quick trip and need itinerary ideas...

marie, Could you clarify a few points..... > You have Thursday, Friday and Saturday for touring at the start? I noted that you have to be back in Stuttgart on Sat. night. > You then have five days (Sun.-Thu.) for travel? It will be relatively easy to visit Heidelberg, Rothenburg and the Black Forest area (perhaps Baden-Baden?) or the Alsace region (I'd suggest Colmar for a day or two). However, I'm not sure you'll be able to get to all of the locations on your list in such a short time frame. I wouldn't recommend trips to either Prague or Vienna, as the travel times would be too long given the short time you have available. A short overnight visit to Salzburg should be possible, although the minimum travel time is 4H:11M each way from Stuttgart. As you'll be travelling to Munich on Thursday night and flying out Friday, I doubt you'll have time for Fussen. However, if you could arrange to be in Munich on Thursday morning, you should be able to fit that it (have a look at Radius Tours as a day tour might be a good option). Check your local book stores to see if you can find a copy of the Germany 2011 Guidebook (also available for download in E-book format). I'd suggest making a list of the places you MOST want to see, listed in order of priority. Figure out a logical order of visits and then use the bahn.de website to work out the transportation details. Good luck and happy travels!

we have a birthday party in stuttgart on saturday night to go to so i just needed some ideas for friday to saturday night. we can stay in munich as a base and take trains out to different places. we just have a flight out of munich on friday am so we'll spend the night there thursday for sure. we are flexible. recommendations on where to stay in salzburg?

You don't have much time, so I would probably concentrate on stuff near Stuttgart. There's a lot of good sites in the immediate area, but none of it is covered by Rick Steves' book, so I would suggest another guide. And one question to answer- will you have a car? Stuff near Stuttgart: the Schwäbische Alb region is basically the same thing as the Black Forest, but much closer- low mountains covered in conifers, fachwerk villages and sparsely populated. The town of Schwabishe Hall is also a good substitute for Rothenburg. Ulm, between Stuttgart and Füssen, is also worth a look, mainly for it's huge cathedral. I haven't visited it yet (going tomorrow, though!), but the pictures of Burg Hohenzollern near Hechingen look fantastic. Füssen and the nearby castles sit in the shadow of the Alps. You'll get a good dose of them if you visit here. With the limited amount of time you have, you may be able to go to the Netherlands, Vienna or Prague, but only one of them. Alsace would be much easier.

I wouldn't discourage any one from visiting Burg Hohenzollern in Hechingen, but realistically, it's a lot like Neuschwanstein, built in the 1800s as residence for the king (in this case Willhelm I). I think that, although parts were rebuilt after a fire in the 1800s, Schloss Sigmaringen, in southern B-W, is older.

A good morning or part-day trip is to Ludwigsburg (take the S-bahn) palace and gardens. You can easily go there, take the tour, see the gardens, have lunch and be back in plenty of time for your evening party. In Stuttgart, visit the Porsche museum (need reservation), Mercedes factory, downtown city tour, the Markthalle (indoor food market), Staatsgalerie, the zoo.....lots of things to do. Burg Hohenzollern and castle Lichtenstein (just outside Stuttgart) are fun half day trips. Metzingen has world-class outlet shopping (45 min from STR), Tubingen is an old university town, very picturesque (30min South). Alsace is an easy overnight or can be done in a long day. Just under 2hrs to Strasbourg or go overnight to Riquewihr. If you're driving, you can hit Fuessen on your way to Munich, just make tour ticket purchase in advance. OR you can go via Rothenberg to Munich, and then you may have enough time to get down to Fuessen if you don't stay too long. Because traffic can be erratic (took us just over 7hrs to go a 3 hr trip in Jan) on the autobahn, Prague, Vienna, Netherlands I think is just out of the question, you'd spend too much time driving to make it worth it. There's so much to see and do around Stuttgart. Post again if you need restaurant recommendations.

thanks for the help everyone. it looks like most are saying don't go to netherlands. but iinstead go to strasborg/colmar region and just see as much of germany as we can. i thought seeing the tulips would be pretty in the netherlands but are there other places to see them? i'm not into the big cities as much as just seeing the people and taking photos!. suggestions?

For flowers, Kathy mentioned the baroque gardens at Schloss Ludwigsburg, which is pretty close to Stuttgart. There's a another huge Schloss/garden complex about 30 minutes to the west of Stuttgart in the city of Karlsruhe. Finally, the town of Schwetzingen outside of Heidelberg also has a large Schloss/garden.

You haven't said the dates of your visit, but you might want to take a look at the Bundes Garten Show in Koblenz that begins 15 April. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesgartenschau I know Stuttgart has a large Botanical Garden in combination with the Zoo. Frankfurt also has a gorgeous Botanical Garden too - the Palmengarten.
http://palmengarten.frankfurt.de/