nancylgartner

I am just beginning to plan a trip to Germany in 2013. I need to know what you think are the must see places and activities. We will be renting a car so we have flexability. We can stay put in one place or move about. We have rented apartments, which we love, or we can use B&Bs. We like small personal hotels.

lindy27

I would recommend purchasing or renting a travel book from your library. Everybody has their personal preference on books, but I use a combination of Rick Steves, Lonely Planet, and Frommers online.

There are many great places to see in Germany, our favorites are in Bavaria and near Berlin. If you plan on seeing Berlin, you will not want a rental car there. Within Munich you won't want a car but it could be used for daytrips.

grrr

Must see places in Germany (a sample):
Amberg
Altötting
Aschaffenburg
Augsburg
baden-Baden
Bamberg
Bayreuth
Berchtesgaden
Berlin
Bremen
Chemnitz
Cottbus
Dachau
Dresden
Düsseldorf
Erding
Ebersberg
Essen
Flensburg
Frankfurt
Freiburg
Freising
Füssen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Göttingen
Göppingen
Gütersloh
Hannover
Heidelberg
Hoyerswerda
Ingolstadt
Jena
Jüterborg
Karlsruhe
Köln
Konstanz
Königs Wusterhausen
Landshut
Leipzig
Limburg
Lübeck
Magdeburg
München
Münster
Mannheim
Meißen
Neckarsulm
Nürnberg
Offenbach
Oschersleben
Osnabrück
Ottobrunn
Pirmasens
Quedlinburg
Regensburg
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Salzgitter
Schwerin
Sommerda
Stuttgart
Tuttlingen
Ulm
vechta
Viechtach
Weimar
Wuppertal
Würzburg
Wolfratshausen
Xanten
Zwickau
Zweibrücken

nancylgartner

Oh my!

swisshiker

grrr

But you forgot Herrenchiemsee!

quokka

You forgot several hundreds of others grrr.

quokka

[/nonsense modus off]

Nancy: We'll be able to give much better advice if you tell us a bit more about your interests and expectations, the pictures you have in your mind that made you choose Germany as destination. You still have a lot of time to do some reading. "Must see's" do not exist. No one will check upon departure: Did you visit x, y and z? No? Sorry, you cannot leave...
In two weeks you cannot cover the whole country, so some decisions have to be made. Just about any region has enough to offer to fill two weeks. There are several ten thousands of attractions available. Recommendations will be different depending on your preferences: North or south, beer or wine, mountains, hills, plains or seaside, big cities or rural settings, historical architecture, theme parks, shopping, nightlife, arts and culture, outdoor activities...?

A big mistake many first-timers fall for is focusing on nothing but big cities. World War II has reduced most cites and many towns to ashes and rubble. Very few larger settlements survived the war more or less unharmed (Bamberg, Regensburg, Heidelberg, Konstanz are to be named among those rare gems). Authentic historical architecture is to be found, rule of thumb, in smaller places. A mix of one or two big cities, some smaller cities, small towns and countryside will give you a better idea of Germany than just a city trip.

wanttogo

Nancy,

DH and I just returned from a two week trip to Bavaria. Even with two weeks and only one area, we missed some of what Bavaria has to offer. Since you are not going until 2013, you have plenty of time to limit your locations.

I will be doing a brief trip report this week on my trip. We did the entire trip by train, except for the international flight to and from Frankfurt. Fodorites were great about train advice.

Have fun planning!

Pat

bilboburgler

We need to know more about you. I love the Mosel, and wine regions down to the Black forest but this might not interest you.

Try for the Rough Guide. It will give you a better overall view. Also the German tourist board is very helpful with brochures etc and you have time to plan.

november_moon

wanttogo - We spent 2 weeks in Bavaria as well and didn't see nearly all that we wanted to. We are going back for another week and still have to make choices. That are is absolutely packed with great stuff.