Advise on where to go for 3 weeks in Germany
Replies: 10 - Last Post: Sep 28, 2012 8:15 AM Last Post By: Stephanie70
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Advise on where to go for 3 weeks in Germany
We are planning a trip to Europe April / May next year. We would like to spend at least 3 weeks in Germany . Our plans so far are arrive in Black Forest from France then Munich through to Berlin. Peoples can you tell me what towns cities we shouldn't miss. Out interests are mainly buildings for photographs as my husband is an artist & specializes in old European buildings.Thanks everyone....
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Freiburg, Fuessen (for the admittedly rather popular) Neuschwanstein castle, Munich itself, Dachau concentration camp, Nuremberg, the ridiculous amount of castles in the Rhine, Ahr and Mosel river valleys, Heidelberg, Dresden, Leipzig, Hamburg. And the Cologne cathedral (aka the Dom), of course.2
Suggest you do a search in the box at the top of this page using something like "Germany Architecture" as here have been a number of threads on this theme in recent months. Your difficulty is likely to be cramming everything into just 3 weeks in Germany!In addition to Fwoggie's list there brick architecture in the north -try the Hanseatic cities round the Baltic coast such as Lübeck, Wismar and Stralsund. Half timbered - almost anywhere in central and southern Germany but including eg. Wernigerode and Quedlinburg on the edge of the Harz mountains, Erfurt the regional capital of Thuringia, nearby Eisenach and the Wartburg castle, Bamberg in northern Bavaria. Something more modern - the Bauhaus in Dessau, and one of Hundertwasser's creations not too far away in Magdeburg.
Suggest you research these (and lots of others!), plot them on a map and try and work out a sensible route. How are you travelling? - if car try viamichelin.com and by train use bahn.de .
Hope this helps but feel free to come back for a second instalment!
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In which case you really must go to Hamburg. St Michael's church is an absolute gem of a building, and with the art galleries and several beautiful buildings around I strongly believe you shouldn't miss it. The art gallery was the highlight for me when I went!I really could rave about Hamburg all day, it's the most open minded city (in my opinion) in the Whole of Germany, and as you've already mentioned Berlin I think you pretty much have it covered :-).
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Have a look here:http://www.germany.travel/en/index.html
And foowing mike's advice you might run (for sure the link here) in: Germany Newletter with many items from your wish-list.
Don't forget the Colosseum if in Nürnberg, it's a bit out of the centre. Though not very old. But a lot of N. has been reconstructed and is more recent.
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Hi woolshed1,To my opinion is a sensible way to orgsanize your trip through Germany is using the UNESCO world heritage list. A itinerary with places on that list can be in short as follows:
-France to Trier, famous for it’s Roman buildings, also being the birthplace of Karl Marx.
-Stay in Trier for daytrip to very nice Burg Elz (not on the list, but one of Germanies finest
castles) ,Mosel Valley with among others Cochem and Bernkastel-Keus.
-Go to Aachen and Cologne to visit there cathedrals. Just 15km south of Cologne is Brühl
with Augustusburg and Falkenlust.
-Further to Koblenz drive through the Upper Middle Rhine Valley (Bacharach, Loreley
etc.) to Bingen, 70km southwest of Frankfurt am Main.
-Speyer and Heidelberg
-Further south to visit Baden-Baden and take a scenic route through the Black Forrest to
Freiburg.
-Another scenic route through the Black Forrest to Hohenzollern Castle ( the ancestral seat of
the former royal family) near Hechingen about 60km south of Stuttgart.
-Continue itinerary to Ulm, having the world’s highest church-steeple and being the birthplace
of Einstein. Further to Augsburg.
-Munich. Not so old but maybe of interest can be the Olympia Park with buildings designed
by Otto Frei and the Allianz Arena.
-Daytrip to Füssen / Neuschwanstein, combined with a visit to the pilgrimage church of Wies.
-Regensburg
-Nürnberg, heavily damaged during the war, but still has nice places. You can use this city as
a basis for daytrips to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbühl, Bamberg and Bayreuth for it’s
Margravial Opera House, which is not the same as the better known Festspiel House.
-Würzburg for it’s Residence. Further to Eisenach for the Wartburg, it is also the birthplace of
J.S.Bach
-Erfurt and nearby Weimar. If visiting the Anna Amalia Bibliothek is of interest it is best to
get in contact ahead how and when to get the tickets. The number of daily visitors are limited
and tickets are sold out very quick.
-Dresden and nearby Meissen (also famous for it’s porcelain).
-Lutherstadt Wittenberg where Maarten Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the castle’s
church.
-If Bauhaus means something to you, go to Dessau, highly recommended. Btw Weimar has
also items about Bauhaus (museum, Haus am Horn, University with little visitor centre).
-Potsdam with royal palaces like Sanssouci, Cecilienhof (Potsdam Conference), gardens
etc.
-Berlin with also sites belonging to the UNESCO list.
As you can see is that three weeks is not enough to visit all these places in a decent way. So you have to make a selection about what you want to see at the pace you like most. Best is also to built in some flexibility, to make a decision on the spot possible to ajust plans in case you hear about a place of interest you really want to see. And plan enough days to rest. I also want to point out that this itinerary is not complete enough, Germany has to offer much more, even in the described areas. So keep collecting information.
The best way to move around is by car. In The Netherlands publisher Evron brings out Zimmer Frei (B&B), a booklet with 3.500 adresses of cheap but decent B&B’s, pensions and family hotels in Germany. It is possible to find double rooms for less then €50,- per night with breakfast. The booklet is written in Dutch, but it is straightforward and if you know somebody at home in Australia who can read Dutch , it is easy to explain and therefore usable for people who doesn’t speak the language. The booklet costs €15,- ,for more information: info@evron.nl . I have to remark that just a few addresses are in the large cities, so it will be lesser usefull if you want to stay only there. The majority of the addresses are in smaller cities and villages. Even many close to the larger cities, so you will have easy access if you can use the train (S-Bahn) or bus and avoid this way expensive parking in the city-centre.
As it will be shoulder season in April and May, there will be little problems to find a place to stay. However public holidays can be an exception. It is best to make the phonecalls in Germany as soon as you know where you want to stay. Or ask the person where you stay to make a phonecall for the next stay in case there is a problem with the language. Hopefully this information can be of use to prepare this itinerary.
Enjoy your trip.
wilco3
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Wilco3 touched on it, but I do recommend a few days along the Moselle river. Trier, Cochem, and Bernkastel-Kues in particular are a few places along the river worth going to. Trier is a larger city with the Porta Nigra, Roman baths and amphitheater, a couple of cathedrals, and pink palace among other things. Cochem has a decent castle surrounded by vineyards (the Moselle Valley is Germany's premier wine growing region) and Bernkastel-Kues has some of my favorite timber framed buildings.If you do go to the Moselle Valley and then head up to Aachen, I recommend stopping in Monschau on the way.
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That's true. OP's mention of Munich slipped my mind.9
Hello Sydneysider03,Thank you for your compliment. Yes, Germany has a lot to see and to discover for the visitor. A few years ago I made my last trip through your country and I really liked it. As kid I had several holidays in Germany, but never visited the area around Berlin. So a visit to Potsdam. Berlin and Dessau among other places was made. Especially Bauhaus was intriguing, playing such an interesting rol in the developement of design. Yes, if you like you can do a lot of sightseeing in Germany.
I like to add a few other interesting places to visit: The castles of Ludwigsburg just north of Stuttgart and Schloss Herrenchiemsee, located on an island in the Chiemsee, halfway between Munich and Salzburg. Both places on my “still-todo” list.
But in the meanwhile I’m curious about the plans of OP. So Woolshed1, what are your plans so far? Are all the suggestions made in the different posts will fitt in your plans? Please respond.
wilco3
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Hi,Visit www.burgenstrasse.de.
You will have a great overview about all old castles in germany.
If you choose from the west to the east you can see the best tours From the black forest.
I would also recommend nuremberg with his war history.
The city itself is fantastic, it is all rebuild in an ancient style,the Kaiserburg at the top is fantastic.
You can see the house of Albrecht Dürer at the Tiergärtnertor and a special tip is the Johannis- cemetary, nearby the inner
City.You can see there a lot of very old graves,Mostly decorated with big angel statues all of them ancient.
A bit outside is the Reichsparteitagsgelände, At the Dutzendteich, is where Hitler celebrated his war in a military way.
A lot of military parades Happened there and he built a special stadium for it.
You can see The grandstands in that area and the Wideness will give you an overview about hitlers Megalomania.
His plans have been,to build the biggest congress hall there.He never finished that hall, just outside.
A few years ago the city of nürnberg decided to Addict it as a museum.
His name is Dokumentationszentrum der Gewalt
( Documentationcenter of Violence ) .
Very interesting architecture and a very interesting museum, you will find shocking documents about the 2. War.
Very interesting the area of the nuremberg Processes after the war.
They used the Available architecture, where you can see hitlers megalomania again and they added very modern elements to it.
Berlin is a must see.Visit Potsdam wirh the castle of Sanssoucis, you can reach it by s- bahn, the best and fastest way to discover berlin and around.The museum- island is fantastic with his different museums.
egyptian, new egyptian,art,national- gallery and pergamonmuseum are close together on an island at berlin dome.
The street " unter den linden " is a very good area to,take pictures, a lot of old buildings close together up tothe brandenburg gate.
Visit the east part, especially " hackesche Hoefe " where You can find several Courts One after another.
Very good and interesting is a river cruise at the spree, you can see the most interesting places from the boat and you can
See the old way of the borderline. At least,try a Currywurst in Berlin !
Greets from germany,
stephanie
My favourite is the pergamon museum.
