Help with Southern Germany
 

Could any body help me. I"m going to start in Berlin. I have 2 weeks. My ideal route is to head south from Berlin in Austria then Swizerland. I don't know much about Germany. Any body have recomendations of stuff to see?

Get a good guidebook.
Read it.
Come back with more specific questions.

Until now it what you write is really vague and nobody but you can make the decisions.

You have several possibilities. If you are going to head south from Berlin, you will not see a lot of Germany. You will quickly come to the Czech Republic, through Prague to Austria. If you want to see more of Germany, you can head West or South West from Berlin, which take through interesting towns and countryside and then turn South through Bavaria to Austria and Switzerland. You will see lots of mountains in both those countries so perhaps you could spend more time in cities in Germany - Nuremberg, Regensburg and Munich?

ditto

Ditto Ditto

>> "I don't know much about Germany."
Walk towards the light derick, Germany is just over by the light.

I was just asking for recomendations of places that people found particular interesting. Anything other people might of seen in Germany that they found interesting, or fun for what ever reason. Sorry I was going for a open ended question. Sorry I guess I shouldn't post open ended question on fodors.

Thank you Bavarian forst, that was very helpful

Get a michelin green guide for each country and go to the highest rated sights. Dresden, Rothenberg, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Heidelberg are my favorites.

Munich city proper and surrounds ( lake Constance area ) are very entertaining for just about anyone, as are King Ludwig's nearby castles ( Neuschwanstein )a short skip into Switzerland, the impressive cog train thru the Eiger with Kline Scheidig hotel, the jungfrau glacier-top restaurant and ice caverns are also worth a day's trip.

I would also echo Bavarian-Forest's post for the route down towards Munich.. skirting the Black Forest,with stops at these cities...Bad Mergentheim , Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Ulm ...

I still love the "go buy a guide book" response!

You have the "information superhighway" at your fingertips, and people are telling you to go buy a book!?

Coming from Berlin, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Salzburg and the Salzkammergut region, Munich. I'm also stopping at Berchtesgaden, Mittenwald, and Fussen to check out the castles on the way to Zurich.

Save your money, start getting busy with a search engine of your choice.

I personally love Heidelberg and the Lake Constance area. Camped in Interlaken in Switzerland and it was absolutely beautiful. Neuschwanstein is rather touristy, but in my opinion still a "must see" and the surrounding area is gorgeous. That whole part of the world is just beautiful.
Altamiro, I thought your response was a little harsh.
Welcome to the boards Derickfarmer..

I suggest places like Regensburg and Bamberg. I agree that the Lake Constance area is worth seeing. The Germans call it "the Bodensee." Meersburg is an especially pretty town on the Bodensee, as is Lindau.

I'd leave Switzerland for another time. When I travel, I usually visit one country per trip.

You might check out guidebooks at the library. I started independent travel when I found Rick Steves "Europe Through the Back Door." It's kind of a how-to book for inexperienced travelers. It has a section on some of the most popular tourist areas in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Derick, the problem is that Germany is a large and diverse country. What are your interests? Do you think you'd rather spend your time in big cities or smaller countryside towns? Do you enjoy museums or more into scenery? Will you be driving or relying on the train?

Without knowing more specifics, you could head down through Wurzburg, Bamberg, Nurnberg and Regensberg to the lakes area around Salzburg (Wolfgangsee, Hallstatt, etc) to Hall in Tirol near Innsbruck. From there you could travel over to the lovely town of Meersburg on Lake Constance before entering Switzerland.

There are so many lovely parts of Germany, it's difficult to limit it to just a few places.

Derrick, I've found it helpful to look at a National Geographic or Insight Guide in the bookstore. They have good descriptions of sites and great pictures. That may help you hone in on areas or sites that you may want to see and help you sketch out a premlinary itinerary.

Derickfarmer took affront. Perhaps, if he's a farmer, he could relate to my question, "what should I grow?". Note, Derick, I didn't tell you where I live, how I live, what I like or don't like, whether I have any interests at all. What would YOU reply?

I was just trying to make a funny.

Thank you to certain people for your help. I appreciate it. To those other people such as tombody, I'm sorry I ruined your day. Leave your sarcastic self at home next time.

What kinds of things do you like to do? As mentioned above, there are some wonderful places to visit in Germany and it's hard to make suggestions until we know your interests.

I too like the suggestion of Regensburg. We also liked Passau as well. My favorite area is the Berchtesgaden area and the Salzkammergut in Austria. If you are driving through Czech, a stopover in Cesky Krumlov would be fantastic. From here its only a 2-3 hour drive to Berchtesgaden via Salzburg.

Hall in Tirol is also a favorite of mine and on the way to Switzerland. We stayed in Appenzell, a lovely little town near the border from Liechtenstein. Not as striking as the BO, I'm sure, but it was more convenient for us as we were flying out of Nuremburg a few days later (another great place to stay, btw). We loved Appenzell!

Good luck!
Tracy

Berlin: 3- 4 days

Remember you only have 8 days to see other places.