Hi! I had originally planned a trip to Prague/Germany/Salzburg for June 2020 and received so much help from these forums! Three years later, we are planning to do it again. Our original itinerary was:

June 3 Arrive Prague
June 4, 5 Prague
June 6 Depart Prague, arrive Nurnburg
June 7 Nurnberg
June 8 Depart Nurnburg, Arrive Salzburg
June 9, 10 Salzburg
June 11 Depart Salzburg, Arrive Munich
June 12, 13 Munich
June 14 Depart Munich

General ideas:
Prague - sights, Naked Guide walking tour
Nurnburg - Castle, Rally Grounds, Art Bunker/Beer Tour
Salzburg - Sound of Music bike tour/ Eagle's Nest/Salt Mines
Munich - Hofbrauhaus/BMW tour/Zugspite

This time, my kids are older (18 and 20) and because of that we have more time constraints. Now, we only have about 11 days. I am thinking we need to cut Prague out because of travel time. I am thinking of flying in/out of one of these cities: Frankfort, Munich, Zurich, Stuggart.

Additionally, my younger son will be starting college after this trip and he has an interest in business and a minor in German, so I want to allow him to experience as much culture, language, etc. as possible.

We don't have to stick to this itinerary exactly, but I am trying to use it as a guide. I am starting to look into the areas around Zurich, Stuggart and Frankfort to see if those would be good airports to use. We are planning to use trains.

Any suggestions on ideas how to condense this, if one airport is better than another would be great! I am open to all ideas even if it means throwing this out and starting fresh.

Thank you!!
Suzanne

could you cut out Munich? Might even be more Berlin focused so Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin. Using trains that can be a nippy trip

I haven't looked into those areas, but I can. The flights in and out of Berlin were a little more expensive than the ones I mentioned, but if it is worth it, we would do it.

Well it gets him to see some of the backyards of Czech and bits of old East Germany that have a bit left behind as well as some real gems including the powerhouse of Berlin.

Not to everyone's tastes but Berlin has some great museums and very much forward focused. Prague is a bit more tourist smalchy but from a business point if view they do tourism well while Leipzig and Dresden have been polished towards an inch of their lives and still exude historical glory.

Many people go to Munich and Salzburg. I've been and felt cut off in international tourist town.

But others will disagree.

Fares are usually cheapest flying in and out of Frankfurt (air hub), with Munich a close second. But I like the pairing Bilbo has suggested for an older family. Berlin is best appreciated when you know something of its history, and it takes some maturity to understand it. It is a very easy thing to do the train from Prague north to Dresden and then either take in Leipzig or straight to Berlin, it's almost a straight line. If you could get an open jaw ticket into Prague and out of Berlin that would be perfect. I have done the trip Prague - Dresden by train (and Berlin and Leipzig at other times), and the trip between Prague and Dresden is very picturesque, totally worth it. However, if you have to fly into and out of Frankfurt - and I know airfares are very pricey for some departure points right now - I would rethink the trip to suit that better.

Lavandula

Thank you for these suggestions. I am going to look more closely at those ideas and discuss with family. Originally, everyone was intrigued by the WWII history, including Nurnberg and Eagles Nest areas - both of which would keep up closer the Munich region of Germany. I have bounced around the idea of Berlin too. We like being active and in the outdoors, want to show them as much history without being boring and want to expose them to authentic and historic culture, food (and historic beer halls - no judgment please, both of my sons will both be over 18 and really want to drink beer in an authentic beer hall in Germany!) I am running into the problem most people have - too many ideas and travel desires and not enough time!!