Germany/Austria transportation

Train connections between Seefeld and Oberammergau should be doable. Oberammergau lies at the end of a small rail line and isn't the best place to make trips from. But there are bus connections from there into Füssen. On most days you can leave at 8:30 or 10:19, and it takes about 1.5 hours. Not convenient, but not the hundreds of Euros which I'm sure a rental car will amount to. Use http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en to find schedules. I honestly can't think of a great reason to visit Reutte. If you have one, however, it is possible to reach Reutte from Oberammergau via an especially scenic train route out of Garmisch which passes through Tyrolean Austria. The "Ausserfernbahn" line to Reutte, surprisingly, is included if you purchase a "Bayern Ticket" (29 Euros) daypass for your outing. You would likely need to catch the bus from Oberammergau to Garmisch's train station, where you board for Reutte; this bus trip is covered by the Bayern ticket as well. Check the above site for connections and travel times.

Hi Carol. We had a car for our time in Bavaria and it was a) super wasy driving and b) super convenient. Especially if you're going into Reutte. So I highly recommend a car. Can't speak to your exact rental questions but in my opinion it's super worth renting for your Bavaria time at least. You will love the freedom!

I've spent some time in that area (2 nights Oberammergau, 1 night Mittenwald, 2 nights Pfronten, seen Seefeld and all of the castles) and never needed a car. The public transportation in the area is wonderful. In addition to the aforementioned Bayern-Ticket, if you can keep your travel inside a smaller area (Oberammergau to Mittenwald or Seefeld, see brochure), you can use a Werdenfels ticket for €14 pP (€10,50 just to Mittenwald). You can't use a Bayern-Ticket all the way to Seefeld (which is in Austria). For Seefeld to Oberammergau, you would have to buy a p2p ticket from Seefeld to Mittenwald, get off in Mittenwald and get the Bayern-Ticket before going to Oberammergau. But if you get the Werdenfels Plus Ticket in Seefeld (I imagine they're sold there since Seefeld is in the fare area, but if not, you can get it for the same price on the train), you could travel direct to Oberammergau. The best route would be to take the train to Garmish-Partenkirchen, then take the bus (# 9606 from in front of the GaP Bahnhof or take another train north to Oberau, then a bus to Oberammergau. From Oberammergau, it's easy to get to Füssen by bus. RVO sells an all day pass for all their buses in Germany for €9 pP. It also a very short trip from Oberammergau to Linderhof (~€6 if you buy a RT ticket). Here is the schedule for bus 9606, which goes from GaP to Oberammergau to Füssen. Note the stop at Hohenschwangau is just a few minutes before Füssen Bahnhof. The map on the Werdenfels brochure shows bus route numbers. To see those schedules, substitute that number for 9606 in the address line for the above schedule.

For Frankfort Frankfurt to Rothenberg Rothenburg, your best bet is to buy p2p ticket from the airport to Kahl am Main at €7,30 pP and a Bayern-Ticket (€29 for up to five people). Take the S-Bahn to Frankfurt Hbf and catch a Regional Express (RE) to Würzburg. The Bayern-Ticket will cover you transport by regional trains from Kahl (in Bavaria) to Würzburg to Steinach to Rothenburg. There are train connections (see the Bahn website) from "Rothenburg ob der Tauber Bahnhof" to "Seefeld in Tirol". Regional connections are as fast, maybe faster, than express trains, and you can use another Bayern-Ticket to Mittenwald. Buy p2p tickets from Mittenwald to Seefeld (€7,30 pP) while you are in Rothenburg. Come back to Oberammergau by train and bus with a €14 pP Werdenfels Ticket. Round trip from Oberammergau to Linderhof (if you do that) is less with a p2p ticket than with any pass. Round trip from Oberammergau to Hohenschwangau would be best with an RVO Tagesticket (all day bus pass) for €9 pP. Sparpreis tickets from Oberammergau to Berlin, via Munich, can be as low as €49 for 2 if you purchase them in advance from the Bahn. Oberammergau to Murnau to Munich by regional trains; ICE to Berlin. I changed trains in Seefeld last year and thought it was beautiful. Enjoy.

Why are you going to Reutte? What do you plan/expect to see there? Serious question

Thanks for all the replies and links. Agreed there is no reason to go to Reutte after leaving Seefeld. I didn't mention that we're ages 65 and 75 and I'm trying to keep transfers at a minimum for my husband. Even though we're travelling light, transferring from train to a bus and possible long walks from the bus are not practical for us. There's a Germany Rail & Drive Pass with 4 train days and 2 days rental car. That would get us by train from (1) Frankfurt to Rothenburg, (2) Rothenburg to Seefeld, (3) Obergammergau to Berlin, and (4) Berlin for 3 nights, then to Koln. From Koln we'll take the K-D Line down the Rhein to Mainz with a few days there before we fly out of Frankfurt. Guess I need to find out from Hertz if we can pick up the car in Seefeld and return it in Obergammergau. Or, could be we'll have to pick up and return the car in Innsbruck, which would be back-tracking from Obergammergau.
Does any of this sound doable? I know we're missing the Black Forrest but don't see how we can fit it in. We're trying for multiple nights in each location, with a combination of small villages/towns and larger cities. The only one-nighter is Koln. Opinions???

"From Koln we'll take the K-D Line down the Rhein to Mainz with a few days there before we fly out of Frankfurt." The K-D boats are better for short sightseeing excursions than for long-distance transportation. Such a boat trip would involve around 17 hours of boat travel and require two days. Much wiser to catch the train to Mainz, then on another day, with your bags at your hotel, hop on a train to Bingen, where you can begin a 2-3-hour cruise north to Braubach (for a tour of Marksburg Castle), a cruise which will provide you with views of the most scenic part of the Rhine and avoid the tedium.

"From Koln we'll take the K-D Line down the Rhein to Mainz". The Rhein flows to the NW, from Mainz to Köln. You will go up the river from Köln to Mainz. Why do I make an issue of this? The Rhein current is very strong and boats go very slowly UP the Rhein (about 7½ mph), from Köln to Mainz. There is only one boat a day going up the river from Köln at 9:30. It only goes as far as Bad Hönningen (Su-Th) at 15:25 or Linz at 14:50. There are no other boats up the river that day. If you spend the night in Bad Hönningen, there is a boat at 8:05 all the way to Mainz at 19:30. My advice: If you have to do the whole Rhein, take the boat down the Rhein from Mainz (8:45) to Köln (20:00), spend the night in Köln, and come back the next morning on the train.

Thank you, thank you, Lee and Russ. I had trouble reading the K-D timetable, and what you both say makes perfect sense. We will take the train from Berlin and overnight in either Dusseldorf or Koln, then take another train on to Mainz where we will tour part way UP the Rhein. I'm wondering if we would enjoy Dusseldorff rather than Koln. We won't be arriving there from Berlin until around 3:30.
What do you think if it's one or the other?

Have you definitely arranged to get a car in Seefeld? Its a wonderful place and if you weren't staying with friends I'd give a good suggestion. You are up the cliff from Innsbruck which I would expect would have plenty of rental places. Seefeld is pretty darn small. It does have a nice service laundry, a few nice restaurants and cultural sights, a nice station and at least one filling station if I remember rightly. I can't see it running to car rental folks, unless at the filling station? If you are driving the Fernpass be prepared to be patient...

Nigel, you are right. Seefeld doesn't have a car rental. Our friends will take us to Innsbruck to get the car. Please tell me more about Fernpass - I haven't heard of it yet.

"We will take the train from Berlin and overnight in either Dusseldorf or Koln, then take another train on to Mainz where we will tour part way UP the Rhein." If you start your boat tour in Mainz, you will have nearly two hours of dull travel before you get to the interesting part, which begins in Bingen. It's better to catch a train to Bingen and start there. The ride to Bingen(Rhein)Stadt station, where the docks are, takes just 28 minutes by train, and if you're paying for tickets, it's lots cheaper (6 Euros vs. 20 Euros.) Also, it's a long trek in Mainz between the train station, the area where the bulk of Mainz hotels are located and the docks. And whether you start in Mainz or Bingen, don't try to cruise UPstream (which means south.) Go north.

If you are worried about walking between stations and bus stops, the route from Seefeld to Garmisch-Partenkirchen is all on one train. In Garmisch, you get off the train and walk only a short distance to the bus stop, which is in front of the station. Where are your accommodations in Oberammergau? Mine were a block from the train/bus station, across the bridge from the main part of town - it's a very small town. In the morning, again, it's only a short distance to the bus. The bus takes you to the Hohenschwangau bus stop, which is at the parking lots for the castles, anyways. You wont' get any closer if you drive.

It's starting to fall into place -
We'll take the train from Berlin directly to Mainz, skipping Koln. One day in Mainz we'll take the train to Bingen to cruise NORTH down the Rhein. Another day we may go to Baden-Baden for a spa experience. The train/.bus to Oberammergau sounds do-able. We're staying at the Hotel Wittelsbach which I think is centrally located. We thought a car would make it easier to also see Fuessen. In your opinion, should we try to get there?

Lee could you please desist from being the 'Spelling Police'. It's rude. Obviously it annoys the hell out of you when posters spell place names incorrectly, especially places in Germany. Does it really matter!!!?? We all know where they mean.

If you would like a luxurious spa experience, you don't need to travel all the way to Baden-Baden. Wiesbaden, which is right across the river from Mainz has one of the oldest and loveliest spas in Germany. You could also go to Bad Homburg which also has a beautiful spa, as well as some worthy sightseeing. The summer residence of the Kaiser, the Saalburg - the only reconstructed Roman fort, the Redeemer Church next to the Schloss (this church will take your breath away when you walk in with its entire ceiling covered in gold mosaics, and it is located in the beautiful Taunus mountains. A day spent touring Mainz would also be at the top of my list. The cathedral there is one of my favorites in Germany. Over a 1000 years old and very massive and Romanesque. Do visit St. Stephens to see and experience sitting in a church that has all of its windows made by Chagall. Like sitting in a blue aquarium. I also like St. Augustines for its' painted vaulted ceiling. There are Roman ruins there too, like the largest ampitheater North of the Alps that they are getting ready to open soon after restoring it for several years, the temple to Isis, another ruin they found a few years ago while digging in the city, the Museum of antique ship building might be interesting too.

Wiesbaden: we have stayed in Wiesbaden a couple of times. Very convenient to get to the Rhine- boats, trains or busses (as i recall). Pleasant down town/spa area to stroll through. We also had a number of good meals in their Ratskeller and at down town hotels. Comfortable and convenient place to overnight

Gemut.com is a website that specializes in travel to the German-speaking countries -- Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. They also handle car rentals. We've used them for every trip since 1991 with never a problem. For links to multiple articles about renting a car in Europe, go here: http://www.gemut.com/car-rental.html Gute Reise!
:)

Judy, Correct spelling does matter. I'm with Lee on this one, although I think it is completely abhorrent to call somebody a Nazi. Please edit your post to remove that epithet. Thanks. I know that yiu will have seen posts on the helpline where people say that they can't find information, train times, etc., and it turns out that they are miss-spelling. Germany, Austria and Switzerland have lots of towns which are spelled similarly but are in completely different places. The helpline is to help people. Doesn't helping them get it right help them?

Carol, You asked about choosing Köln or Düsseldorf am Rhein: although I have seen both, I know Düsseldorf much better...since the early 1970s. If you want to see opulence, go to Düsseldorf, especially the Königsallee, where the wealth is dramatically displayed. At the Hbf. (the food court there I think is disappointing compared with other big stations, Hamburg, Köln, Frankfurt), you can take the U-Bahn to Düsseldorf's Altstadt. If you want to get out of the tourist areas, ie., the Königsallee and the Altstadt, take the bus going across the Rhine to Oberkassel, nice area, to see an area in the city not swamped by tourists. Both cities have their numerous cultural sights, but for the Kölner Dom, your choice is Köln.

I'm sorry if I have offended forumers with the use of the word Nazi in my previous post. It was a 'throw away' line which is used fairly frequently 'down under'. Actually I totally agree about the importance of spelling and grammar, on most occasions. As a Company Secretary/Stenographer long before spell check, I think I am above average in these areas.
Nigel, there is 'help' and there is being pedantic.

Ditto- correct spelling often does make a difference in Germany, especially because there are several distinct towns spelled "Rothenberg". If you use this spelling on the Deutsche Bahn website, it assumes you mean one of the Rothenbergs, not the more well-known Rothenburg ob der Tauber. And by the way (in case nobody else pointed it out), if you're staying in Seefeld, there is no reason to visit Reutte unless you really need to walk in the footsteps of Mr. Steves...