Germany Trip Plan Help Needed

You'll find schedules on the German Rail website.

It looks like Lauterach is near Bregenz. Take the bus from Füssen Bahnhof to Pfronten, then a local train to Kempten, from there to Lindau, and around the eastern edge of Bodensee to Bregenz and Lauterach.

ETA: You don't have to take the bus to Pfronten, although that is a scenic route. You can also take the train from Füssen Bahnhof to Biessenhofen (or Kaufbeuren or Buchloe), which is on the main line from Munich to Lindau, and change there. A really scenic, albeit longer route, would be to take that same bus through Pfronten to Sonthofen. There is nothing like coming down the steep mountain switchbacks into Hindelang. Then take the short connecting rail line from Sonthofen to Immenstadt im Allgäu, where you pick up a train to Lindau.

Burg Eltz is kind of out of the way vs the rest of this trip and there is actually no place to stay at Burg Eltz. You might find somewhere to stay in Moselkern, if not try Tries-Karden, Cochem, or Koblenz. Moselkern is a walk through the woods from Burg Eltz. From the other places you'll need to take the train to Moselkern before your walk.

Five nights seems a little long for Berchtesgaden. I've been there twice, each for 3 nights (2 full days). One day for the Eagles' Nest and the Dokumentation Center below it. One day for Königssee; that actually won't take an entire day, might give you time for the salt mine. You might want to go into Salzburg for a day. There is an hourly bus direct from the Berchtesgaden Hbf to Salzburg Hbf. It's called the Watzmann Express. Roundtrip with an RVO Tagesticket should be about €9 per adult. Or you can go by rail via Freilassing.

There was recently a long discussion on the wall about going from Salzburg/Berchtesgaden to Füssen. It's about 2 hours each from Berchtesgaden to Munich and from Munich to Füssen, about 45 minutes longer if you do it by regional trains, but then you can use a €28 Bayern-Ticket. Depending on when you leave Berchtesgaden, you might want to schedule an hours stopover at the Munich Hbf for lunch.

Thank you all for replying. We are planning on traveling by car.

Paul-The first version is what I was thinking. We want to see a bit of Munich before traveling to Berchtesgaden. I've spent a bit of time reading here and on Fodor's. In fact, I have your trip report printed out. Your pictures are wonderful.

Russ-I like your idea of adding some time to Mosel area. Is there any reason to add a day to Fussen or are two days enough to see the local sights?

Thanks for the help!

Hi Kathy,

First, how are you traveling once you leave Munich, car or train? Knowing this will make it easier to give advice, especially on recommending places to stay.

For a "first attempt at an itinerary", you're plan sounds pretty good.

We've stayed a total of 10 nights in the Berchtesgaden area (we love staying in Ramsau) the last 4 years. Beautiful area and we haven't run out of ideas for days trips yet, although my opinion on your trip would be take a night from Berchtesgaden and add it to the Mosel. That would give you 2 full days on the Mosel. I'd suggest Cochem as a base on the Mosel. 2 nights/1 full day is good for Rothenburg ob der Tauber as is 2 nights/1 full day for Fuessen and Ludwig's castles.

If you drop Lauterach, maybe replace it with Mittenwald/Innsbruck/G-P area.

You may find these both interesting and of some help.

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

www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/index.html

www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/travel15.html

Paul

I'd suggest reducing your 5 nights in Füssen to 3 and adding 2 to the Mosel. HISTORY: the Ludwig Castles near Füssen are the babes of European history, barely 100 years old. The Mosel area has a good bit more. Trier on the Mosel has a whole lot of Roman history to digest. Burg Eltz is great. So is Marksburg just south of Koblenz on the Rhine. And 1,000 + year-old Reichsburg Castle in Cochem is interesting too.

You might also be interested in WW II history?? If so, check out Panzerwerk Katzenkopf - a Nazi bunker north of Trier in Irrel, open Sundays and holidays only, and the Peace Museum in Remagen, just north of Koblenz, which is housed in the supports for the former bridge at that location that was captured on the first surge into Germany by Allies. Lots of displays there with English descriptions.

www.bruecke-remagen.de

Kathy,

Maybe I read this wrong, is it:

Munich - 2 nights

Berchtesgaden - 5 nights

Fuessen - 2 nights

Lauterach - 2 nights

Rothenburg - 2 nights

Mosel - 2 nights

Frankfurt ???

OR

Arrive Munich and go directly to:

Berchtesgaden - 2 nights

Fuessen - 5 nights

Lauterach - 2 nights

Rothenburg - 2 nights

Mosel - 2 nights

Frankfurt - 2 nights

If it's the latter, I'd suggest:

Berchtesgaden-3 nights (2 full days)

Fuessen-3 nights (2 full days) Besides the castles, do the Tegelberg cable car also.

Lauterach-2 nights (1 full day)

Rothenburg-2 nights (1 full day)

Mosel-3 nights (2 full days)

Frankfurt-2 nights

Maybe take 1 Frankfurt night and add it to Berchtesgaden or Mosel.

Paul

Hi again Kathy,

With a car, you're itinerary sounds very good. My opinion is with a car, travel to these places will be easier.

For Fuessen, 2 nights is good. To see Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein takes a morning. If you know what day you will be going, you can reserve tickets ahead of time. Fuessen itself is easy to see in an afternoon and evening IMO.

Even though we love the Berchtesgaden area, I'd take a night from Berchtesgaden (from 5 to 4) and add to the Mosel. The Mosel is well worth 3 nights.

Paul

Paul has given you some good advice. While there is alot to see and do around Berchtesgaden, the Mosel region does deserve at least 3 days.

We have stayed in Beilstein at the Haus Lipmann Hotel and would give it rave reviews. Beilstein is small, however, so there's not alot of nightlife but we enjoyed it as a base for exploring the area.

http://www.hotel-haus-lipmann.de/

We have also stayed in Bernkastel-Kues which is close to Trier (while Beilstein is closer to Cochem and Burg Eltz) at the Hotel Binz which we can also recommend. It's a gorgeous town; one of our favorites in this region.

http://www.hotel-binz.de/en/restaurant/

If you wish to stay in Berchtesgaden, I can recommend the Hotel Wittelsbach. One thing that was nice for us is they have an elevator!

http://www.hotel-wittelsbach.com/hotel_engl.htm