Please comment on Germany/Amsterdam itinerary
 

We're in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Germany. We plan to fly into Munich in mid-September, spend a couple of days in Munich, a couple of days in Bavaria, a couple of days in the Black Forest area, do a Rhein River daytrip, then take the train through the Kleve area to Amsterdam where we will spend a couple of nights on a houseboat and fly out of Amsterdam back to the US. We don't plan to rent a car, but instead rely on the trains. I'd like advice on staying in a brewery guesthouse, taking the Black Forest Railway, staying in Gengenbach?, best daytrip on the Rhein River, any info on the Kleve, Louisendorf and Pfalzdorf area (my ancestors lived in this area and the Black Forest area), and houseboats in Amsterdam or any other advice you can give us. We will be two couples traveling together - we like to hike, get off the beaten path if possible, but also see the highlights of Munich and Amsterdam. We like to stay in bed and breakfast homes or small inns and we plan to be gone 9 or 10 nights. Thanks for your help.

topping

Good evening.

I assume, you did not receive any answer, because your itinerary is not doable in 9 or 10 days. Your itinerary requires at least three weeks, especially if you want to take the train.

If you have just 9 or 10 nights, it would be necessary to skip several destinations.

The Kleve area is close to the Netherlands, so that would not be a problem (besides, that it will be hard to visit Louisendorf and Pfalzdorf if you have no car).

The Black Forest is both far away from München and from Kleve. In addition, it is a huge area (about 50 by 100 miles). Where in the Black Forest did your ancestors live? Then, I could give you further advice.

Just a few thoughts.

Firstly, I would rent a car instead of taking trains.


Day 1
You can fly into Frankfurt. If you are not too tired after the transatlantic flight, you can drive to the Rhine and see some scenery there, even doing a short boat trip.

Day 2
You drive to the Black Forest (whereever your ancestors lived). After arrival, you may hike a bit and spend the evening.

Day 3
If you do not have time to see more of the Black Forest, you drive up the Rhine, seeing more scenery and a castle (I recommend the Marksburg). Stay overnight.

Day 4
Proceed northwards and see Roman and medieval history in Cologne, including the grand cathedral. Stay overnight in Cologne.

Day 5
Drive to Düsseldorf and explore this cultural center, including the Neanderthal Museum in the Neanderthal near Düsseldorf. Stay overnight.

Day 6
From Düsseldorf, drive to Xanten (near Kleve) in order to visit the Archeological Park and get an impression of the lower Rhine scenery. Visit Pfalzdorf and Louisendorf, the proceed to Arnhem.

Day 7
If you are interested in art, Hoge Veluwe Park is a must. Otherwise drive to Utrecht. Stroll through this wonderful medieval town. Proceed to Amsterdam.

Day 8 Amsterdam

This will be a VERY tight itinerary. If you have one or two days more, spend them for a more relaxed path. However, I do not see a chance to include München.

traveller1959, thank you for your reply. Since I posted we've booked our plane tickets, into Munich and return from Amsterdam, with 9 nights in Germany and Amsterdam. The tickets were expensive, nearly $1500 each. I think we'll spend stay south of Munich and spend one day in Munich and one or two in Bavaria, an area our friends want to see, then maybe 3 nights between there and Amsterdam.

My ancestors came from Backnang near Stuttgart, Lippe-Detmold, Wuertemberg (Albershauer?), Emmerich, Pfalzdorf and Louisendorf. Family names are Imig, Keller, Abele and Fuehring.

The problem with ancestors is that they often had the nerve to emigrate from towns and village that are not necessarily really scenic.
I have no clue where Pfalzdorf and Louisendorf are located, but Backnang, for example, is a rather bland almost suburb of Stuttgart nowadays with nothing more than couple thousand rather boring single family homes.
Emmerich would probably score high on the Top 50 list of most boring mid-sized towns in Germany.
Lippe-Detmold is in fact not a town (you probably know that already) but the former small duchy with Detmold as its "capital". Which is, compared with the others, except for the two I don't know, the nicest.

I'm not sure if your friends are familiar with the geography down here, but Munich is IN Bavaria, it's the capital. Your friends may want to be a bit more precise as Bavaria is by size in between WV and NC. I guess your friends mean Upper Bavaria, the postcard part of the state with mountains as backdrop (which would be Munich and south of there to the Austrian border).

Thanks, Cowboy 1928. I appreciate the information about Backnang and Emmerich - probably not worth it to spend time there. I've looked up the towns on Google Earth and Pfalzdorf and Luisendorf are near Emmerich. Louisendorf appears to be a very small village with a large church in a big grassy square in the center of town. I guess that's why they were okay with emigrating to Nebraska. It would be interesting to see, but we would probably have to rent a car for the day. We've just reserved a houseboat for three nights in Amsterdam. Amazing how you can go right down to street view on Google Earth to see the area it is in.