Help with Germany driving tour

You really need to spend a full day in Füssen and a full day in Rothenburg. I looked back at my records, and I arrived at Linderhof just before 11:00, toured the palace immediately, had lunch, then saw the grotto and left around 3 PM. That was four hours. I scheduled 3½ hrs in Dinkelsbühl but was bored and left after 2½ hrs. But you can get a good glimse of the town wall from the eastern parking lot before going on.

What I am saying is your time can be used up in only 4 stops, not including driving time. That is, unless you "see" these places like I saw Italy last August - went from Innsbruck to Brenner, then 35 min by train to Fortezza, had pizza for lunch and went back to Brenner and said, "Italy, check" and added it to my list of countries I've seen.

There is very little to see at Ettal and, with the Passion play on, you probably don't want to stay overnight in Oberammergau. So I'm assuming the first day is Munich to Ettal to Oberammergau to Füssen. That day could be done by train and bus for €28 for both of you with a Bayern-Ticket.

If each of the other link are a day's trip, they could all be done with six more €28 Bayern-Tickets (if some of those are more than one town in a day, e.g. Füssen to Ulm to Dinkelsbühl, fewer B-T). So the entire trip could be done for less than €200. Actually, Dinkelsbühl to Rothenburg cost me less the €9 pP by bus in 2007.

BTW, I did a similar trip in 2007, starting in Munich and going to Oberammergau, day trip to Linderhof, then up the Romantic Road to Wieskirche, Schongau, Landsberg, Donauwörth, Harburg, Nördlingen, Dinkelsbühl, Feuchtwangen, Rothenburg, Weikersheim, Würzburg, Bamberg, Nürnberg, Passau, Burghausen, then Munich. I spent 13 nights in 10 places. That's pushing it a bit.

My total travel expenses for the first half (the Romantic Road) of that trip, by myself, were €93 ($133 at the time). The best estimate for car rental, w/o CDW, and fuel was $345. So I saved a lot of money, plus stress, doing it with public transportation.

If it was just me, I'd probably opt for train travel. But I'm going with a friend and we really want some flexibility. This is the only time we're renting a car - all the rest of the trip will be by public transportation.

Also, they're not all day trips - we're only going to be gone 2 nights and 3 days, so some of the towns will be just a quick stopover.

I do agree with you about Oberamergau and I think I'll leave that off. However, I really want to see Linderhof Palace in Ettal. I'm also not planning on touring the inside of Neuschwanstein, but would like to at least see it from the outside.

Linderhof is not really in Ettal. Ettal Monastery is in Ettal, and after reviewing their website, I didn't think it was worth my time. Linderhof is a few km down the road in Graswang. Between the palace tour and the grotto, I spent most of an afternoon there.

I did know that Linderhof was outside Ettal - I just wrote Ettal for convenience's sake. And we are planning on spending the night in Rothenburg.

I'm sorry you saw Italy like that, but I can assure you that I have no intention of "checking" off Germany. For one thing, I love to drive around in places I haven't been before just to see the countryside. Sometimes it's not about spending a lot of time in each town, but just getting a feel for the place.

Actually, in looking it over, I'm probably going to omit Dinkelsbuhl (maybe Ulm, too), which means I'd spend the first night in Rothenburg. That leaves me another day and a half to see more of Rothenburg, Eichstatt and Neuburg.

"I'm sorry you saw Italy like that".

I'm not. I really have no interest in Italy whatsoever, but I was in Innsbruck and I have always wondered if the Brenner Pass was as scenic as advertised. It wasn't, not anyway to somebody from Colorado. It's pretty, but nothing spectacular. But I had to see it to know.

The "Italy, check" thing was just a parody on people who are more interested in checking off destinations than actually seeing things.

Speaking of which, according to ViaMichelin, Munich to Linderhof to Füssem to Rothenburg (deleting Oberammergau, Ulm, and Dinkelsbühl), assuming you can drive straight through, no missed turns and no traffic delays, no stops for meals, no fueling stop, and no "potty" stop, is over 6 hours. When are you going to have time for Linderhof and the castles in Füssen?

You've got a car and you're skipping Andechs Monastery?

We don't drink yet we still loved it.

Don't miss it. See what RS says about it.

You've got a car and you're skipping Andechs Monastery?

This is totally unrelated information. It is certainly not necessary to have a car to go to Andechs. it is so convenient with public transportation. The S-Bahn runs out to Herrsching, where you can catch a 10 minute bus to Andechs. I did it in 2007.

It is a Muenchen Gesamtnetz Tageskarte (€18,80 for 2-5 people). The bus, included with the Tageskarte, meets the train and takes you to the Monastery.

You can also walk to Andechs from the Herrsching S-Bahn station. It's a beautiful walk, a sort of pilgrimage made by many Germans, with beautiful views of the Ammersee (lake) along the way.