Munich to Paris in 4 travel days
 

Booked AA miles to Budapest for next June, second trip there so thinking 2 nights - take the train to Salzburg for 2/3 nights then on to Munich. We have plenty of Hilton /IGH points so no hotel cost so far. We finish the trip with 3 nights in Paris - this leaves us 4 nights to visit southern Germany. I promised my wife no one night hotel stays so would love some advice on what areas to book 2 stays for 2 nights working our way west by train. We would like to stay in smaller towns then explore the local area renting a car or public transportation. We would also be open to one 4 night stay with a good base; my wife likes to relax a bit and thinks our trips are too busy.

My Advise to take the one night stay in Bed and Breakfast or try couchsurfing to meet locals. Train travel is more appropriate for the results to explore more and more ruler areas. Find the mountains hide outs in villages. You will definitely enjoy more.

I would refrain on taking the train from Munich to Paris, if you want to stop at smaller places and want to take a rental car anyway. It's probably cheaper and faster that way.

You haven't told us what kind of activities you like. Are you interested in outdoor activities (hiking, mountainbiking), more cultural activities (museums, exhibitions), history (castles, old towns) or culinary adventures (lots of German wine regions lie on the way)?

OP could also stop in the Champagne region of France.

Within Germany and with a car, the Romantik Road is wonderful. It's ideally a three day drive, but you could base yourself and go north from there one day and south the other, although the ideal plan is to drive it from north to south so that you're driving toward the mountains.

I fear a one-way car rental Munich-Paris would cost a small fortune.

I guess that's right. But you can use it for the German part and only take the train from the last major town to Paris.

There's a direct train connection between Frankfurt and Paris with stops in Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken. Saarbrücken is as far west as you can possibly go in Germany on your way to Paris and from there it is just a little bit less than 2 hours by train to Paris.

The TGV / ICE goes from Frankfurt, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken to Paris. So plenty of options to go to Paris from southern Germany by train.

I suggest to stay four days in the Allgäu area of Germany somewhere south of Kempten.

Thanks for all the advice.

Please let me know if you think this is too ambitious. We land in BUD late June - 2 nights (our third visit here, love the city, Buda Hilton on points), take the train to Salzburg - 2 nights - then take the train to Munich where we can stay at either central Hilton (they charge the same amount of points) - 2 nights. Next day pick up an early car rental to visit Linderhof/Neuschwanstein then wandering our way to Tubingen to spend the night. The next day drive to Rothenburg (hopefully we will find a scenic route), spend the night, then stay in either Heidelberg or Frankfurt for our last night in Germany, finally dropping off the car at the Frankfurt train station - on to Paris for 5 nights.

Is it possible to drive from Munich to Tubingen with the 2 stops and not feel rushed, July so hopefully plenty of daylight? My wife doesn't like one night hotel stays so maybe we could just visit Rothenburg and spend 2 nights in Heidelberg, we would have the car to visit Trier if possible?

I'm very open minded to suggestions, we want to use Honors points when practical but not at the expense of common sense. We also have IHG points for Salzburg and Heidelberg.

I would skip the night in Tuebingen and drive directly up to Rothenburg from the castles near Fuessen on the Romantische Straße (Google Maps). That should be a ca. 350km drive, which you can do in one, two or three days depending on the amount of stops you want to make. I would recommend planning more stops as it is really a beautiful drive and there are lots of sights along the way.

Now I'm thinking we should spend the night in Fussen; visit the castle and palace the next morning; then assuming we wouldn't get out of Fussen until early afternoon we would still have a day and a half to get to Rothenburg. I assume it would be better to stay in a town east of Tubingen along the Romantic Road - any suggestions?

Try either Dinkelsbuehl, Noerdlingen, Harburg, Donauwoerth or Augsburg for an overnight stay, but be sure to visit all of them.

I see there is a Holiday Inn Express just southwest of Nurnberg, it looks like I can visit the towns you mentioned either traveling Munich-Nurnburg or the next day when we drive to Rothenburg.

Rothenburg (I assume ob der Tauber, and not another) Is irrepressibly cute, well worth a visit for tourism. In particular go through the Käthe Wohlfahrt shop while you're there.

Yes we plan to spend one night in odT also my wife wants to stay in a castle setting for one night so I'm guessing Coburg; what I'm thinking so far

Day 1 pick up a car somewhere near the Munich Hilton around 10 am and head to Nurnberg stopping at villages along the way.

Day 2 spend the day working our way to Coburg.

Day 3. I realize Coburg to odT is not very far but I assume I'll find plenty of things to do plus my wife will want to arrive at the hotel in the early afternoon.

Day 4 drive to Heidelberg to drop off the car around 10 (3 day rental)- visit the castle then work our way to Mannheim to catch the 1700 train to Paris.

Please point out any flaws.