March trip to Germany...Suggestions?!?!
 

My wife and I just booked plane tickets to Hamburg for late March.

We will be arriving in Hamburg on the afternoon of Friday March 23rd. We will then be picking up our rental car and driving to Stade.

I have relatives in Stade so we will be staying with them until Monday.

Monday morning the plan is to drive to Munich and stay there until Friday March 31st.

That Friday morning we will be driving back to Hamburg and staying there until we fly back to Chicago on Monday morning.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to places to stop along the drive from Stade to Munich? We are open to spending a night somewhere along the way.

Anything having to do with wine, beer, castles, and such would be up our alley.

Don't feel you need to limit it to one place either, a few pit stops along the way would be great!

How about any places we must see that are in the vicinity of Stade while we are there?

We can't wait to go to the Hamburg Dom Spring Fest as well!

Thanks in advance.

deessel,

Endless possibilities. A couple of suggestions would be Gottingen and Bamberg (or both). Rothenburg would be a smaller, more touristy place - but worth it. (I would choose Bamberg for the beer). Good luck.

Regensburg is worth the trip--it's Germany's largest medieval town, and since it wasn't damaged during the war it's in great shape.

be sure to stop in at the gourmet store off the main tourist square---Dahlmyer's-- you will love the wine assortment and other foodie type goodies! City tour with stop at art museum was our best time spent--catch tour near main train station and department store-Hertie's--we love Hotel Torbrau in Munich if you need a suggestion and some of the most enchanting hotels are located in Rothenburg on the Tauber

kygogirl:

The city tour and the gourmet store...are you referring to Munich or Hamburg?

Any hotel suggestions for Munich, Hamburg and Rothenburg are appreciated as well!

thanks again...

yes---all comments relate to Munich except the Romantic Hotel Markusturm in Rotenburg which is our #1 selection

Ditto to Regensburg - it was a magical city.

Bamberg gets my vote. It's not nearly as touristy as Rothenberg or Regensburg and has much better beer! It's a beautiful little town that suffered no physical damage from the war. They have their own website. Take a look!

Goslar is too far north to get the same exposure as cities in Bavaria but it has a very nice downtown with half-timber houses and a middle ages feel. It is one of the most walkable cities that I visited in Germany.

I was stationed in the north and we often used Goslar as a stopping place along the way when traveling south.

Regards, Gary

Another vote for Bamberg - charming Altstadt and amazing rauchbier (smoked beer).

Another vote for Bamberg. Many wonderful beers, including the aforementioned smoke beer. And the Altstadt is very nice--lots of history in the town as well.

Another option might be a stop-over in Wuerzburg.
A bit larger than Bamberg, it is surrounded by pretty nice wine-country. It features the Feste Marienberg (a castle) and the Residenz (a palace) which displays a remarkable exhibition of works by world famous painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The Residenz is a Unesco World Heritage site, I believe.

Wuerzburg would also be conveniently located just off the A 7 Autobahn leading you South from Hamburg.

That said, nowadays the shortest route from Hamburg to Munich is no longer via A 7, A 3 to Nuremberg (another possible stop-over) and A 9 to Munich. The newly built Autobahn between Magdeburg and Leipzig does not have too much traffic yet and will let you cut over to the East a bit sooner (getting off the A 7 at Hannover, continuing on the A 2 towards Berlin and getting off at Magdeburg). This would allow for a stop-over in Leipzig - or with a short detour in Dresden, which is a gem.

Talking about detours: Personally I also like the route from Hamburg via the A 24 towards Berlin, getting on the A 10 close to Potsdam and continuing South on the A 9. You might consider this route on your way back from Munich. Potsdam makes for a gorgeous stop-over with its huge park around the Sanssoucis Palace and is within an easy day's drive from Munich and only about 2.5 hours from Hamburg.
This route is not that significantly longer than the others and the A 24 is usually not that crowded so you can get some more than decent mileage per hour if you speed up a bit (beware though, there is a pretty long segment near Potsdam on A 24 where the speed limit is at 130 km/h which is strictly enforced).

I might be able to come up with some Hotel recommendations for Hamburg, Munich and Potdamd if you would let me know about a budget or level of comfort.

Thanks for all the info so far.

To start with I think that I am going to concentrate on which hotel to stay at in Hamburg.

As I said previously we will be there for 3 nights. Once we get back to Hamburg I more than likely will be turning the rental car back in.

So those 3 days will be spent using public transport/walking.

A hotel centrally located would be nice. As far as price/comfort... My wife and I aren't too concerned w/ having 4 star accommodations. To that point we're probably looking to spend less than $100 a night. Somewhere in the $75 range would be good.

Recommendations?

There is an Ibis Hotel at Hamburg Airport that has rooms available in the time range concerned for € 53.00 - which would even be below your budget.
Advantage: Close to the airport for your flight out. Disadvantage: Public Transport into the city only by bus to U stop Ohlsdorf, from there (advantage: choice between S- and U- Bahn trains) about 20 min. by train to Central Station or approx. 20 min to the area around Gaensemarkt in the other half of city center).

Alternatively, the Mercure Meridian Hotel in the Barmbek district is fairly central, not a bad neighbourhood in general, and has rooms for € 66.00. Cannot say much about this as I don't know the property.

Overall, US$ 75.00 is really cutting it close IMHO, although hotel prices in Hamburg aren't in general exactly high (quite the opposite).

Even the budget Ibis Hotels will be charging more to the most extent.

The info I retrieved came through

http://www.hrs.de

which you might consider checking yourself.

Remember, autobahns in Germany are very fast but usually very boring as far as scenery. Plan to get off to see some of these towns. There will be snow, as well - factor that into drive times. Nuremburg is nice and it may be a good stopping point - 3 hours north of Munich.

>Friday March 23rd
>There will be snow, as well
No snow, don't worry unless you plan on driving into Austria.

HSV:
Thanks for the info. I think we will be staying at the Ibis Airport hotel the day before we fly out.

The other two nights we are thinking about staying either at the Hotel Oper or the Central Hotel.

Are you familiar with either of these two places?

Is the Dom fairgrouds nearby to either?

I only know the location of the Hotel Oper. It is close to the Opera (duh ;-) ), right in the city center, near the nice shopping area around Gaensemarkt.
It is an ugly late sixties/ early seventies building that also houses a public garage and is located opposite the SIDE Hotel Hamburg, a modern design icon that is outrageously priced, but has a decent bar cum restaurant if you like Asian fusion in a minimalist environment. I cannot say much about the Hotel Oper. Its location is pretty good. As I live in the city, I cannot comment on the qualitiy of rooms and I am not aware whether they have undergone renovation at one point or not.
The Dom is just about 2 to three bus-stops away from the Oper. You might even be able to walk there (about 20 min., though, I would guess).

I am not familiar with Hotel Central. I just looked up its address and it appears to be right opposite the Altona train station. This would put you into a position for easy access to the River Elbe at Neumuehlen/Oevelgoenne (about a 20 min. walk away, there must be a bus line, too) from where you could proceed walking on Strandweg if the weather is nice.
The Altona neighbourhood around the station isn't that special to me (others might think different), but you could in fact walk over to my absolute favourite restaurant: Stocker on Max-Brauer-Allee serving delicious Austrian fare in a dressy-casual setting and most charming service.
The Dom would be fairly easily accessible, too: Two stops by S-Bahn to Schlump, change of trains there and one stop by U3 to Feldstr. stop.

I take it that the Hotel Oper is slightly more expensive. I like its location better than the Central. Perhaps you could also look into two more hotels in that category:

The Baseler Hof on Esplanade is a 2 star with a pretty good reputation and in the same rough area as the Hotel Oper.

There is a new InterCity Hotel across Central Station (Hauptbahnhof). This one might be a bit anonymous, but I hear they have complimentary daypasses for public transport with their rooms. It is brand new and is on the nicer side of Hauptbahnhof (not to be confused with the InterCity Hotel Altona at the Altona station), close to shopping around Moenckebergstr and only a stone's throw from the Binnen Alster Lake.

I appreciate the info. I will take a close look at the InterCity Hotel Hauptbahnhof. It would be nice to be centrally located like that as well as be close to the main train station!

Now on to finding a hotel in Munich!

Not much to add. Just consider that driving on a Friday will mean you and many locals will be on the road. Its about 6 1/2 hour drive (490 miles). Rent a car with a GPS system (Suzie).
Enjoy your trip!

Ken

Hey deessel,

I could recommend a daytrip to Lübeck (1 hr north of Hamburg). It's close to the Baltic Sea, very old and very charming.

I have booked the InterCity Hotel Hauptbahnhof for 3 nights...thanks again hsv!

We have also decided to stop in Bamberg for a night on our drive to Munich.

I am just waiting to hear back from Hotel Brudermühle in regards to room availability.

Any other hotel suggestions for onw night in Bamberg?

Here are some accomodations in the under 100 Euro range that you can check out thru Bamberg's website:
http://www.bamberg.info/www_tks/sear...16_146_2_f.htm

Hotel Garni Cafe Graupner
Ibis
Weierich
Zum Dominikaner
ZumSpatz

There are less expensive options as well that you can search for using the website. We tried to get lodgings in one of the brewery-inns our last trip, but it was booked (Fassla).

Trip Update:

We have booked the Fassla brewery/hotel for 1 night.

In addition we just booked 3 nights in Munich at the Tryp Hotel.

Thanks again to everyone for the comments/recommendations.

May I enquire what the rate at the Tryp is ?

Have a great trip - I think your preparation almost guarantees it!

HSV:

The rate we have at the Tryp hotel is $82.00 (US Dollars) a night which includes breakfast.

We were able to find this rate through Orbitz.

Have you stayed at this hotel before?

No. Haven't stayed there. This was merely out of curiosity. I just had heard that there is a Dorint Novotel (City) in Haidhausen which is supposed to be fairly nice and modern and which also supposedly is rather reasonable. It cannot beat the rate you got at the Tryp (which I know nothing about), however.

hsv:

Is there a particular day you suggest my wife and I go to the DOM?

We will be in Hamburg on Friday evening (March 31st), all day Saturday and all day Sunday.

Right now we are leaning towards going on Sunday since the shops and such will be closed.

Coming to think about your trip, i might have one more suggestion for your trip to Stade.

The ordinary route would take you via State Road (Bundesstraße) B 73. This is a rather dull drive - and it's one of Germany's most dangerous stretches of road. It's only one lane in each direction for the most part and there is a load of lorries on their way to Cuxhaven, which is why the drive can be tediously slow.

My alternative suggestion would be as follows:

Coming from Hamburg airport get onto the A 7 Autobahn South.

Make it through the Elb-Tunnel and get off at Waltershof (first exit after the tunnel).

Follow South parallel to the Autobahn on Finkenwerder Str. and Waltershofer Str.

Turn right into Moorburger Elbdeich.

Stay on that road and enjoy travelling through extensive fields of apple and other fruit trees through one of Germany's biggest fruit growing areas by the name of "Altes Land" (Old Land). There are a couple of nicely restored farm houses and overall this is much more scenic than the B 73 (and is not considerably slower).

After the town of Mittelnkirchen,

follow either straight on in the direction of Dollern and continue for the rest on B 73 into Stade,

or

turn right and follow the fruit route (Obstmarschenweg) via Steinkirchen and Hollern-Twielenfleet also into Stade (I'd opt for the second option).

BTW this, of course will only make sense if it is done in daylight.

Friday and Saturday nights on Dom should be more crowded. I don't think Sunday is a bad idea at all.