Originally Posted by
cygnus
2. Neuschwanstein: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Neuschwanstein is completely overrated. If they want to see a typical castle or palace, this is *NOT* the place to visit. Rather, Neuschwanstein is the Disney land view of Germany. So, unless they need to tell their neighbors that they've been there, do not waste the time. Rather go to Salzburg instead (easy to reach round trip by train within a day from Munich).
I absolutely agree!
5. Rothenburg: very nice medieval town, however, also very touristy. Since they will have seen the old town of Prague and the like, they might want to skip this city. As others have said, Dresden is a very nice alternative and also culturally different to what they will have seen so far. One alternative would be to go to Dresden on Day 8, which would give them half a day in Dresden, then spend Day 9 in the Dresden area (e.g., Schloss Pillnitz - very nice palace, not touristy, or Meissen), and then leave Dresden for Frankfurt on the late afternoon of Day 10).
6. Frankfurt is not worth it. IF they don't want to skip Rothenburg and go to Dresden, visiting one of the nicer cities around Frankfurt is a good idea. I suggest Mainz or Cologne. It's easy to reach FRA from Mainz, so if they want to skip Rothenburg, go to Cologne on the morning of day 8, stay an afternoon and the night there, do some more sightseeing in the morning of day 9, then take the train to Mainz around noon and spend a nice afternoon and evening there. It's easy to get from Mainz to the airport, so there's no need to move to FRA.
I'd definitely agree with skipping Frankfurt and spending that time in Rothenburg. It's definitely n
t as touristy as Prague and the whole town and its setting are wonderful. Dresden is quite nice as well.