victoriainwanderland

Fodorites!

I am going to take myself to Europe for the Christmas markets in 2024 (I'll leave Italy for 2025 instead). Planning for late Nov/early Dec, I am thinking to fly into Paris and out from Munich.

Based on some earlier suggestions, my current thoughts on my itinerary loosely looks like Paris > Luxembourg City incl day trip to Trier > Strasbourg incl day trip to Colmar and maybe one other place [note: going up to Luxembourg then down to Strasbourg as the trains seem more efficient than in the reverse) > Rothenburg ob der Dauber > Nuremburg > Munich > Salzburg (either as a day trip or as a standalone stop).

It seems like getting from Strasbourg to Rothenburg by train is rather tricky both in terms of the duration and the amount of changes required.

Can anyone suggest somewhere that would be a suitable midway point that can be reached by train (preferably with no more than 1 change of train required getting them from Strasbourg or to leave there to go to Rothenburg)? Ideally somewhere charming with interesting sites for the history nerd I am.

Thanks in advance

bilboburgler

Tauber

Stuttgart has a nice central square but that which the Allies didn't flatten was ruined by planners working for Mercedes and Porsche and you have to change there anyway.

Bonn is along the route which is pretty enough, you could also visit the Ahr valley (famous red wine district with a famous abbey) but probably still recovering from a, Climate Change inspired, monster flood about 5 years ago.

neckervd

Strasbourg - Rothenburg ob der Tauber is just a 5 hrs trio with 2 changes.
Strsaboug dp 8.42 - Stattgart ar 10.04, dp 1057 - Dombuehl ar 12.34, dp by bus 12.50 - Rothenburg ar 13.45

neckervd

If you want to stop over en route, check Wuerzburg:
Strasbourg dp 8.42 - Stuttgart ar 10.04, dp 10.12 - Wuerzburg ar 12.21

bilboburgler

I second Wurzburg, nice Bishop's palace, cathedral, wine, a central shopping area, watch out for the trams.

Michael

Würzburg is definitely worth a stop:


and might require a full day (one afternoon and a morning?) stop on the way to Rothenburg:

https://www.schloesser.bayern.de/eng...ts/wu_fest.htm

tomboy

I support Wurzburg, although I think 4-5 hours is adequate. The Bishop's Palace is worth 2 hours by itself.