Germany Trip-2010

Hi krystle0819,

I moved to southern Germany last year -- I'll try to answer some of your questions.

Yes, the Fall in Germany is spectacular, with sunny skies and warm temperatures. Though the weather is always unpredictable -- we had a heavy dump of snow in mid-October this year (it melted in a week).

The prices here can range from inexpensive to expensive, of course, as with everything. But here you can find cozy and warm pensions and guesthouses for 30-80E per person, and be very comfortable.

Yes, trains are dead-easy to use. I don't have a car, and I get around town (Garmisch-Partenkirchen) easily, as well as lots of nearby spots.

If you like beer and crowds, you may want to head to the Oktoberfest in München in mid-September, but know that hotels will be charging a premium at that time. If you don't like crowds and beer, you may want to avoid southern Germany at thaat time.

Have fun!

s

I have ridden German trains for decades and can say they are extremely user friendly and easy to use, even if you do not ssprechen a word of German. Two departures an hour usually to all key cities - train stations have tons of amenities. I always have a railpass when i go to Germany because i like train travel so travel a lot and more importantly like flexibility to hop on any train anytime as the pass allows and for these type of fully flexibile tickets a German pass can pay off with just a few longish train trips. But if you are not traveling on trains long distances or only a few times and do not desire flexibility and are willing to make advance online purchases for a specific train at a specific time on a specific date and which cannot be changed nor refunded i believe then you can often score deep discounts on www.bahn.de - the German rail website - but if you do say several of these then the pass will be better often, both price-wise and in giving flexibility these tickets do not. But anyway you have all the normal walk up fully flexible ticket fares and the possible online discounts at www.bahn.de - the morer days you travel on a pass the cheaper per day the pass becomes (the way it is priced) so at some point it's down to say $25/day or 15 euros - a true bargain for any kind of fares if traveling several days. German passes come in a German Twin (2 names on one pass for about a 20% p.p. discount) and are flexipasses - meaning they provide X number of days of unlimited fully flexible travel over a one-month period - need not be consecutive but could be - you chose as you go along. For loads of great info on German trains i always highlight these info-laden sites: www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html; www.ricksteves.com.

Is this is a good time to go?

Yes, it is. Temps will be mild in September and mild to cool in October. You can always have sunny or rainy days.

Are the fares more reasonable around this time?

Cannot speak for airfare. Check the search machines and the airlines directly.

Is Germany more reasonably priced than London?

It is much, much, much less expensive than London - half of the prices in London maximum. Everything is inexpensive here - besides gas -: food, beverages, hotels, entrance fees... You always find good hotel deals on www.hrs.de. Try also Hotwire and Priceline for the larger cities.

Is it difficult to communicate?

No, many Germans speak English and they will happily practice their school-learnt knowledge.

Also, I am not too familiar with Germany so I wonder if the trains are easy to use. Does anyone have any tips that may be helpful?

You have already got excellent advice. Just play around with www.bahn.de to get familiar with the system, schedules and fares. The train system is pretty reliable, comfortable and convenient, especially if you want to visit city centers. For the countryside or small villages, it might be more convenient to rent a car for a day or day. But if it is your first trip to Germany, I strongly recommend the train.

Air fares tend to decline IME the farther you travel into the fall - By Oct you may save literally hundreds of bucks over say a summer flight. And don't limit your search just to Frankfurt but any German airport or even Brussels or Amsterdam are just a short train ride from Germany. A friend just booked an Atlanta to Venice flight via a change of planes in Paris and viola the price to Venice was cheaper than if they had terminated in Paris - but you have to ask these questions as airlines do not seem to really highlight the cheapest fares sometimes. so check not only Frankfurt but Berlin, Munich, etc. even if you go via Frankfurt. But Frankfurt Airport has great mainline train connections to so you can be anywyere in Germany in a few hours after landing there. But the later in the fall typically the cheaper fares become - sometimes dramatically so IME - but also the weather gets rainier IME and days dramatically shorten as fall progresses. But when the weather turns cool the Germans crank out the Gluehwein - piping hot spiced wine served in cafes, including kiosks in train stations IME

Hi krystle; I can tell you our experience in September. [5th ---17th] Weather was fine , mostly short sleeve. Only one bad day, with light rain. For air fares, I have the time to check daily. We flew direct, Boston to Munich on Lufthansa. Booked sometime in June. Every day it was $859 and then one day it was $569 and I booked the fare. I have found that mid week is a good time to check. Richard

To get familiar with Germany I would buy a good guide book. That will help you decide what cities and towns and areas of the country you wish to see.
Barnes & Noble or similiar store has a great selection of books to choose from.
Most touristy areas the younger people will speak some English but I would buy or download a phrase guide to help you out.
I love Germany and am going again next month. You time frame fits in to Oktoberfest in Munich and to me is a must see.

Germany is my favorite country, so I've been there many times, including September/October. I like the smaller cities and the countryside better than Berlin, Munich, etc., but that's my preference.

Berlin, Munich, etc., have many excellent museums if that's your preference. As other posters have said, it's much cheaper than London---isn't everywhere? I love towns like Regensburg, Bamberg, Rothenburg (in the evening and morning, anyway), Meersburg, Berchtesgaden, Garmisch, Schwäbisch Hall and the like.

The scenery in the south is spectacular.

I too suggest that you get a guide book and read about Germany. You'll be better able to decide what to see.

Yes, books like the 'green guide' or 'eyewitness guide'. Usually they can be purchased at amazon.com at reduced prices, perhaps less shipping charges if you spend over $25 dollars. But here is a good start. A brief history of Germany. Scroll down and you can click on a 'state'. From there you can click on each town/city within that state. Richard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/germany

YOu need some words man. The basic Michael Tomas (Thomas) gives a basic drink, food & hotel thing. Trains are great. Wine and beer festivals abound but you need to check local tourist info for timings. Since every wine town has a booze up you may need to start at an area first and them track down to town and village. the great thing is the web sites work by village so I'm pretty sure Trier tourist office is at www.trier.de and probably has an english section

biboburgler is right and the advice to start with Michael Tomas is excellent. He really does have a fun and easy program.

Who drinks wine (unless it's Franconian) and doesn't prefer beer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franconia

Thank you so much everyone! Your tips are very helpful and I'm glad to know that it is cheaper than London! I can't wait to study up and learn more about Germany!

logos, so little time so much wine

Hi kristle

I am responding to your Q:

I am planning my next trip. My friend and I are thinking about going to Germany around September - October 2010. Is this is a good time to go? Are the fares more reasonable around this time?

>>>>>The best deals for hotel rooms (4 and 5 *) is in July and August as these are the months business traveler don't travel! Therefore more "specials" are available to tourists as the hotels have to get the rooms filled. And weather wise it's also more predictable (SUMMER) - ar fas as the weather is predictable anymore.
September has pleasant days with temps in the mid 20ies - at its best!


Is Germany more reasonably priced than London?


>>>>>Hotel rooms, food, bus and train tickets are much cheaper than in UK.

Is it difficult to communicate?

>>>>> Having a dictionary at hand would be wise. Generally the youngsters speak English. But restaurants and cafés waiters/waitresses generally speaking don't always speak English. But the Germans are pretty helpful.

Also, I am not too familiar with Germany so I wonder if the trains are easy to use. Does anyone have any tips that may be helpful?

>>>>> I cannot state on that one as I don't use trains. But when I travelled last there was no English advise how to get a ticket e.g..

Maybe you reach or contact bettyk who loves to travel Germany - have a look at her trip reports.

Maybe buy some guide books and familiarse yourself with the destination in order to make a choice for cities, what to do and how to get around.

Good luck and happy planning!

SV

Hi again,

Just have to make a comment on spassvogel's comment on trains and language --

I don't speak German (yet . . .), and as I said above, I use the trains a lot.

The train site has English pages and accepts English spelling of towns and cities, so that's no problem. I usually print out my schedule so I know which track I need to be at, at what time, etc.

Ticket agents everywhere I've ever been speak perfect English (even if they say they only speak "a little").

Ticket machines have an English-language button.

Believe me, the system is idiot-proof!

s

THX swandav for the info.

Maybe next time to the airport I'll check that out in our town.
Could well be the case because of the FIFA WC they have upgraded the systems.

SV

From riding German trains annually since 1969 i can attest that it will provide little problem for non-German speakers - heck even idiots like me have no problem. But a tip is to learn the universal European train sysmbols that you will see on posted schedules, etc. Like the numbers 1, 2... 7 indicating days of the weeks. On posted schedules every train will be posted that runs but there may be footnotes like those numbers where it says say 'Ex 7' - except Sundays sp learn the schedule symbols and you'll have little need to ask anyone. And German train station information offices are really helpful for tourists - they will patiently print out exact schedules for your train trip - indicating where you have to change and from what platform to what platform, etc. (the same info is available at www.bahn.de) so you can print out your expected train info before leaving.

Some train travel tips by yours truly, including photos, here: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/f86bd/b/9/

katherine - great great tips - i'll have to add your site to the ones i regularly list for German train travel - i will also have to methodically mull thru all the info which at first glance seems very practical knowledge and tips only a local could provide.

And yup as i love to add when taking the train in Germany - Have a Gute Fahrt!

> Gute Fahrt!
Sitting on the floor in a crowded train in front of the toilets with those frequent breakdowns and train evacuations.
Such fun . But now, you get money back. It's a 4 page questionnaire you have to fill out. You get a 25% refund for a one hour delay and 50% for 2 hours.

Get those forms before you board the train, you will need them and it reduces frustration.

My friend and I recently went to the travel agent and he suggested a river cruise along the Rhine. Has anyone ever done this or had experience with this type of thing? It seems to be reasonable and includes air, the cruise, all food and beverages along with several excursions for the trip for approx. $3,000. I thought it to be a pretty good deal.

seems high but money/time time/money. I did the cruise only and found it was best to chose a time when each town had a wine festival to enjoy the afternoon and also to investigate average age of guests. On ours the age was about 70.

Regarding a river cruise: I am positive that I'd be bored out of my mind at the idea to creep along a river at an unfathomable slow speed stuffing my face on a buffet every 2 hours. This only appears to be bearable if a lot of beer, crisp Riesling and Gin Tonics would be served, but even then after a day it should be enough. There admittedly are supporters of this idea of travel, but personally I don't know any.

I think you should consult a guidebook and find out what you are interested in before you can expect any constructive advice here:

Germany is quite diverse culturally and regarding its landscapes and attractions. The North is very, very different from the South. Both differ from the West and the East is a whole different story again.

Dependent on what attracts your interest, one could only determine whether October actually still is a good time to go. While in October the South may still be attractive (thus far all the general advice you have received nonchalantly omits to point out differences), I'd argue that for anything you may be interested in in the North you'd be a lot better off going in September, if not August. The days get already pretty short in October in the more Northern regions and the climate may require you to bring different clothes than if you went more South.

I can't really comment on the river cruises since I've never done any. But I think that you should keep in mind that the weather in Germany at the end of September, beginning of October isn't stable. It can be a wonderful late summer or it can be raining. Sitting a whole rainy day in a river cruise ship wouldn't be that much fun in my opinion.

If you're interested in prices, you can look up hotel prices at www.hrs.de and rail travel at www.bahn.de For the rail travel you should keep in mind that there are many deals available. Personally I don't like pre-booking long-distance trains (the 29 or 39 Euro specials advertised) since you can't easily change trains anymore and they're often not available for the preferred dates. On the other hand, there are many Laender specials which allow you to use all trains with the exception of the high speed trains for very little money. As long as you don't go long distances, there's no reason not to use them.

The current exchange rate aren't very favourable for US tourists, but even with them the large cities are cheap in comparison to London and the smaller cities are a bargain. September/October is after-season in Germany so prices go down in touristic regions as the Rhine valley.

If you go for the large cities: most hotels exist by business travellers who stay there during the week. If you can go there on the weekends, you might get cheaper deals. And beware of trade fairs which make the prices go up by a factor of two or three.

A nice thing about travelling in Germany is that often interesting places are close to each other. So you can base yourself for some days at one place and easily make day trips around using cheap local trains. Then you can move base with the long distance trains. Cars are more sensible to access some rural places but I think if it's your first trip to Germany, you can find enough interesting places where the train drops you in the middle of it.

We are taking a 5 night Christmas market cruise on Monday and spending six nights on land.

The ship is docked all day as well as two overnight stays. We have no desire to "stuff our faces at buffets every two hours" and actually the food and wine is not similar to mass market cruise line fare. And we will enjoy the local fare whenever we are in port.

We are active and intend to spend our time off the boat exploring the small towns and villages along the way.

ah the piping hot spiced up Gluhwein at those Christmas markets!

Yes and we'll be headed there soon after arrival!

Did you ever see one of those TV shows, discussing poor hygene regarding Glühwein stalls. No running hot water for cleaning the mugs!

How many people with swine flu right now???

surely we have learnt that dirt is good by now. All this hygene just makes us ill

"Regarding a river cruise: I am positive that I'd be bored out of my mind at the idea to creep along a river at an unfathomable slow speed stuffing my face on a buffet every 2 hours. This only appears to be bearable if a lot of beer, crisp Riesling..."

I think you've hit the mark on this one. The only thing I don't agree with is that the wine may not be as "crisp" as a Riesling could be, it'll be the worst around but even that's okay. I'd be willing to swim ashore in about an hour

September is a great time to be in Germany. It's my first choice for the area because the wine harvest comes in and it's festival season.

Oktoberfest is the biggest, most famous, and most touristy but certainly not the only fest. I went to the Bonnfest a number of years ago and had a great time. Unlike Munich, the Bonnfest goes all night (Oktoberfest closes at 10:30 each night).

Things seem to turn cold sometime (roughly the middle) of October. I was in Koln with very nice weather in early October. We then traveled to the Rhine/Munich/Neuschwanstein in mid October and the weather turned brutually (unseasonably) cold. We stopped at a department store in Munich and bought ski caps, scarves and gloves and were fine.

Yup i have been to Oktoberfests in many German towns other than Munich - most are actually in September - Munich's Oktoberfest i guess was moved to September for better weather. But Stuttgart's Oktoberfest (or whatever they call it) was in its own way as festive as Munich's to me.

I have never got sick gulping Gluhwein, for the record and i've gulped a lot of it.

You are not likely to make friends if you call the festivals in any other town outside Munich "Oktoberfest"...

If you decide on a cruise, check the schedule very carefully. The ones I've seen often allow ridiculously short amounts of time at many of the stops.

Hi Krystle 0819: I go to Bavaria almost every year. This past summer, in June it was freezing and I was mad at myself that I had taken mostly capris. It did warm up and get hot over the 4th of July weekend for the "Schlossfest" So pack at least one jeans and one capris. I always take a rain jacket. I have taken the train by myself from this little town called Neuberg on the
Danube. I had to change trains in Inglestott to Munich and took the night train to Zagreb, I always found someone on the train that speaks English and is very helpful, Another time I took the train to Budapest. I had no trouble and I don't speak German.
As the others have said, everyone is very helpful. When I was in Germany, I got my tickets from a local travel agent. This summer I am flying into Paris and then plan to take the train to Germany. I follow PalenQue's advice and contact Byron at BudgetEuropeTravel.com. He is very helpful. In past years, I obtained the RailPass from him. I don't have experience with the RailPass in Germany but plan to try it this year. I went to RailEurope but there were
so many options online that I will use Byron, Germany is a beautiful country. Have fun!

My friend and I just visited a travel agent this past weekend again and were told that the average age of a river cruise passenger is about 65 years old. My friend and I are 28 and 29 respectively. So, I think the river cruise option might be a little too "slow" for us. It seemed like a great deal, but a las I will have to keep searching. Has anyone seen any good deals on vacation packages for Germany?

www.germany-tourism.de - The German National Tourist Office web site often highlights vacation packages to Germany IME

Hi; Both of these sites are 'wholesalers' and deal with many of the major tour companies. Usually 10% off. Richard www.afordabletours.com or www.cheapertravel.com

You will most probably travel cheaper on your own than with a tour, and be more independent in your plans.

ditto to quokka on Germany being really easy IME to travel in on your own - either with a car if wanting to tour rural areas or if going mainly to larger town then definitely IMO by train - the train system is so fantastic and easy to use - i speak no German and never have had a problem traveling in Germany and have done so annually for decades.

Now there are valid reasons folks opt for tours - having others around - not having the make arrangements which can be time consuming and tours can even be as cheap IMO as on-your-own travel - depending on your travel style and budget due to their bulk buying power, etc. but if a worry is a language problem or such have no worry - travel on your own here is easy IME regardless of speaking a word of German.

krystle - the Rhine Cruises are typical, in age groups, with many group tours IME

But at your age you may look to the Contiki Tours, which are quite the contrary and are designed for the 20s age groups. Contact STA Travel in any college town or large city for details. They offer thousands of tours everywhere, including Germany

Krystie; Just to add what 'Pal' said, the two web sites I suggested to you, give a 10% discount on Contiki, plus a 5% discount on air. Richard

Contiki Tours have been around for decades - originally for Australians i believe and could still be an Aussie outfit but for decades has recruited zillions of American college students for their trips and then started tailoring trips to older but still youngish folks in 20s 30s

One neat thing about Contiki tours i have watched is that they seem to have young folks from all over the world on them - you could be with Aussies, New Zealanders, Japanese - a regular U.N. of folks, which to me sounds neat.

Yet these are mega groups usually in buses and often use Contiki Villages - set up in campings but offering indoor style dorms - heeavy duty permanent tents, etc. - this is their cheaper tours and the ones that made them famous. so typically it is not a hotel and regular hostel though they probably have tours now with those as well.

But as tours go you could do worse IMO

www.cometogermany.com/specialoffers advertises 'great deals, easy booking' - an appendage of the German National Tourist Office i believe.

Germany is IMO one of the easiest countries for independent travel. Public transport is excellent, English is widely spoken and it can be a great value as well.

Having just returned from my first river cruise, I would not recommend it to 20 somethings. It will be boring IMO. We met two couples our age and had a blast but we are active 50 somethings.