My husband & I will be traveling to Germany, Austria and Italy in May for a month and have questions about itinerary which follows. We will rent car in Germany and do train in Austria and part of Italy: Fly into Frankfurt, rent car and drive to Rudesheim for Rhine River Cruise the next day (train back to car) Rudesheim to Wurzburg (1 night); Rothenburg ob der Tauber (2 nights), 2 nights in Nurnberg, 3 nights in Munich, 1 night in Garmisch-Partenkirchen area, drop car at Munich and take train to Vienna and Salzburg with 3 nights in each place, 1 night in Innsbruck, 2 nights in Venice, train to Florence for 3 nights and car to Tuscany for 5 nights, drop car in Florence and take train to Rome to fly home.
I thought Wurzburg would be short drive after day cruise, and we could see Bishop's Residenze and the Castle. Then drive to Rothenburg following day. Question is whether we should drop Wurzburg stop and drive straight to Rothenburg and add more time in Salzburg and/or Vienna? Is Residenze and Wurzburg a must see since we will be so close? I'm thinking we may want to go from Nurnberg direct to Garmish and stay at least 2 nights in Garmish and then Munich after Garmish. I again was trying to reduce travel time and decided to tour Munich first and then Gramish and then come back there to drop off car before going to Vienna. Not sure this makes sense. Also added overnight stop in Innsbruck to shorten train ride to Venice. Any thoughts and recommendations from someone who has been there would be greatly appreciated. We've been to Rome twice before and love it but wanted to focus on places we've not been to previously so only scheduled one night.
Posted by
Bellevue, WA, USA
811 posts
if you're short of time you can skip wurzburg. the redidenze is ok but since you're going to see a lot of palaces in these countries you can skip it. nurnburg is about the same importance. you could try to park on the street and just walk with picture taking if you want.
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
I really like Wurzburg, IMO it's the best stop on the Romantic Road. There's a lot more to see than at the other smaller towns. Whether it's a must see, or not, depends on your personal preferences. The Residenz, Chapel and Gardens are great, very Baroque, if you're into that. Depending on your taste, you might like the Castle better. The two together are enough for a pretty good day. It may be possible to squeeze them into a half day, but it will be pretty busy. I think your plan on when to drive, when to train is sound. You seem to be driving where you need to have a car, training where you can, and not incurring big drop charges by dropping off in a different country than you picked up. You may be able to drop the car closer to Salzburg, but still in Germany, and save a little time. I think your pace is reasonable too. Of course we all want more time no matter how much we have. My next trip is one month in just Spain and I wish I had twice the time.
Posted by
freelton, ont, canada
183 posts
Hi my wife and i spent 16 days travelling from rome ,florence,venice ,by high speed trains then using the german rail lines we took tour bus from venice to villach austria then the train to salsburg where we rented a car for a week then reversed the trip.The trip from venice to salsburg is about 5 hrs total .it was a great way to travel. enjoy Dave
hamilton ont canada