Recommendations for Six day travel in Germany between Berlin and Weimar

Which Weimar?

hi ktraveler, welcome to thorntree,

first of all: congrats for choosing a great area to explore. in order to give more than just random advice, it would by great if you could share your interests and expectations regarding this trip...

regards

nautiker

Oh dear - has Regards overlooked there is Weimar between Erfurt and Naumburg?

Naumburg is probably a half day - the cathedral, and 18th century (or older) town centre. If the tram is running between the station and the centre that too is regarded as something of an ancient monument these days - I believe it is run by volunteers.

Erfurt has lots of history on offer and is visually worth spending time in, never mind exploring the sights. It is also a good base for the rest of Thuringia.

On the way from Berlin? - well you could do the obvious and go via Dresden, Meissen and perhaps Leipzig plus - although a bit industrial, Halle and Merseburg have a long history. A bit less obvious would be Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Dessau plus the Worlitz park. If you want to go the "long way round" look at the area south of Chemnitz, around Annaberg Buchholz and the Erzgebirge mountains, though public transport in this area isn't as good as much of Germany and often seems to go to places you don't wish to visit. You've certainly picked a good area to spend some time in - pity it is only 6 days!

Right mike9 - it was before my coffee.

Was it after the calvados?

No trou normande in the morning!

Erfurt is definitely worth a visit, a great town. The only disadvantage of this town is, that there is no extraordinary landscape around. It can be used as base for day trips to Eisenach(Wartburg fortress), Weimar, Gotha(castle)...

Naumburg is much smaller. It can be used as base for more rural destinations. It is located at the meeting of the rivers Saale and Unstrut. Both rivers have nice valleys with vine yards and castles where can hike, cycle or canoe. F.i Freyburg at Unstrut river or Bad Kösen at Saale river.

For traveling in central Germany: There are train ticket offers for local trains that allow travel within these three federal states: Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Thuringia. That's a cheap way of travel. If your day trip destination is less than 50 km away and your are not traveling within a transport association, you could use the Hopper-Ticket. More info here:
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/prices/germany/laender-ticket.shtml
A bit confusing: If you buy the regional ticket in Saxony(Sachsen) it is called Sachsen-Ticket. Nevertheless it is valid in all three states.
http://www.bahn.de/regional/view/regionen/thuer/freizeit/hopperticket.shtml
Hopper ticket only in Saxopny-Anhalt and in Thuringia.

Berlin ABC ticket covers some areas outside Berlin and will carry you to Potsdam and Werder, both worth a trip.

Berlin-Brandenburg Ticket covers not only Brandenburg, but is also valid until Dessau and Wittenberg. Wittenberg is famous for its history of the reformation (Luther), Dessau has the Bauhaus building and the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, a series of beautiful landscaped parks. All, Luther, Bauhaus and the Garden Realm are UNESCO world cultural heritage.

Sachsen-Anhalt/Sachsen/Thüringen-ticket is valid in all three states. Halle has a nice city center and some student life. Leipzig as the largest city in the area is also worth a stop. Naumburg with its medieval city center and the nearby wine city Freyburg/Unstrut are places to see Also Bad Kösen in the Saale valley with the ruins of Rudelsburg, the Dornburg Palaces high above the Saale (there is a train line along the Saale with hourly local trains) and Jena are to mention.