17 days needing help with!
 

Hi there,

I have 17 days of my 10 week trip to Europe that I am having a difficult time deciding what to do with. I leave my friend in Dubrovnik and will be venturing off on my own for 17 days. I will have already been to Western Europe (France and Belgium) as well as Eastern Europe (Krakow, Prague, Budapest, and Dubrovnik) but for the remaining 17 days I so far have Germany (Berlin, Munich) and Amsterdam. I was wondering if any of you guys have any further suggestions how to best utilize my remaining 17 days..other places in Germany to visit or perhaps other countries. I have to be at Frankfurt airport for my flight at the end of these 17 days and will likely be purchasing a rail pass for Germany.

Thanks for any advice!
Patrick

Instead of purchasing a railpass for only Germany since you also want to go to Holland look at the Germany-Benelux Railpass. which lets you hop on virtually any train in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg at will - Belgium and Holland are really close to Frankfurt so you could well include such gems as Bruges in Belgium and Amsterdam in your trip, ending in Frankfurt. And do not neglect Luxembourg itself IMO - one of Europe's most gorgeous cities - a deep gorge bisects the town - you can take a rail line up the famous Mosel Valley to Luxembourg, perhaps stopping off at Cochem, a fairy-tale wine town at one of the cutest parts of the Mosel Valley - a vineyard carpeted deep gorge that to me is one of Europe's most scenic river valleys. Basing in Cochem lets you also take trains and boats (K-D boats on Rhine and Mosel covered 100% by railpasses) up and down the castle-studded Rhine Gorge (Koblenz to Bingen/Rudesheim) to boot.

Anyway for lots of nice info on European trains and especially in Germany and Benelux check out these fine IMO sites - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - check out the latter's fre online European Planning & Rail Guide for oodles of rail itinerary suggestions for Germany and Benelux. And IMO do not neglect going to Berlin, to me one of Europe's most fascinating cities.

Thanks for the suggestions! I have looked into using the Germany-Benelux pass and am likely going to purchase that one. I will already be seeing Bruges and Luxembourg as they are part of a field school I am taking part in. But if I like them enough then I could make a trip back pretty easily with my railpass :)!

Thanks for the suggestions!!

I don't know how this fits into your plans, but I really liked Dresden and Leipzig in eastern Germany. If you want to get from Dubrovnik to Germany by train, I think that would fit -- got through Slovenia (you might add Ljubljana) to your itinerary, and then to Vienna (why not add that) and up to Dresden. It does kind of back-track as it would go through Prague, most likely (Vienna to Dresden), but you are going up that way, anyway, I guess. From Dresden you can even do a day trip to Leipzig, if you want, but they are both kind of on the way to Berlin, anyway.

I think there's enough diversity in Germany to spend the bulk of that 17 days in Germany itself. Get a good guidebook which covers the *whole* country - two I know of are the Michelin Green Guide and The Rough Guide to Germany, but there must be others. There are a lot of UNESCO world heritage sites in Germany; researching those would be one place to start. Lucky you having such a long time to visit!

Lavandula

You might like to check this out:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/de

Lavandula

You can easily fill the 17 days between Munich and Berlin. Heading north from Munich you can see great towns/cities like Regensburg, Nürnberg, Bamberg. Head east to Dresden where you can hang out for as long as you want - from two days to two weeks :-) There's also the National Park Saxon Switzerland with sandstone patches, glens, great hikes, other sports activities (from kayaking and free climbing to cycling etc.) and panoramic views.

From Dresden to Berlin, from there via Leipzig and Erfurt to Frankfurt. Each of these places deserve a couple of nights.

I.

I agree with the suggestion of stopping in Slovenia for a couple of days if you can. Beautiful country, and we loved charming Ljubljana.

And also between Munich and Berlin is Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, once home to a Martin Luther who famously nailed some demands to the local church door - lots of Luther-linked edifices remain but the town itself is just a great old town - now all gussied up from days in the old East Germany - when I first visited Lutherstadt-Wittenberg it was just after the old DDR collapsed and the town was gritty - crumbling buildings, streets, etc - but a return visit a few years ago yielded a really sweet refurbished old town. also an easy day trip by train from Berlin, which is what I did twice.