Becky

I am planning a trip for the first two weeks of July from the States to Germany (and surrounding areas). This trip is gift for my parents - they have always wanted to visit the area where my family comes from. <BR> <BR>Some of the sites they are interested in visiting are Frankfurt, Heidelburg, the Black Forest, Munich/castles, Strasbourg, and Vienna. They'd like to fit a boat cruise on the Rhine into the trip. I'm looking for moderate priced accommodations - bed and breakfast or small inns are preferred. My parents are definitely the adventurous types! <BR> <BR>What city should they fly in and out of? In what order should they plan to see these cities and sites? How should I fit the cruise on the Rhine in? (I hear the cruises only run north?) Is there anything that we missed in the area that is a must see? <BR> <BR>Thanks in advance for any advice! <BR>

Russ

Lots of questions. The local tourist offices of the places you'll be will be the best resources for B&B's and less expensive accommodations. Many have websites. You can try a search, or just typing in www.(cityname).de will usually bring up at least some reference to the local tourist office and an e-mail address. <BR> <BR>KD runs several Rhine boats per day both up and downstream. These are for day cruises -- you buy a ticket for a certain destination, either one way or round trip. The best section for this is between Bingen and Koblenz. You can see a bit more in a given period of time going north, since you're moving downstream. Two or three hours is usually enough for me. Tickets are pretty cheap. Here's a website with the schedule: <BR> <BR>http://www.gogermany.about.com/trave...y/aa042999.htm <BR> <BR>This site also has some delicious photographs of what you can see along the way and a bunch of other useful info. <BR> <BR>There are also the multi-day luxury cruises, which I know nothing about. Ask a travel agent about these. <BR> <BR>I'd recommend staying in the Rhine Gorge area between Bingen and Koblenz over Frankfurt -- it's very scenic and likely to be less expensive. This website has lots of info. on the region: <BR>www.loreleyvalley.com <BR> <BR>Some good towns to stay in are Boppard, St. Goar, and Oberwesel; Bacharach is o.k. if you want to rub elbows with other Americans. <BR> <BR>Take a day tour of Frankfurt if it interests you. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps.

wes fowler

Becky, <BR>While it's evident you've done some serious planning, I think I've got more questions for you than you do for us! Will you be accompanying your parents? How do you plan to travel? Train? Auto? Both? Do you and they want to experience city life or intimate small towns and villages? How many days' travel are you planning? Is Vienna an absolute must? (The balance of your itinerary is relatively compact geographically; Vienna is really out in left field! You could lose the better part of a day or two getting there and back unless you're considering an open jawed flight from home to Frankfurt (the ideal arrival point) and a departure from Vienna). <BR>If you're planning on touring by auto, feel free to Email me; I've four interesting, well received Bavarian itineraries, another encompassing the Rhine and Mosel Valleys and yet another that includes Strasbourg/Freiburg and parts of the Black Forest. Be more than happy to share them with you.

Becky

Wes and Russ - <BR> <BR>Thank you for your replies. <BR> <BR>As much as I would like to, I will not be accompanying my parents on the trip. While my parents are extraverts and into exploring lesser known sites, they have never travelled to this area. If they stick to the lesser known destinations, I am concerned that with only two weeks they will miss some of the more widely known and popular sites/attractions. Some of which are popular for good reasons. Any advice here - popular versus less well known - is very much appreciated. Maybe a mixture of the two? <BR> <BR>Vienna is a must. They're really planning their whole trip around it. The other must is the Black Forest area - which is where my family is originally from. I know - makes it a challenge, doesn't it? <BR> <BR>Does this help? Thanks again for any advice. <BR> <BR>Becky

Russ

"Popular" is, unfortunately, an ambiguous adjective. I think we keep an unconscious mental tally of references to places foreign -- If you say "Germany", some automatic references for Americans would be "Frankfurt", "Munich", "Black Forest", "beer", and maybe "Nazi". But should we automatically seek out experiences that tie to such references when we plan our travels? <BR> <BR>I think it's better to look at what people who travel for a living, or who live in the destination country, think of as popular. The Rick Steves tours through Europe hit the Rhineland and the Romantic Road. Most other blitz tours include these places too, along with Munich, a tour of Neuschwanstein Castle, and a stop across the border in Salzburg before heading to Vienna. Steves advises against Heidelberg, and I agree -- there are too many other more interesting places for a short visit. Frankfurt is generally avoided by everyone-- it's a place to fly in and out of. If you asked some Germans what they would think of as "popular" destinations, they would list a number of places you may never have heard of. Bamberg (Bavaria) and Goslar (Lower Saxony) might be on their list, two cities whose entire town centers have been declared World Heritage sites by UNESCO, which selects places of cultural and historical importance for preservation efforts. The Castle Road, the Wine Road, and the Fairy Tale Road are all routes that contain some incredible sights that Germans know and love but which seldom see American traffic. Go figure. <BR> <BR>So perhaps some mix of the different sensibilities of American tour companies and of German travel authorities would be in order. I'd suggest picking up some tour brochures at a local travel agent and then looking at this site to get a sense of what Germans think travel-worthy in their own country: <BR> <BR>www.germany-tourism.de <BR> <BR>I think the Rhine will get a "thumbs-up" from almost everyone, especially if mom and dad want to see castles (the entire region is up for UNESCO designation this year.) <BR> <BR>The Black Forest is more a vacation/resort area than a sightseeing destination. I'm sure they'll want to see their home town, wherever that is; if they make just one other stop there, I'd suggest Titisee outside Freiburg -- terrific scenery, mostly European tourists, and all the cuckoo clocks you'd ever hope to see. <BR> <BR>I think I'll log off now. I feel I've probably been more useless than helpful. <BR>

Charlotte

General suggestions: <BR>For a 2 week trip, I would look at open jaw flights - into Frankfurt, out of Vienna <BR>I think I would pick up a rental car upon arrival and head for - Mosel Valley maybe. Anyway, I wouldn't particularly spend my time in Frankfurt. Return the car in Munich and take a train from there to Vienna.

ann

Becky, you've gotten some really good advice from everyone so far and you need to listen carefully to what they're telling you. You will almost never experience the country without getting away from the tourist centers. Not that the view of Heidelberg isn't beautiful! But maybe that's all you want to do, is stop the car above the city and take in the view... I'd concur with leaving Frankfurt and going straight to the Mosel. Did I miss how your parents will be traveling? If driving, it's an short trip to get there and I'd say not to miss visiting Burg Eltz, which is near the town of Mayen. But just driving along the river road will be a great experience, scenic, and lots of neat little villages where they could stay in a snug B&B or pension. Avoid the town of Cochem for the reasons above... good for postcards and souvenirs but noisy, busy, confusing for Americans on their first trip, I'd think. Trier is fabulous, but again a fairly big city. Triberg is definitely a good choice for the Black Forest, but try to stay out of town a bit... check their website and look at the gasthauses offered on their "tourismus" page. I highly recommend Gasthaus Staude, but other good choices would be Pension Schoch or Gasthof Hirzwald (site has photos of them). Gotta check out the fun in Munich and it's worth staying there a day or two to see everything. Go early for the glockenspiel on the Marienplatz, go upstairs to the cafe directly across from the town hall - early (by 10:00)- get a window seat, have weiss wurst and a weizen bier for breakfast (honest!), and have a view at eye-level when the glockenspiel goes off. Don't miss Nymphenburg or the viktualienmarkt. Try the Englischer Garten instead of the Hofbrauhaus or the Lowenbrau restaurant, but if you can't resist, you'll have a good time at either and locals do actually go to both. Just a few ideas... you might think about saving the Rhine trip for the last couple of days and have them stay at a castle hotel for their last night in Germany if they have to leave from Frankfurt as well as arriving. But travel to Vienna will cost precious time if they don't fly there or fly out of there. Does that make sense? Good luck, and best wishes to your parents for a happy and rewarding trip. Feel free to email me, too, if you have questions.

Becky

Thanks so much for everyone's reply. We are leaning toward an open jaw flight into Frankfurt and out of Vienna. <BR> <BR>Any opinions on Hiedelberg? I've heard mixed things - from tourist trap to a place not to miss. <BR> <BR>Thanks again! Becky

Kay

Heidelberg Castle is beautiful, one of my most treasured memories of Germany....even though I was sick, the weather was poor with rain and fog, but the beauty was outstanding. The castle area looks just like all those old Romantic engravings from the early 1800s when the Romantic poets and philosophers held sway in Germany. The small old part of town at the foot of the hill on which the castle (in ruins) stands is nice, too, but going to Heidelberg for the castle along is must. I'd skip the Rhine for that, too, but one doesn't need to because all you need is a half day for the Heidelberg castle.

Kelly

Becky, <BR> <BR>As for the travel route, since your parents will be starting in Frankfurt, I'd go from the airport directly to the Rhine area (a couple hours west of Frankfurt). Frankfurt is more of a convention city, on the expensive side, and I saw nothing of it except the airport. I agree they should skip that--there's too much else to see. I stayed in Bacharach last year, and took a KD day cruise 45-minutes up the river to St. Goar, explored the town and Rheinfels castle ruins, and took the return cruise back to Bacharach. Honestly, I don't think you need to spend more time than that on the water. I'd recommend train or car travel, perhaps some combination of both (that's what I did). <BR> <BR>From Bacharach, I'd head south to Baden-Baden, which is where the Black Forest area begins. If your parents are the adventurers you say they are, then I recommend one of the bath houses there. This can be done in about 3 hours. Then they could visit Strasbourg from there (I think it's about 2-3 hours away). Since you are definitely including Vienna, it might be better to save Strasbourg for another trip. I wanted to go there on my trip, but we didn't have enough time. Then they could perhaps double-back and go to Heidelberg from there (I wish I had my maps of Germany in front of me!). Then they could go through the Black Forest <BR>(a car might be best here so they can stop at the places that interest them). <BR> <BR>Then I'd head to the Fussen area (where the castles are), but I highly recommend staying in Ehenbichl at the Pension Hohenrainer (large bedrooms with full bath, comfy bed, and balcony with the Alps all around!) This was my absolute favorite place of my trip. For about $23 a night, you get the room and breakfast. I highly recommend a car for getting around in this area. They can make easy day trips to the castles, and go luging too. <BR> <BR>Then I'd go to Munich, and then Vienna. You might want to think about a flight between these cities. You may be able to get cheap add-on fares to your round-trip tickets. <BR> <BR>I highly recommend the Rick Steves guidebook. We had no advance reservations for accommodations last May, and found Rick Steves' hotel and pension recommendations to be excellent and very cost-efficient. We stayed in clean comfortable rooms our entire trip that included breakfast for about $25-$30 per person a night. (Note: there were three of us, and over 2 weeks, we spent half the time all in one room, and the other half in two rooms). Since they will be travelling in July, it might be a good idea to make some reservations in advance, particularly near the castles because the Passion Play is being performed in Oberammergau this year (that might interest your parents too!) <BR> <BR>I'd be happy to help you out further. Send me an e-mail if you have more questions. Good luck!