My daughter is going to be in Berlin this summer and we want to meet her there for a few days. Where should we go from there? Prague? Munich? Vienna? We have about 2 weeks, but are flexible. Totally open to suggestions on destinations and mode of travel.....thinking trains make sense. Our 18 year old son loves soccer (to watch and to play). My husband does not want to "race around." There are 4 of us--2 active parents and 2 young adults. Easy biking could factor in...or walking tours...even village to village walks.
Knowing your travel dates would be helpful. The Womens World Cup is being held in Germany this year, so this should be exciting to watch. I think almost all of the games are already sold out though. The cities where the games are played, will have arenas set aside, but all the cafe's, and restaurants will be watching too. It is so much fun to sit outside at a cafe where everyone is watching football, and cheering. Very nice atmosphere. Your daughter may have some good ideas of towns to visit too, if she is going to be there. For near-by towns, besides Dresden, consider visiting Hamburg, Kiel, Potsdam, Quedlinburg, Luebeck, etc. There is no need to travel so far away from Berlin as going off to Munich or Vienna. The North Sea is close by, or you could visit the Spree Forest. Berlin has lots of walking and biking tour companies to choose from.
Thank you! We will be there in early August. We are counting on our daughter to take care of us in Berlin, but would like to explore further. Our son has a soccer friend in Bremmen....do you know anything about that area?
Werder Bremen is one of the top clubs in the Bundesliga. The 2011/12 season starts the first weekend in August so you might be able to get tickets. www.werder.de/en/
Michele, My son and I spent two weeks in Germany this past Summer and did see all of the cities you mentioned. We actually started in Franfurt and then went to Heidelberg, Rothenberg, Ulm, Salzburg, Munich, Bertschgaden, Prague, and finally ended up in Berlin, just in time to see the World Cup. We did drive the entire time, which gave us the freedom of going where ever we wanted. We only made reservation the first two days and the last two days of our trip, and only because we wanted to stay in specific hotels/hostels. The rest of the time we just found the local tourist center and had them recommed a place to stay. This worked out fine except when we were in Munich and they were having to large conventions. We finally found a room for the night, but even considered sleeping in the car. I guess this is just a long winded way of saying that if you have two weeks, you could see all the places you mentioned and not have to "race around"
Thank you all. Great feedback!
Do you have Rick Steves' "Germany 2011" guide book yet?
If so great. If not, I would suggest you get it as soon as possible as it sure helped us in planning our Germany trip this coming summer.
I am planning to buy it soon. Thanks!
The only thing with the RS Germany books, is that the complete northern part of Germany is ignored, so though Berlin is covered, all the rest of the cities that are near-by aren't there. Nothing about Hamburg, Hannover, the North Sea, the Spree Wald, Lübeck, Quedlinburg, etc. It is a shame really, and hopefully, 2012 will feature some of these great destinations.