Any Suggestions for 5 Day German Itinerary?
 

Here is what we have planned/reserved so far:

London 9/17 - 9/20
Copenhagen 9/20 - 9/23

Our flight back to Chicago leaves from Berlin Tegel on 9/29 at 11 am.
Obviously, we must find our way through Germany into Berlin by then.

In general, our philosophy with this trip is to sample a few different
cultures and a few great cities. We understand that this will not be our
only trip to Europe in our lives, and therefore are trying not to do too
much. On the other hand, we have limited vacation time from work, so we are
trying to get a good primer on Europe.

Being an architect, I am intrigued with the built environment in Germany and
would probably be satisfied spending a fair amount of time seeing great
buildings, both modern and medieval. My wife is less interested in buildings,
but likes people watching and participating in the culture. I too enjoy the
cultural aspects. We are less interested in typical "touristy"
attractions and recognize that this vacation is not necessarily of the "rest
& relaxation" type.

What would be your recommendation as to a route / itinerary to lead us from
Copenhagen on 9/23 to Berlin on 9/29?

I have read of significant modern building in Berlin since 1988 and would
love to see Reichstag and Potsdamer Platz as well as other significant
works. I think it would be good if we were able to spend some time in a smaller German city too, because I think that is important. Any thoughts?

I have toyed with the thought of trying to make it all the way to Bavaria
and Munich for Oktoberfest but I think that may be trying to see too much in
too little time. What are your thoughts with that?

Given our constrained schedule and philosophy, do you think staying in
Northern/Central Germany would be a good idea? Can you recommend any cool, smaller German cities en route from Copenhagen to Berlin?

We are seriously considering a Eruo-rail pass for Germany.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I hope my thoughts help shed
light on what we are looking for.

"Given our constrained schedule and philosophy, do you think staying in
Northern/Central Germany would be a good idea?"

Yes. Celle (hundreds of half-timbered buildings), Luebeck, and Hameln & Rinteln (both south of Hanover with loveley Weserrenaissance arch.) would each make for interesting stops for you. I too doubt the merits or trying to explore Bavaria if you plan to spend a few days in Berlin as well.

If you stay up north, you should not concer yourselves with railpasses, in all probability. Point-to-point rail tickets will likely be less expensive. You can price routes at www.bahn.de and then compare with the railpass options.

Take a look at Lübeck and see if that is what you had in mind.

topping

Another strong supporting vote for Lubeck.

I do not think you should go to Bavaria/Munich.

And there is really no reason for you to plop down money on a "rail pass" from what I see in your plans.

Don't even think about it without doing some trial itinerary planning at railsaver.com

Best wishes,

Rex

Bringing your message back up "to the top" since you are new here. Presumably, you posted this same question twice because you had trouble finding your first post.

Click on your own name, and you will always retrieve all of your prior posts.

topping again... now you have replies accumulating on both of these identical posts...