Need help planning last minute Germany/Austria trip

Rethink you're overall plan. 2 days in Munich is a bit rushed, especially considering you'll lose some time to jet lag. 2 days is OK for Salzburg, but after that, you're plan falls apart. Hallstatt is somewhat isolated and takes quite a while to get to and from. Vienna and Innsbruck are much too far from Stuttgart- you'll spend a long time on trains for very little benefit. Rothenburg would make a little more sense.

I recommend you stick to Munich and Salzburg and perhaps one additional location between there and Stuttgart.

I am not a huge fan of Innsbruck (particularly compared to Salzburg), but the area around the city if beautiful. IF you could stay out in a smaller town (many here have recommended Mittenwald-haven't been there myself) I think that would be preferable. You would have more of an "alp" experience. Vienna is a long way to go for a day. Rothenburg could be a lot of fun for a day. I really enjoyed that town-particularly walking the wall and the night watchman's tour. You might also look into the Garmisch or Fussen area. Garmisch would be a better "alp" experience than Innsbruck (in my opinion, of course) and Fussen has the castles. Of the 3 you list: Rothenburg would be my first choice, Innsbruck and Vienna would tie for last (Vienna because it is so far to go)

I agree with Tom. Perhaps another stop in Germany instead. I would suggest 2 places. You could visit Fussen, which has the 2 castles (I won't even attempt to spell them). That is approximately a 3 hr train ride from Munich. Great day trip.

The other place would be Heidelberg. Amazing town, decent night life, and a castle overlooking the old town. Easy to spend most of a day wandering through the grounds of the castle. Heidelberg is close to Stuttgart, and the train ride along the Rhine is gorgeous.

My 2 cents. Good luck.

I think your trip is OK. Rothenburg is more impressive than Innsbruck, IMO.

I'd restructure this itin. slightly.

Days 1-3 in Munich; spend that 3rd day there too, then leave Munich in evening for Salzburg.

Day 4 and night in Salzburg.

Day 5: Hallstatt is a bit out of the way. You might instead make your way to Rothenburg, but stop on the way at lake Chiemsee and take a tour of Herrenchiemsee, a palace constructed by King Ludwig. It's pretty amazing. Then continue to Rothenburg for the night.

Day 6: Spend the day in Rothenburg. Then head to Stuttgart in the evening if you feel you need a full day in Stuttgart (I'm not sure what your plans there might be, but you aren't leaving much time for Stuttgart at all with your current plan.) Or stay over in Rothenburg for another night.

Rothenburg on the Tauber--it's on your way to Stuttgart. Innsbruck has more of a city feel. I'd save it for a future trip. Looks like you also want to take a day trip (2 1/2 hr. train ride each way) to Hallstatt while you are staying in Salzburg. While Hallstatt has a beautiful setting, there isn't much else to see/do. Just depends on what you want out of your visit. It is out of your way and there's plenty to do in Salzburg. Have fun on your trip!

Rothenburg is much closer to Stuttgart; go there. Much as I love Hallstatt, it also makes it a long trip back to Salzburg, Munich, wherever. Maybe skip it and add a day to Munich.

Hallstatt is a bit hard to get to. Instead of going there, you could take a day trip to one of the other lake towns in the Salzkammergut, about an hour drive from Salzburg. There's St. Gilgen, St. Wolfgang, Bad Ischl, just to name a few. There's buses that run out there, and the towns are small enough to walk around.

I think Innsbruck can be skipped. I like Hall in Tyrol, which is just down the road from Innsbruck, but wouldn't add that (in your limited time) for this trip either.

I would probably try to make it 2 1/2 days in Munich and a day and a half in Salzburg. Try for Rothenburg odT but don't kill yourself to get there if you run out of time. Rothenburg is best from late afternoon through the next morning. The middle of the day can get very touristy.

Thank you THANK YOU for all your help - I am on day 2 of my trip and your advice has already been invaluable in planning. On the advice of just about everyone, I am going to bag Hallstatt (which is disappointing, but I realized it's probably not worth the hassle given my time constraints) and replace it with a day in Fussen OR one of the Chiemgau towns (at least one person has suggested Prien). This would be my stop in between Salzburg and Munich (where I'm now flying out of). Still ideally looking for a town on the train line, though I don't mind making connections. Any suggestions?

Thanks again for all your help!