Bump ... still hoping for a response

As to the weather, in late November last year there was a rare snow storm that played havoc with driving over most of Germany, so snow is always possible but not likely except in higher areas of mountains. It's probably best to have snow tires on your car. I think that most people exaggerate the unpleasantness of November weather, living in Stuttgart I don't really find it that bad as it rarely rains there for more than a few hours at most at one time with frequent longer periods of no rain on rainy days. Take a folding umbrella and clothes suitable for rain, hopefully you won't have to use them too often.

You can pick almost any area in Germany and have an excellent vacation. With over 30,000 castles and palaces there are enough to go around. The Rhine River in the Koblenz area is a favorite vacation spot, as is the Mosel River. As to dinner prices, for Stuttgart it is possible to have a good dinner for as little as 8 euros to over 20 euros, but 10-15 euros would be a more common price without drinks (bottled water, wine, beer, soft drinks, coffee, tea) which can add considerably to the cost of dinner. If you are concerned about prices, you can eat a Doener which will be a meal in itself for 2-3 euros, and pizza is also another inexpensive option.

I'm sure that you will enjoy your visit to Germany.

Thanks so much! We like to get a taste for the local food but also not spend an arm and a leg on dining for the week. In Iceland, we routinely spent $50-$140 on dinner just for a moderate (but delicious!) dinner with no alcohol and even tap water for me. I just wanted to make sure we wouldn't be doing that sort of thing again in Europe. I'm also looking at the Schonberg castle and perhaps staying 1-2 nights in Koblenz and 1-2 nights at the castle instead of hitting Amsterdam -- the castle hotel looks AMAZING! We would then be flying out of Frankfurt instead, which looks like an easy drive. Any other tips, opinions, or comments are much appreciated.

I have no experience with European roads, but it looks like Paris to Koblenz to Brussels to Amsterdam is shorter than Paris to Brussels to Koblenz to Amsterdam.

All else being equal, I would visit Amsterdam instead of Brussels, or Brugge instead of Brussels. The Grand-Place was all that I was interested in in Brussels. Amsterdam has the art galleries, canals, and Ann Frank House.

I enjoyed visitng Rheinfels Castle and Burg Eltz and now have to take my family there. Your plans are not insane, but could you be happier limiting yourself to Paris and the Rhine?

I'm beginning to think that Germany and France may be the better bet this trip. That's how my trips usually come together ... tweak after tweak ... and all the Tripadvisor tips and comments help immensely! Since the Romantic Road is sounds beautiful, perhaps we should fly into Frankfurt, drive the Romantic Road and meander over to France. I was thinking we could perhaps spend the first night in Wirsberg, but is there quite a bit to see in that area? For our first day, I don't want to make plans such that we're required to drive a long distance, not knowing how tired we'll be with the jet lag. Perhaps we could stay the second night in Heidelberg, after the Romantic Road and en route to Schoneberg. Last stop in Germany - Schoneberg Castle for 2 nights. Then onto France for some a couple nights in the countryside and and a couple in Paris? Not sure. Anyone have a good recommendation for a town to overnight in between the Schoneberg area of Germany and Paris? Perhaps Reims? We love architecture and ruins, quaint little cobblestone villages, etc., so that type of scenery as well as the mountains and so forth would be optimal for us.

I think we're going to save the Mediterranean for a cruise at a different time of the year in the future. We'd also like to see northern Europe (Scandinavia), but I'm assuming it's just too cold and potentially snowy in late November, yes?

I wasn't going to mention it before, but Germany is full of wonderful places to visit and things to see. You could spend weeks or months in or near many places and still miss a lot of interesting places there and within 100 km (60 miles) of that place. So there is no need to dash all over Germany or Europe, take your time and enjoy things more at a slower pace. No matter how much you dash all over, you can't see it all.

The Romantic Road (RR) runs from Wuerzburg to Fuessen and in itself is just an ordinary two lane road that connects some interesting (possibly romantic) places. The places are of interest, not the road itself so driving it makes little sense unless you are going to make frequent stops to enjoy places along it. Other nearby places and elsewhere can be as interesting and enjoyable. To me the highlights of the RR are Neuschwanstein Castle by Fuessen, the walled medieval town of Rotthenburg ob der Tauber, and the Residence in Wuerzburg. With your limited time I would consider just driving the autobahn instead between these places. Although theoretically you could drive the RR and return parallel to it on the autobahn and overnight in Heidelberg, you would have no real time to visit anywhere. To me November would be an excellent time to visit these places as there wouldn't be the hordes of tourists like in summer that completely turn me off these places at that time of year.

I liked your original idea of staying in or by Koblenz for several days as that would allow you to see some highlights of the area. I also think that driving from Frankfurt to Paris (or vice versa) only makes sense if you spend time seeing places along the way such as delightful villages that you stumble upon by accident. (Otherwise fly.) Personally, I would just rent the car from Frankfurt (or Paris) and return it there and wander around the countryside visiting quaint villages, castles, palaces, monasteries and churches. On another trip, travel by railway and visit larger cities where a car is a liability, not an asset.

As to Scandinavia, the Hurtigruten coastal voyage in Norway can be done at anytime of year if you are interested in seeing mainly beautiful scenery. The round trip from Bergen to Kirkenes takes 11 days, and of course you can also travel one way or only do part of the trip, the Lofoten Islands area being the most beautiful. I've only done the roundtrip in late May, so I really don't know how the weather would be with fog being the major concern, but seeing the northern lights would be a bonus.

Great info and it looks like you live in a beautiful area of Germany yourself! I like what you're saying about wandering about and stumbling on fabulous places. My only concern with that is wandering around, getting lost, and not finding the fabulous places. LOL We've done that before. When we leave our sightseeing up to chance, we tend to spend more time searching brochures when we get there and less time seeing the great sights. For that reason, I'm now one of those anal planners that lines everything up. I had every single day's itinerary scheduled for our last two trips -- Mexico in May and Iceland in August -- and those were the two best trips we've ever taken. The last thing I want to do is spend all that time and money and come home saying we saw some trees and mountains and maybe a river. LOL How easy is it to find the great sights in Germany and France? Is there a lot of driving through nothingness to get to the towns or is it beautifully picturesque in every direction? Not having been there before, it's so hard to know for certain how to proceed. You're right of course about the stopping on the Romantic Road -- just not sure how long it will take with the stops included. The stretch of road itself doesn't seem very long, but certainly the stops add a lot of time. It sounds like you're saying that the Koblenz area is more scenic than the Romantic Road, yes? Is there an area in France between these areas of Germany and Paris that you would recommend?

Incidentally, my husband has always wanted to drive the Autobahn. Actually, he's always wanted to drive it in a Porsche, but renting a Porsche is just not feasible (we saw prices of $500 USD/day!!!).

To put all this another way, especially since you're intimately familiar with the area (and have no doubt been to surrounding countries too) ... Knowing what you now know about me ... my penchant for planning, my desire to see castles and quaint cobblestone villages, unique architecture, waterfronts, and beautiful natural scenery; the fact that the airports need to service Icelandair that time of the year; and the fact that we've got about 8 1/2 days to work with ... what would your ideal itinerary be for November?

In the meantime, I've tweaked my itinerary again to make it more of a circle. Would this work better?

Fri Oberwesel and Koblenz areas (overnight in Schonburg Castle)

Sat Follow Mosel River and head for Strasbourg

Sun Basel area

Mon Freiburg/Black Forest area

Tue Fussen and beginning of the Romantic Road

Wed Munich

Thu Pick up RR with Augsburg area and finish road

Fri Fly to Reykjavik

Come home Sat or Sun

Is that enough time for the Romantic Road/Munich area? Could anything be pared down to fit in more of France (Alsace-Lorraine region I would guess)?

By the way, how do the Germans feel about American tourists? Better than the French I hope!;) We're not all bad.:)

I'd say skip the Black forest, probably not the best place to spend time in November, it's more about lovely countryside, but this may look a bit bleak at this time of the year. Better spend your time in some of the places along the romantic road (as mp said, it's the stops that make the road romantic, not the road itself). I'd rather go Neuschwanstein-Landsberg am Lech (stop at the Wieskirche in between)- Munich on the A96, less traffic and faster than A8 Augsburg -Munich.

No problems for american tourists I'd say, just avoid politic discussions, germans (including me) LOVE to be right and will just go on your nerves. With the French, that's nothing personal, everybody NOT speaking french gets the same treatment.