I am traveling to Germany on November 4 with my husband for our 2nd anniversary. We have 11 days to tour, 2 days traveling to/from USA, so 13 days total. We are flying into Frankfurt on November 4 and arrive at 7am and we leave from Prague, Czech on November 16 at 9:30 am. Below is the tentative itinerary we have established. Please tell me if I am going about this the right way... as you will see, there are 2 days empty because I am not sure how long it will take to travel to/from each city, as well as if I should be spending more time in any of the cities than I have allotted.
Is there much to see in Frankfurt? Should we spend 2 days there or should we just give ourselves the first day/night and head onto our adventure the next morning? I am going to post our new tentative schedule below... please tell me if you think it works better than the previous %26quot;rat race%26quot; lol! I really appreciate all of your help. My husband and I married young and just had a baby 10 months ago. Our mom%26#39;s offered to watch him so we could take a vacation, so that is why we are trying to see as much as possible during this trip! We plan to expand the family asap so I know once the next baby comes, we won%26#39;t be traveling for a longgg time
Also, I have a few questions and I know your answers will help me prepare better.
- What should I expect as far as weather? Should I be bringing heavy coats and boots? Should I expect rain/snow in any of the cities? Why does it get dark at 4:30?
- Can anyone recommend a good symphony or play (Romeo %26amp; Juliet or something of that sort) for us to see in one of the cities?
- Is it safe to self-drive the romantic road? We would like to stop in the main cities and see the popular attractions such as Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Fussen, and Neuschwanstein Castle. Considering that we are spending one night in Rothenburg, how long would this drive take us? When should we leave Frankfurt if we plan to see the attractions listed above, and what time should we expect to complete it the next day and arrive to Munich?
-I am looking into purchasing the Eurail Youth Pass (under 25) that is the 3 Country Select Pass; so Germany, Austria and Czech. This pass allows us 5 or 6 days of travel depending on which one we purchase. I have been weary of finalizing the purchase because I am not familiar with the railways of Germany, or even Europe for that matter. Are there several different companies that provide rail-travel? Or is their one main railway I should focus on using. I would prefer to purchase the tickets in advance because I am an organizational freak... =) Do you suggest we purchase the pass or should we just buy each ticket one by one?
-Can anyone recommend hotels in the main parts of these cities? Maybe you%26#39;ve stayed in a hotel that you absolutely loved and would like to give it a good review.
Here is our new itinerary... I have the option of cutting our Garmisch if it is the popular opinion that we should be spending more time in Vienna. I will list both possible itineraries below. Please help me decide which one is more feasible.
WITH GARMISCH:
Country (City) Plan of Action
11/4/2009 Day 1 USA/Germany (Frankfurt) Leave from SD on flight to arrive in Frankfurt, Tour Frankfurt
11/5/2009 Day 2 Germany (Frankfurt/Rothenburg) Leave for %26quot;the Romantic Road,%26quot; to Rothenburg
11/6/2009 Day 3 Germany (Rothenburg/Munich) Complete Romantic Road, Tour Munich
11/7/2009 Day 4 Germany (Munich) Tour Munich
11/8/2009 Day 5 Germany (Munich) Tour Munich
11/9/2009 Day 6 Germany (Munich/Garmisch) Leave for Garmisch, Tour Garmisch
11/10/2009 Day 7 Germany (Garmisch)/Austria (Salzburg) Leave for Salzburg, Tour Salzburg
11/11/2009 Day 8 Austria (Salzburg) Tour Salzburg
11/12/2009 Day 9 Austria (Salzburg/Vienna) Leave for Vienna, Tour Vienna
11/13/2009 Day 10 Austria (Vienna) Tour Vienna
11/14/2009 Day 11 Austria (Vienna)/Czech (Prague) Leave for Prague, Tour Prague
11/15/2009 Day 12 Czech (Prague) Tour Prague, Cesky Krumlov
11/16/2009 Day 13 Czech/USA Back to USA
WITHOUT GARMISCH:
Country (City) Plan of Action
11/4/2009 Day 1 USA/Germany (Frankfurt) Leave from SD on flight to arrive in Frankfurt, Tour Frankfurt
11/5/2009 Day 2 Germany (Frankfurt/Rothenburg) Leave for %26quot;the Romantic Road,%26quot; to Rothenburg
11/6/2009 Day 3 Germany (Rothenburg/Munich) Complete Romantic Road, Tour Munich
11/7/2009 Day 4 Germany (Munich) Tour Munich
11/8/2009 Day 5 Germany (Munich) Tour Munich
11/9/2009 Day 6 Germany (Munich)/Austria (Salzburg) Leave for Salzburg, Tour Salzburg
11/10/2009 Day 7 Austria (Salzburg) Tour Salzburg
11/11/2009 Day 8 Austria (Salzburg/Vienna) Leave for Vienna, Tour Vienna
11/12/2009 Day 9 Austria (Vienna) Tour Vienna
11/13/2009 Day 10 Austria (Vienna) Tour Vienna
11/14/2009 Day 11 Austria (Vienna)/Czech (Prague) Leave for Prague, Tour Prague
11/15/2009 Day 12 Czech (Prague) Tour Prague, Cesky Krumlov
11/16/2009 Day 13 Czech/USA Back to USA
(I apologize that it is not copy/pasting neatly... I hope you can read it)
I really appreciate all of your help... Thank you!!
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You have a lot of questions and I can only answer some of them. I hope you have looked a bit on the forum here too which may give you many answers.
If you are leaving the US on the 4th, you will not get here until the 5th. So, do you leave SD on the 3rd or the 4th?
It gets dark at 16:30, because we are nearer to the top of the world. Get out a globe and you will see that Germany is nearly on the same latitude line as Nova Scotia. In the summer, it is light out though til almost 23:00. One takes the bad with the good!
There is a lot to see in Frankfurt, but it also depends on what your interests are. Medival churches, art, museums, architeture, scenery, shopping, food? When I know that, then I can give better suggestions.
Yes, it may be quite cold here, it may rain, it might snow, especially in Bavaria, it may also be quite foggy. One of the reasons I recommend taking trains rather than driving.
The Romantic Road is of course safe, as is everywhere here, it just isn%26#39;t romantic. It is just a plain old road. It connects towns that are supposed to be romantic though and you can get to all of them by train.
If you go to a play, it will of course be in German, unless you go someplace like the English Theatre in Frankfurt. The opera houses will have concerts if you check their websites. They will switch into English. Looks like there is a %26quot;Big Band%26quot; Concert on the 4th at the Alte Oper.
http://www.alteoper.de/
http://www.english-theatre.org/Home.2.0.html
To recommend hotels, can you give us a budget? Some people are happy with 50 a night, others won%26#39;t stay at places that cost under 300.
I recommend doing walking tours in many of the cities that you go to. Check the %26quot;Things To Do%26quot; pages here on Trip Advisor for suggestions and reviews. For Munich, try this one:
http://www.dark-history.eu/
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For info on how long it takes to get from place to place, use the bahn.de website.
We often use Select Passes for our trips to Germany and Austria and like the convenience and flexibities. Others will tell you that point to point is cheaper but many good fares have restrictions: type of train, advance purchase, no refunds for changed plans.
I am not a huge fan of Vienna, having been there 3x. We loved Garnisch last year for a day but you cannot compare the two as they are apples and oranges.
Pack layers and be prepared for rain and cold. I do pack boots for travel to that area in November.
Based on my own experiences, I suggest Garmisch as day trip from Munich rather than a hotel change. Do that on your 2nd full day in Munich perhaps.
Then move on to Salzburg and stay for three days. Take a day trip in to the gorgeous countryside.
I would probably move on from Frankfurt upon arrival but that is because I have never been interested in spending time there. An easy ride by train is Heidelberg which would make for a nice first day or two in the area.
So: Heidelberg (1), Munich (3), Salzburg (3), Vienna (2), Prague (2) would be my choice though I personally would head to Prague from Salzburg and skip Vienna, adding that time to the other cities on my list.
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I would definitely go with point to point tickets for such route or in your case things like Bavaria ticket, Einfach-Raus-Ticket and Spars. It will save you a lot of money.
You might want to take a look at relevant country pages here - http://europetrainsguide.com/ in order to get some insight on rail travel in the region
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