Hi - I have a last minute business trip to Leipzig Germany in May and my husband has decided to come with me because he's always dreamed of visiting Germany. This will be our first trip to Germany and I'm in need of some itinerary advice.

We'll be flying in to Leipzig on Saturday May 18 in the afternoon. We will have until Wednesday then to do as we wish, then I have my business commitments Wednesday-Friday. Saturday and Sunday are free days with Sunday being my husband's birthday. We fly out at the crack of dawn on Monday May 27.

We are active, in our 50's and 60's and love walking, sightseeing, attending arts/cultural performances, coffee culture and great local food (from cheap little finds to picnicking to fine dining). I am a sucker for dining with a view or in interesting surroundings. We love cities, but also enjoy seeing charming villages. My husband is very interested in WWII history and would like to visit a concentration camp memorial site. We prefer three star accommodations with local charm to large 4 and 5 star chain hotels. I am comfortable driving just about anywhere and while we like the train, we don't have a lot of time to spare this time.

When I began my planning, I thought we would spend that first Saturday night in Leipzig right in old town, then rent a car and head west to Dresden for a night, stopping at Colditz Castle and possibly Albrechtsburg Castle along the way. Then we would head up to Potsdam for a night and return to Leipzig Tuesday evening. Then, once work is out of the way on Friday, we'd rent a car again to go to Buchenwald on Saturday, stay overnight in the area (Erfurt maybe) then return to Leipzig Sunday afternoon in time to take the birthday boy out for a great meal, and early to bed in preparation for our early flight the next day. But then I started to think that we should spend those first three days in Berlin - skip the rental car, take the fast train and do a day trip maybe to Potsdam.

Any suggestions re: Dresden loop vs Berlin? Towns, sites, restaurants we shouldn't miss along the way? As always, when I'm planning a trip, I start here, but I'm not finding too much on anything other than Berlin...

Thanks so much!

Should you go to Berlin? If you'll certainly never return then you might give it a shot otherwise clearly no. Three days is insufficient even more so if you want to cram Potsdam in, just forget about it and plan a proper visit in the future.

Second it's hard not to notice that you have set exactly pretty much zero time for Leipzig itself. Now while your timing for coffee is spectacularily bad (the Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum, Europe's second oldest coffee house is closed in 2019) it's positively weird that you ignore all the sights there. Any particular reasons for that?

Generally your first plan is the usual overambitious "driving across the whole country" plans overseas visitors have which leave almost no time for the place itself. Potsdam belongs to Berlin and in another holiday. Apart from Leipzig I'd suggest first researching places nearby. That would be obviously Naumburg cathedral or the Dessau-Wörlitz garden kingdom and maybe less obviously Halle an der Saale or Torgau.

As for Colditz ... this is a typical destination for British tourists. No German even knows about the place. I'm not sure how much the rather pointless heroics of Allied officers tell about WWII.

Leipzig is one of my favorite cities in Europe. I didn't assume they were skipping Leipzig, I assumed they'd visit some things there doing the 3-4 days they are staying there. Certainly the husband will have plenty of time since he's not the one working there.

You allocate *way* too little time for the towns/cities/sights, you will spend most of your time on the roads if you follow your initial plan. Spend either the pre-work or the after-work free days in Berlin/Potsdam or Dresden area (the latter including Meißen/Albrechtsburg castle and National Park Saxon Switzerland.) Spend the other free days either in direction Naumburg/Weimar/concentration camp Buchenwald and Erfurt region or in the Torgau/Wittenberg/Wörlitz garden realm/Dessau Bauhaus sites region.

If yous have time to do short trips from Leipzig three neat towns are at your doorstep - Erfurt; Weimar and Eisenach for Wartburg Castle and Naumburg, a charming smaller town. I'd do the Dresden Loop rather than dwelling in Berlin - since you have a car and like smaller towns - Lutherstadt-Wittenberg is also a really neat town with lots of Luther relics - like the church door Luther was supposed to have nailed his demands on - rather doubtful many say if true though. But a really neat town.

Sachenhausen is another major concentration camp/memorial near Berlin - not far from Potsdam really but if just want to see one Buchenwald may fit in better.

At Potsdam's Sans Souci Palace just a bit behind it to the north is the 'Russian Colony' built by one czar to replicate Russian life:

https://alexandrowka.de/english/

https://www.google.com/search?q=russ...w=1280&bih=625


so just a short drive from Sans Souci and IMO really unique. You can easily drive to the brige separating Potsdam and Berlin's Wannssee district - used to be border point in Iron Curtain era where spies were traded.

And Peacock Island is a short drive too - at least to ferry - another neat place: nice island park and gardens dotted by 'follies' - whimsical statues. edifices, etc.

https://www.google.com/search?q=peac...w=1280&bih=625

So some things to make a full day of the Potsdam area - not to mention Babelsberg Park!

Thanks for all of your suggestions. We will have time for Leipzig on day 1 when we arrive, then we have a walking tour scheduled for late Tuesday afternoon when we return to Leipzig and a bicycle tour scheduled for Friday afternoon, after my work is finished. We'll also have 6 evenings in Leipzig. I understand it is a beautiful city and we are looking forward to getting to know it a bit.

The town of Görlitz is quite pretty and the old town is well preserved -- it's east of Dresden on the Polish border.

If you are going to Buchenwald then you should also see Weimar, which is the nearby city. Make sure you do your history reading before you go (Weimar Republic, Bauhaus movement, Lukas Cranach, also the Herzogin Anna Amalia Library, Goethe, Schiller). It is also a pretty neat destination in itself because the old town is fairly well preserved, and is a big destination for German tourists obviously for historical reasons, but is hardly a blip on the radar for anyone else.

Lavandula

Weimar was to me so so nice - a large park with Goethe's house in it - kind of a campus-like setting in that area.