Mid-April to Germany with 11-year-old; which area?
 

Hi, I'm planning ahead for my son's (mid) April vacation in 2024. He said he wants to visit Germany, and we will have 1 week. He is 11 and is a great traveler; enjoys exploring new places, loves history. We recently came back from 1 week in Copenhagen.

I've been to several parts of Germany in the past 20 years: including 1 week in Rhine/Mosel, few days in Bavaria (Munich/Romantic Road & onward to Salzburg), 1 week in Franconia (nuremberg.Wurzburg, bamberg), twice to Berlin including side trip to Dresden.

I'm leaning towards taking my son to the Rhine/Mosel area via Frankfurt. It will still be "low" season but it does look like the KD ferries will be running. That time I went to Rhine/Mosel we covered a lot of ground, as far north as Bonn and as far south as Heidelberg. Along the cruise we only looked at the castles from the boat but never got to visit any of them. I'm thinking this time we can spend more time in the towns along the river (possibly 2 bases), maybe rent bikes as well. I also LOVE white asparagus and have been dreaming for years to return to Germany during the spring for this delicacy.

Another place I want to quickly stop at, is Darmstadt, which is where my late father had lived for a few years while studying at University of Darmstadt in the 50s. I've never been, and would love to go visit and take my son there.

What do you think? Or do you think another area of Germany might be more appealing to a 11-year-old boy?

I think it's an excellent idea. You might even make it as far north as Cologne for the chocolate museum. Although we are no strangers to the Rhine, my daughter had not been as far as Cologne before and we stopped off there last January as a break between Frankfurt and Brussels. Highly recommend it. We also went to one of the perfume museums (there are two) - the Farina Haus. That would be another interesting thing to do.

Mainz is a reasonably good base if you want to go to Darmstadt, Frankfurt would be even better, but of course if you have been to Frankfurt before you will be able to judge if you want to return there. The Palmengarten is nice in spring. April is a pretty good time to see that part of the world :).

Lavandula

Sounds like a very good plan, but you can (almost) pick any region in Germany.

I just want to remind you what my home region around Dresden has to offer (not Darmstadt where your late father studied, though), especially for an 11-year old: historic paddle steamers on the river, castles from medieval to 19th century, narrow-gauge steam railways, bizarre sandstone formations in the National Park Saxon Switzerland, tours of historic mines in the Ore mountains (UNESCO world heritage) in combination with fascinating minerals in exhibits/museums, picturesque old towns (Meißen, Pirna, Bautzen, Görlitz, Freiberg ...), quirky shops and street art in Dresden's New Town ...

Hi Ingo! You certainly are quite an ambassador for Dresden! A friend of my was recently there and it reminded me of my trip there over a decade ago and how you had helped me buy tickets for Semperoper! I'll definitely keep Dresden in mind.

saxony or the mosel would be my favorite, but i'm not 11

Southern Bavaria would be my recommendation - maybe use Garmish as a base, but it depends on what is/is not open.

There are a lot of great activities in that area - go-kart driving, summer toboggan runs, etc. that would be great 11yr old experiences. But I don't know when they open for the season...... maybe our resident G-P expert swandav2000 would know..