon.

* Particular interests of mine architecture, Jewish and Holocaust history, food and beer/wine tasting. Any other suggestions you have on stuff I must see please let me know! Thanks! If those are your interests, then you might want to consider just a few more hours in Frankfurt. There are 2 Jewish museums here, 1 of which is at the location of the Jewish Ghetto that began in 1462, the 1st one in Europe. This Ghetto was in existence until 1810, one of the longest forced occupation and one of the largest in population. Before the nazis took over Germany, Frankfurt had the 2nd largest Jewish population, after Berlin. While at this museum, visit the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Wall that has the names of over 12,000 Frankfurt Jewish citizens that lost their lives due to the nazi regime. Anne Frank, her sister Margot and their mother Edith are included on this wall. The wall itself surrounds the Medieval cemetery that the Jewish community used from 1272-1828. The cousin of Anne, Buddy Elias, has just donated a huge collection of material to the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt, though it might take a while to get this permanent exhibit created. You can go see the house she was born in though. If it is a weekday, then visit the I.G. Farben building which now houses the Goethe University. They used Auschwitz as their slave labor camp and were also responsible for all of the explosives the nazis used in WW2, as well as the Zyklon B gas. Info posters line the hallways tellling the history of this time period. There are other Holocaust Memorials in FF commemorating the sacrifices of the Roma & Sinti, Homosexuals, and Jehova Witnesses. There are also about 500 Stolper Stein here too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein If food is also high on your list, then a visit to the Klein Markt Halle is a good idea. Frankfurt also has multiple outdoor markets on almost every day of the week, except for Sun. & Mon.

"Fusson- I want to take a day trip here to see the Neuschwanstein castle." Don't spend a day going there and back. It's a 35-min. tour of a late 19th-century home, not a real castle. The trip from Munich alone is 5 hours round trip. Instead, spend the extra day south of Cologne in the Middle Rhine Valley - it's on your way south anyway - and see some real castles; the whole valley has been designated a protected world heritage site; Marksburg and Rheinfels have been where they are for centuries and centuries and give you a glimpse into the lives of Europeans past: http://www.marksburg.de http://www.st-goar.de/17-1-.html Since your time is short... You don't have to do a time-consuming cruise (unless you want to, of course) to see these or the other castles. Trains run up and down each side of the river. Braubach (Marksburg) is 12 min. south of Koblenz by train on the east bank. St. Goar (Rheinfels) is 25 min. south of Koblenz on the west bank. The area is filled with B&B and hostel accommodations.

Give yourself at least 2 full days in Munich. Given your limited time, skipping Neuschwanstein might be a good idea, unless you really want to see it. As others have mentioned, castles are everywhere.