Originally Posted by
storagesquad
Neither of us speak German at all. My father offered to pay for a rental car for us. But I could probably trade that in for money. Even so I would be paying for gas and parking.
In your original post, you wrote "We are travelling on a budget..." Your fuel costs will be far higher than the rental costs. In Europe, fuel is sold by the liter, not the gallon. The current price per liter (about 1 US quart) is roughly €1.60. If you do the math, you'll see that your fuel costs alone will run into several hundred US $. As I wrote originally, you and your girlfriend can travel by train for as little as €13 each per day. What's the problem with that?
We are interested in seeing architecture and going to pubs and parks. Should we stay in the cities? Is the country worth exploring without knowing any German?
The countryside in Bavaria is quite lovely. Exploring it without knowing any German will be difficult as people in the countryside are not likely to know much English. So, if you stop somewhere for lunch, for example, how will you read the menu? How will you order dishes? How will you ask for the bill?
You came here asking for advice. Almost everyone has suggested using the train. That's advice from people who have already done (several times, in my case) what you are planning to do.