Germany Itinerary
 

I just booked our open-jaw frequent flier miles plane tickets (before getting blocked out again as we did last year) for a long awaited fall vacation in Germany for my wife and me.

At this point I would just like to block out the trip time wise so we can make our hotel reservations online for the best discounts. I understand hotels should be reserved up to a year in advance in Munich for the Oktoberfest! Also, just learned that the tour up to the Eagle's Nest ends in Sept. or is that just the evening one?

We will arrive late morning on Sept. 24th in Frankfort and leave early afternoon on Oct. 5th from Berlin (11 nights - 12 days). I have reserved a car for these dates - pickup and dropoff at the resp. airports.

We want to see the following:
Frankfort
Rhine cruise (short - to include the Loreley)
Heidelberg
Heilbronn
Stuttgart
Baden-Baden
Black Forest
Fussen
Garmish
Berchtesgaden
Obersalzberg (Eagle's Nest)
Munich (Oktoberfest)
Dachau
Rothenburg
Nuremberg
Dresden
Potsdam
Berlin

I was stationed in Nuremberg & Heibbronn in the Army right out of high school(more years ago then I care to admit) and never took advantage of the beauty and culture that Germany has to offer. (too much time in the gasthauses!) At this point in our lives we are not into biking or hiking. We would enjoy the beautiful landscapes, castles, museums and out-of-the way quaint villages. Also, I am a history buff, ie. Dachau & Eagles' Nest - any other WW II historic sites? Would like to visit Aushwitz, but not sure it would be possible on this trip.

My main concern is how much travel time to allow between cities, (I remember a lot of narrow winding roads)plus how many different hotels to stay in. We want to avoid a hotel a night but then don't want to do a lot of back tracking.

I would appreciate any advise so that we can get the hotels taken care of now and then more leisurely do the planning detail. Also, any suggestions on moderately priced German style hotels - don,t want cooky-cutter, touristy US fare.

Hi N,

>I would appreciate any advise...

My advice is to rethink your itinerary.

I don't think it is physically possible to include all that in only 11 nights.

((I))

Ira,
Thanks for your quick response. I realize it's a lot to see, but we are only making this trip once and want to see as much as possible. We are willing to cut short visits at different sites. Also, there are tours that cover this distance in same amount of time, but we don't like tours.

Hi N,

It's not so much the number of miles driving as it is that you will be just driving past or through places where you should be spending at least a few hours if not an overnight.

I expect that you will spend:

Munich 2 nights
Berlin 3
Frankfurt 1
Baden Baden 1
Rothenburg 1
Fuessen 1
Berchtesgaden 1
Dresden 1
plus one day on the Rhine.

That doesn't leave much time for your 9 other destinations.

((I))

I am of the philosophy that since I will never be able to visit all of the places that I want to in this lifetime, I will try to really see the places I do get to visit. I understand wanting to see as much as you can since this will be a one-time trip. I know that I personally would rather slow down and really enjoy what I can rather than rushing around and having checked a bunch of things off my list but not really taken the time to experience the places.

We did 13 days in Germany last summer and found that choosing a few home bases and exploring from there worked well - with packing, travel, finding our hotels, unpacking, etc. we used up a lot of time when we did move, so I was glad we didn't move around a lot. Day trips worked well - it was nice to be able to just hop on a train or in the car and go without having to take all our stuff with us and all of that.

We were in southern Germany only for this trip and based ourselves in Munich, Nuremberg, and Fussen (actually just over the border in Reutte Austria, but they are very close). While in Munich we toured the city and did a day trip to Freising. From Nuremberg we did day trips to Rothenberg and Ansbach (were my husband was stationed when he was in the Army). From Reutte, we made day trips to the Ludwig castles and that area, Oberamergau, and the Plansee.

We could have added more locations and sped things up a bit, but I thought that this was just the right balance.

For hotel recommendations, in Munich we stayed at the Hotel Laimerhof near the Nymphenberg Palace, which we really enjoyed. It is a bit outside the center of town, but convinient to public transportation. In Nuremberg we stayed at the Romantik Hotel am Josephsplatz, which in the center of the old town. Both satisfy your desire for moderately priced places that aren't cookie-cutter. Those were our requirements too and we really liked both places.

Your itinerary would be great if you had a minimum of four weeks. With only 12 days, I cannot help but wonder if you are planning to get out of your car now and then to actually see places or if it's just for passing them in the car.

Ira's calculation points out the problem. Even one half of the plan would be ambitious for so short a trip.

Crowded roads, even highways, and traffic jams are frequent in this country.

Sightseeing in cities and towns is hardly possible by car, you'll have to get off and walk. Most city centres are closed for individual traffic.

Just my two cents: By trying to see everything, you'll end up seeing nothing and remembering nothing. Think it over.

check
www.bensbauernhof.com
for some ideas on inexpensive places to stay and some interesting trip reports.

nosceteipsum, contact each town and ask them to send a post card. then cut your trip as suggested above. have a great time. sister

Dear Ira, J_Correa & Quokka;

After much "friendly" deliberations with my wife, I have decided you all make a lot of sense. I have always taken on more than I can chew (my favorite song is "My Way"). We went to Hawaii on our 25th anniversary and visited (3) islands in ten days - it was a continual "pack your bags and drag my wife".

Ira, I like your breakdown of nights in the major cities. We will use that as a basic outline - maybe swap Munich for (3)days Berlin for (2) days, and cut times from the other locations.

J_Correa, your idea of bases w/ day trips is very good. Thanks for the hotel suggestions - they sound perfect.

Quokka, thanks for your thoughts and insight. It will way heavily on our final decision.

Thanks again to all of you for your frank and forthright responses.

PS: Just for info - do any of you know your Latin, ie. my screen name? I found it in Roget's Thesaurus - it means "Know Thyself". I think it is a great philosophy to live by.

Hey No..

I don't want to pop your balloon, but you will not be able to rationally visit all of those sights in your allotted time. I would like you to point me to the tour that offers all of those sights in 11 days.

You say you don't like tours - would that have anything to do with the fact that they are a blur with no time for enjoying what you are seeing?

Your plan seems to be to come back able to say that you have been to every place on your list,. That is so understandable
- I think every one of us started out that way. most of us 'wasted" a vacation trying to do it, too.

If you only go once, don't you want to be able to look back on the time and savour the memories. Those memories are made by lingering a little - your own army experience has shown you that.

Every one of your destinations is worthy, and you can do much by concentrating in the areas that allow you to see a number of them at once. Since the historical military sites are important, I suggest you park yourself in Garmisch for a couple of days and do the Nest, etc.

Munich will take another couple of days - you could make it three and get down to Fuessen from there.

Berlin, Potsdam, and Dresden, at least 2 more days, probably three, but you can see them all from Berlin as a base.

That would leave about 3 days,, for either the Rhine, the Black Forest, Stuttgart, Heidelberg.Heilbronn/ or Nuremberg/Rothenburg.

As always I recommend dropping the Rhine - it's just a storied river now blighted by rail tracks (2 each side) barges and little natural beauty.

If you can narrow down which of those you would most like to see, I would recommend assigning three days and working out the itinerary.

Good luck!

Bigtyke,thanks - the website is full of good info and entertainment.

321 sister, sounds like a great idea - we will do that. Thanks.

Aramis, thanks for a well meaning response. We will incorporate your routing advise in with the other posts. I don't like tours because they are too regimented (had enough of that in the Army) and I don't need to be around a lot of Americans when traveling to a foreign city. By the way, Globus offers a 12 day "German Highlights" tour that incorporates most of our sites plus returns to Frankfort!

Hey Nos,

What barracks/Kaserne were you station at in Nuremberg? I was back there in 2004 and the changes were incredible but the Altstadt was still magnificent.

Nuremberg has its share of WW2 sites to visit. J_Correa has some good suggestions for "centralized bases" that you should heed.

MvK

Hi MarkvonKramer,

I was stationed at Herzo Base for (3) months until the Army found out they screwed-up our orders and sent us on to our intended destination at Heilbronn.

Good to hear the Alstadt is still there. Looking forward to seeing it again.

Working on centralizing bases and condensing trip with all the good input. Thanks.

I hope you guys have a fabulous time. For myself, it was really neat to be able to go with my husband and see where he was stationed when he was in the Army. I am really glad that we did it.

The day we went to Ansbach - where he was stationed - we took the train from Nuremberg and had the whole day to wander around. A lot has changed since the post was given back to the Germans, but he was able to find where it was after some wandering around and many of the buildings are still there. Some have been knocked down and some sort of mall built there - my husband was crestfallen when he saw that - we came upon the post from the direction of the new mall so he hadn't yet seen that the other buildings remained. The headquarters and some of the barracks and other things have been turned into a university for applied science, which we thought was very cool.

Hi J_Correa,

Thanks for your good wishes. That is a great story about finding your husband's old post. I'm sure things have changed greatly since I was there, but still it will be a real treat for both of us.

First thing, you will save a lot of time on this trip if you start from FRANKFURT, the largest city in Hessen and one of the busiest airports in Europe, rather than Frankfort, which is in Kentucky, in the US of A.

I think your wish list is great for this and the next two or three trips to Germany. Since you are flying into FrankfUrt, spend a week on the middle Rhine and the Mosel. Then go to Heidelburg and spend the rest of the time in the northern Black Forest. Specifically, see Freudenstadt, maybe Hechingen (Hohenzollernburg), Tübingen, and Stuttgart.

Greetings!

Anyone going thru Herzo Base be sure to post your pictures and tell us all how things have changed...

herzobase.org

Thanks, Tim

Thanks bigtyke for that awesome website!!! I am not the op but is exactly what I was looking for. Can't wait.