Hi

I'm in the stages of planning a 17 day circle trip to Germany - starting and ending in Frankfurt. Since Germany is not a large country I would like to see Ludwig's castle, take a boatride on the Rhine, visit Berlin with all its new architecture.

What are some favorite places you've been to that I should add to my itinerary?

I appreciate any help.

Hi,

what are your special interests?

Strangely, most Americans see the southern quarter of Germany only and ignore the rest of the country completely - maybe because the troops are stationed there. If you are willing to leave to beaten path, here some tips:

- Of course, see the Rhine valley between Rüdesheim and Koblenz. You make a cruise (there are 2-hour-cruises which are perfectly okay), but make sure that you will visit some villages and some castles on the riverbanks. I especially recommend the Marksburg for a genuine medieval castle experience.

- Think about visiting one of the scenic tributaries to the Rhine, the Mosel or the Ahr. Both rivers have nice scenery, wineyards, historic sights and wine-tastings. If you go up the Mosel, you have the chance to visit Trier with a magnificent Roman gate (Porta Nigra), a Roman Emperor's Basilica, some more Roman ruins and the Karl-Marx-Museum in his birthhouse.

- Include Cologne into your schedule. See the thread on Cologne in this forum.

http://www.fodors.com/forums_reg/pgM...chText=Cologne

- You may include the Ruhr Area into your trip - an amazing area full of urban life with many old industrial structures which have been converted into cultural centers.

- In the Münsterland, between the Ruhr and the City of Münster (impressive cathedral, historic city hall, cozy old town), you will find a dozen molded castles, some of the very spectacular. Visit Schloss Nordkirchen with its splendid parks in Baroque style ("Westphalian Versailles&quot and Burg Vischerung (medieval castle).

- Of course, you must see Berlin. Spend at least three days there - there are so many world-class attractions (including Sanssouci Castle in neighboring Potsdam).

- In southern Germany, there is the typical list like Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Heidelberg, München, Neuschwanstein, Nürnberg, Würzburg, Bamberg. This forum is full of tips on these well-visited sights.

Oh thank you so much!! This is exactly what I'm looking for. I'll start now incorporating some of these ideas into my plans. We are also hoping to take in Gotha and Weimar as DH's ancestors came from this area.

We spent two weeks in Germany about four years ago. We stayed with friends in Hamburg, so that was our base. Northern Germany felt more like the Netherlands than other areas of Germany I've visited. I really liked the old churches in the region with their painted interiors and WWII histories...

- Hamburg was wonderful; it's Germany's biggest port so parts of it feel very industrial, but it's also a pretty, walkable city with a laid-back social life in the Altona district we stayed in. The Reeperbahn, Hamburg's red light district, is renowned for the club where the Beatles got their start. As the city is on the North Sea, cuisine tends towards fish and seafood, though of course you're never far from a weiner! (Hamburg is also the headquarters of Beck's, and its large plant dominates part of the coastline.)

- Lubeck, a short train trip away to the east, is a cute, quaint town; they are famous for their marzipan, which is everywhere in town (and quite yummy if you like it!). I enjoyed the day we spent there, and particularly liked its famous church.

- Bremen, with its statue of the Bremen musicians, was cute too, but similar to the other cities I mentioned (kind of a cross between the two, larger than Lubeck but more industrialized also).

- Berlin, of course, is a must. Eastern Berlin is really interesting with its remnants of Communism (fast fading) and a vibrant arts and youth scene. We took a couple of great walking tours of the city but of course I can't remember the vendor! One was a general overview; the other was WWII history. (This was fascinating in part because so much of the actual architecture has disappeared, but the guide was able to provide a good feel for what the city was like then.)

- We also visited a friend who was studying music in Liepzig. If your travels take you east, this is an interesting city to visit. Again, the remnants of Communism are fast disappearing, but we felt more of its influence here than in Berlin. (For example, the tourist bureauperson spoke Russian but barely spoke English, since she was taught Russian in school.) The city is full of Bach and his story; there's also a very nice park with a small zoo. I enjoyed the city as an opportunity to experience a different aspect of Germany.

- If you're going in 2007 (maybe?), swing through Kassel (in the middle of Germany; used to be right on the western side of the border with East Germany) for the world-famous Documenta contemporary art festival (http://www.documenta12.de/english/information.html). Documenta12 runs June 16-Sept 23, 2007. If you're going this year instead (most likely!), Kassel is still an interesting stop for its permanent contemporary art installations. It's also known for being the home of the brothers Grimm; there's a museum and Kassel is the beginning of the "Fairy Tale Route" that I think traces their fables through several towns.

As you probably can tell from my post, I was fascinated with the layers of history I saw in Germany. I had actually never been that keen on visiting the country, but there was something about seeing such recent history that was really eye-opening. Aslo, in the north there's a lot about its early beginnings as the merchant class and the importance of Germany's only access to the sea.

ggreen

Do you know yet whether you'll plan to drive? Or take the train? Driving in Germany is quite marvelous. It's a beutiful, emerald-green country, at least in the south, where we visited in 2003, and the roads are wonderful - fast, but wonderful. I just loved it!

We were not able to fit Berlin in on our trip, because there was so much in the South we wanted to cover, and we ultimately decided we''d save Berlin for another trip (this May, as it now turns out!)

When we do a driving trip in Europe, we have a wish list of cities, but then we use www.mappy.com or www.viamichelin.com to map out our routes, miles, and driving times and try to keep our trip times between sleep-overs between 2 to 3 hours. That forces us to prioritize and, sometimes, to trim our itinerary.

On our last trip, we visited these cities, in about this order:

Cologne (1 night only), to rest and visit to wonderful cathedral.

St. Goar on the Rhine, with an afternoon for a Rhine cruse.

Beilstein, on the Mosel, a beautiful, slow river, with an afternoon at Burg Eltz, the most beautiful castle in Europe

Baden Baden, an elegant spa and casino town, with our highlight being the September horseracing meet, run on a grass track, with lady spectators dressed to the nines, in fabulous hats.

Meersburg, a pastel gem of a town on Lake Constanz, with a boat ride to the garden isle of Mainau.

Garmisch-Partenkirken, with the Alps for a backdrop, and a lovely day spent visiting Scloss Linderhof, Ludwig's elegant palace, Neueschwanstein, and Hohenschwangau (outsides only), and Kloster Ettal (incredible abbey)

Regensburg, one of Germany's best preserved old cities, on the banks of the Danube.

Bamberg, a storybook town with the river through the middle.

Wurzburg, even if only for the s-ectacular baroque Bishop's Residenz and Chapel.

If we had been able to fit in Berlin, we hoped also to visit Quedlinburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared by it to be "an outstanding example of a European city of medieval origin which has preserved through the centuries its precious architectural heritage of romanesque and half-timbered buildings." We also wanted to visit the Spreewald, not far from Berlin.

The country is just full of marvelous places to visit! We will have big fun there, won't we?

Greatsights - there is a wonderful firework display along the banks of the Rhine near Oberwesel on September 9, Night of a Thousand Fires, we stayed in Oberwesel 2 years ago so we could see this spectacular, this was also the same weekend of the annual wine festival for this area, quite a lot of fun. Also, there is Loreley Nights September 16 at St. Goar. Hope this helps. I'd do a Google search for more info. Have a wonderful trip, we leave this Sunday for 3 weeks in Germany & Switzerland!!!!

I believe the tour company ggreen was referring to may have been Berlin Walks.
http://www.berlinwalks.com/tours_discoverberlin.html
We plan to take their Tour #1 and Tour #3 (a day trip to Potsdam) for sure and possibly also the Third Reich tour.

P.S. Please forgive the typos in my post. I proofread, too!

That's it! We did #1 - Discover Berlin - on the trip I mentioned, and #2 - Infamous Third Reich Sites - on an earlier trip.

I swear, Berlin is changing so fast, you could do these tours each visit and see an entirely new city! Potsdamer Platz (sp?) was barely beginning construction on our first trip, and completely developed by the time I returned three years later...

Hi everyone

All this help is wonderful!! What a wealth of knowledge is coming through.

We've not decided yet whether to drive or take the train. Perhaps we'll look into driving most of the trip and take a train into Vienna.

Amazing isn't it - all these little details that go into planning a trip - we're both history buffs looking for these delightful towns with such history to them. Another thought of ours might be to find the carving in stone in Switzerland of the lion (the story goes about the Swiss protecting the Pope and this carving pertains to it. An old dear friend of DH's grandfather gave him a wood carving of this fallen Swiss lion.

Perhaps we'll need more time in Germany!!

I actually prefer the Mosel to the Rhine. Munich & Rothenburg also come to mind as well as Burg Eltz.

We are planning our 1st trip to Germany this summer as well and it was hard to narrow down the destinations to a managable itinerary where we wouldn't be too rushed. We've got 12 full days, so we divided them more or less evenly between Munich, Nuremberg, and the Bavarian Alps. As others have done, in our planning, we just decided that we would have to go back another time to visit eastern and northern Germany.

Greatsights, I think the lion you are speaking of is in Luzern, Switzerland. I was there during vacation in college - my co-travellers and I made the mistake of visiting on New Year's Day, and of course everything was closed for the holiday! I do remember it being a cute town, and I still have vivid memories of the lion carved in rock... My boyfriend's parents were in the area about a year ago at a conference, and they went up of one of the nearby mountains, Pilatus, which is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Pontius Pilate himself.

I live in close proximity to the Mosel and I can tell you it is absolutely beautiful. Taking a drive along the Mosel is breathtaking with all the small villages, castles, vineyards and wine tasting. Some of the wineries can be a little standoffish when wine tasting because so many Americans just go in and sample the wine and not purchase anything. Be sure to at least purchase a bottle of their Riesling...oh and the Ice Wine is a must! I have purchased bottles of wine here for around 6-7 Euro (around $7-9 US)...I have seen these bottles in the states for upwards of $30.

Oh...in case you're wondering about bringing wine back to the states. Most of the wineries will ship some for you. The customs regulations are unclear. They state something like "amounts for personal consumption," but they don't specify what that amount is. My Mom visited last Christmas and took 4 bottles home in her carry on with no problems.

If you're into medieval architecture and history, then Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a must. It's a quaint little walled city in Bavaria. I'm heading there for my second visit this August.

Fussen, in the southern alps, is said to be very beautiful. It's on the train route and is 15 minutes by public bus to Schwangau and the Neuschwanstein Castle. I've decided to spend 2 nights there to see the castles.

The Cologne Cathedral is an amazing feat of gothic-inspired architecture, although only finished in the late 1800s.

Thanks so much - all this info has been so help. We've added to our trip time and are now going for 25 days!!

The Mosel sounds fantastic as well as Fussen and Neuschwanstein and, of course, we've added Berlin.

If you've got that much time on your hands, I think this is a terrific opportunity to get an impression of the whole country. I might feel tempted to start the trip in Northern Germany. September is just off-season on the Baltic Sea, which is calm and pleasant in nice weather. The Baltic coastline in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is quite beautiful and laid-back IMHO. Being a bit prejudiced, I would also add 2 days in Hamburg (I live there), which is currently among Germany's top domestic destinations and which is (in contrast to many other regions in Germany) rather booming these days. A great urbanization project going on in a vast port area sporting state-of-the-art architecture and the bustling port do create a rather vibrant atmosphere. It's only 90 min. by train to Berlin - or 2.5 to 3 hours by car.

Since our trip is growing (leaps and bounds) we are thinking seriously of flying into Zurich, making a loop north through Germany, Heidelburg, Rotenburg, Rhine River, possibly Hamburg, Berlin, Gotha, Munich (and surrounds) and ending in Vienna and fly back to the states from there.

DH has always wanted to visit certain areas such as Zurich, Rotenburg, Gotha, and Vienna as his family had come from the area.

Thanks again for your help!!