thoughts on this potential trip?

I always have trouble wrapping my mind around tracking stay times in terms of nights - it is during the day that you will be able to actually do anything.
If you look at the Rick Steves tours you will notice that with the exceptions of the Basque country tour and the French Riviera, it looks like everything of eight days or less happens in a single location. You are looking at covering about 750 miles in 8 days. You will see more of the transportation infrastructure (which is impressive) than anything else. Your itinerary is possible - only you can decide if you want the focus to be on covering distance or experiencing places at a slower pace.

Unlike Mike, I think your itinerary is quite clear, and you have laid out both days and nights. What you have is an itinerary that resembles a bus tour from Trafalgar or Globus. That's not a criticism - just a fact that you are doing a lot of moving around and covering a lot of ground in a short time. Remember that it's harder to do this on your own. On a tour, you have someone else driving the driving, who knows where they're going, so you arrive more rested than if you're driving yourself. As with any drive, it's the first bit and the last bit that are the hardest. You have to figure out how to leave a town and get on the highway, then how to get from the highway to your hotel. This definitely takes time and energy; doing it every day or two would not be what I'd want on a trip, but others are not as bothered by it. You have a lot of one-nighters, which do get tiring whether you're doing them by car or train.. If you like driving nearly every day, you can do this. Whether you will enjoy it is something only you can answer. As you've learned, many have a visceral negative reaction when they see an itinerary like this. That's fine for them, but this kind of trip may be just what you want. As long as it is, go for it.

I prefer to think of my itinerary in terms of how many nights I will be in a location. Two nights = one full day, and so on. This is a pretty busy schedule, that will have you driving just about every day to get to your next location and only having a few hours in each place. Although it is easier to do something like this by car than by train, in my opinion it doesn't give you much time to see anything besides the highway. Is this your first trip to Europe? It is a common thing for first time visitors to want to see it all in too short a time. If there's anything you can cut out and give yourself at least 2 nights in most locations I think you will end up more satisfied that you actually got to experience some places instead just quickly driving by them. Whatever you choose to do, I hope you have a great trip!

John, This trip is FAR too busy IMO, with too many one-night stops which of course means checking in and out of Hotels, getting used to new surroundings, etc. Given the amount of driving you'll be doing, I'm wondering how much you'll actually be able to see in some of the places you'll be visiting. Rather than Strasbourg, have you considered stopping in Colmar? It's a much smaller town, and a great place to stay in that area. It's your trip, so if this works for you then it's a good plan but it's not something I'd ever suggest. Happy travels!

thanks for your feedback, we are now thinking it will be best to eliminate 1 night stays, and make everything at least a 2 night minimum. so we will have 3 - 2 night stays and 1 - 3 night stay - for a total of 9 nights in Europe. just need to finalize where to extend to 3 nights and we can start booking.

I see no problems with you itinerary and adding a day is always good. Have not been to Strasbourg, so cannot comment. Will be going there Christmas time this year. None of the drives is terribly long and none of the sights requires a lot of time to see. We drove from Cologne to Rothenburg and it appears, although I am unfamiliar with the route, that Strasbourg to Rothenburg is far shorter. Unfortunately, no one has commented on Strasbourg. It is the one outlier in the itinerary. If you eliminate it, you eliminate the two longest drives.

This is very similar to an itinerary that we followed several years ago. I hated the one night stays and finding a hotel every afternoon. My husband thrived on it. He would do it again in a minute. The real battle begins when we start planning our 2013 trip!

Although I like to move around a lot and am okay with some one night stays I think you have made a good choice to add some nights. As far as Strasbourg it is a beautiful city and I really love it. I have been a few times and would go back again. I don't remember having a particularly difficult time with my car there, and I did not have reservations, so needed to find a hotel. Also you could consider staying in Dinkelsbuhl which is near Rothenburg and a charming little village. Sounds like a fun trip.

While I love Rothenberg it is a very long drive and slow from Strasbourg. Have you considered seeing the rhine valley area? It it beautiful and very german in architecture w/ ruins , vineyards and of couse the river. The towns/food/wine are wonderful I enjoy Bacharach. Wurzburg is nice but to me only a stop along the way to Frankfurt airport. Just a suggestion as European driving can be slow and exhausting. I limit my driving to 2 hrs otherwise I have lost a day in gen.
I see alot of zig zag in your itin.

I also vote for Colmar (visiting Strasbourg on your way to or from Colmar). It's a lovely little town for wandering. I found a half day in Strasbourg was enough to for the cathedral.

Another vote for Colmar. we spent three nights there and took the train to Strasbourg.

John, if you drive any rental car into France you MUST buy some disposable breathalyzers!!! They are now required in all cars, even private cars, that are operated in France. In theory, only warnings will be issued until November, and the breathalyzers are nearly impossible to find in France at this time, but this is info you need to know. Having said that...I'd skip France. Add that time to Rothenburg odT. So: 2 nts Amsterdam 3 nts Boppard - 1 day for Boppard/Rhine, 1 for daytrip to Trier? 3 nts Rothenburg odT 1 nt Frankfurt OR 2 nts Rothenburg odT 2 nt Wurzburg and/or Frankfurt I don't know why you want to visit any of these places, so it's hard to rework your itinerary for you (LOL!), but this is just a thought... ViaMichelin says Boppard>Trier is about 2 hours. Rothenburg odT could fill 3 days, and substitute nicely for
Alsace France (since you don't have much time). You'll have a car; you can do a daytrip if you want...ViaMichelin says 1 hour to Wurzburg.

Another vote for Colmar - I'd skip Rothenburg!

so many choices....starts to make your head spin here is our final trip itinerary....thanks to all for tips. 3 nights in Amsterdam train to Cologne and pick up a car 2 nights in Cochem (Rhine Valley0 2 nights in Colmar, France (near Strasbourg) 2 nights in Rothenburg
drop off car in Frankfurt and say goodbye. day trips to various towns and castles in between.