Andrealovestotravel

Hi everyone,

Our family is planning a trip for Summer, 2013, for about 2 weeks in late July/early August. We have two sons, ages 13 and 16, and we are now leaning towards travelling to Germany and adding on another country.

What we are considerings are two itineraries:

1) To fly to Dusseldorf, see Colone and Bonn, and then drive to Belgium and see Antwerp and Gent, before returning to Dusseldorf to fly home.

2) To fly to Dusseldorf, see Colone and Bonn, then travel east by car to Berlin and also take a trip by train to Prague for a few days, before returning to Berlin to fly home.

Which of these itineraries would you recommend? Any help is really appreciated.

Thanks

Andrea

Aramis

Are you getting a great fare or convenient flight into Dusseldorf? I am the first person to tell people they should take the trip they want, but Cologne (except for the Dom), Bonn , and Dusseldorf are not high on most travelers lists as prime places to visit in Germany. There are, of course, many other options available even if you are locked into Dusseldorf as your airport, especially if you want to drive at least part of the trip.

If, however, those are your chosen places, then moving on to Belgium is a much shorter trip than going on to Prague and Berlin. It is about 4:30, by train from Berlin to Prague, and about 5 hours to drive to Berlin from Dusseldorf (if you stay on the major highways). Antwerp is about 2 hours driving from Dusseldorf.

Given that you have two weeks, the relative distances should not be a limiting factor. Where you go really depends on what you want to see. Each option gives you a second country - you could add in some of the Netherlands with the 1st option, but Berlin is unique and has the 20th century history that might be of interest.

What do the boys want to do, and see? If you are flexible it might make the trip more enjoyable if they felt like they were involved in the selection of routes and plans.

Andrealovestotravel

Hi,


I just had a new idea, based on your response. What about 9 days in Berlin and 5 days in Prague?

I have heard the surrounding area in both cities are very nice as well.


Andrea

Michael

You mention only cities (Düsseldorf and Köln), so why drive? Which ever way, the train sounds like a better option. I would consider landing in Amsterdam, visiting that city and perhaps others by train in the Netherlands and end the trip in Germany, or vice versa.

Andrealovestotravel

Hi....

We are now considering flying into Berlin and spending time there and the surrounding areas and then spend 4 days in Prague (via train). Our total vacation will be about 14 days. We have heard that Berlin is a wonderful city and that the surrounding area is beautiful.

Do you think this would be a more interesting?

Thanks

Andrea

bobthenavigator

Call me crazy, but when you said " Germany" and teens I just assumed you would want to see the Alps and castle coutry of Bavaria. I would skip the big cities for Garmisch, Salzburg, the Salzkammergut and Rothenburg.

iris1745

Good plan. Go back to 5 days in Prague as there are very nice day trips. With nine days in Berlin, consider renting an apartment. To start vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/europe/germany/berlin

www.inyourpocket.com/germany/berlin and www.inyourpocket.com/czech_republic/prague

iris1745

Good plan. Go back to 5 days in Prague as there are very nice day trips. With nine days in Berlin, consider renting an apartment. To start vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/europe/germany/berlin

www.inyourpocket.com/germany/berlin and www.inyourpocket.com/czech_republic/prague

PalenQ

I echo Arramis - Cologne and Dusseldorf and to a lesser extent Bonn are some of the most ho-hum cities in Germany in many ways - not the Europe of your dreams as you will find in cities like Wurzburg, Heidelberg, Rothenburg - Berlin is also a modern town rebuilt from war rubble like Cologne and Dusseldorf (which are not really ugly places - but just very modern - both are very pleasant cities) but Berlin has so so much of interest, from Third Reich relics to remains of the Berlin Wall to the newly rebuilt Reichstag and all the stunning modern architecture befitting a major world capital - plus Potsdam's Sans Soucci palace and park to me are tops in that genre in Europe.

Luterlstadt-Wittemberg south of Berlin is also a neat old city and Dresden, though also severaly damaged in WW2 has nicely rebuilt its ancient riverfront that once made it be called Florence on the Elbe.

Saxon Switereland south of Dresden along the Elbe is IMO one of the prettiest river valleys in Europe - right on road and rail routes to Prague, certainly one of Europe's dreamiest and most interesting cities. Fly home from Prague or head to Vienna or Munich from there.

Cowboy1968

Berlin and Prague is a great combo. If you want castles (and a convenient stop in between) you could consider Dresden as a stopover.
Not sure why Bob thinks that two teen boys, and one of them already 16, equals Bavaria and quaint towns. In my teens, such an itinerary would have caused major disruption of the peace in the family lol

danon

What Cowboy said.

Andrealovestotravel

Hi,

Your replies are really appreciated.

We have travelled with our two kids to Europe four of the last five summers for our summer vacations and we have stayed in large and small cities as well as gorgeous countrysides and coastal areas in many countries and our kids have loved it all. It's all about diversifying every vacation.

We were in Germany two summers ago (we drove into Germany from Lake Come and then to Trieste (including parts of Slovenia) and, finally, Venice, and we fell in love with Munich and noted that we would be back to see more of Germany.

We were supposed to have driven to Prague instead of Munich on that trip but found out a day before our drive from Lake Como to Prague late that we were not allowed to cross into the Czech Republic with our rental car, so we quickly changed plans and visited Munich and the surrounding area instead.

We have heard from other family members that Berlin is so interesting and exciting and we were able to get a fairly low fare for this coming summer. And now, we will be able to finally see Prague.....

Dresden and Saxon were on our list as well as places to visit. However, is seven days enough in Berlin?

Thanks again so much.


Andrea


Your suggestions to see Dresden and Saxon are great ideas and

Cowboy1968

7 days is a good amount of time to explore the city and surroundings also a bit beyond the beaten tourist paths.
You should find a huge number of apartments to rent for a week.

PalenQ

However, is seven days enough in Berlin?>

More than enough for the average person IMO. I am an aficionado of Berlin and have spend several weeks there on and off during the past decade - it is an amazingly interesting city yet seven days is a long time - I'd rather spend some of those days elsewhere - like in Dresden - using it a as a base for Saxon Switzerland - can take boats there in season along the Elbe.

But if you want to do some day trips from Berlin then 7 days may be fine - I have day-tripped to both Schwerin and Luterstadt-Wittemberg from Berlin - two really really nice cities - Schwerin has a castle of your dreams on a lake. I also day tripped to Poland one - just about an hour from Berlin just to get a taste of Poland and yes it is so so different than wealthier spiffier Germany.

Michael

For Berlin, from an a trip report:
For my tours of Berlin I again used Peter Fritzsche and Karen Hewitt's <u>Berlinwalks</u>, 1994. I did one new walk, which was the one of the Historic City Centre, and an old one entitled 'Experiments in Diversity', which is a tour of the Kreuzberg district. It is perhaps the best walking tour book I have ever read. It excels in combining the present with the history of a neighborhood, so that its current liveliness is a constant. It is still quite accurate 13 years after publication, although the Potsdamer Platz development did not exist when the book was written. There are a few errors here and there. The book describes the Markthalle as having 'several places for a stand-up lunch, plus a wide assortment of produce, cheeses, prepared foods, Turkish specialties, fish, meats, and wursts.' I saw no evidence of that, and it seems to contain mainly discount places. But what the book does not mention is that it has a very good restaurant in the same building but accessed from the street. So if doing the tour of Kreuzberg in the morning, this place would be perfect as a lunch stop.

longhorn55

We lived in Berlin for several years with our kids and loved it. You'll find plenty to see and do in Berlin and the environs to keep you busy for 7 days.

One suggestion for a fun family day trip is canoeing/kayaking in the Spreewald. Take the train to Luebbenau and arrange for a boat rental with Bootsverleih Richter. We enjoyed doing this as a family when we lived in Berlin and our young adult children did it when they went back there last year on their own.

http://www.bootsverleih-richter.de/

PalenQ

At Lubbenau I also took a punting boat - flat boat propelled by a husky German bloke with a punt, a la Cambridge - these are extremely popular with Germans, who imbibe prodigious amounts of booze en route - the boat even stops at canal-side pubs - a great thing to do and something very popular with locals.

iris1745

With four of you, perhaps this free tour would work.

The guide we used in Munich was very good and they earn their keep with tips.

For a three hour tour, I think we gave him 15euro.

www.newberlintours.com

Andrealovestotravel

Hi...

You guys are great !

I woke up with another idea.....Should we replace Prague with Vienna as the flights from Berlin to Vienna are quite inexpensive.

Or would it be possible to do Berlin, Prague and Vienna, with a stop in Dresden and Saxon in the 15 full days we have?

Thanks

Andrea

iris1745

Andrea; We all have our own thoughts and opinions on that question on replacing Prague with Vienna. Both cities are entirely different. You decide.

But Berlin, Prague and then Vienna are entirely possible.

Thinking about Dresden and Sazon too, is now streaching your 15 days. dayshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/prague http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/vienna