Sightseeing priorities-Germany- is this possible?

First place, Frankfort the capital of Kentucky. Perhaps you mean Frankfurt, one of the main cities in Germany.

Two days in Rothenburg is about right, two days in Munich is hardly sufficient, certainly if you want to include Dachau and Füssen and the castles. Definitely delete Salzburg (not that it is not nice, you don't have time). You would be far better off flying out of Munich.

Thanks you for the correction. I must fly in and out of Frankfurt. To gain more time, should I give up the Rhine tour, or take off the trip to Wurzburg and add that day to Munich?. Another option is to rent a car. What do you think is the best plan?

Everything you want to see is great. Problem is you probably don't have time for all of it. I haven't seen an itinerary, but if you want to see the Rhein, give up the castles, or visa versa. Würzburg is on your way from Frankfurt to Munich, I wouldn't skip it.

Yes - drop the Fuessen castles and add time to the Rhine - tour the medieval castles there instead, like Marksburg in Braubach - www.marksburg.de . Head to Bacharach directly after arrival on 9/30 - no sense in wasting an afternoon/evening in Frankfurt! To get to Marksburg Castle change trains in Koblenz or take the ferry in St. Goar to St. Goarshausen across the Rhine and train north from there. I'd spend 3 nights there altogether and also have a tour of Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar and take a trip to Boppard, just north of there.

If you don't stay in Frankfurt on the 30th then you will miss Germany's premier event! The Museum Riverbank Festival. This now gets more people per day then the Oktoberfest. Stopping in Frankfurt and seeing the city is not a waste of time. I truly do not understand people who say this. Why is this city so unworthy of being seen in comparison to Wurzburg, or even Munich? There are really wonderful things here to be seen. Could someone please tell me what is so distasteful about coming here? Funny that we tied with Munich for 7th place, on best places in the world to live.

Jo wrote: "I truly do not understand people who say this. Why is this city so unworthy of being seen in comparison to Wurzburg, or even Munich?"

Most guide books are dedicated on a few "must sees". In Germany's case they are old world sights. English speaking tourists tend to be herded to these few places by English travel literature and other English speakers. If you go to Germany, you "must see" .... or other folks might think your trip a failure.

It is a lot harder to visit modern Germany to be with Germans and in German culture. Hell, we don't even get the name right. I believe most folks on these boards have an positive attitude towards the countries that we visit, and Germans generally have a positive attitudes toward foreign guests. Still, it is hard to overcome language and cultural differences once to get out of the tourist groove.

It is good to plan a trip with some "must sees" but also some other places. Frankfurt is difficult as it is so big and so little is written about it. It may have a mix of the modern and old world, but its size makes it a challenge compared to Würzburg. On our coming trip we may start in Aschaffenburg. Like Frankfurt it was damaged in WWII and built anew. I think that it will be more modern and less touristy. The city center seems small enough to get a feeling for in a day and the room prices are good.

I too would recommend that folks take a portion of a trip to devote to Frankfurt, Aschaffenburg, Bad Hersfeld, Markt Roßtal or etc. It rewards in surprising ways.

Regards, Gary

Thank you for your thoughtful answer. The funny thing is that we aren't that big, we are only 5th in size. Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, & Dusseldorf, are bigger. It is perfect for the tourist as most of the must-sees are right in the city center as Frankfurt preserved this middle ages character up until 1944 when it all burned down. Fortunately the stone buildings were renovated. Many pockets of history are fairly easy to walk to in a day, others take more time. I do think the smaller towns preserve more of a traditional feel, which is what a lot of people want. Heck, that's why I like seeing Bruge, but I also like to go up to Oostende and be on the wild sea and visit their chocolate shops too.

Jo,

As one who visited Frankfurt on many occasions years ago, I can affirm your enthusiam for the city...there is so much there to see and do, it should be two day stop minimum for anyone arriving or departing at FRA. I suspect that Frankfurt fails as a tourist "must see" for the same reasons that Milan fails...it is too successful in a modern sense...

I was just struck by something, I bet a lot of impressions were made back in the 60's, 70's, 80's and even 90's, when Frankfurt was packed with soldiers. Much as I love em, they did make going out at night less than ideal for the average traveler wanting to see Europe. They all went home though around 94-96 and Rhine Main AFB, home of the Berlin Airlift even closed down. Darmstadt is closed, Hanau is almost closed and lots of little posts closed down too. Perhaps a lot of guidebooks and people got stuck with this first impression and Frankfurt became known as a place where ya didn't want to go. Anything to this possible theory?

Jo wrote, "I was just struck by something, I bet a lot of impressions were made back in the 60's, 70's, 80's and even 90's, when Frankfurt was packed with soldiers."

The same can be said for Würzburg and Nürnberg. I was stationed in Würzburg in the 70's and Nürnberg in the 80's. Proportionally, I would wonder if the military population might have been larger relative to the German population than Frankfurt.

Kent might have the answer in Frankfurt's financial success and reputation. I would guess that few vacation on Wall Street. I notice that the "Rick" says the hotel prices are driven up by trade fairs. People traveling on expense counts can make life difficult for those of us traveling on our own. I canceled plans to visit Nürnberg for just this reason a couple years ago.

Regards, Gary

Jo, I feel the same way about Mainz, too. Mainz has Roman ruins and ships, interesting art, churches, museums, a nice market, good restaurants, and nice shopping. However, when we lived in Mainz, it was a special treat to go shopping downtown Frankfurt. : )

I love Rothenburg. It is very close to my mom's hometown, where my Opa (grandfather) still lives. I love the schneeballen, even if Rick badmouths them (they are a regional specialty, not designed for tourists, my step-Oma even had them as a child growing up). I love Kathe Wolfharts, too. I love the architecture, the beer drinking mayor, and the city wall. I don't think I would ever spend 2 days there (however, many people have and enjoyed it!)

Where are you staying the night of August 31st- I am a little bit confused as to the transition from St. Goar there.

Gary, I think a lot of what you say is true. People are looking for the fairy tale Germany, and that is ok, but there is a real living everyday world there, too.

Back to Laurie's question: When I lay your schedule out on a calendar, I am a little confused since I come up with an extra day. Having said that,I believe it is physically possible to do what you are planning to do. In fact, up until the Munich part, I was on board. That part of the trip might be a little agressive for the amount of time you have. (you don't say what is on your list to see in Munich, but Dachau is about 1/2 of a day and the castle's will be a full day, so you don't have a lot of time left.) If you decide to save something for another trip, I would probably save the Rhine area just because it is the opposite direction from everywhere else you are planning to visit. If you decide to seize the day and go for it I can tell you about my experience. When I went, I spent an afternoon in Wurzburg and 2 nights and a whole day in Rothenburg. I could have spent more time in Wurzburg but that was all I had so..) I then spent 2 nights in Munich and had almost 2 full days there. However, later in my trip I saw the Fussen castles, and that also took a full day. I had 2 nights and 2 full days in Salzburg. Towards the end of my trip, I spent time on the Rhine. I arrived in Bacharach in time to take the ferry to St. Goar and back (My journal says we arrived at 2:45 and caught the 3:15 boat.) We got to St Goar at 3:55 and had an hour and 35 minutes there before we had to catch the last boat back to Bacharach. If you get there earlier, you would have more time .We didn't feel that gave us enough time to explore the castle, so we did that the next morning. Anyway, I have rambled on about my trip enough, but since it is a "real" experience in what you are trying to do, it may help you realize how realistic your plans are. As you can see, the time we spent in each area is similar to what you are planning, but we did have a car and didn't have to mess with train schedules. Have fun.