My family will be visiting Germany for the first time this Easter 2011. We have friends we will visit in both Dresden and Raimstein AFB. We have an 8 yr old girl and a 4 yr old Boy and we are flying in and out of Frankfurt. Our plan is to stay in Frankfurt the night we land to help with jet lag and then head to Dresden and Prague then drive down to Fussen and Munich before heading via the Romantic Road to Raimstein. From there we are thinking of driving up the Rhine to Koln and then over to Brussels before returning to Frankfurt. I would love some advice on the number of days we should spend in each location and any kid friendly sites/activities along the way...thanks!

I can't help with this a lot as I've only been in Eastern Germany, but I liked Dresden a lot. I can't think of anything particularly kid friendly there, but it's not what I notice much.

I think others might want to know how long you have for this trip, though, as your agenda is quite ambitious and will take a lot of time. At least your daughter is in school, I imagine, and I wondered if you only had one week for all this or what. Because that seems impossible for everything you want to do.

I'd plan on 4 days in Prague.

To do justice to the areas you will visit you must calculate about 3 weeks, I'd say. No kidding. With kids 4 and 8 years old ...

Kid-friendly activities in/around Dresden would be the mini-train ride in the city park called Großer Garten http://www.parkeisenbahn-dresden.de/...1eng&index_eng , the zoo (right there) www.zoo-dresden.de , a ride on a narrow-gauge steam train (Radebeul - Schloss Moritzburg) www.loessnitzgrundbahn.de (English flyer in pdf-format) and a ride on a paddle steamer along the river www.saechsische-dampfschiffahrt.de . Don't miss to see one of the many castles in the surroundings - kids love castle Stolpen which is partly in ruins (but that's even more fun for the kids) www.burg-stolpen.org and the fortress Königstein with the huge cannons etc. (views!) www.festung-koenigstein.de/museum/en/. For a rainy day there's a kids museum in the Hygiene Museum in Dresden that is really excellent for the kids - lots of things to check out, to keep them busy http://www.dhmd.de/neu/index.php?id=788 . Or see the dolls in the Museum of Saxon Folk Art http://www.skd.museum/en/museums-ins...ung/index.html.

Maybe the National Park Saxon Switzerland would be an option - on a mild and sunny day a short hike would probably be fun. Impressive sandstone formations, beautiful views, watching the free-climbers, having picnic somewhere with a view ... www.nationalpark-saechsische-schweiz.de

Ingo

One suggestion for a kid-friendly castle on the Rhine:
Burg Pfalzgrafenstein (a.k.a. Burg Pfalz)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hausfra...57604099509243

It is an impressive castle resembling a ship, set on a tiny island in the middle of the river. You take a quick boat ride to get to it (kids will love that) and there's a self-guided tour of the castle, which is largely unfurnished but has lots of places for kids to roam safely. They can see a medieval bathroom, climb up and down spiral stairs, play on the rocks, etc.

I meant to add this link:
http://www.burg-pfalzgrafenstein.de/

Will you be near Legoland?

http://www.legoland.de/en/

The Romantic Road is Romantic because of the beautiful quaint villages along the way. Other than that it is a two lane road with a lot of trucks. You may want to skip the Romantic Road in favor of the autobahns. Go to Dinkelsbuhl and Rothenburg ODT. It sounds like a fun trip. Enjoy!