First Trip

Of the places you have mentioned - I have only been to Munich and Prague. If you have to choose between Berlin and Munich - I think you will find persuasive arguments on both sides.

For Munich....ah, I love Munich. It is just a perfect combination of history and fun beer gardens and lovely welcoming people. Easy town to navigate and really pretty. Munich has a fantastic outdoor market where you can get picnic items or food to go. The largest park in all of Europe (gorgeous) where you can go naked if you want (The English Garden). The Residenz is great (but the audio guide is DRY). I would skip the Deutches Museum personally - it was just not my cup of tea. The Hofbrauhaus is touristy for sure - but a great atmosphere and I enjoyed it. A good place for Pork Knuckle and Beer. You have to go to Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel just because it is a recognizable place in Munich. My husband and I are fans of Lowenbrau - esp dark Lowenbrau (dunkel) if you see it on tap.

Then for Prague...there are probably culinary delights to be had but we kept going back to the Old Town Square for Sausages and beer and street food. It was cheap and yummy. Each night I think we spent 6 Euro for food. Go to the Restaurant/Hotel Medvidku for the original Budweiser...not American Busweiser...the real stuff. St. Wenselas Square is powerful when you stand there and read the history that has happened and see the bullet holes in patched in the buildings. St. Charles bridge was under massive renovation, so it was just okay. Touring the church was well worth it. It takes a long time - the whole history of the Czech Republic lies in that one church! By the way, there is a Saint in there that murdered his son. Make sure you see that part of the church. It stuck with me. You can actually commit murder and that doesn't necessarily mean you can't become a saint! crazy! I am almost out of room - I have to post one more to finish...

sorry to be long winded...but to finish up about Prague...

If you are feeling particulary adventurous and LIMBER maybe a Thai massage will be in order. I did a regular oil massage and my husband did the Thai. He basically got the crap beat out of him for a half hour. He said he wanted to "tap out" from the fight 10 minutes in. But two hours later he felt lik a million dollars.

Turkish coffee sold all around Prague basically means that you need to use your front teeth to filter out the coffee grounds.

One last thing. Prague is crowded! I thought "how bad can it be?" I have been to Paris and Rome and Disney World for that matter - how bad can the crowds be? But it is a constant shuffle of people and everyone is carrying a map and guidebook. That wore me down and I was glad to leave that when it was time to go. But I have lots of good memories of Prague.

Seth,

As this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend pre-reading Europe Through The Back Door before you leave. Read the "Rail Skills" chapter carefully, so that you're "up to speed" on how the trains work.

Regarding your choices of cities, do you have the time to spend a few days in all of them? You could (for example) make a "loop" from Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Munich, and return home from Munich. Be sure to allow for adequate travel times between cities (you can find the travel times and other details on the bahn.de website).

Happy travels!

Amy,
Thank you so much for your quick, thorough response.

Part of our rationale for going to Munich was the beer garden scene, as well as having the ability to shoot down to Austria or Switzerland.

I do not know much about Berlin or Munich, but we plan on going to Prague, as we already have a flight out of Prague scheduled.

My concern is fitting everything in in two weeks, and getting the proverbial "Bang for our buck"...

Any suggestions of things to do/see in:

Dublin (and surrounding areas)
Amsterdam (and surrounding areas)
Berlin (and surrounding areas)

Thanks.