we are coming from Vienna with train, going to Germany. We are interested in seeing a few castles in Fussen, then the tour of the Rhein -Lorelei and may be a bit of the Romantic Road. We got 4 days. What is the best approach(using eurail) We have to end up in Frankfurt to return to USA
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
Munich to Füssen is an easy two hour regional train ride. A party of up to five can have unlimited train travel (and some buses) in Bavaria, after 9 AM workdays, all day weekends, for a TOTAL of €28 with a Bayern-Ticket. That would get you from Munich to the Füssen Bahnhof and then on the bus from Füssen to Hohenschwangau, and back if you want.
You could also go from Munich to Rothenburg obT with a Bayern-Ticket.
The Romantic Road is nice, particularly if you stop to see some of the towns along the way, but the road itself is just a slow, windy, two-lane country road with alot of truck, bus, and farm equipment traffic. If you try to do it in a day, you will spend most of your time driving and very little of you time sightseeing.
I would spend two nights in Rothenburg. You can easily spend an entire day there.
You CAN get from Rothenburg to the Rhein (Bacharach) in a day by train. I'm going to do it next year including a stop in Würzburg.
BTW, Eurail is not a train company, it is a business owned by most European railroads to package and market railpass. In Germany you will be using German Rail (Deutsche Bahn = DB).
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
What Chris is talking about, having 2 days to finish you trip, is for full fare tickets on German Rail. If the trip is over 100km, you have until the end of the following day to finish your trip.
You can get one-day Länder (state) tickets for less, or you can get Dauer-Spezial tickets online in advance. The Dauer-Spezial tickets are low-cost tickets valid for specific dates and trains, but you can build in stops, even overnight, if you schedule your ticket that way when you buy it. For a Dauer-Spezial ticket, at least one leg has to be on a high speed train (ICE/IC/EC).
Posted by
Puyallup, WA, USA
881 posts
Hi, Marie. I'd think about skipping a rail pass if I you haven't bought it already. Do point to point tickets. Vienna to Munich is about 4hrs on the train, and Salzburg is the halfway point, so makes a great stopover or stayover, then onto Munich. From Munich you can do one of the somewhat overpriced day tours to Fussen/Neuschwanstein by bus, OR rent a call, and it's about a 2hr drive each way. You could then either drive up the Romantic Road, or take a train from Munich. Two advantages to doing it either of these ways, 1 - It avoids any different-country drop off fees for the car, and 2 - Both Austria and Germany sell train tickets that allow you to stop on your way at no additional cost. You used to have 2 weeks to finish your Austria part, and 3 days to finish the German Part, so stops in Salzburg and Munich could be at no additional ticket cost. <----these rules might have changed a little bit, as it's been 10 years since I did that route, but I understand they are still available! Some other folks might be able to advise on that! Have fun! :)