We have about 18 days between 26 Dec 2015 to 12 Jan 2016. We will going to Abisko Sweden to chase northern light in the last couple of days of our journey. But Before that we will spend some time in Germany and Austria area. We will fly to Berlin on 26 Dec 2015. We don't want to stretch too much so probably want to focus on east Germany and west Austria or any area nearby like Prague. We will hire a car at Berlin so will return to Berlin. We like to see beautiful land scape, beautiful villages (Hallstatt), castles (Neuschwanstein Castle) etc, also like some walking if possible. Sorry I am not specific here but basically anything magnificent natural or man made except city life (shops, cafes, pubs ..no no), we are also bit of adventurous. We haven't booked tickets to Sweden from Berlin so are flexible here but 10 days are probably fine for us.
It might be easier if your base is Munich rather than Berlin. Does it seem to be possible? Besides visiting the places from your list you could take a train to Innsbruck (2 hours away from Munich) and spend a couple of days in a spectacular Alpine location.
I don't quite understand you talk about east Germany and west Austria these are not logistically close. Then you mention places in Southern Germany. I have to be honest for you want to see this is not the ideal time to go to Germany you will have the shortest days so not so much daylight and probably lots of rain and cloud, the bright spot could be some snow but then driving around becomes more difficult. You also need to make sure your hire car comes with winter tyres. The only place I would be heading would be ski resorts or cities.
Why in the world do you want to fly to Berlin to then do an at least 8 hour drive to see Neuschwanstein, which is not even a real castle and never got finished inside?
If Neuschwanstein and Austria are important by all means fly to Munich, if you fly to Berlin look into exploring the Harz mountains, including Quedlinburg http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/535 or if you like to see Prague, make sure your rental company allows the car you rent to enter Czeck, then see Dresden, the Ore mountains and Saxonian Switzerland on the way.
Thanks for the reply. We fly to Berlin because it's basically all dark during that period in Abisko so we don't want to waste all our holidays there. But we do want to see northern lights so save the last couple of days (with slightly more day light) for it. Ticket from London (where we are based) to Berlin and ticket from Berlin to Stockholm happen to be cheap so we made a quick decision. Ok, the decision may not be very sensible. Ski resort may be a good choice. Is there any beautiful resort close to Berlin? We are a family with little one.
To make it easy for you I suggest you have a look into a map from this part of Europe or, even better, you use the site viamichelin to see where the places are situated you are talking about. And no, there is absolutely no ski resort close to Berlin (but "close" is relative).
I would like to echo what tempelton said: give the Harz mountains a try and forget Neuschwanstein.
Quedlinburg and Wernigerode are well worth a visit if you enjoy medievial towns rather close to Berlin. Quedlinburg seemed a tiny bit more alternative to me if that is your style.
On a recent stay, a mountain resort above Thale (near Quedlinburg) was particularly appealing.
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