msj8028

Hi,

We are planning a trip in March that will include German villages like Rothenburg ob der Tauber, bamberg, bad wimpfen & Cochem etc.....

A friend mentioned to us that it will be very hard for a non-German speaking person to get by in these smaller towns as almost nobody speaks English. Is this the case?

Thanks

Karasek

These aren't villages but towns overrun by international mass tourism. The majority of the tourists come from Northern America and Japan, so almost everyone of the locals speaks English (and many even some Japanese!).

Cathinjoetown

I think your friend must be joking.

msj8028

Ok, thanks ...

So where are the genuine German villages that are not simply tourist traps?

quokka

These places are not villages. Bamberg is a city with a large university, the others qualify as towns, Rothenburg and Wimpfen with a proud history as imperial cities. Besides, they are hotspots of tourism. You should not have too many problems. Not everyone speaks English but you should always find someone who does.

bilboburgler

More to the point Germans are very well educated and English is probably their second language. Yes there will be people who do not speak it but maybe only 1 in 2. We are not talking Hicksville here.

quokka

To the second question: Bad Wimpfen is less on the beaten path as the others - good choice. Bamberg is famous but I would not call it a tourist trap, absolutely worth seeing. Rothenburg is very busy with tourism and Cochem seems to have become a hotspot, too. Otherwise, the average overseas tourist visits only very few places. There are many other beautiful places hardly anyone outside the region knows of.

Around Bamberg, allow me to mention Coburg and the villages resp. small towns in Franconian Switzerland, like Pottenstein or Gößweinstein, also the wine region further down the Main valley towards Würzburg with, for example, Volkach. And of course Regensburg.

In the surroundings of Rothenburg, there are, for example, Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl, but also Schwäbisch Hall, Ellwangen, Weikersheim with its palace, Wertheim...

Around Bad Wimpfen - Maulbronn monastery, Hirschhorn and Neckarsteinach in the Neckar valley, Lauffen also sounds nice (haven't yet been), Ladenburg, Schwetzingen palace. A cute village in the Kraichgau hills would be, for example, Gochsheim.

The Mosel has many many pretty little wine villages, so you can hardly go wrong. Explore the valley a bit.

msj8028

quokka thanks for that great information!

Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl are both towns that i had my eye on and Bamberg looks fantastic too.

We would also love to see Colmar as well although I am sure this is another hot spot for tourists. Thats ok, we'll be tourists! We are going in March so it shouldnt be too overrun with people.

We really were blown away with Bruges last year and are tempted to go back....but then we think, we really should see something different this time...

How did people plan their trips before the internet hey ?!

Russ

Rothenburg: Just about everyone speaks English since just about everyone is in such close contact with the international tourist trade.

Cochem: Not so much. Core visitors are Germans, with a good number of Dutch and some UK folks. Shop employees, even young ones, are less likely to do English, but most hotels and better-known restaurants will likely have some English-speaking staff. Other villages nearby tend to get much less international traffic and have more traditional, established populations; there'll be less English there than in Cochem.

Tourist traps in southern Germany: Triberg, Rothenburg (still worth visiting though) Baden-Baden perhaps, and Füssen/Neuschwanstein. There are other places where tourists seem to outnumber residents (Bacharach, Cochem, Mittenwald) but I'd hesitate to call them "traps".

hetismij

One thing about the Mosel valley - a lot of things will still be closed in March.
Mid-April is when the season starts again.
The Mosel can flood which is one reason things close in winter.
At least the villages won't be full of tourists, but finding a café open may be a challenge away from Cochem.

caroline_edinburgh

IME...

Younger people all learned English at school but older people - say over 60 - probably didn't. I have friends who speak very good English but their parents speak none.

Even in Bayreuth - a town attracting a lot of international visitors - last year we found quite a few places (including our hotel) where the staff spoke no English. Luckily DG speaks German, but I'd hesitate to visit without him since I speak none (beyond the absolute basics of good morning, thank you etc).

Aramis

Boy, is your friend misinformed.

Another case of those who don't know doling out bad advice.

Karasek

If you visit Nuremberg (not that impressive if you ask me) you should also visit Lauf an der Pegnitz. A cute little town with a phantastic, but almost unknown, imperial castle. It's called Wenzelsschloss and was built by Bohemian king and German emperor Charles IV, when this region of Franconia was part of Bohemia. Inside is a very impressive room from 1360 with the coat of arms of all possessions of Charles IV.

Echnaton

If you really look for villages:

Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen have been mentioned, I would add Feuchtwangen. These are frequented by tourists too, but in a much more agreeable way than Rothenburg. And these towns are as picturesque as Rothenburg.

Even quieter are some picturesque wine villages near Würzburg, e.g. Iphofen, Mainbernheim, Ochsenfurt, Sommerhausen. In Iphofen, there is a wonderful hotel with an excellent restaurant which also produces good wine.

www.zehntkeller.de

Along the Rhine and the Mosel, there are dozens of villages (again, Cochem is a town, not a village). Just drive the roads along the rivers and make little sidetrips into the villages (usually the roads bypass the centers of the villages).

In Alsace, there are very picturesque villages. Again, Colmar is not a village, it is a pretty big city and seat of the regional government. Around Colmar, you find zillions of cute villages, some very touristy (esp. Riquewihr), some moderately touristy (e.g. Eguisheim), some rather quiet (my favourite is Gueberschwihr - visit the winemaker Gantzer in Rue du Nord). Also visit Turckheim, Kaysersberg or, north of Colmar, Ottrott and Boersch.

Poconolady

On a little different note--since you have until March, why not take a quick course in German to learn some of the language? I am doing a cd-based course from the Pimslar Method before our upcoming trip to Eastern Germany. It is quite easy and is heavily based on spoken German, no text books, conjugating verbs, etc. Just useful conversational phrases and conversations. You naturally learn to substitue words to form you own statements.. Will I REALLY need it since so many speak English, probably not, but it sure can't hurt.Why should I be lazy and expect others to speak my language when I can put in a little effort to learn the language of the land that I am visiting. It is also a great way to get prepped for the trip and is an activity that both my husband and I can do together. being cd-based,it is easy to do, at home, in the car, with earbuds while walking. Just 30 minutes a day. It is amazing how much you can pick up.

Christina

I have friends and relatives who are German and they don't speak much English. Nobody speaks a language fluently if they just learned it in school and then don't use it much. These are educated people, also, age 30 plus (that I know). People who have a reason to speak it and use it know it, others do not. Now as a tourist, you tend to run into those who need it for business, of course. One woman whome I know is about 50 and an engineer living in Dresden, she is certainly educated and sure, she learned it in school, but she isn't comfortable speaking much English when I'm around at all and my other friend (who is fluent) translates the conversations.

danon

"Younger people all learned English at school but older people - say over 60 - probably didn't. I have friends who speak very good English but their parents speak none."

I found the same even in Munich (and outside Amsterdam).

bettyk

We found fewer people who spoke English in Iphofen and Bad Wimpfen than in towns more frequently visited by Americans. That doesn't mean no one speaks English, just not as many people. But those towns are definitely worth visiting. Quokka and Echnaton have given you some good recommendations.

We don't know a lot of German, but we love towns off the beaten path. I'd much prefer visiting a small town like Iphofen where I don't see any other American tourists.

Learn some German before your trip and you'll have a great time, no matter where you go. Even people who speak English appreciate your trying to speak German.

quokka

There is a small town gem in the very North of Alsace, thus closer to your route, which I'd like to mention: Wissembourg. If heading North from there you can follow the German Wine Road (Deutsche Weinstraße) through the wine region at the foot of the Palatinate hills and its many pretty wine villages.

love_travel_Aus

We do not speak German other than the very, very basic phrases, and visited a number of the smaller town along the Mosel in April - and we managed quite well.
We have learnt to read train timetables and menus and ask for basic things - but just a smile and a greeting and then a simple request always seems to get us through.
The towns you mention in your OP are really not small villages - hence the suggestions to read some of the trip reports from around the Rhine and Mosel.