Help - Germany/Switzerland - 14 days - August

I would spend more days in Berlin. If you don't plan to, you will be sad that you didn't. There is so much there to see and the city is not only big, but also diverse in what it has to offer. It is also an ideal base for side trips to Potsdam, or Sachsenhausen Concentration camp or Ravensbruck, Dresden is not far away either.

Knock a night off of Köln and or Zurich and or Frankfurt or delete some of that romantic road time, unless there is a specific town you want to see, it is just a road like any other road in Germany. This would give you more time in Berlin, something like 5 days would be good. Also apts. there are really cheap and abundant and if you are travelling on a budget, this is a perfect place to stay.

i appreciate the advice. we did a trip last summer to ireland, england, and france and never spent more than 2 full days in any city. although the experiences were amazing, we did feel like perhaps it would be nice to spend a bit more time in some places and really soak it all in.

There is no real need to spend 2 nights in Zurich. Just head straight for the Lauterbrunnen Valley (Wengen, Muerren, Gimmelwald).

I agree to bypass the Romantic Road...there's nothing romantic about motion sickness which is what you'll end up with on all those windy twisty little roads with stop signs and traffic lights all along the way.

Why would you go so far south as neuschwanstein castle only to backtrack to Munich and THEN all the way back down south to Zurich? You might want to reconsider that route.

Thanks.

Re: Neuschwanstein
I'm a bit hesitant about my route here as well, but in terms of getting rid of the rental car expenses as quickly as possible, i figured it would be easiest to get to the castle by car and it would be easiest to get to zurich from munich via plane/train. i don't mind a few extra hours driving abroad. our favorite pass-time is stopping off at random countryside locations.

If you picked up the rental car in Germany then just drop it off somewhere on the German/Swiss border (while still in Germany). You'll avoid the hefty drop fee of a different country AND you can just jump on the train to Switzerland.

If you're determined to go to Frankfurt, why not take a Rhine river boat from Cologne to Mainz (which more or less neighbors Frankfurt and is a short train ride away) and get your romantic scenery fix that way, in fact, go as far as Ruedesheim or Bacharach and then take the boat back to Mainz (catch one on its way back to Cologne - it looks like they have a day pass that has a hop on/off function). Or by-pass Frankfurt altogether, and take the train to Salzburg from Munich before going on to Switzerland. The following is this year's boat schedule on the Rhine. http://www.kd-rhein-main.de/html/Hauptsaison.htmlhine.

Thanks again. Oh boy, I feel silly. Not much love out there for the Romantische Strasse huh?