I will be traveling to Germany in the middle of September and wanted to know of must-see places. I love architecture and history, and of course...FOOD! Any sugestions where to go and what to see? I will be staying in Munich.

Oktoberfest starts Sep 16 and ends Oct 3 in 2006 - but the world famous parades of the opening weekend are an absolute highlight - especially the opening parade when behemoth horses pull the beer company wagons laden with barrels of beer to their respective tents to start the festivities - let the drinking (and vomiting) begin!

Since you are a first time poster, let me give you a helpful clue. At the top of the page is a Search box. Enter Germany and you will get tons of posts.

After you sort through the posts and have some idea of where you want to go and do, post here again for specifics.

You have to do your research.

Curious

Also, will you have a car or be using trains?

For history, the Berchtesgarten area is both interesting and very scenic. If you have a car I can give you some specifics. Dachau is right outside of Munich and can be done in half a day.

I will be staying in Munich with a friend of a relative and they have a small car that we can run around in.

OK, here are a few areas around Munich you might be interested in. I am not sure of driving times, so they might be a little longer than a daytrip:
1)Berchtesgarten - where Hitler had a home and his "Eagle's Nest". His house was in the "Obersalzburg" region in the mts. above Berchtesgarten - there is a museum there now and you can see the remains of bunkers and tunnels. If you walk down a path from the museum you can see the foundation of his home. There are incredible views from this area.
2)Neuschwanstein - (the "Disney" castle) - near Fussen. (several other casles are in this area as well - do research about King Ludwig. Mittenwald is a very pretty small town in this area with traditional Bavarian architecture.
3)Nuremburg is an easy drive by autobahn and has an interesting old town, including castle and walls (also was the site of some of the big Nazi rallys and the war crimes trials).
4)Some of the towns on the Romantic Road aren't too far away - Nordlingen is a good example of a walled medeival town.

Hi O,

Salzburg is 2 hr by train.

Just to clarify, Berchtesgaden is much more than the Eagle's Nest. Its a small, pleasant town in a beautiful area. Within five minutes of Berchtesgaden you can be in Schonau, which is home to the Konigssee, a crystal clear like in a fjord-like setting. They have battery-operated boats that you can ride to St. Bartholemew. Gorgeous!
Check out http://tinyurl.com/kfq3x for more info.

Salzburg is also a great recommendation!

Tracy

Regensburg is about 1.5 hours by train. It has a beautiful gothic cathedral, some Roman ruins, and a famous view of the town from the Steinerne Bridge on the Danube River. All of this is easily accessible in the pedestrian zone, not far from the train station. The pedestrian zone is extensive with a wealth of plazas, churches, shops, restaurants and cafes.

A note on trains to Regensburg, Salzburg, Nuernberg, etc. in Bavaria. A group of 2-5 people can ride for a day (9am to the following 3am) for 25 euros on a single Bayern-Ticket. It makes side trips from Munich to other Bavarian cities (plus Salzburg) easy and cheap.

Regards, Gary

Would you recomend getting a train pass before leaving (if that is possible) or getting it at one of the train stations in Germany? The Bayern-Ticket sounds like a really good idea!

You do not need a railpass for the Bayern-ticket. There is no reason to buy it in advance.

You can buy the Bayern-ticket from the ticket booth for a 2 euro fee or as a clearly identified choice from the ticket machines (with an English menu). It is good to learn to use the ticket machines because you can also printout vaious departure schedules for free.

Die Bahn has a similar format on line:
http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en

Towards the bottom you will see "Standard Search". Change that to "Local Transportation" to see which trains the Bayern-ticket is valid on. It includes all Regional Express and Regional Bahn trains. The ticket machines have the same choices.

We thought that the Bayern-Ticket was our best bargain on a recent trip to Germany.

Regards, Gary