Where to find a quiet vacation in Germany with castles/mountains?

The most obvious place in Germany for mountain is southern Bavaria and the Alps, but there are not to many authentic castles nearby. My choice for a quiet place would be the Oberallgäu. That's the far SW corner of Bavaria, next to Baden-Württemberg, just above Bodensee. The ski resort of Oberstdorf is there and you can take the bus up into the Kleinwalsertal, a valley actually in Austria (Vorarlberg) but isolated from it by mountains. The only access to it, other than a trail only open in the summer, is from Germany. There are lots of places to hike. Oberstdorf, which looks naturally like Vail tries to look, might be a little touristy. Try a few km down the valley in Fischen. There is a bus to Füssen in the morning, coming back in the evening, so you can tour Neuschwanstein. If you want to see older castles, you can get off the bus at Pfronten and take the train down to Reutte and see the two ruins that Rick talks about. Or you can take a side trip to Sigmaringen, in Baden-Württemberg. Schloß Sigmaringen was first mentioned in 1077. Other parts were constructed in the 15th century. You can no longer see the oldest part, as it was built over in the 17th century.

For more castles, you might want to mix in a little of the Rhine & Mosel Rivers. But for mountains, you need to stay in the extreme south and there, no doubt about it - especially if you want to use the network of public transport - Lee is the person to converse with. Consider places in nearby Austria as well because they will have a similar "flavor" and be full of mountain scenery. Enjoy!

You might look into the Berchtesgaden/Salzburg area. Rent an apartment. Doing daytrips by train or bus is simple. Lots of castles: http://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/ http://www.roadstoruins.com/burghausen.html Lots of mountains, and Königssee Lake: http://www.sallerhof.com/mmdb/2/1/big/235.jpg

As Lee mentioned, the Alps are, by far, the most beautiful mountains in Germany, but there aren't too many castles in the region. Let's see, areas that combine castles and mountains... I'll mention the cluster closest to where I live. The Bergstraße runs along the western edge of the Odenwald mountains, roughly from Darmstadt to a little south of Heidelberg. The Bergstraße passes through many old wine towns that have preserved historical centers. There's about a dozen castles overlooking the various towns, although they're in various states of ruin. Up river from Heidelberg, the Neckar river passes through a deep valley in the Odenwald that also has a handful of castles. Deeper in the Odenwald you'll also find a number of castles, some of which are very well preserved. The flow of the Rhine through the Hünsruck and Rheinisches Schiefergebirge is well known to travelers, so I'll let others describe it. The Pfälzerwald is absolutely littered with castle ruins. I haven't explored the Schwäbische Alb region in Baden-Württemberg thoroughly (other than Burg Hohenzolleren), but driving through, there seem to be a fair number of castles, plus the well-known Burg Lichtenstein. Finally, I've seen a number of castles driving through the various mountain ranges of northern Hessen and SE Nordrhein-Westfalen, but I don't know too much about them.

Can't forget this one, either. One of the most impressive castles in Germany, the Wartburg, sits on the edge of the Thüringerwald overlooking the delightful town of Eisenach. And finally... Quedlinburg, which lies on the edge of the Hartz mountains in Sachsen-Anhalt, has a well-known medieval old town and an interesting castle on a hill. And there's probably many more of which I don't know... PS- the Alps only cover a small area of southern Bavaria, but there's other mountain ranges that criss-cross large areas southern and central Germany.

The Harz mountain are an island of pine covered mountains on the otherwise flat plains of northern Germany. The Harz, which straddle the border of former East and West Germany in Niedersachsen, is a German national park. The highest point in the park is the Brocken (3743 ft), which is also the highest point in northern Germany. Due to it's latitude, the top of the Brocken is above timber line, thus a bald mountain. Early residents of the area thought it must be enchanted. It's the scene for Walpurgisnacht, where the witches dance with the devil, in Goethe's Faust. During the Cold War, the Stasi built radio towers on the Brocken to try to intercept transmissions to Berlin. The top now has a hotel and there is a narrow guage steam train you can ride to the top. The area around the park features a myriad of small towns, all connected by buses. On the flat lands north of the park are some towns - Goslar, Wernigerode, and Quendlinburg - famous for their fachwerk buildings. There is a castle on the hill overlooking Wernigerode.

If you stay in Berchtesgaden, nearby Salzburg has the fortress on the hill overlooking the old town. Festung Hohensalzburg is a very formidable castle. About 3 hours by train from Berchtesgaden, on the German side of the Salzach river, the border between Germany and Austria is Burghausen (www.burghausen.de), which boast the longest castle in Europe. It started as a fortress on the end of a spit of high land overlooking the town and river. They built a wall on the high land to protect the castle. Then they built another wall outside the first to protect it. Eventually they ended up with a series of 6 walls and courtyard extending back to where the spit widened to the high plateau. Napoleon destroyed the outermost wall, but the rest of the complex is intact.

Bad Urach!