We won a trip to Germany! Now, should we add on Lake Como or Bruges?
 

My husband won a contest with his company and now they are sending us to Germany for a week to visit their factory and sightsee a bit in late September. So far we are going to Mittenwald, Munich (for Oktoberfest), and Buckeburg but since we already saw quite a bit of Germany on a trip 2 years ago, we would like to take an additional 3 days/4 nights at the end of the trip to go somewhere else and we just can't decide between Lake Como/Milan and Bruges/Brussels. I'm guessing that Lake Como is more expensive that Bruges, and that may end up being a factor. We also just got back from a Turkey/Greece trip and while any free trip is a good trip having another European getaway so soon makes us lean towards taking things a bit slower than we normally do while travelling.

The main criteria are:
1.) Easy/quick/affordable way to get there from Buckeburg, Germany (near Hannover) with public transport (no car).
2.) We prefer small towns and are fans of cute/quaint/scenic. We have done quite a bit of travelling in Europe and have found that a lot of the big cities are necessary evils.
3.) Experiences/things to do are better than museums/things to see in our opinion. An ideal day would be a morning of touring/hiking/sightseeing followed by an afternoon of relaxing/people-watching/reading/playing cribbage.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!

Congrats...Lucky YOU!!!

Lake Como fits your "small towns,cute/quaint/scenic than a combination with big city Brussels. However, you will need to fly to Milan.

From Bückeburg to Hannover airport station is 70min by train with one change at Hannover main station. 2 connections/hr. No reservation required or possible.

Hannover - Milan is nonstop with Air Berlin or Germanwings.
Germanwings seems to have the lowest fares of the two in September. Their "best fare" is better than the "basic fare" as it already includes fees for 1 piece of luggage, seat reservation, and drinks/snacks on board. Those "all-in" fares start at €38 pP incl. all taxes and fees.

You probably want a rental car to get to Lake Como and explore the area.


Bückeburg - Brugge is a 6 3/4 - 7 3/4 hr train ride with 3 changes (best cases) in Bielefeld, Cologne, and Brussels.
It can be as cheap as €29 or €39 pP in 2nd class for restricted tickets or around €90 pP in 2nd class for flexible tickets.
Some connections cannot be booked online, though.
bahn.com

You will find La Limonera in Bellagio very nice and very affordable. We love it there, and we do not find Bellagio to be so expensive, but we know the cheaper way to do it! There is a good little deli right out side the gate there, and we did several nights of wine and food of the nice terrace at the apartments. We ate our breakfast at the sports bar down the way and used restaurants for our lunches.