annetteandricky

My husband and I will be flying into Frankfurt on Wednesday, July 16th, and will stay in Frankfurt until the 22nd for a convention. After that, our itinerary is completely open. We plan to stay in Germany until we fly out on the 28th, but we can fly out of another airport if that makes sense due to where we travel to during those days. I would love to see Berlin, but we are open to any suggestions. We are not sure whether we will be renting a car (we've driven before in Europe,) or we will be using trains. We like to see castles and museums, but what we love most is just drinking in the ambiance of the places we visit. One must-see thing, though, would be to visit at least one concentration camp. Any suggestions would be MONUMENTALLY appreciated. Thank you!

PalenQ

Sachenhausen, in the northern Berlin suburbs is a typical concentration camp - now called memorial of course - you can reach it by S-Bahn train easily from Berlin.

Driving is best if you want to see the countryside but for cities cars are not much use and the public transportation is so awesome!

I'd say do a car if you want to drive around the Black Forest, along the Castle Road - loaded with castles between Heidelberg and Rothenburg or the Romantic Road from Wurzburg to Fuessen (Mad King Ludwig's famous Neuschwanstein fantasy castle - or along the Rhine or Mosel Valleys - the latter one of the most gorgeous river valleys in Europe - stay in a picture-postcard town like Cochem, which has its own fairly-tale castle poppin gout of vineyards in the town center - Burg Eltz one of the most famous castles in Geramny is just a few miles away.

But if just wanting to go to Munich or Berlin or cities then I'd take the train - trains going up to nearly 200 mph - between them and then use public transit once there - for lots of good stuff on German trains I always highlight these IMO superb sources - http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com - www.bahn.de/en is the official site of the German Railways for fares and schedules - trains go everywhere all the time however so exact schedules are not really needed.

Michael

You may want to take a look at my trip report which starts in Frankfurt and ends in Berlin; click on my name to find it. We traveled for a longer time, so you would have to shorten the itinerary.

PalenQ

but what we love most is just drinking in the ambiance of the places we visit>

easily done at any German beer hall or in nice weather beer garden - Berlin is peppered with outdoor beer gardens where bossomly gals - well always seems to - in dirndls unfathomably carry around huge mugs of beer - several in each hand it seems without spilling a drop - and you have traditional beer hall/garden foods - sharp radishes, pretzels, Spatzen, sugary hazel nuts, etc.

Not only drink up the ambience but fill yourself for a good price - many have oompah bands belting out traditional beer hall songs - including this ubiquitous one:

http://www.maxilyrics.com/frank-yank...rics-5206.html

traveldawg

Berlin is nice, but to me it is just another large town with some cold war memories.

We have started our trips to Germany in Frankfurt many times. I would rent a car and drive to ROTHENBURG. The journey is about 2 hours. This is a nice walled city. Stay in a hotel within the walls. Fun town to walk around and take a tour.

I would then head down the Romantic Road to GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN. You will be running into some great scenery as you near the Alps. There is plenty to explore in this area and many castles......NEUSCHWANSTEIN (Disney Castle) and LINDERHOF are both in this area.

The drive from Garmisch to Munich is not too bad. The concentration camp DACHAU is a suburb of Munich. You could do this in an easy drive. You may even want to fly out of Munich (beautiful airport) to save going back to Frankfurt.

Read up on the Garmisch area. Great scenery, beautiful mountains and plenty of atmosphere. Click on my name and you will see other posts I have written with hotel recommendations. With time you could even go over to the BERCHTESGADEN/SALZBURG area. Watch the 1965 movie SOUND OF MUSIC and you will see what the area looks like. Magnificient.
You will not be sorry for spending your time exploring Bavaria.

We are heading to Gerrmnay in about 3 weeks for the Christmas Markets. Have not done them since 2001 and it was time to go back. Will be in Rothenburg, Garmisch and Heidelberg plus a few side trips along the way.

Have a great trip.....get a car....more flexible.

texasbookworm

I spent over 3 weeks with my husband last summer in the Frankfurt area as he worked daily and I took daily train trips and we had 3 weekends to explore the area with a car. Click on my name above and read my trip report if you want to see all the possibilities from Frankfurt.

In Frankfurt try to make it one day for the Frankfurt on Foot walking tour. http://www.frankfurtonfoot.com/

My two favorite areas from Frankfurt are the Rhine Valley and an overnighter to Trier. So many other options!

VolCrew

The trains are pretty easy, and , even though the stations seem like the hubs of German life, I think you have only 6 days and you don't want to spend it in train stations. Driving is easy, except when the tourists and travelers clog the A-bahns every summer.

michelhuebeli

Consider just covering slowly the area from Frankfurt down past Mainz to Cologne. You have wine country, castles and castle-ruins galore in fabulous locations, boats up and down the river Rhine, trains running along the river on both sides - it's a vacation paradise, and you can fly out of Cologne so you don't need to backtrack.

This image lists all the famous little towns on that stretch: www.flickr.com/photos/bfranca33/3691374795/ (then it goes to other areas of Germany)

The boats are at www.kdrhine.com

Boppard is one of the famous little towns there - see www.boppard-tourismus.de

as is Bacharach www.bacharach.de/tourismus/

and Rüdesheim and Bingen - and on and on.

In Cologne there is the fabulous cathedral right across from the train station, and the chocolate museum on an island in the river in the middle of town, and the good beer that people in Cologne are so proud of - the Kölsche...

JoeCal

I think you really only have 5 full days after the convention. With that short a time, I would pick a city and then add a day trip ( or two) to catch the castles, etc. Take a train ride to either Berlin or Munich. Either city deserves 3 or 4 days by themselves and both offer day excursions to castles or palaces and a concentration camp. Both are great cities. However if I had to choose, I'd go to Munich and fly home from there as well. Munich is very close to the Alps as noted before and the Romantic road as well. Remember that Frankfurt is so close to many great options that a half day escape from the convention can tick off a couple of your boxes. Heidelberg is an hour and a half away. The Rhine river and so on. It's all great, you can't go wrong. Have a great trip.

Joe

annetteandricky

Thank you SO much for the replies. After reading them, it sounds to me like exploring Bavaria seems the best fit for us. I will look into your trip reports. THANK YOU again!

PalenQ

Bavaria offers so so much for anyone - not only Munich but places like Fussen and Mad Ludwig Castles, Mittenwald
Innsbruck and Salzburg are easy day trips - Oberammergau, Herrenchiemsee (to me the finest of Ludwig's castles - this one dubbed the Bavarian Versailles, lovingly set on an island in the tranquil Chiesee (boat from Prien which has trains from Munich), Nuremberg, Romantic Road towns, Augsburg, Regensburg, Garmisch-P and the Zugspitze train; Passau you could even easily day trip to a Czech Republic town!

Plus beer and beer halls and beer gardens - beer galore!

train007

So visit Thuringia, this area is removed from Frankfurt only 2.5 hours by car. Here is Middle Ages at home. All long nose a castle or a palace. (Wartburg, Gotha Castle Belvedere in Weimar). So close, humanism and the tragedy of Germany is nowhere. Look at Weimar -Classic City (Goethe and Schiller) and the Buchenwald concentration camp, all in one city. the right thing for a ghost walk.
And the longest border path of the Roman Empire - the Rennsteig) - more than a thousand years of history pure and beautiful scenery - the green heart of Germany.

PalenQ

I loved the Weimar area - Weimar itself, Erfurt and Eisenach (Wartburg Caslte where Martin Luther one holed up and the ink stains from his ink bottle he threw at the Devil are still on the walls of his small chamber - and Naumburg - Leipzig had some interest but was not that great a big city - but all these towns are in a dense area so easy to base in one and jitter bug between the others.

In old East Germany so still not as spic-and-span as Western Germany though Weimar was a showplace of the former DDR - Weimar being one of the first places for Bauhaus architecture which still graces this lovely lovely city.

Paragkash

annetteandricky, all the fodorites who have posted here, have given you valuable suggestions. I will suggest that you look at adding some more days to your trip. You are visiting the most scenic and pretty area in the world and you need more time to see it. I have been thrice to Germany and yet have to see many more pretty places.

Luckily, Germany has designated routes. Most around Munich.

1. Romantic Starsse- Frankfurt to Munich to Fussen. ( I think if you have a limited time, you follow this and I am sure that you will be rewarded) This has pretty old towns, Castles, Palaces, Beer Garden, BMW factory, Dacau Concentration Camp near Munich.

I have been to Auschwitz in Poland and found Dacau more moving.
Don't miss the HerenChiemsee palace near Priene, 1 hour from Munich. This palace by King Ludwig is better than Versailles and Schaunbrunn Palaces.

2. Alpine Strasse- Berchtesgaden to Lindau

3. Burg Strasse- Neushwanstein and Heidelberg are the best.

4. Wine Strasse

5. Rhine valley with its castles.

Dresden is a beautiful city.
Black forest is scenic.

You need minimum 15 days to see some of it.But if you cannot extend your trip, then rent a car in Frankfurt... drive on the Romantic strasse.. via Rothenburg etc. for 2 days. Then to Fussen... Via Prien am Chiemsee for Herrenchiemsee Palace... to Fussen.
See @ Ludwig Castles and Linderhof near Fussen.
Come back to Munich.. You can visit Dacau..
Take a flight back from Munich.

Have Fun...

logandog

I'm not a big Berlin fan.it lacks Old World charm in my opinion.
I would take the train to Munich,one of my favorite cities,drink great beer and eat pork and dumplings.
Salzburg would round out your days in Bavaria. It's a short and scenic trip from Munich by train.