- Route plan

   We decided next summer was the moment for having one of those travels that are kept in the list with the time and are not finally chosen just because they’re near and, therefore, easy to make. I always kept in mind the combination of touring through Black Forest and visiting Neuschwanstein Castle with the Oktoberfest in Munich, which is a reason for such a trip by itself.

   As this travel is on the lowest budget range we can afford with no problems the high rates for hotels in Munich during the days this city is most visited in the entire year.

Route throuh Germany and Austria

   So, joining these three points in a map, we got the base itinerary on which we were making changes as the attractions were showing up. For this reason, Austria came into the route soon. And Frankfurt, which was not part of the plan at the beginning would end by being the start and final destination due to economic reasons about flights and car, as the distance with Munich and the Oktoberfest helped on getting quite lower rates for those.

   With this, our plan was like this:

 -H- Frankfurt (1 day). We arrive at Germany early and it is always a good idea starting with a quiet day, visiting this important city and leaving the road for the following day.

 -B, C and D- Black Forest (3 days). We allow three days for this area thinking about having flexibility. We arrive here from Frankfurt and spend two nights in different cities (Baden Baden and Freiburg). We spend the last night out of it, in Lindau. The idea is being able to manage the intensity for the first and third day.

 -E- Innsbruck (1 day). After visiting Neuschwanstein Castle, a short ride crossing the Austrian border, leads us to the capital city of Tirol, which is a touristic attraction by itself.

 -F- Salzburg (1 day). This beautiful Austrian city requires a short diversion from our way to Munich, which we’re sure it worth it.

 -G- Munich (3 days). We made our three days in this city to coincide with the Oktoberfest’s first two days, where the most of events take part. We’ll visit the city as well.

 -H- Frankfurt (1 day). This day is the one we must add because of having to return the car there and getting the flight back next day from it. We can take advantage of this, though, and visiting Nuremberg and whatever we missed in Frankfurt.

   So, finally, the definitive route plan (number of day and where we sleep) is the following, starting by September 10th of 2016:

1: Frankfurt
2: Baden Baden
3: Freiburg
4: Lindau
5: Innsbruck
6: Salzburg
7, 8 y 9: Munich
10: Frankfurt

   The final budget for flights, hotels, car and tours is arounf 1500€ for the two of us.

- Flights

   There are multiple low cost airlines with flights Germany, but Frankfurt and Munich are the hubs for Lufthansa. So we did our search directly with it. Flights to and from Munich had high rates for Oktoberfest days, so we took the decision of going and coming from Frankfurt. This way, we could make it by around 100€ per person.

   Finally, return flight with Lufthansa is like this, by 216.62€ in total:

09/10/2016   BCN   6:50     FRA     9:00
09/20/2016   FRA   16:05    BCN   18:05


- Hotels

   As always, we used the hotels search engine in booking.com. The challenge here was to find a good place for Munich as during the Oktoberfest allocations gets more expensive and full quickly. No rushes for the rest of the cities as we only had to look for a place with a good location and parking. We spend the first and last night in Frankfurt, which gives us the option of using the same place for both, although, in this case, it was no need for that.

   We soon understood the three nights in Munich was going to be the most expensive of the entire travel, so we sacrificed location in order to get something good at a reasonable price. So, as we’re having a car for these days, we could choose the Holiday Inn München Unterhaching. A good hotel for which we’ve paid in advance the 410€ they charge for the three nights.

   For Frankfurt we realized it was more useful for us having different hotels for the two separated nights there and choose the location according to the plan for that day. For the first night we looked for something close to the historical center, where our visits are going to be, and with parking as our thought was to bring the car from the airport. Europa Style has all those points on it by 98€ per night.

   Somehow, when we booked the car later on, it was better for us to pick it up and deliver it in the city and that made we’ve chosen a hotel closer to the car rental office for the last night. So finally, these two hotels in Frankfurt are the only ones we don’t need parking. BOLD Apartments fit with our criteria even when they’re not including breakfast. We book there by 75.60€ per night.

   After these choices, the rest of the hotels came quick. In the Black Forest it took more time to choose the cities where spending the night than the hotel election in them. Our hotel list is like this:

   - Hotel Quellenhof Sophia in Baden Baden by 112€.
   - Alemannenhof in Schallstadt-Mengen, close to Freiburg, by 76€.
   - Das mietwerk I Boutique & Bio Hostel in Lindau by 82€.
   - Cityhotel Schwarzer Bär in Innsbruck by 101€.
   - Altstadt Hotel Hofwirt in Salzburg by 90€.

   This makes a total cost in hotels of 1045€.


-Car rental

   We’ve got a good experience with Enterprise which also use to have good rates. We pay 178.53€ for picking up the car on September 11th by the morning and delivering on 19th evening, which is the best rate we could find.

   The office for car picking and delivering is close to the Frankfurt’s main train station, which is convenient for us.

-Other expenses

   We haven’t hired any tours for this travel but we’ve booked the mandatory one when you want to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. IT is a good advice to book the visit in advance to avoid long waits that could take the entire day.

   With this, we’ve booked this visit through the official website. They ask for the details of your credit card, but no charge is done as it is expected you pay once there in the ticket box.

   I received the email with the confirmation of our tour at 12:20 PM a couple of months before going. They ask for taking the tickets no later than one hour before the tour time. The price is 27.60€ for the both of us.

   Detailed plan, then, is like this:

SEPTEMBER
Day Night Morning Afternoon
10 Frankfurt Flight Frankfurt
11 Baden Baden Black Forest Baden Baden
12 Freiburg Black Forest Black Forest
13 Landau Freiburg Landau
14 Innsbruck Neuschwanstein Innsbruck
15 Salzburg Konigssee Salzburg
16 Munich Salzburg Munich
17 Munich Munich Oktoberfest
18 Munich Oktoberfest Oktoberfest
19 Frankfurt Nuremberg Frankfurt
20 Home Frankfurt Flight