One week in Germany - organized tours or independent sightseeing?
 

Hello,

We are a family of five ages 15-50. This will be our first trip to Germany (first time overseas for our three boys). We arrive in Munich the morning of June 23rd, have three nights in Munich, two nights Cologne, two nights Berlin then back to Munich for one night before flying home on July 1st. We have purchased rail passes and made our reservations for the major travel days. We are trying to fit in as much as possible and have already eliminated quite a bit from our original wish list.

The plan:
Day 1: Arrive Munich 0830, check in/drop bags at hotel, explore sites including Marienplatz, Frauenkirche, English Garten, possibly Allianz arena, Museum Island. Augustiner Keller is a must for DH. Maybe we should consider an organized walking tour? We will be jet lagged but feel we need to keep moving & do as much as possible to help adjust to the time change.

Day 2: Plan is to tour Neuschwanstein ( & possibly Hohenschwangau) castle. We had originally
thought to purchase tour tickets in advance and take the train to Fussen then bus to Neuschwantsein on our own. After reading how crowded this tourist attraction can be I'm worried that we may have issues trying to time things out on our own. I'm concerned that due to crowds we could miss the transfer bus in Fussen & not make it up the hill in time for our timeslot. Also my impression is that there is a large amount of time spent 'waiting' for the Neuschwanstein tour. Originally I had hoped to spend our wait time exploring the gorge and Mary's bridge but since the bridge is under renovation and a rockslide has closed the gorge I'm wondering what other options would be available. Would it make things less stressful to book this through a tour company and if so is there one that you would recommend? I would also love to go to Schwangau and take the cable car to the summit at Mount Tegelberg before leaving Fussen for Munich.

Day 3: Day trip to Salzburg by train. Need suggestions for must see in Salzburg. We would like to take the funicular to tour the Festung Hohensalzburg and possibly explore Mirabelle gardens if the weather cooperates. Ideally I would like to take the bus to Koenigsee and the boat to Obersee then walk the trail around the lake to the beer garden but with only one day I'm not sure this is reasonable with only one day and no car. Perhaps a pre-packaged tour? Thoughts?

Day 4: Morning train to Cologne, afternoon explore city, tour Dom including a South tower climb & visit to the treasure chamber. Possibly ride Kolner Seilbahn if things time out properly. Find a place to relax and enjoy a Kolsch or two.

Day 5: Thinking of taking a Middle Rhine cruise - (train to Koblenz then KD tour to Rudesheim, boat or train back to Cologne), also considering Aachen & we have a couple Dortmund fans who would like to see their stadium.

Day 6: train to Berlin & begin exploring some of the numerous sites on our list.

Day 7: Berlin - no organized plan for Berlin just a list of sights to see: Reichstag & dome tour, Brandenberg gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Topography of Terror, Berlin Wall, Pergamon Museum, Tiergarten, KaDeWe store (maybe if weather is bad). Thoughts on a hop-on hop- off bus tour? Was thinking it may be the best way to get an idea of layout and an easy way to get around the city that would hit all the major points of interest. My boys are completely opposed - they don't want to be so obvious Lol!

Day 8: Train to Munich, overnight Hilton Munich airport
Day 9: flight home

Any feed back would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

Listen to your boys.

Your Salzburg Day is going to be bursting at the seams with all the stuff you want to do, ESPECIALLY if you have no car. Just stay in Salzburg -- there's enough to see there.

I recommend the Mozart dinner. Yes, it's touristy but you are a tourist: http://www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at/e...rt-dinner.html (Pay the extra for the good seats)

The train from Salzburg to Köln is 6-8 hours. Ouch.


Your schedule is too hectic and you are trying to do too much stuff.

Oh, I see you are based in Munich for your Salzburg excursion. Then forget my Mozart dinner idea. Too bad.


THIS IS WHY WE NEED AN EDIT FUNCTION

I would skip day two, when are you going to see Munich? The BMW tour is fabulous and seeing https://www.allianz-arena.de/en/arenatour/ this would make your sons happy.

http://www.muenchen.de/int/en/sights...rg-palace.html



http://www.muenchen.de/rathaus/Stadt...lienmarkt.html
Augustiner Keller totally agree with your husband on this.
Garmish is great, wish you had time for the Zugspitze.

What time is your plane leaving Munich? Trains run early and you could at least spend the night in Munich instead of an airport hotel.

Anthony Bourdain just did a show on Cologne. Weather would dictate cruise for me.

Sorry, you have way too much on your plates.

Berlin is severely shortchanged.


Days 4-5:

"Thinking of taking a Middle Rhine cruise - (train to Koblenz then KD tour to Rudesheim, boat or train back to Cologne), also considering Aachen & we have a couple Dortmund fans who would like to see their stadium."

The castles and towns in the Middle Rhine Valley are a UNESCO World Heritage site - it's a very special place. A day trip from Cologne, if all you do is ride the train and the cruise boats all day long (which is what you have planned) is not very worthwhile, IMO. Also, you are backtracking for this day trip, wasting precious time on ground travel, for what would be a very abbreviated visit. IMO on Day 4 you'd be much better off skipping the reserved seats to Cologne and getting an early train from Salzburg (8:15) to St. Goar (15:32)where you drop your bags at a hotel and march off to tour Rheinfels Castle (self-guided tour.) Have a nice meal and enjoy the great river scenery. The next morning check out early and catch a train to Bingen for your cruise to Braubach (9:30 from Bingen; 12:20 in Braubach.) Drop bags at TI office and catch 1 pm Marksburg Castle tour - this is the only never-destroyed medieval castle on the Rhine - unlike N'stein, a faux castle built in the late 19th century, Marksburg is the real thing. Have a meal in Braubach's beautiful old town market square. Then proceed to Cologne for a night....

Or don't. IMO it's a waste to spend 2 nights in lowly Cologne and 2 in Berlin. I'd add night 5 to Berlin. and catch a pm train there right after Braubach.

I would also seriously consider jettisoning Neuschwanstein, a 30-minute tour and a royal pita that takes up a whole day, and use it for Berlin or one of your other time-deprived destinations.




Skip Cologne.

>>> Day 1: Arrive Munich 0830, check in/drop bags at hotel,

You can drop your bags at hotel, but no assurance that you can check-into your room. Be ready to tour the city with what you have been wearing or have a change of clothes ready to pull out of the luggage and get changed in the lobby bathroom.

If you insist on going to Salzburg, it might make sense to travel straight to Salzburg on arrival. The hotel room is more likely to be available to check-into. It also cuts down your travel time to Cologne by starting from Munich instead.

Unless the Dom is a highlight of the trip, the trip of Cologne can be underwhelming proportional to the amount to time you would have to expend to get there.

>>> Day 5: Thinking of taking a Middle Rhine cruise - (train to Koblenz then KD tour to Rudesheim.

You are going up stream, the slow direction.
http://www.kdrhine.com/rhineschedule.htm
Also if you stay on the west-south side of the river, e.g. Bingen-St. Goar, you have more frequent trains than the east-north side, e.g. Rüdesheim.

>>> , boat or train back to Cologne

It is a full day trip if on a boat. Look at the schedule.

>>> Day 7: Berlin - no organized plan for Berlin just a list of sights to see: Reichstag & dome tour

You cannot just visit the Reichstag without an organized plan, if you don't want wait.
http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/vis...el/kupp/245686

I agree that this is far too rushed. Cut out Cologne, and divide your time between Munich and Berlin.

<i>Cut out Cologne, and divide your time between Munich and Berlin.</i>

This makes sense. Also consider flying into MUC and out of TXL to avoid wasting time backtracking.

Yours is a terribly busy itinerary, as others have commented. Given that it seems you have already purchased your rail passes, the matter now is either how to maximize your time in your three destinations (a tall order) or "eat" the cost of the Cologne portion of your trip by dropping it from the itinerary.

As for the itinerary, if you really, really, want to see Neuschwanstein, is renting a car possible? We rented a car for our family of four when we toured Bavaria and Salzburg (6 days, without Munich); on our Neuschwanstein/Hohenschwangau day we arrived from Fussen for one of the first tours; the time to tour both, with a horse carriage ride up, a walk down and lunch took us into the later afternoon. En route back to our guest house in Fussen we stopped for a few runs on a Sommerrodelbahn.

One day in Salzburg is adequate to see what you have listed within the city; I really don't think you could easily add on Königsee without a full mutiny on your hands. Plus, little things like "lunch" take up more time than you think in Central Europe.

Day 7 (Berlin) seems almost impossible. Timed entry is strongly suggested for the Reichstag (and the first visit of the day means a far shorter queue at security); equally as important is to queue early for the Pergammon, and to arrive before the tour buses disgorge at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. And you still have other activities listed...

Good Luck!

This itinerary is travel overkill and the boys will hate you after this trip. And you will spend a considerable portion of your precious time in trains.

Let's start with day one.

You land at 8:30. Until you have grabbed your bags and your are at the S-Bahn station, it is 9:30. Depending on the exact location of your hotel, you will not be at the hotel before 10:30. If everything works well, you can leave yor bags in the hotel (certainly not go on the rooms) and start exploring the city around 11:00.

You may walk through the city centre, Marienplatz, Frauenkirche, listen to the clockwork at the City Hall at 12:00, stroll over Viktualienmarkt and grab a bite to eat there. Probably everyone of your family wants to sit down for a couple of minutes and have a cool drink.

Now, the afternoon program. For Allianz Arena, you would need about 4 hours, because it is out of town, and you need a timed ticket. https://www.allianz-arena.de/en/

So, this would be a beautiful afternoon program for football fans.

Alternatively, you can simply decide what to do according to your mood and weather. Deutsches Museum will be interesting for the boys. When the weather is good it might be fun and relaxing to stroll through Englischer Garten and watch the people there enjoying themselves (it is just a park).

At a certain time, you will check into your rooms and take a shower. Then it will be time for the Augustiner and an early rest to fight the jet lag.

For days 2 and 3 I strongly recommend leaving the hotel, renting a car, driving the scenic roads and staying overnight in the Alps.

The Ludwig castles are quite attractive, the Zugspitze would be spectacular, and Berchtesgaden's Königssee is lovely. And there is so much more to see in the area.

Actually, given your limited amount of time, I would add at least one day for the Allgäu and skip Cologne and the Middle Rhine Valley altogether. (You can cancel your train tickets. Even if you have saver tickets you will lose only 15 Euros per ticket.) The other day you win you might add to Berlin - it deserves more time.

<i>You land at 8:30. Until you have grabbed your bags and your are at the S-Bahn station, it is 9:30</i>

That's fairly optimistic.

>That's fairly optimistic.<

Do you think so? That's not my experience. Luggage processing at Munich airport is normally quick. When I return from the US I expect to be at the s-Bahn within 45 min, which works in most instances.

BTW, I cannot but admire people who have the stamina to tour a city after a night in an airplane. I always get out of the S-Bahn and flop into my bed.

Actually, doing a walking tour with a good, reputable company will show you more in each of your cities you want to visit then just walking around. You will get much more out of your visit to Berlin and Munich by doing so. A bike tour might be even more fun, especially with your sons. Bus tours are rather boring and a waste of money unless you can walk well or it is pouring down rain.

sla019, next time I fly into MUC I willsee how long it takes me to get to the Sixt counter.

I am flying about 10 times per year into München (the last time 3 weeks ago, the next time next week) and 60 minutes is the minimum time until you stand on the S-Bahn platform.

Anyway, my point was that OP should not overplan the trip. Travelling is not just ticking off items on a bucket list but also immersing into the culture and style of living in a foreign country. And this includes some relaxing in a beer garden, in a streetside café, taking a leisurely boat ride on a scenic lake, hiking a bit through the wilderness etc.

Aye.

Fodorites, I am overwhelmed. Thank you all so much for your input! I do realize that there is too much for the time we have. (This is what prompted me to consider organized tours when I'd prefer to do our own planning and see things at our leisure - hoping to fit in a bit more or catch some things we may miss on our own.) Cologne was not on our original itinerary but was added because our oldest wanted to see some of the Middle Rhine region. So we cut a day from Munich & Berlin to attempt to accommodate - based on your comments I'm not sure this was the best idea now! I will look into walking tours of Munich & Berlin. We are from Detroit and drive everywhere so we intentionally chose to travel by train rather than rent a car - totally out of my comfort zone but will add to the experience! I'm not sure we want to sacrifice an entire day for Neuschwanstein - was hoping that could have been a half day but doesn't seem possible with travel time, crowds & the interesting way they choose to handle ticketing. Thanls again for the advice. We definitely have some hard decisions to make!

A fun way to see a lot of Salzburg is to take the Fraulein Maria's Bike Tour. You get to be in a smallish (8-10) group and you ride all over the city from one Sound of Music location to another. The guides are young and fun. There are plenty of stops for photo ops and refreshing. My husband and I did this a few years ago in September and we had a blast. We were the oldest in the group (60 somethings) but we kept up. The tour lasts about 2-3 hours and even if you're not a Sound of Music fan, you get to see all parts of this beautiful city.

Another suggestion is to definitely take the funicular up to the fortress/castle. You can see all of Salzburg from there and there are a few restaurants where you can eat overlooking the city. Hope this helps.

P.S., Melissaklob917 - we're from the Detroit area too! You'll love Germany - it's stunningly beautiful. My husband and I have also done two Christmas market trips there the last two Decembers and we're doing another this coming December. We only travel independently with a car and it suits us very well. Without set schedules (per se), you're free to make little stops along the way from one place to another if you like.

We also saw the castles outside of Fussen and they are run extremely efficiently....your scheduled time is your time and there's no needless waiting. We enjoyed both very much. The valley they're located in is very beautiful.

I believe the OP has already returned from their trip. I'd love to hear what they decided to do and not do, and how it all went.