Help with Rhine/Bavaria itinerary (7 days)

I loved Rothenburg but it is far for most so unless you are going that way to spend a night I would skip it.

Day 2: Burg Eltz is pretty far and involves a nearly one-hour walk in each direction from the station. Marksburg is really quite special and worthwhile. You could take the river cruise to Braubach before your tour. Get on at 10:55 in St. Goar and arrive 12:20 in Braubach, just right for the 1:00 tour. Or start early and catch a train to Bacharach, an attractive village, then catch that same boat at 10:15 in Braubach instead, and you'll cruise past other castles and the Loreley cliffs. Koblenz isn't so unique.

Instead of cruising on day 1 you might check into your St. Goar hotel, or at least drop bags, then check out the festival towns previously mentioned or head to Boppard just to the north on the same side of the river - another nice village with a chairlift ride to a peak overlooking the river valley.

Würzburg is a great base and a nice town. You'll find some good wine bars there not far from the river.

The Füssen castles make complete sense for a photographer.

Enjoy your trip - it's a good plan.

I think your first train should take you to St. Goar. The Rhine in Flames fireworks show is set for the 18th! It's must-see event if you're in the area and it's done in connection with a wine fest that weekend across the river in St. Goarshausen and in the neighboring Rhine town of Oberwesel. There's an older but inexpensive and amazingly-situated hostel there in St. Goar. There's another hostel in Bingen that could work for you as well with a similarly excellent view of the river gorge. Get reservations wherever you can right away as there aren't a lot of places to stay and the festival is popular.

If you aren't going to Eltz, St. Goar makes for a convenient place to visit Marksburg Castle, the only intact castle on the Rhine, in Braubach. Ferry across the river to St. Goarshausen and take the train north.

www.marksburg.de

You needn't do the Alps, as you suggest. See if you can get over to the Mosel for Trier if you have an interest in Roman History and for Cochem, a gorgeous town with its own castle and an excellent free-flight falconry exhibition on castle grounds. There's a nifty chairlift ride to a local peak as well. This area is great for biking leisurely along river paths and provides terrific scenery. You can catch a train to Bullay and bike west from there - or hike from there up to Burg Arras Castle (across the river) or through the vineyards near Marienburg.

I wouldn't bother with Baden-Baden, personally, or Ludwig's castles. But Rothenburg, though touristy, really is a spectacular old walled town. And that area holds several treasures. Check out Würzburg (Residenz palace) Bamberg (lots of well-preserved pre-war buildings) and Nuremberg (nice city with attractive old town and some WW II sights.

"I will also be spending 8 days in Switzerland, and will have plenty of 'Alps' time, so I don't put a great premium on the Bavarian Alps unless they offer significantly different sights than Switzerland." No, you don't need to go out of your way to explore each separately. If you see Ludwig's castles, you'll get a small taste of the Bavarian Alps anyway.

7 days is not a whole lot of time, and I think you may need to trim back somewhat. Otherwise, you'll spend a lot of valuable vacation time in transit. Perhaps either the Rhineland and Baden-Wurtemburg, or Bavaria and Baden-Wurtemburg, but not all three regions.

"In addition, what, if any, other recommended guidebooks are there for these areas? Or would RS Germany be enough for our trip?" I generally think the Germany book is one of the weaker entries in his travel series, but for only 7 days, it will be sufficient.

If you are going to Stuttgart, perhaps think about seeing some of the other things in this area besides the zoo. Don't get me wrong, I like zoos, but unless there is some special reason for going there or traveling with kids, your very, very short time in Germany can be better used. Coming from Columbus, Ohio and one of the finest zoos around, most European zoos can't begin to compare.

Being in the Stuttgart area will have you close to Tübingen which is interesting and pretty.

For more info on Stuttgart and the surrounding areas, check out Trip Advisor. There is a guy there named Marco that is chock full of info and is as passionate about his adopted city as I am about Frankfurt.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

I have revised the potential itinerary, removing Stuttgart and Baden-Baden from the running.

Day 1 (Sat, 18) - 7AM leave from Frankfurt to St. Goar, Rhine riverboat, exploring and Rhine on Fire. Sleeping in St. Goar.

Day 2 (Sun, 19) - Exploring Rhine, between Rudesheim and St. Goar, potentially up to Braubach or Koblenz.(Is there time here to see Burg Eltz or is it too out of the way? The same feelings with Koblenz, Braubach.)

Day 3 (Mon, 20) - Leave early for Wurzburg (3hr transit) exploring Wurzburg for the day. Sleep in Wurzburg. (I am choosing to do this since we are taking trains and they go through Wurzburg on the way to Rothenburg.)

Day 4 (Tue, 21) - Explore Wurzburg until early afternoon, take the train (1hr transit) to Rothenburg. Explore Rothenburg and do the Nightwatchman Tour. Sleep in Rothenburg.

Day 5 (Wed, 22) - Explore Rothenburg until noon or so, leaving for Munich (3hr transit) and exploring Munich for the day. Sleep in Munich.

Day 6 (Thu, 23) - Explore Munich, Oktoberfest. Sleep in Munich.

Day 7 (Fri, 24) - Fussen for Ludwig's castles. Sleep in Munich.

Day 8 (Sat, 25) - Leave for Frankfurt to return stateside.

I am doing more half and half days places since I do photography and wake up early to get better shots of the places I see during the day/afternoon, and prefer morning/sunset for the lighting. Does this look better overall? I feel a little hurried in Wurzburg/Rothenburg, but want to make sure I get enough time in Munich. We go through Nuremburg on the way to Munich as well, so I am looking for input as to where best to spend my time in the middle, or if I should just do Rhineland to Munich? I would also like to make a half-day of Dachau if possible.

Also I should note that I am more for viewing and photographing castles from the exterior versus touring and exploring them, not that I do not enjoy that as well.

Thanks again!