1

23-04
Between Nollendorfplatz and Winterfeld Platz and in any of the streets in the near surrounding you have many, many different restaurants for breakfats, lunch and dinner.
24 + 25-04
Museumsinsel is an island, the Bode.- and Pergamon Museums are one beside the other. For the Reichstag you need a reservation if you will go inside. You can check via 'visitberlin.de' the Welcome Card for local transport and the Museums Pass. Concerning the other points on your list if you will do all you need three to four days without time for shopping. If you will go to the castle San Souci with a visit and maybe the park and Cecilienhof including the S-Bahn trip from/to Bhf Zoo a day is gone.

2

Cologne - see the railway bridge (honest), the sports and Olympics museum is alright, and there's the opportunity for a quick spin round the Rhine + if you like old stuff the Roman museum will last you a few hours. When you get hungry, go grab yourself a beer in a beer hall and some hearty traditional German food. I always take anyone who comes to visit me (I live 25km away from there) to the Fruh beer hall (it's in the LP Germany country guide).

Duesseldorf will reasonably take only 1 day, so a good idea to go to Roermond - see http://www.designer-outlet-roermond.com/about/index.php which is available in English. To get there see http://www.designer-outlet-roermond.com/about/shuttlebus/index.php

I can't comment on the rest of your itinerary, because I don't know Berlin well enough yet (only been twice).

For cheapest train tix you wanna book them ASAP as they'll only go up in price.

3

Do you drink beer? If so you really should try the local beer, Kölsch. There are many great places - try Malzmuhle on Heumarkt 6. If you want to stop the never-ending arrivals of beer, put the cardboard Deckel on top of your glass!

There is never enough time for Berlin. It's a geographically large city. Even with the excellent public transport you might need to scratch something from your list - I suggest Potsdam. It's great to visit, but you just don't have much time.

Try to watch the movie "The Lives of Others"/"Das Leben der Anderen" before you make your trip. I recommend it all the time. It's a fantastic movie and will really give you a feel for life in the former East Berlin. You can visit the prison in the film, but you might not have enough time to do it.

4

17th/18th April 2012
Climb on the south tower of the cathedral - which was for a short time the highest building on the planet.
Cologne Tourism

19th April 2012
FIBO in Essen? Do you already have admission tickets? You can buy admission tickets which include local public transport inside the VRR local public transport network for just EUR 2 more. Than you just need a ticket from Cologne to the VRS/VRR border, i.e. to Leverkusen. Which is EUR 3,60. Covered are however only regional trains (and all other local public transport like trams and buses). IC/EC or ICE trains are not covered.
Thus a 3-day German Rail Twin Pass would be already sufficient.

Designer Outlets are so German that they are called in German "Designer Outlets" and are way out of the big cities. And they are also the same anywhere. I think shopping in the big cities will be more interesting with your background. Cologne has one of the biggest CD/DVD stores (Saturn in the Hansahochhaus), Düsseldorf the posh Königsallee and Berlin the KaDeWe.

24th April 2012-25th April 2012
• walking tour is for sure a good idea, but if the company where the guides stay with shortest is the best one?
• Museum Island - Pergamon Museum and Bode Museum are on the Museum Island. Pergamon requires timeslot tickets (valid 30 min to enter it). You can get these also the Bode Museum.
• Potsdam is a day trip alone as there is much to see and this quite widespread. For this your stay in Berlin is too short.
• Legoland (skip)
• Club Berghain (note: strict door policy)
• Gemaldegalerie museum (a hidden gem)
• Reichstag (you have to register in advance)
• Schloss Charlottenburg
• Kaiser Wilhem Memorial church (gedaechtniskirche) (is under scaffolding, but as it is between the KaDeWe and the Ku'damm you'll see it anyway)
But no idea how one could do all these - and I've removed already some - in 2 days. You may want to spent also the 23rd and maybe also the 22nd for Berlin.

26th April 2012
Sinn - if you're into their watches why not? 13 minutes by S-Bahn to Frankfurt-Rödelheim from the city center.

Note on the German Rail Pass: It covers long distance trains (IC/EC, ICE) and regional trains (S-Bahn, RB, RE and others). Not covered are the U-Bahn (metro), Stadtbahn (a mixture of metro and trams), trams and buses.

Depending on your arrival time at Frankfurt Airport you could opt for the scenic Middle Rhine Valley route to Cologne instead of the (boring) highspeed link. Also direct trains on the Middle Rhine route. And if you have still some more time - you could visit the cathedral and chocolate museum next day - you can also make a part of this route by boat. The KD boats are also covered by a German Rail Pass.

5

thank you everyone for the lovely suggestions and comments!!! i really appreciate it :)
shall revise my itienary accordingly.
pls keep the suggestions coming

6

I dont really drink beer, but i shall try Kolsch.

have already registered for Reichstag, but they havent revert with confirmation yet.

yes i bought my fibo tickets and paid extra for the transportation, another qns sorry!!! I m so confused by Germany's transportation cos in Singapore is really really tiny place and we use 1 card to travel on all trains/bus.

i have to take the ice train from
1) frankfurt to cologne

2) cologne to dusseldorf (is this included in my admission pass)
so i should just buy the "a ticket from Cologne to the VRS/VRR border, i.e. to Leverkusen. Which is EUR 3,60."

3) dusseldorf to berlin
4) berlin to frankfurt

so should i get 3 or 4 days rail pass? do i have to reserve my seats if i use the rail pass?
thanks!!! :)

7

just a sidenote: you're aware that Cologne and Düsseldorf are merely 30mins apart? strictly speaking, there's no need to switch hotels.

another sidenote: note that it will take 2hrs one-way to Roermond on public transport, i.e. that's almost a daytrip in itself.

p.s. concur with abalada: take a train from FRA via Koblenz to Cologne to get great views of the very scenic Middle Rhine valley with its castles etc. (try to get hold of seats on the right side).

8

If you can afford the time, I would also route via Koblenz and go down the scenic Middle Rhine valley instead of taking the direct ICE train from Frankfurt Flughafen to Cologne.

9

Use a 3 day rail pass for
1) Frankfurt Airport - Cologne
3) Düsseldorf - Berlin
4) Berlin - Frankfurt
Seat reservations are not compulsory. But won't harm for longer trips either. EUR 4 per seat (incl 1 change of trains). You can buy seat reservations online through the DB timetable, from ticket machines or at the counters.

2) cologne to dusseldorf (is this included in my admission pass)
Not completely that's why you need additionally the EUR 3,60 ticket to Leverkusen.
Use one of the direct RE trains. 30 min from Cologne to Düsseldorf.

10

Ohhhh!!!! Thanks so much abalada for helping me to save money!
From dusseldorf to essen expo hall, should i take ICE? or RE?

we will land in frankfurt around 6.50am, so i might try taking the slower train, is that an ICE train too?

from dusseldorf to cologne expo hall for fibo, should i take ICE/RE?

11

thanks Fwoggie! I should try that :) I hope we dont get lost as we cant speak german
i guess i might give roehmund a miss since its so time consuming to travel there. I heard that zara is cheap in germany, shall shop there instead.

I will try to look for the Fruh beer hall in cologne

12

Take RE for Dsseldorf to the Expo (station Messe-Deutz). ICE don't stop at this station.

13

There are also ICE trains on the Rhine Valley route. And IC/EC trains. And of course also regional trains. For the smaller medieval towns there or if you want to do a part of the route by boat you have to use regional trains. With the small towns (basically any besides Koblenz) the distances from the train stations to the boats are short.

Your admission ticket covers only RE trains (and other local public transport). Long distance trains like ICE or IC/EC are not covered. The differences in travel time are small. ICE 23-28 min. RE 28-33 min.

The FIBO is in Essen (stop "Messe Ost/Gruga-Halle, Essen (Ruhr)") not in Cologne (i.e. next to the Köln Messe/Deutz train station). Apart from this there are also ICE trains stopping at this train station bypassing Köln Hauptbahnhof.

14

thanks alot abalada for the very detailed explanation :)

is there any restaurants that you recommend? should i go sightseeing in essen?