Germany trip upcoming in June

It isn’t really though. Only a 20 minute stroll.

It is well worth a look in my opinion.

 

Looks like you have most everything figured out. My only suggestion going from Duesseldorf to Rust is to maybe stop in Heidelberg or even Strassbourg. Driving the A5 south will probably take you longer than the estimated 4 hours though.

Second suggestion is read up on how to drive on the Autobahn and about German rules of the road, if you haven't already. It can be daunting at times, especially if there's no traffic. You'd be amazed at how fast a Porsche going 200+ kmh shows up in your rear view mirror.

 

You shouldn't be in that left lane anyway!

For me, it was the Turkish truck drivers who didn't want to slow down -- even in bumper-to-bumper traffic jams.

 

I like the Frankfurt airport. While not as snazzy as the Munich one, I find it to be easier to navigate. My wife and I have had a knack of being delayed and/or repeatedly searched in Munich while Frankfurt has been entirely trouble free.

Driving in Germany wasn't bad the one time I had to. After dealing with the living hell that is driving in Brussels, I found N.R. Westphalia to be pretty easy. Trucks stay to the far right and the rules of the road are mostly the same as the U.S. There's something called the right hand rule to be aware of, but otherwise I don't think there's anything of concern. The "getting passed by a supercar" thing is 100% true, though. I had some sort of Italian sports car pass my little Opel Corsa like I wasn't even moving.

As far as Bamberg goes - Schlenkerla is only one of many, many worthwhile stops in that town. Luckily it's pretty small. You can walk from one end of town to the other in a day and most of the breweries are inadvertently grouped in pairs. The best approach is to plan your daily trek based upon who is open. The various brewery websites have updated hours that you can make a spreadsheet of in a few minutes. From memory - Friday is the day they are ALL open.

Near Munich, I'd say Andechs, the Hofbrauhaus, and a grand tour of the Englischer Garten get my highest recommendations.

 

I take it you never got the chance to fly into the old Munich Airport? My first two trips to Germany started at that airport -- I wish I'd taken pictures, a lot of pictures!

Best memory; sitting at one of the refreshment kiosks, waiting on our friends' flight to arrive, watching the Polizei team-of-two make the rounds of the floor -- one with his H&K MP-5 (Google it) slung over his shoulder. Then there was the armored car parked at the front door. It was the bridge of one era into the next.

 

Not based upon the timeframes you're talking about. My first trip was in 2004. The airport was definitely far less modern, but it was waaaay past the cold war era.
Still, even as modern as it might be - I don't like the Munich airport. Out of the 6 times I've flown out of it, something has gone awry for 5 of them. Flying in has been no problem, but out is another story. The problem we've always had is that the ticket kiosk team doesn't show up until about 90 minutes prior to your flight leaving. We've had that issue with multiple airlines. That means that no matter how early you show up, you're still scrambling to make it through security and customs. All of our issues have stemmed from that, too. If there are any complications, you don't have much time to sort anything out. Even if everything goes smoothly, you still don't have much breathing room. The only times we've been able to relax are times when our flights were delayed.

 

Flying into and out of the old Flughafen was in the early '90s -- not quite cold war, but you could still feel the chill -- the wall had just fallen.

All that info is good to take in -- my experiences at the newer Munich facility weren't that bad, but it was some time ago. I'll keep it in mind.

 

With some luck, hopefully I'll be able to go back in the next year or two. Those direct Lufthansa flights from Denver to Munich are both convenient and priced right. With no connections to worry about, that takes some of the pressure off. I do still hate that security/customs makes boarding come down to the wire, though. My wife seems to always get flagged by security.

Related to Munich, I hope to re-visit Giesinger. That was my biggest surprise of 2017. I expected something akin to Camba Bayern (or the Kronprinz in Bamberg), but felt they hit everything out of the park. I'd recommend them as a stop for anyone with the time. I certainly wouldn't prioritize Giesinger over places like Andechs, but it's in my 2nd tier for sure.

In Bamberg, nothing beats fresh Herren Pils. I'd go there for that beer alone I think. The fact that there are a more than a dozen other world class beers within 2 miles of it doesn't hurt.

 

Klosterbrau in Bamberg has an awesome Maibock if it’s available, a definite must try.

 

My wife and I are trying to plan our trip for May. Instead of creating a new thread I figured I'd ask here. We're already planning to visit the Black Forest, is Rothaus worth a stop?

 

@BayernTrips - please answer and post a few pix

 

While the Spezial Brauereigasthof (Obere KonigstraBe 10) is across the street from Fassla (O K 19-21), be sure you hit the Spezial Keller on top of the hill (SternwartstraBe 8) - the views of the city are excellent. Both Spezial and Fassla have rooms but I usually stay at the Best Western - it's quiet, has an excellent breakfast, the internet works, and the reception staff speaks English. Fassla is particularly noisy - they start the bottling line at 0500 - internet is shaky, breakfast is mediocre, and there's little English spoken. Other observations: Mahrs-Brau is across the street from Keesmann and has excellent food but, IMHO, the U-beer has fallen off. At Keesmann, the Herren Pils is still excellent and the food is OK. Greifenklau beer seems over-rated but the beer garden is quite nice.

 

Just wanted to add, if you fly into Terminal 2 at FRA, the rental counters are 50 feet from the exit of Customs. And the cars are only a couple minute walk from there. Make sure you take the elevators behind the Relay store to get to the cars (you'll see it as long as the rental company points you in the right direction).

Hertz is fine. I use them all the time, probably 20 + times @ FRA in past 10 years.
I've also booked with National (serviced by Enterprise) 20+ times in FRA, and they are fine as well.

While the on airport hotels are convenient, you'll have no problem getting to FRA day of departure (especially on a Saturday am).

I like going to Naiv in Frankfurt, and it is pretty accessible by train from airport if you do decide to stay at the airport on the 14th.

 

My wife and I also stay at the Best Western in Bamberg. It's just a few doors down from Spezial. It's comfy and not that expensive. They have good (free) WiFi, a decent sized shower, and it's quiet. That's been our HQ for our last few trips and we'll probably keep staying there. We stayed at Faessla a decade ago. It was nice and super cheap, but the room amenities were nothing amazing. The amenities were a little sparse but the breakfast was good. It looks like both they and Spezial have raised their rates, so they aren't the steal they used to be.

 

We're heading over in the fall. A couple of nights at Spezial, a couple of nights at the Best Western and a couple of nights at Fässla (Spezial was full).

 

I almost exclusively stay in Ferienwohnungen. I understand, tho, staying in a Best Western or IBIS. Comfort, modern amenities, and consistency are all plusses. Plus (!) if you're doing it right, you'll probably mainly be there just to sleep.

 

Yes, that would work well for someone as proficient in Deutsch as you. For the rest of us poor slobs, partial immersion with some occasional English can be a lot less stressful. My first time over, my vocabulary consisted of danke and bitte, with an occasional wie gehts thrown in, not really conducive to living outside of a military ghetto. But yes, now I only stay in the hotel to sleep and grab a filling breakfast before spending the rest of the day engaged in reisen.

 

We have done Ferienwohnungen through Airbnb the last 4 trips. Language skills help a lot, some owners have less English than others.

 

Yeah, the language barrier has made me a little wary of getting too far out of my comfort zone. I don't need any undue stress while I'm on vacation. Something random goes wrong for us nearly every time (hence I'm familiar with the Munich ER system) and I don't want to compound it

 

My usual rule of thumb is 4-5 days, stay in a hotel; longer than a week a FeWo. In between, it depends.

Just booked a FeWo behind Fässla for nearly three weeks in August. That may change though as I'm waitlisted for a similar period in July (which suits my schedule better);