Romantic Road and the Rhine River in the winter

My husband and I are going over to Germany with his parents from December 25th to January 1st. We know this isn%26#39;t much time, but it is all we have. The must for his mom is Neuschwanstein, though I have already been there. A must for me is Rothenburg. A must for his dad is the Rhine river castles by train. We don%26#39;t plan on spending much time in Munich as most of us have already been there. Is this doable to do all three by train, during this time of year? We are flying in and out of Munich.

One factor is that we need to spend the night in Kirchheim unter Teck one night because we have friends living there. Ideally, this is our trip:

Saturday the 26th – go to Kircheim, after we arrive in Munich at 10 am

Sunday the 27th – morning in Kircheim and then get to either Mainx, Frankfurt or Bacharach

Monday, the 28th – Do the Rhine River by train, go up and down and end up in Wurzberg

Tuesday, the 29th – Go to Rothenburg (stay there or head to Fussen in the evening or so)

Wed, the 30th – Fussen, Neuschwanstein castle

Thursday, the 31st – Munich, Dachau for those who want to go

Fri the 1st – leave from Munich around 12

I appreciate any help, as we have no idea what to expect there in the winter.

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Not very doable, IMHO. I have been to all these places (except Kircheim u. T.--near Munich?) by train. IMHO,one night in each place, in addition to all the backtracking (to the Rhine as far as Bacharach, overnight, then reversing to go to Wuerzburg in the other direction for another overnight, etc.), leaves you with mostly train riding and checking in and out of hotels.

Wuerzburg has good train connections, so might serve as a base for several nights. Perhaps if you really want to do this, you should check train schedules on www.bahn.de, or inquire about car rental and itinerary from those you drive in Germany. I don%26#39;t, and love the trains. I have to admit, when I travel in Germany with family, we end up with a disjointed itinerary trying to please everyone.

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Kirchheim unter Teck (note spelling , 2 %26quot;h%26quot;) is in Swabia at the foot of the Alb. Not exactly close to München. Check carefully because there are several Kirchheims in Germany.

There are also several Rothenburgs, Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the right one.

When looking up train connections on www.bahn.de I recommend using the correct spelling of place names otherwise you may be sent to the far end of the rebublic instead of the place you want to visit.

Füssen, alternative spelling is Fuessen if you can%26#39;t type the ü. Despite the notorious misspelling used also here on TA, %26quot;Fussen%26quot; is wrong and will result in a complicated bus connection to a village named Fussenberg near Regensburg.

Mainz

%26quot;Wurzberg%26quot; is usually known as Würzburg, alternative spelling: Wuerzburg.

The itinerary is in theory doable if you must but very rushed. I hope you are aware that it will be pitch dark outside from 4 p.m. Your days are short. The weather is likely to be lousy. Besides, you are hitting the holiday season. Trains run during the holidays but on a limited schedule and will be crowded.

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I too would advise against all that travel. Neuschwanstein is too far to go, the castle itself and the winter weather not worth the journey. The Rhine is far as well but I%26#39;d do that over N%26#39;stein; Marksburg Castle in Braubach is open for tours all year and is a REAL medieval castle, not a knock-off tourist affair (catch a taxi up from town or hike.) Also, on the Rhine (in Speyer to the south of Mainz) you%26#39;d be able to catch a post-Christmas Christmas market if you go between Christmas and New Years day. It%26#39;s open through the first week of January.

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I%26#39;ll look into that castle - I would rather not go down to Neuschwanstein because I have already been there, but I know my mother-in-law wont want to miss it. I guess we have to figure who is going to sacrifice what. We all want to do different things, but it sounds like a challenge. I have looked up all of this on the train website, and there are trains going during this season, but yes, it would be a lot of travel and lots of quick overnights. Thanks for all your advice. Any other things that you would leave out?