A friend and I have tickets to the US games in Gelsenkirchen on June 12 and Kaiserslautern on June 17. I am hustling to find us places to stay. What is the best way to handle this? We'll have a rental car. Are they expecting big traffic problems? So we should find a place to stay where we can take the train in to the game? OK, that's the first question. Here's the second. In between the 12th and the 17th we'll be making our way from G. to K. Does anyone have an itinerary to suggest? We want to sample all the local beer we can, enjoy the soccer ambiance, and see some sights. Thanks for any help you might have!

help?

I don't know if there is actually too much to see from G to K. I'd say the main "tourist" spots in Germany are in and around Berlin, SW of Stuttgart (Black Forest), and Munich. Perhaps you could do a side trip into Luxembourg? But i'm sure with the amount of fellow soccer travellers, you'll find something to do/see...

Thanks for the input, Marty99. I am thinking about just heading south on the Romantic Road and seeing some sights in Southern Germany because it's so scenic.I'm finding it close to impossible to book rooms, though, and I also wonder if the usual tourist haunts are going to be too crowded to enjoy.

I ran into a similar problem when I was trying to book in January. The towns of Gelsenkirchen and Kaiserslautern are small and don't have a lot of lodging available. We decided to stay in Cologne for three nights. It should only be a 45 minute drive to the game from there. With a 6 PM local time kickoff, we hope to get back to Cologne at a reasonable hour. For the USA-Italy game, the closest hotel we found was about 30 minutes away but in the middle of nowhere. We decided to stay over in Heidelberg, less than an hour from the game. Of course, we are driving over to Munich after the Italy game so we can hang out in Bavaria and wait for the Ghana game on Thursday. That made sense for us; it may not for you.

In between Cologne and Heidelberg will be a 3-day jaunt to the Alsace region. That's part of the compromise I had to concede to my wife for dragging her to a bunch of soccer games over two weeks. For us, the stay in Alsace may end up being a relaxing break away from the mass hysteria of the World Cup. There are plenty of vineyards and scenic drives over there to keep us occupied for the days before the Italy game.

Hope this helps. Good luck.
Ken

From what I understand, you'll definitely want to rely on local transportation to/from the games. Your WC ticket gives you access to local trains and buses on game day. Don't even think about driving to the venues.

Ragdoll,
That is an interesting point, and one that has caused me some concern. I wanted to train in to the games, but the problem is, the local transportation just doesn't run in the evening. Very often the last return train/bus/streetcar to a small town will be in the late afternoon! And the few places that have later transportation (I've been searching bahn.de) are BOOKED. I wonder if they are planning on doing anything different with the schedules during the WC?
Ken, thanks for sharing your ideas. I am looking at Heidelberg for a place to stay, but there's not much left there!

Most fans are going to camp in the specially constructed campsites. The details are on the FIFA site.