radiofanatic

Title pretty much says it. If you had two weeks in Germany and it was your first (and maybe only) trip - what would you see and why? And no car - just public transportation - trains, planes, buses - thanks!

rachw

A bit of the Black Forest (Freiburg/Staufen/Gengenbach/Gutach/Alpirsbach) for hiking/beer(13th c. brewery in A)/castle ruins--all train/bus accessible..... travel one hour over the border to Alsace France for a day or two to visit Colmar and Strassbourg if desired...then move a bit north along the Rhein to Mainz (cultural sees)/Bacharach/St.Goar/Koblenz/Koeln (castle ruins, boat tours, and wine), then west to the scenic Mosel River Valley for quaint towns and biking.
MY perfect trip anyway!

katzen

I agree with rachw above only I would add Rothenburg and a bit of Bavaria (Fuessen and countryside).

I have yet to tour the Fairy Tale Route nor the Erzbirge region (Eastern Germany) but those two places are next on my list.

J_Correa

We had 2 weeks in Germany last summer and it was my first trip. Planning was fun - we got our plane tickets in and out of Munich, and then started planning. Our planned itinerary got really REALLY big as we started researching all the cool places we could go. Then we scaled it back and picked 3 main areas to base ourselves. We rented a car for the last few days, but used public transportation the rest of the time. Most of the places we went with the car can be done with public transport as well. I just wanted to rent a car for part of the time to give us the opportunity to poke around a bit more.

Here was our basic itinerary:

Day 1 (Sunday): Arrive in Munich mid day
Days 2-5 (Monday-Thursday): In Munich with a side trip to Freising.
Day 6 (Friday): Train to Nuremberg
Days 7-9(Saturday-Monday): In Nuremberg with side trips to Ansbach and Rothenberg.
Day 10 (Tuesday): Rented a car and drove the Romantik Road to Fussen
Day 11 (Wednesday): Visited the Ludwig castles.
Day 12 (Thursday): Free day spent driving around the Fussen area and at a nearby lake.
Day 13 (Friday): Drove back to Munich and spent the afternoon in Munich.
Day 14 (Saturday): Flew home.

We thought this trip had a good balance between sightseeing and relaxation. We didn't want to fall into a trap of trying to see everything we possibly could and not have the time to really enjoy.

In your case, since you wont have a car, you could take a train to the Fussen area if you wanted to go that route and take buses around there. I think the buses are pretty good.

One area I wished we could have seen on this trip was the Mosel river valley, and I suppose we could have, but I didn't want to rush things too much.

traveller1959

Sorted by rank:

1. Berlin (at least 3 days, better 4).

2. Cologne/Dusseldorf (2 thru 3 days).

3. The Rhine Valley (2 days).

4. The Romantic Road (2 days).

5. Munich (2 days)

6. Upper Bavaria (Neuschwanstein etc.) (1 day)

7. Dresden (1 day)

Mimar

traveler1959 left out the Mosel Valley, which I would put ahead of the Rhine.

ekellyga

J Correa:
You took a side trip to Ansbach??? Any particular reason? I was working on the military base there for 6 months back in '03. I loved it, but have never heard anyone going there as a tourist. had you some connection with the military that made you want to go there? Just curious
EK

ekellyga

ttt

radiofanatic

thanks for the WONDERFUL suggestions so far - any other recommendations? And any book recommendations for touring? thanks!

radiofanatic

ttt

traveller1959

I have written three GoLists for Berlin, the Romantic Road and the Rhine area for tripadvisor.com.

The links are here: http://tinyurl.com/2u8u9p

Mimar is certainly right. The Mosel Valley is also beautiful, and especially Trier is worth a visit (with Roman ruins). But the Rhine may be better for trip planning, because it connects Cologne with Frankfurt.

J_Correa

ekellyga - My husband was stationed in Ansbach for about a year and a half in the early 90s, so that is why we went. His post was just outside of the Altstadt, but is now a small university. The post was given back to the Germans in 1991, I believe. We were very happy to find that the main buildings are still there.

I really enjoyed Ansbach, although it apears to be economically depressed as a lot of towns are for awhile after military posts close up. With the university and some other things though, they seem to be turning things around.

liebeBayern

We love the Bavarian area of Berchtesgaden, in the Alps. You can get there by train from Munchen. The train station is at the bottom of the hill, and you hike up to the old town and pedestrian zone. Once there, there is a bus service that takes you to the Koenigssee in the Bavarian National Park. You can take an electric boat ride on the lake to two places where you can disembark, walk through the forest, and get back on the boat to another point, where you can hike through the fields and cow pastures to the Obersee, another lake. You can take a lunch and spend the day there. There are many reasonably priced Pensions in the area--check out the Berchtesgaden website, or www.koenigssee.com for the Schoenau website, as the lake is actually in Schoenau. The website shows the red onion towers of St. Bartholoma (sp?), which is one of the stops on the boat ride. Other sights are Kehlstein, where Hitler's Eagles Nest was, a cable car ride up the Jenner mountain for a fabulous view and hike, and a local or "Heimatmuseum", which is very charming and contains a lot of local history. This area is 12 miles from Salzburg, Austria, so you could take a train or perhaps a bus to Salzburg. From the train station in Salzburg, take a trolley to the Altstadt, or old city, where Mirabell Gardens and the pedestrian downtown are.
We also love Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, on the Romantic Road, but I don't have any advice as to transportation there.
Fussen, where the Neuschwanstein Castle is located, is another beautiful area with several castles of Mad King Ludwig to visit, if you are interested in castles. I believe that the trains run from Munchen to Fussen.
We are tired of cities--we like hiking, the countryside, beautiful views, and the friendliness of the local people.