Germany
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to Germany, hopefully this fall.
I have been to Europe but everything was planned for me so I am a bit lost. We would like to go to Oktoberfest, rent a motorcycle and travel through the Black Forest for a few days, and if possible I would like to visit the Ann Frank house. I am just not sure of distances, also what airport is the best to fly into? Any ideas would be great thank you.

The Anne Frank House is in Amsterdam (Netherlands), not in Germany. It's certainly possible to travel there (overnight) from Germany, but just want you to have clear picture of what it would entail.

Frankfurt or Munich are the main hub airports in Germany. If you are planning to ride a motorcycle through the Black Forest, you may consider landing in the Basel/Freiburg airport.

As ms teacher mentioned, you have to take the train to Amsterdam to visit Anne Frank's house. There is also an Anne Frank museum in Berlin where they display a miniature model of Anne Frank's house displaying the hiding place. It's in Hackescher Markt. You can land in Berlin and ride the motorcycle through the Brandenburg countryside to reach Dresden or to the Harz mountain area.

ViaMichelin will give you distances if you know the name of the starting and ending point. Oktoberfest is usually associated with Munich. The Black Forest is on the western side of southern Germany. If you really want to cover that area and Amsterdam, it might be best to get a map of Germany and figure out, with the help of viaMichelin, the mileage it entails.

Cue JanisJ with her scolding remarks about a vague thread title... 5,4,3,2,1,0

I think your first step is to look here on Fodors under "Destinations" to familiarize yourself with Germany, or go to your local bookstore/library to look at a Germany guidebook.

Like DAX says, Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC) are the airports in Germany with most international flights. Oktoberfest is usually in the Bavarian section (ie Munich). I've never been to Oktoberfest but you may find lodging options limited and expensive as many people plan this way ahead of time.

Anne Frank House, as others have mentioned, is in Amsterdam. Get yourself a guidebook or map to have a better understanding of where things are.

As an alternative to the crowded and touristy Oktoberfest in expensive Munich, you might consider the Cannstatter Wasen in Stuttgart, which is almost as big an the one in Munich but gets much less tourists, the majority of the visitors will be locals. Dates 2008 are Sept 26 to Oct 12.

Fly into Frankfurt, take a train to Stuttgart and stay for a couple of days. Stuttgart is close to the Black Forest, so you could easily start your motorbike tour from there. Go to Amsterdam by train along the Rhine valley, perhaps a stopover in the Middle Rhine Valley and/or Cologne, and fly out of Amsterdam.

If you really want to go to Oktoberfest you should reserve a hotel room <b>now</b>.

I would also check if the Cannstatter Wasen in Stuttgart were an alternative option for Oktoberfest - for exact the reasons quokka said.

hi, baimak,

just in case no-one else said this and I've missed it - the Oktoberfest is [mainly] in September. 20th sept to 5th Oct.

if you are in the southern germany black forest/rheinpfalz area, you might like to go to the &quot;wurstmarkt&quot; in Bad durkheim - aka the world's largest wine fair, with the world's largest wine glasses - 1/4 liters. it's on all september this year. i still remember seeing the beer barrel so large, there was band performing in it. or two bands - I might have been seeing double by that stage.

the next day you can take the cure -it's a spa as well.

the weinstrasse of the pfalz is a beautiful area and would be great explored on a motorcycle. the trouble with the Schwarzwald is that lots of it is forested - so the views are a bit limited by all those trees. you could fly into muncih, out of stuttgart.

regards, ann

Take the Cowboy's advice about booking hotels Oktoberfest..rooms book out MONTHS in advance and yes, prices will be higher.

Thanks for the great Ideas yes I know Ann Frank house is in Amsterdam, I was in a hurry I work at home and the phone was going crazy. We plan to book our hotels now, the motorcycle idea was my hubbys, I would rather rent a car lol, Sorry for the vague thread title. Thanks again

Hi B,

&gt;the motorcycle idea was my hubbys, I would rather rent a car

You are very wise.

((I))

I second (or third) the recommendation for Cannstatter Wasen. It's a wonderful experience and I think it is much less touristy than Oktoberfest.

If you go to Bad Durkheim, go early in the day. It gets VERY crowded by early evening, even during the week. Be prepared for lots of happy drunks. This used to be a very regional festival, but, I think it has become very touristy. The town is much more enjoyable in other months.

hi, wanderfrau

sorry to hear the Bad durkheim festival has got touristy. we went with our german friends about 25 years ago, so i guess thngs may have changed a tad. as have we.

:S-

regards, ann

annhig
I bet when you were there it was wonderful!
I was first there in 2000 and it was busy, but still fun. I went again in 2005 and it lost most of its charm. What would we do without change!

Make sure your hubby understands that if you'll be biking at the time of Oktoberfest, it's usually COLD and RAINY. Earlier in the month and on backroads, okay. By late September, in the Alps or on the autobahns, maybe not so much.

I'd recommend flying into Munich, where you don't need a car OR a motorcycle. Oktoberfest, which is a blast, should only take a day. You can only drink, dance, eat and ride the rides so much... I can highly recommend the downtown parade on Sunday, which includes the beer wagons and also traditionally-clad bands and groups from Bavarian towns as well as other countries. Just in case you haven't picked it up elsewhere, you should know that it's very difficult to find seating in the beer tents (yes, even for only 2), so you might want to consider either arriving very early (as in the morning) or reserving a seat, which you can do from the website http://www.muenchen.de/Tourismus/Okt...548/index.html. Try for some of the smaller local brewery tents to have the most fun with the fewest Americans. Best idea I can give you? Watch the Sunday parade, then go directly to the fest grounds/beer tents and you may beat the crush. We actually stopped enroute to the tents to visit with the beer wagon horses/drivers on the fest grounds and still did okay, although we had local friends who got one of the tent waitresses to run interference for us. Drinking beer early on a Sunday? What the heck, by the time you dance on the tables (don't say you won't because you will), eat some wurst and radishes and roast chicken, and get to know all your tablemates, you'll have lost track of time anyway. Riding the roller coasters and other rides after that can be problematic! Make sure you take the train to/from the fest grounds and that you're staying close to a stop.

After you recover from that day, rent a car and travel to/through the Black Forest. Depending on what you're driving, and what else you want to do, a nice trip might be west towards the very picturesque Landsberg am Lech, then south to Konstanz and the gorgeous Bodensee and then west of there, arrive in some of the most beautiful areas of the Black Forest--Todtmoos, Titisee, Neustadt, Freiburg, Triberg. We loved the falls at the latter.

If you must include Amsterdam on this trip, you could take a short flight from nearby Strasbourg (about an hour's flt and several a day), or driving is certainly doable if you have the time--about 6 hrs from Freiburg thru France. You could take a different route back and see even more, but you're a gutsier person than I if you want to try this on a motorcycle, any time of the year. :-)

I always loved Bad Durkheim, too, annhig and wanderfrau, but I can see that it would quickly go out of control... way too much wine and fun.

These mentions of Bad Durkheim remind me...

The first wine I EVER drank was in Bad Durkheim. I had no idea that wine contains more alcohol than beer, and I drank several half-liter glassesful, as if they had been half-liter glasses of beer...or I think I did, anyway.

Most of that evening in 1965 has fortunately been lost in the mists of time, but I do recall feeling poorly for about three days afterward.

Weather is - as everywhere - unpredictable, but usually early October is still warm. Especially the lower Black Forest, Rhine Valley, and Alsace do not have an Alpine climate. Some higher elevations in the Black Forest can be chilly in the early or late hours, though.
But, since most people here seem to prefer to travel by car: When you wear proper protective gear, 75F and sun is not exactly what you call great weather when you ride a motorcycle. Most people think that staying warm is a problem when riding bike, but since the gear does that easily, I much rather have temps below 70F than above -- unless it is raining ;-)

By the way: One of the popular short bike trips is up Schauinsland mountain near Freiburg in the Black Forest. That is a former race track (actually it's just a simple 2-lane uphill highway) which is prohibited for motorcycles on weekends and holidays since there were too many accidents with too many bikers on that road. Try to avoid on fridays when more ambitious riders turn that road into a racetrack.

Otherwise, the Black Forest and Alsace are one of the best areas for bikers, with many biker-friendly hotels and restaurants along the roads.

Hi peg,

yep that Bad durkheim brew does pack a punch, though I think you must have been drinking 1/4 litres not 1/2 - that would have been a pint or so at a time!!!

of the 4 of us who went, the one who suffered most was the german boyfriend of my penfriend - she was driving so drank very little, and we were trying not to get too legless as we were guests, but he thought that as a local he could judge how much he could tolerate. How wrong he was.

there might have been something else in what we drank that night - me and my penfriend both married the men we were with and are still married to them, 30 years later.

regards, ann