10 day trip to Germany
 

We are planning a 10 day trip to to Germany in late August/early September. We will be starting out and returning from Frankfurt but have not set a itinerary yet. Does anyone have any recommendations as to how and where best to spend 10 days in Germany. All suggestions will be appreciated.

Hi Mike: we spent 9 days in Germany this past November. If you do a search on "germany" you will find lots of helpful info. Especially--info from Wes Fowler who has developed several driving <BR>routes. Don't miss the city of Rothenburg and spend time in the small cities along the Rhine River (such as Bacharach). The imposing remains of the Roman Nigra Porta in Trier is something to see and explore.

Mike, <BR>Frankfurt is an ideal starting point for tours of a number of river valleys, the Rhine, the Moselle and the Lahn. I can provide you with a few driving itineraries including the Romantische Strasse as far south as Augsburg. You can visit Rothenburg, Nordlingen and Dinkelsbuhl on the way. (I'd stay away from going any further south into Upper Bavaria if I were you. Oberammergau is presenting the Passion Play, a once every ten year event. Accommodations in Upper Bavaria will be difficult to find; lines long at the Bavarian castles; road traffic atrocious with 4700 playgoers racketing about every day from late May until early October.) Email me directly for an itinerary or two.

Berlin is one of the most incredible cities in the world--the culture, history, friendly people, shopping, etc. Checkpoint Charlie Museum is great, restored Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Ka De We Dept. Store, Olympic Stadium, numerous museums, symphony. Other places: Hamelin (Pied Piper fame), Dresden, Munich, Oberammagau Passion Play, Bertchesgaden (Hitler's Eagle's Nest), Rothenburg are all interesting cities. Germany is a wonderful nation.

The Rhine is a lovely place to visit. You might consider St. Goar, with its own castle ruins, and a dock where you can catch a cruise down the Rhine, with so many castles to see. This last May we stayed at the thousand year old Schonberg castle (hotel is much, much newer!) in Oberwesel - a very interesting nearby city with some roman fortifications. <BR>The Neckar river also has some beautiful castles, and few American tourists. <BR>Still, it would really be a shame if you had to miss beautiful Bavaria. Perhaps you might consider Berchtesgaden. I would still make sure you have hotel reservations there before you go. It's a pretty little town, with a great saltmine tour, the Eagles Nest for history, and daytrips to Salzburg and "the other" King Ludwig II castle, Chiemsee.

Mike, We Fodorites can help you out more if you can give us some more information. <BR> <BR>1. Are you more interested in seeing the city sights or scenery/hiking type activities? <BR> <BR>2. Are you planning on driving or using the trains? <BR> <BR>3. Any special interests or "must see's" that you already have penciled in? <BR> <BR>With this information your fellow travelers will know better which direction to send you.

Hi Mike <BR>and all other people flying into Frankfurt. There is a really nice <BR>hotel I´ve discovered recently and I´m staying there a lot for business reasons. It´s an easy 20 minute drive from Franfurt Airport and very close to the beautiful Taunus mountains. It´s called Hotel Moevenpick and it´s in Oberursel. It´s being built 1 year ago <BR>and the rates are low when you consider the standard. AND THEY PROVIDE WASHCLOTHS!!! <BR>Just an idea for the first or last night of your trip... <BR> <BR>Regards <BR> <BR>Miriam

Miriam, I love the food from that chain. Glad to know there's a hotel now in that location - thanks!

I support Linda's that you cannot miss out Berlin, have been there for a week and still thinking of going back. My last 10 day trip included Munchen for the rest 3 days, and Neueschwanstein Castle was a day trip out of Munich. <BR> <BR>Frankfurt airport is great and well connected to the rail network nationwide. <BR>

Sounds like southern Germany will be overwhelmed with North American and other foreign tourists, at least in the better-known spots. You might enjoy getting in on the regional wine harvest celebrations going on in the Rhine, Mosel and Nahe River valleys. The larger city of Mainz (on the Rhine, nice old town, many pedestrian-only walking zones, Gutenberg Museum, beautiful Romanesque cathedral) has a wine festival in its "Stadtpark" from Aug 25-28 and Sep. 1-3. The small town of Bingen to the north has a vintners festival on 9/2 with fireworks, wine booths, evening party boat rides where you can check out the fireworks, etc. <BR>Further downstream, Oberwesel has a wine market/fireworks celebration from 9/8-11, and St. Goar has its "Rhine in Flames" clelebration on the 16th. Similar events are undoubtedly underway in the Mosel River towns. <BR> <BR>If it were me, I'd rent an apartment central to this region (St. Goar is a good spot) for 5 or 6 days, then do day trips to the towns in the area (distances are short) by train, ferry boat, or cruise ship. These rivers are absolutely castle-studded, and although many are interesting in their ruined state, I find the intact ones far more enjoyable/informative (Marksburg Castle on the Rhine in Braubach, Burg Eltz on the Mosel near Moselkern, and Reichsburg Castle in Cochem on the Mosel are the most visit-worthy.) This is also a great place to bike the river valleys or hike along the cliffs, if you're into outdoor stuff. The www.loreleyvalley.com site is in English and has a decent hotel/apartment selection for the Rhine in addition to information on events and sights there. <BR> <BR>Then, you could spend 4 or 5 days visiting one or two other cities. Berlin is great, but gigantic and unwieldy for me. I've spent two days just being lost there. Some less taxing places of historical/touristic value might be Hamelin, Heidelberg, Wuerzburg, or Kassel, none of which are extremely far from Frankfurt. <BR> <BR>If you're curious about the Mosel/Rhine areas and would like some further tips or help negotiating some websites for these areas, let me know. <BR>

<BR>I don't know if you can help me but We are planning a 14 day trip to colonge to visit friends from May 30th to june 14. My main concern is I am confined to a wheelchair so I have concern about places to stay places to visit and transportation