We will be flying next summer into Cologne and plan to head towards Vienna and Budapest.

Can you recommend places in this vicinity (between these points, or nearby) that we should visit?

We are a family with boys aged 12 and 14. We like everything. A little culture/art (but not too much), lots of hanging around, immersing ourselves in the local culture and eating cuisine typical of the area we are visiting.

We'd prefer to travel by train, but are open to renting a car for a while.

Thank you for any suggestions!

Would you also consider budget flights? Germanwings.de in particular has great deals from Cologne to numerous cities.

A German rail pass might work well too. Depending on how you organize your route, some destinations you might consider (not necessarily in this order) Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Munich, Bratislava.

Northern Route: Cologne-Bremen-Hamburg or Harz Mountain-Berlin-Dresden-Prague-Vienna-Budapest.

Southern Route: Cologne-Wuerzburg-Rothenburg-Nurnberg/Dinkelsbuhl-Munich-Salzburg-Vienna-Budapest.

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm going to get out a map and trace the northern and southern routes, DAX.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks.

DAX has given it to you perfectly and brilliantly, in my opinion. Both of his/her suggestions would provide you with more culture and chances to immerse than one can imagine. Put each one of DAX's stops through a search engine and see what each stop has to offer. It will blow you away. Then once you have done that, come back and ask detailed questions about the places that interest you the most.

Dusseldorf is a very nice city and not far from Cologne.

The Moseltal; Mittelrein and der Nurburgring.
M

Thanks much. Will research and get back later with more questions...

How much time do you have for this trip? Two weeks? Three? Longer?

Just returned from Nurnberg. Very nice. Also Rothenberg is about 1 hr. by train and was highly recommended by colleagues living in Germany. ( As well as Regensberg) Unfortunately we didn't allow enough time. Also recommend the train for your travel. (Eurorail pass covers all but Prague I believe) Can get a great ride from Cologne to Frankfurt along the Rhine. Very scenic 2-3 hour ride. Prague is wonderful and I think boys would enjoy. Also Salzburg.

Ditto DAX, and in addition: ride the Rhine steamer (http://www.k-d.com/englisch/index.html) at least through the Rhine gorge (between Koblenz and Mainz) and continue your train journey from there. The number of castles, wineries, and old towns along the river is astounding. Perhaps ride the train upstream and visit some of them, then catch the steamer for the rest of the trip.

As others have said, DAX is pretty much right on.

I'd amend his southern trip

....Rothenburg, Bamberg (my fav German town), Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Vienna....

We weren't that impressed with Salzburg (after seeing Prague and Cesky Krumlov). It hurts me to cut out Munich but if I had to choose between Munich and Prague, Prague wins by a mile! Cesky Krumlov is a gem.

I agree with Wayfarer that Prague, compared to Munich, is much more beautiful and has a lot more to offer. It's one of the reasons why I would choose the northern route rather than the southern route. If travelgirl is looking for attractive colorful small towns to balance the major cities, she may consider going through Detmold, Wernigerode & Quedlinburg in the Harz mountain (instead of Bremen,Hamburg) on their way to Berlin, Dresden & Prague. These northern german villages are attractive but more natural/real than Rothenburg & Dinkelsbuhl which today are more like themeparks filled with rows of souvenir stores. That said I do enjoy Rothenburg as much as the next tourist since the whole town is geared for tourism.

We've taken our kids to Bamberg twice and enjoyed Bamberg as a minor destination but I'm not sure I would consider Bamberg as a major reason to reroute the southern route to the north. Wayfarer's combination of southern/northern route gives up both Berlin & Munich/Salzburg for the sake of seeing Bamberg.

Having teenagers (13 & 15 year old)myself, I know they would enjoy Berlin over Bamberg anytime anyday. Berlin is my kids' favorite city and we'll be going there again next April per my kids' request (for my ninth visit).

I'm curious to know which route travelgirl chooses, maybe we can all help her with more details.

I concur with DAX about teenagers' interests, although my knowledge of the rest of Germany is limited. My teenaged daughter is also very eager to get back to Berlin (which we will this summer).

For what it's worth, the space center in Bremen maybe another reason to take your sons to Bremen. Check out the slides at:
http://www.shramqo.com/Projects/Them.../PR_Bremen.htm
Bremen has a very attractive oldtown and many ornate colorful buildings and a great Ratskeller (below the Cityhall) serving great food and 300 kinds of German wines. There is also a quaint area called the Schnoor which has winding alleys filled with tourist shops & restaurants. Bremen is also known for its Roland statue and fairytale town musicians statue.

For young teens, Hamburg has a great harbor tour, Miniature Welt, and horror museum for your teenagers. My kids used to enjoy the Hamburger Dom which is a very large food & ride themepark that's open most of the year (4 seasons). There are two art museums but there are better ones in Berlin & Dresden. Hamburg is a comfortable rich city surrounded by waterfront areas. An impressive modern & large waterfront city called "Hafencity" is being built on areas where the old harbor docks used to be.