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3 weeks in germany, need help with itinerary

3 weeks in germany, need help with itinerary

Old Oct 6th, 2010, 11:43 AM
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3 weeks in germany, need help with itinerary

Hi Hope you can all help. We are 4 Canadians in early 60's on our first trip to Germany. We have 3 weeks in summer 2011. I have done so much reading that my brain is overloaded and now am really confused !!Would mostly like to see the southern country, Bodensee, a bit of Switzerland, Bavarian Alps etc, Munich, Salzburg, maybe Vienna. Would like to see the Rhine area but it seems a distance from the south. Could we do the Rhine area also in a few days and then travel south. Any thoughts on an itinerary and how long we should stay in each place. We are having trouble with planning due to judging the distances between places mainly. We are so used to driving long distances here all the time and we have travelled a lot in Canada and US but are wondering about how long to stay in each place and the distances we should plan on doing in a day. Here we are used to covering 500 - 600 Km in a day while travelling in Canada or the USA. Anyways any help on itineray would be great. In 3 weeks can we perhaps get into France. Dont really want to rush, we do that so much here anyways but would like to enjoy your country. Thanks for any help and ideas.
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Old Oct 6th, 2010, 12:07 PM
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First question - have you been to Europe before? If not, taking the train can be a great experience, especially in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Second question - do you have any nonstop flights to Germany/Switzerland/Austria from your home airport?

3 weeks is plenty of time to see the places you mention.

If I were you, this is what I would do (depending on where you are flying from):

Fly to Vienna (1 day)
Vienna - 3 nights
Train or drive to along the Danube to Melk or similar Danube town - (2 nights)
Munich - 3 nights
Bavarian Alps or Tirol in Austria (try a place like this Lermoos, Mittenwald) - 3 nights
Meersburg on Lake Constance - 2 nights
Murren or Wengen in Switzerland - 3 nights
Fly home from Zurich or Geneva - 1 day

This gives 2 flex days.

You could do the trip in the opposite direction. The German bahn.de website lets you explore train options between towns, I use it a lot. I buy my railpass through Rick Steves - he gives a lot of free stuff with the pass.

Lots of advice on driving in Europe on this site.

Keep the trip simple, plan your itinerary, reserve some of your hotels in advance, buy a plane ticket with as few connections as possible, get a rail pass or rent a car and go - just like you would in Canada or the US - try not to overplan your trip. Have fun!! You will.
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Old Oct 6th, 2010, 12:29 PM
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For our first trip to Germany, we followed Karen Brown's Inn and Itineraries. I don't think there is a current edition of her book but she still has a website. We found being in our late 20s/early 30s, we could do about twice what she recommended per day. In other words, we could do two of her travel days in one day. We greatly enjoyed the little towns we saw. We spent 3 days each days in Munich, Garmisch and Salzburg, with single or double nights elsewhere. It was a wonderful trip.
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Old Oct 13th, 2010, 08:25 AM
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thank you little A, I like your itinerary and check it out in more detail. How many miles would you think is reasonable to travel in 1 day? I think we will rent a car. What is there to see in Garmisch?
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Old Oct 15th, 2010, 05:09 PM
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Are you planning on traveling by car or train? I liked the LittleA Itenerary but I would add Salzburg either in between Melk and Munich or maybe instead of Melk. If you are traveling by car you can pick up a car as you leave Munich and travel through the alps by going toward Garmish then going to Ettal Monastary, Linderhoff, Oberammergau, Wiess Kirche and Neuschwanstein.

After that it is an easy drive to Meersburg by way of Lindau on the Bodensee. Since you are going in the Summer you should include a trip to Mainau Insel on the Bodensee (the flower island).

I would skip the Rhine on this trip and use the time elsewhere.
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