germany-what to see and do?
 

we are going to italy and germany this summer and i know nothing about germany!! we don't know where we are staying yet (i guess that will depend on what there is to see)!
so here's my ???
1-what are the most important things that we should see in germany?
2-hotel recommendations that are clean and close to the sights--they don't have to be 5 star--but definitely nice!

We will be in germany for 1-1 1/2 weeks-Thanks!

This request is just a bit too broad...it's like a German asking about where to stay in the US or California. Please provide some ideas as to interests or at least check out Fodors own website on Germany to find what might be something you're interested in.

Then I would recommend searching this site for those towns or interests.

I agree with the previous poster. Germany is a huge country with varied scenery. Are you interested in big cities or smaller towns? Mountains or lakes or rivers? Hiking, biking or just driving?

From Italy, it probably makes sense that you would concentrate your time in Southern Germany or Bavaria. Bavaria has some beautiful mountain scenery as well as lakes. Munich is the largest city in Bavaria but you have some lovely small towns as well such as Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl, Garmisch, Fuessen and, of course, the King Ludwig castles.

Yes, I'm sure you can understand how "We're going to the United States for two weeks, where should we go and what should we see?" is way too broad a question and impossible to answer! WHERE in the U.S. are you going? WHO is going, a family with kids, or two seniors who can't walk very far? Hikers or shoppers? etc etc etc. Same types of questions would apply to any country.

OK, I'll take a stab at this, and list some of what I would consider "must sees " if you were taking 1 trip to Germany.
1)Rhine River area between Rudesheim and Boppard. Take a 3 - 4 hour cruise, it's the best way to see it. Possibly stay in one of the castles high over the river, which have been converted to a hotel,
2) Heidelburg - yes there are lots of tourists, but they are there for a reason.
3) If you have a car, 1 day of driving what's called the "Romantic Road", between Wurzburg in the north and the Alps in the south. Stay 1 night in Rothenburg, a well preserved medeival town.
4)King Ludwig's castles in the Alps .
5)a day or 2 somewhere in the Alps, Mittenwald, Berchtesgarden, etc.
6) Munich, with daytrip to Dachau.

I'm sure other things will occur to me later. These are all in the more southern portion of Germany.

Hi 2,

Have you looked up Germany under "Destinations"?

((I))

When I started planning our trip to Germany for this summer, one of the first things I did was go to the library and check out an Eyewitness Travel Guide for Germany. I chose a book from this series because there are tons of pictures, so it is great to browse through and see what looks interesting. I made a list of things that particularly interested me and went from there. Of course there were way too many things on my list to see in our 2 week trip. So I narrowed it down based on additional research - I checked out some more guidebooks, read articles online, read and posted to some forums, etc.

We did a 2 week vacation in Germany this last summer. My advice is to choose one area to explore based on your interests. As we discovered the hard way, Germany is quite a large country and you don't want to spend all your time in the car.

Having said that some of the highlights from our trip were: 1) Seeing the breathtaking scenery from the Eagles Nest and then taking an truly wonderful boat ride on the Konigsee with a stop at the hunting castle, 2) Exploring the English Garden in Munich and having a beer at the Chiemsee Pagoda, 3) Taking the tram up the Zugspitze (although I didn't care for Garmisch as it felt like too much of a deserted ski own in the summer), 4)And of course beers everywhere.

Get a copy of the Fodor guide to Germany and start reading--it's very useful.

Dear 2006italysicily,

You are welcome..we were glad to help.

thank you to bobKY, kangamom,j correa and betty k---now i have a starting point! like i said i know nothing about germany, so i didn't even know where to start! i will use what you have posted and put it on my must see/do list----i have the europe for dummies book but, i think this site will help me more!
i like to explore--hiking is fine--i want to see as much as i can--i like the mountains-the city---i am up for anything! keep the suggestions coming!!

Hi, if you like hiking, exploring, and the city, you may want to make Munich your city base and the explore areas around there, although I would recommend staying near the mountains for scenery and hiking. We also really enjoyed staying one night in Rothenburg.

Hey 2006,
are you traveling by car or train? and would you rather stay mainly in 1 or 2 places, or do you stop in a different place every night?

Hotels in Germany:
Bamberg--Hotel Brudermuehle
Hohenschwangau--Pension Albrecht
Colmberg--Burg Colmberg castle hotel
Beilstein--Hotel Haus Lipmann