Hi, My husband and I are planning a trip for 2008. The main destination of the trip is Oktoberfest in Munich but we want to do much more than just that. We would like to spend some time in Belgium first and then parts of Germany around Munich and then end up in Prague (not sure if we have time for Amsterdam). We will have about 12 to 14 days to do all of this and we wanted some help planning what we can fit in and what we can't. Any help you can provide in regards to travel time/distance - "must see" places to stay and/or visit (including beer recommendations for my husband ) Also any thoughts on whether we should rent a car or train it would be great too!

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

I just returned from a Munich/Bavaria trip a month ago...You will have a great time.

You might want to look around the forum a little bit and try to get a better idea of what you might be interested. There is a search bar you can use...just type in Munich and select Germany and a bunch of previous posts will come up and you can see how other people have handled the trip...I would also search for Oktoberfest to get pointers on that.

After you have developed a better sense of what you want to do, I think people here will be able to give you a lot of help.

Having said that, I would stick around the Bavaria area of Germany. There is a ton to see and its easy to get down to Salzburg for a day or two, which is also a great town. With 12 to 14 days, I think you are pushing it with the three stops you mentioned, and you will be overbooked if you stick Amsterdam in.

Have a great time planning your trip.

Thanks tn I have been looking around the forums and reading as much as I can. I have found info on the various places I want to go but not a sense of how much I can fit into 12 to 14 days. Thank you for your insight that my 3 destinations will be plenty for my timeframe...pity about Amsterdam...maybe another time. Do you have any recommendations as to whether to drive or take a train? Thanks!

If going mainly to cities take the train

if wanting to explore rural areas obviously do the car

cars are liabilities in cities like Munich and Prague and large cities in genral - pay a fortune to park - amsterdam about $30/day - many hotels in cities may not have parking. Parking in Prague on street means you have to empty your car if you care about your belongings it seems

For that wide ranging trip i'd take the train - super systems in Germany 2 high-speed trains/hr often. Investgiate the Germany&Benelux railpass - a real bargain. I always recommend to folks without a grasp of the fantastic rail systems in these countries to two sources with great info: www.ricksteves.com has lots of trains and passes on their site and www.budgeteuropetravel.com to get their free European Planning & Rail Guide which has excellent chapters on Germany, Benelux and Czech Republic - rail maps, etc. good primer on train travel. They also have a free info service where experts answer all questions whether you buy anything or not (800-441-9413) - rick steves.com charges $65 i believe for an hour's similar counselling.
Fodorites to me are the best source i've seen - just ask specific questions on train routes or driving routes and someone will give you an amazingly detailed answer from experience. Fodor's is the best travel web site i've seen.

and there are also car-drive passes good for Benelux and Germany where you get a certain number of car days and train days at your discretion over a 2-month period.

pick up car at train station, drive so along the Mosel Valley where trains don't roll and then return it at another station to blast to another region.

www.mappy.com has often been recommended for driving times, etc.

Thank you so much! I will take a look at those sites - I like the train - car mix

Ok - I have been doing some more research How about this as a rough plan:

* Fly to Prague - spend 2 days
* Train to Munich
* Munich - 4 days (Oktoberfest and day trips)
* Train to Frankfurt
* Frankfurt - 1 day
* Drive from Frankfurt to Trier (on Mosel River) via Mainz and Cochem - stay overnight in Trier
* Next day drive from Trier to Antwerp.
* Spend 4 days in Belgium with Antwerp as base for side trips to Brugge, Gent and Brussels
* Fly out of Brussels back home

Is that too much? Is it doable? I was thinking 15 days total (2 full days of flying to and from home) so 13 days of sightseeing. Thanks in advance for any comments!

We actually did a similar trip in the fall a couple of years ago - but not with Munich.

We landed in Brussels and picked up our car and drove to Spa - where we stayed in a charming manor house built for one of Napoleon's marshalls. Using that as a base we toured Spa, Liege, Aachen (in Germany to see Charelgmagne's throne/remains). (We had done Brussels, Bruges and Ghent on previous trips.)

From there we drove through Belgium and Luxembourg stopping at several small villages to see WWII museums, as well as the cut little towns and churches, and ended up staying in Trier for several nights. Toured the Roman remains and museum, visited Luxembourg city and some of the wine towns along the Moselle.

Finally, we drove to Frankfurt and trained to Prague for 5 days there. (There were 4 of us with luggage, so we had a large car they wouldn;t allow into the Czech Republic.)

All in all a wonderful trip - doing a lot of things a little off the beaten track that many people never get to see/do.

If you've never been to Prague before I would allow at least 4 days minimum - there is so much to see/do - esp music and cultural activities - of very high quality at very low price versus the US or western europe.

Sorry - the board seems to have a glitch tonight.

We did this trip in about 18 days - so if you have only 12 to 14 you definitely don;t have time for Amsterdam - and will need to plan carefully to see much of Belgium.

I have been thinking a lot about how I want to fit everything in but yet not rush too much - so would it be beast for us to maybe skip Belgium this time and just focus more on Prague and Bavaria? Maybe we can do Belgium and the Netherlands another trip...

Thoughts?

Prague is the odd man out here based on location. A prior trip we did went something like this - flew in & out of BRU - Cologne (1 n.)(picked up car) drove down the Mosel (2 n.) (also Burg Eltz), was dropped off in Lux. (3 n.) visited Clervaux & Namur, next stop Maastricht (2 n.) then onto the beach for some r & r - Oostende (3 n.) last night in BRU. We didn't make it too Bruges that trip but you go right by it from BRU - Oostende. We also skipped Munich but have been there several times. We were all train except the Mosel part where I would suggest a car. If you go to Prague you'll also need to go to Cesky Krumlov & perhaps Karlovy Vary. Also that trip places you very close to Vienna & Bratislava. Save that all until next time.