second thoughts about our Germany trip...help please !

Your second thoughts are unwarranted. Germany has much to see, enough to fill your 26 days. (And you are including Austria as well.) I wouldn't worry about spending your 26 days all in Germany and Austria.

Given your flights, you have two options. One is the original plan you had, to head south to Austria and then back up through the Rhine valley. You could also do a more northern itinerary that would include the Netherlands and Belgium.

But you have no reason to have second thoughts. Enjoy your trip!

Hey it will be ok.. but with 26 days I personally would visit some other countries , its easy and can be very cheap too.. buying train tickets or cheap flights in advance..

In July anywhere except northern parts of Europe ( Denmark etc) can be warm to hot.. so lets not obsess about the weather..
Avoiding cities pretty well guaranteed to be sweltering is a good idea though ( so would not suggest Rome, I took my 11 yr old daughter there one July and it really overwhelmed her with the heat)

I think kids would enjoy a few days in Berlin .. but then I would head off for areas in mountains.. a bit cooler.. beautiful scenery.. the Castles ( kids generally like those) .. then perhaps dip into France or Austria.. ( I love Switzerland but my goodness it is so pricey ) ..

all is rebuilt and not original
Many cities have been heavily bombed during WWII and many historical monuments have been lost or rebuilt, but so much has escaped damage or has been lovingly restored to their original state, and can be enjoyed.
I understand you start from Luxembourg. Make a nice roundabout trip to Berlin via - for example - Kassel (wonderful waterworks: www.kassel.de/kultur/sehenswuerdigkeiten/Bergpark/01929/index.html), Lübeck (wonderful historical city) with the seaside resort of Travemünde, the island of Rügen (nice low-key seaside resort of Sassnitz, with wonderful chalk cliffs nearby) and the lake area of Ruppin, just north of Berlin. Dresden might be over-restored, but it has wonderful nature and historical gardens along the River Elbe. Around Nürnberg, which had a lot of damage, Bamberg is a beauty, nearby Vierzehnheiligen is a church like you've never seen, Würzburg has a good palace with gardens and you can walk through the vineyards to the fort across the river. Settle yourself in a village around Oberammergau and you've got the huge monastery of Ettal nearby, or have a walk to the Linderhof palace, or amaze yourself at the Wieskirche. And on the way back to Luxembourg, explore the castles along the Rhine and the Mosel, and enjoy the views.
Lots and lots of rewarding things to do! Germany has become one of my favourite destinations.

No need to despair. You're not talking about a trip next month, you have plenty of time to research and plan a trip as originally planned. You already have your flights so you know the beginning and end of your itinerary and that's half the battle. You have approx 23-24 days 'on the ground' to fill. All of Germany was not bombed to extinction; there are plenty of historic buildings, as well as whole towns, still in their original state. And Germany and Austria are both filled with gorgeous scenery, especially Alpine scenery and there is much to see and do that your family would enjoy. I spent about 2 weeks in Germany ( Cologne, Rhein area, Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich) and 1 week in Austria (Salzburg, Vienna, Danube trip). I'm a senior and traveled solo so can't speak to what your children would enjoy but Munich is good for kids with a good zoo, the Englischer Garten, etc.. A boat ride on the Rhein is wonderful though may be a little dull for children but if you stop at towns with castles for them to climb and run around in that helps. Berlin has boat cruises on the Spree River, museums that would be of interest (especially the Pergamom and the Deutsche Historisches), also has a great zoo and gardens. Nuremberg is a fairly tale city. I enjoyed Passau and Regensberg old towns also. The castles of Bavaria are fun for kids and maybe a trip to the top of the Zugspitze or a ride on an alpine slide.

Get a variety of guidebooks and do some more research. Come back here with specific questions and I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice for these areas with children. That will help you decide which cities/areas and how long to spend in each of them. Enjoy the planning!

What do the kids like to do? What do you like to do? I am planning a week in Germany this summer with my 19 year old. We are spending 3 nights in Munich and 3 nights in Boppard (Rhine River). I found lodging prices very reasonable for those two locations. If you pre-plan and get train/plane tickets ahead of time, you can save a fair amount of $$ on transportation costs. If you are worried about finding enough to do in Germany, check out the information on this web site and also look at the tours. These will give you a good idea of the types of attractions and sights that you can encounter. Look at the two family tours and you will get a good idea on how to mix history with fun activities. For a suggested itinerary, you could start in Berlin and head south and loop back north like this:

Berlin > Prague > Vienna > Triest (Slovenia) > Venice > Munich (and Alps; luge rides) > Rothenburg > Koblenz (Rhine and Mosel, castles) > Luxembourg

This gets you into several different countries and cultures.You can do some research to see how long you want to stay in each place. You can also cut down on the number of places (maybe Triest and Venice?).

The entire country wasn't carpet bombed. Places that had no military significance were generally left untouched. Even cities that were heavily hit weren't usually completely destroyed, and a fair amount of effort was often made to rebuild historic structures (much less so in Berlin, however). History is everywhere on display in Germany, and because Germans have a low tolerance for dirt and decay, much of the old buildings are very well preserved.

(all is rebuilt and not original). Everything in Europe that's older than about 150 years is heavily rebuilt, otherwise it would fall into ruin. Even ruins have to be maintained from the elements.

"we will leave Montreal july 10 and we will arrive in Berlin (via Zurich) at 10 am july 11. The return flight will be at 10:40 AM august 4 From Luxembourg to Montreal (once again via Zurich)."

Here's the itinerary you posted prior to your flights:

July 11-13 : luxembourg (our flight arrive in lux july 12). So one night Luxembourg
July 13-18: Train to Rhin base (maybe Boppard) Five nights in Boppard
July 18-23: train from Bopard to berlin (maybe 2-3 hours stops in Köln) 5 nights in berlin, Daytrip to Potsdam
July 23-25: Berlin to Dresden (2 nights in Dresden)
July 25- 29: Dresden to Nuremberg (4 nights in Nuremberg, day trip to Rothenburg, Wurzburg and bamberg)
July 29- august 1: Munich (3 nights Munich,. We have hope doing a daytrip to salzburg but maybe lacjk time)
August 1-3 : train From Munich to Trier (6 hours train.. a long ride), 2 nights in Trier.
August 3. take a bus from trier to Lux airport to catch our flight back.

Now you're starting in Berlin. No problem.

If you want to avoid "rebuilt" Germany, that's pretty easy. Get rid of Berlin, Dresden, and Munich - it's mostly the big cities that were destroyed. You land in Berlin, but you do not have to spend time there. Stay there on July 11, then leave.

Goslar survived WW II with very little damage: http://www.niedersachsen-tourism.com/data/mediadb/cms_pictures/%7B621c9776-b585-3f65-69e5-d629dca98e33%7D.jpeg

Hannoversch Münden has more than 700 half-timbered buildings that have stood for 100s of years:
http://www.hann.muenden-tourismus.de/fileadmin/Mediendatenbank/PDF/Fremdsprachen_Flyer/english-complete-hannmuenden.pdf

Continue south to Bamberg - it's so well preserved that UNESCO recognizes its old town as a World Heritage site:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/624
See Nuremberg and Würzburg while there - possibly IPHOFEN as well.

Then head west to the Rhine and Mosel Rivers:
Braubach: http://www.romantischer-rhein.de/uploads/pics/Altstadt_02.jpg
Bacharach: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Bacharach_BW_9.JPG
Cochem: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Germany_%289%29,_Rhineland-Palatinate,_Cochem,_Markt.JPG
Remagen: take in the WW II museum and the old town: http://www.bruecke-remagen.de/index_en.htm

The above destinations should require roughly half your time.

Fly from Frankfurt Hahn airport (easy to reach from Cochem) to Italy on Ryanair - that will keep the airfare price low.

Then fly back to Hahn from Italy and take the shuttle to Trier. Trier is not far from LUX.

"If you want to avoid "rebuilt" Germany, that's pretty easy. Get rid of Berlin, Dresden and Munich ..." and I would add Hamburg. That city was practically pulverized in WWII, like Dresden.

I would put something in perspective... just because a city was hit hard in WWII doesn't mean that today it looks completely modern. Berlin, Frankfurt and some of the cities in the industrial belt of Nordrhein-Westfalen are exceptions. But Munich, Nürnberg, Hamburg and many others underwent painstaking restoration. They may not look exactly like they did in 1939 anymore, but what city anywhere in the world does? Hamburg is particularly rich in the distinctive and vivid architecture of the Gründerzeit, the time period around the foundation of the German Empire.

Add a dash of Austria and Switzerland to mix it up a bit, adding some variety.

-Berlin (3)
-Romantic Road (4) -Wurzburg, Rothenburg, Augsburg
-Munich (3)
-Salzburg (2)
-Luzern (2)
-Lauterbrunnen (3)
-Rhein valley to Cologne (4)
-Mosel valley to Luxembourg (3)

Twenty-six days in Germany is not too much, considering how large, varied and interesting the country is. I could easily spend 14 days just in Berlin alone. Do not despair, you will find a lot of great places to visit and you'll be glad you had such a long time to enjoy them all.

You could spend a whole week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Bavaria, an hour outside of Munich) and still feel like you had barely scratched the surface of fun things for a family to do. Hike the surrounding mountains or through the gorge. Take the summer luge ride. Go to the top of Zugspitze and then come down and rent a boat at the lake at the base of the gondola. Rent bikes and explore the many, many bike paths. It is a great place to take a family.

Thanks to all of you for all those very informative answers. I still have a lot to read and think about for sure !

Russ suggest mw a way to do both Germany and Italy, my girlfriend is not very found of that idea. We've got a talk about all this at the dinner and she told me that she would find it exhausting to take all those flights to rush to many places in the same month and that our young kids swon't appreciated much either. I can't say that's completly wrong on this.

All you post point in one direction: There's many way to appreciate very much a trip into Germany, and the best way is too found what appeal us the most. I,ll continue to carefully read your answer before coming back to coment more (and ask more questions) !

I guess i'm kind of under stress to miss a place in Europe that would be more memorable for me and my family. We cant afford to go back every year so I was looking to get the best of it. Germany was somehing my girlfirned and I agreed on, but now that the flights are bought I was questionning myself about the rightness of my choice.

And by the way sorry for my very average english, it's not, obviously, my first language. !

Your wife is right - Italy is too much in addition to Germany in 24 days.
However, a little bit of Austria and Switzerland is not.

Hi,

Regarding "rebuilt" Germany: That does not absolutely mean because of the WW2. On my first trip to Germany in 1971, I went to Sigmaringen an der Donau, took the D-Zug from Stuttgart, took all day since it stopped at every stop. Once there in Sigmaringen I could see right way that the town had been spared the ravages of Allied bombing, the architecture was old, not the style of the hideous 1960s' reconstruction style I saw in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Hannover (esp there), Stuttgart, etc. I didn't go back to Sigmaringen until the summer of 2009, the town had changed, the contour of the town as you walk from the train station towards the castle, didn't recognise the place at all, very little, inquired at the hotel, was told that in 1987 parts of city streets and buildings had been ripped up or torn down so as to modernise the town.

If you want to see cities/towns in Germany that escaped the destruction of the war, survived it unscathed, these places fit that description...Celle, Flensburg, Heidelberg, Frankfurt-Höchst, Lüneburg, Meißen, Weimar,

In 26 days you could really experience Germany. All of Germany, and not just Bavaria and the Rhine, like many people. Most people actually don't have a clue about the country since they all visit the same regions again and again... including Rick Steves. And if they become adventurous they are surprised how beautiful the rest of the country is... just like Rick Steves, who discovered a second Rothenburg ob der Tauber... just by leaving Bavaria.
My recommendation: spend all 26 in Germany and travel from north to south, or vice versa. Almost everyone here for example completely ignores the north, the most popular summer destination of the country with several perfectly preserved town (which are World Heritage Sites), the biggest Nazi site of the country, 30 mile long beaches and posh 19th century resorts.
Since you don't know much about the country here are a few pics of original, undestroyed places of Non-Bavaria:

North
Stralsund
Lübeck
Schwerin castle
Lüneburg
Prora (Nazi building)
West beach Darss peninsula
Binz (resort)

Central Germany
Quedlinburg
Goslar
Wernigerode
Erfurt
Wartburg castle
Hann. Münden
Tangermünde

Eastern Germany
Potsdam
Wittenberg
Saxon Switzerland
Bautzen
Spreewald
Görlitz
Meissen
Kriebstein castle

See all of it and you already need more than just 26 days.
PS: only the big cities were destroyed in WW2.

Russ : thanks for your help, and once again, sorry for english. You don't have to put empasis on my mistake (Itinerary), I know I make too much of them but i'll try to make my best.

I guess I wasn't clear on my initial post. Germany was our choice from the start because of the history, the weather that should be less harsh than southern Europe, the bit of culture shock we wont get in France because of the fact that we speak french but not german, the fact that there's seems to be a lot to do for our kids (zoo, museum, attraction park). And then, like i've said, i've cross a subject where people where ask to choose between Germany and Italy. Add that to the face that some people around me (travellers) have question me about the relevance to go in Europe for almoist a month and only stay in Germany for that period, That's where my seconds thoughts arrived.

I didn't mean that we absolutly want to go to Italy, but I was just wondering myself about the rightness of our choice. I mean there's gotta be a reason why that much people choose Italy (or Spain) before Germany. Of course the main destination of our trip will remain Germany, our flights are bought and we have to built something around it. Thats why i've ask for an help to make an itinerary based on the fact that were gonna fly to Berlin and come back from Luxembourg.

Since we will arrived in Berlin we will stay there for 3 to 5 nights to intiallt get over from Jet lag and explore the city. We also have to be around Luxembourg for couple of days (4-5) before our departure so a base town in The Rhein and/or the Moselle seems the best to do. So il leaves us with something like 14-17 days between those 2 places. The northern Germany seems great but we also want to have mountain sights, There's no mountain at all where we live so that's something that could be fun and special for us. Make the north and the south in those 14 days seems a bit too ambitious, but that's where your help can be very appreciated.

Thanks once again !

Martin: thanks very much for that hard work. There's indeed a lot to look at. Decisions, decisions !

@ mathemilu....I heartily recommend the list provided by Martin.. Choose from those places. unless there are some more esoteric towns in Germany you specifically want to see, say Cuxhaven or some place like that. If you're making the focus of this trip Germany, great! A pity that you can set aside 30 days, an entire month, just traveling in Germany. My first time trip in 1971 was 12 weeks, seven of those I had scheduled for (west) Germany, no visiting the communist east on that trip.

As for the history interest in Germany, which specific area, towns, topic, regions, museums?.

Fred: I don,' understand that part of your answer '' a pity that you can set aside 30 days, an entire month, just traveling in Germany''. It souns like a negative thing to have a month to travel in Germany. The word pity is ''dommage'' in french which isn't good !

If you want mountains, then it is simple--Austria and Switzerland. They are both right next to Germany, easy to get to via train (most places), they weren't bombed during WW II (not as much as Germany), and plenty of things to see and do for families.

Keep Berlin and the Rhine Valley, add Munich, Rothenburg and a castle or two, and look into Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck in Austria and see if also going to Switzerland would make you happy.

Just because some people here would prefer Italy to Germany doesn't mean you will. Go with what you planned with your partner and be open to stretching your boundaries.

Add a dash Into Switzerland to mix it up a bit, adding some variety....lakes and mountains.

-Berlin (5)
-Romantic Road (3) -Wurzburg, Rothenburg, Augsburg
-Munich (3)
-Luzern (2)
-Lauterbrunnen (3)
-Rhein valley to Koblenz (3)
-Mosel valley to Luxembourg (5)

Thanks once again. Switzerland wont be for this time, it's too expensive.

@ mathemilu....Quelle horreur! My big mistake... Sorry!! I meant to say "a pity you can't set aside 30 days". I meant the negative of "can" since you had said only 26 days.

I can say that after more reading (including all your appreciated messages) i'm now very ok with a trip to Germany !

The problem we've got now is to plan our itinerary.

The only two things is our arival and our departure. Some question about our plan

1) for now we have 8 days in the Moselle, Rhine valley, Trier and Luxembourg, maybe a day could be cut from there.

2) here's what we got for now

4 nights Berlin (one museum, the zoo for the kids). We still wondering if we should add a day to a daytrip to Potsdam
2 Nights Dresden
4 nights around Nuremberg (maybe we would sleep un Fürth). Daytrip (still have to chose between Rothenburg, Wurzburg, and Bamberg) 1 day at legoland . May be add a day in that stop (we'll have to chose between Berlin and here)
2 nights salzburg
4 nights Munich (daytrip to Zuspitze)
7-8 nights In Moselle-Rhine. (Cochem, Bacharach, Trier, maybe day trip to Köln, Luxembourg city)

What do you think ?

I would perhaps do Salzburg as a day trip from Munich - less than 90 mins by train. This will save you doubling back if you are driving. Definitely make a day for Potsdam from Berlin.

@ mathemilu....Are you going to Koblenz? If not, you could still go to Koblenz as day trip, maybe 2-3 hrs. I ask because you have several days for the Moselle and Rhine area. To get an aerial view of Deutsches Eck, ie where the Rhine and the Moselle converge, see that from the Festung Ehrenbreitstein, the huge Prussian fortress completed in 1818 to guard against a resurgent France after Prussia was awarded the Rhineland as compensation after the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Ehrenbreitenstein serves as the HI hostel. I stayed there once for a couple of nights. You can reach Ehrenbreitstein by public transportation from Koblenz Hbf.

We enjoyed two weeks of bike touring the Mecklenburg Lake District and the Rugen area. A German friend set up the self guided tour through a German Touring firm but a similar English language website are:

http://wheel2wheelholidays.com/ruegen-island-culinary-tour-cycling-holidays

https://www.mecklenburger-radtour.de/en/radurlaub.html

An active holiday would be more interesting to normal kids than seeing old paintings and churches, in my opinion.

mathemilu,

You've received lots of good comments from the Germany experts on the forum, but I have one comment......

"a way to do both Germany and Italy, my girlfriend is not very found of that idea. We've got a talk about all this at the dinner and she told me that she would find it exhausting to take all those flights to rush to many places in the same month"

If you're going to be in southern Germany, it's not a huge problem to reach northern Italy via the Brenner Pass, so no flights would be necessary. It's a very relaxing trip by train so not exhausting at all (you can sleep during the trip to make it less exhausting). However, as you appear to want to focus on Germany this time, you can certainly visit Italy on another occasion.

Are you using Germany guidebooks to plan your trip? Those would be the best way to find sights that would most interest you and your family. The books also provide lot of good information on the opening & closing times of various Museums, admission charges, transit information, hotels, restaurants, etc.

A few additional thoughts on the most recent Itinerary you posted....

• Berlin - 4 nights is good, but with that time frame I'd suggest skipping the day trip to Potsdam. There are LOTS of sights to see in Berlin. Keep in mind that you may be jet lagged for a few days and with small children you may not be able to move as quickly and will have to take more frequent rest breaks.
• Dresden - 2 nights is fine, but that will only provide about 1.5 days for actual touring. If there are a few sights you want to see there, you could take add one night there.
• Nürnberg - 4 nights should be good, and I'll leave the question on which place to visit on a day trip to the collective wisdom of the forum. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is very scenic and the children might enjoy the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas store. Getting to Rothenburg from Nürnberg will require at least one train change (Steinach as I recall). At that time of year, it may be crowded during the day time.
• Salzburg - 2 nights would be good. While you could visit Salzburg as a day trip from Munich, you might enjoy the city more by spending a few nights there. The town has a different character in the evenings.
• Munich - 4 nights is about right. You could also take a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle in Füssen (will take about half a day). You can do that trip on your own, or take an organized day trip with Radius Tours - your choice.
• Mosel - Rhine - 7-8 nights might be a bit too long, but again I'll leave that to the collective wisdom of the group. You might allow one or two nights in Luxembourg prior to your flight home. Which town in the Mosel-Rhine area were you planning to stay in? There's been some discussion on that topic on the forum recently, and some seem to prefer Boppard. I find St. Goar too "busy" and that will likely also be the case when you're there. I stayed in Bacharach when I was last in that area. I'm sure the group will have some comments on that.

For planning your rail journeys, the best resource is the Bahn.de website. Don't be too concerned about not being able to speak German. While it's always nice to learn a few of the polite words (ie: Good morning, Good Evening, Please, Thank you), most of the people you'll be dealing with will be able to function in English. Europeans are very clever with languages, so you may also find some that can speak French (although it will likely not be Québécois).

Good luck with your planning!

Thanks to all for all your answer, they gave us a lot to think about ! It's always a good surprise me to see all people who take their time to help total strangers ! It's people like you who are gonna make our trip more enjoyable !

Of course it's possible to go to Italy but that would mean to cut a lot from Germany. The first thing to notice is that we have too much time in Moselle. We have a Michelin guide book here and they say that 2 days could be enough in this region (by car). We think about renting a car for our last leg (munich to Rhine). We would leave the car in Trier to avoid paying a fees for droping in Luxembourg. Of course, since our flight is from there, we would take the time to visit Luxembourg, we don't know what would be better sleep there or do a daytrip from Trier and take a bus from Trier to the airport next morning.

Ken: it always funny to see people think that we don't realy speak french in Québec. We have our own expressions and accent but where in the world they dont have those ? I'm nos insulted or anything here by the way !

mathemilu,

I didn't mean to imply that you can't speak French (LOL). I was just pointing out that the version spoken in Europe is slightly different than what you're used to in Quebec. Europeans have told me that Québécois is "the old French". There are regional dialects in all parts of Europe, so that's not unusual.

Regarding the guidebook, I would highly recommend having a look at the Rick Steves Germany 2016 guidebook. I find the RS books much more logically organized and useful than any of the others (and I have looked at lots of other books). You should be able to find a copy at your local Library or larger book stores. Many of the books are also available as E-books in Kindle, iBooks and other formats, and you can download one of those in a few minutes if you have a compatible E-Reader. You can also use the Kindle app which works for smart phones, PC's, MAC's, etc. (I believe Nook and some of the others also have downloadable software, but of course you'll be limited to buying books in that format). I've been using the Kindle version for many years and find that it works well, although I much prefer to use a "paper" copy when possible.

I may have more comments later. Time for lunch....

Hello!
So much to read here - you have many experts helping with your itinerary so you are very lucky.
I am not one of those experts, but IMO, I have become very good at traveling with three children and what makes them happy. Pool, pool, pool, pool, pool! Did I mention pool? There are many gites/boltholds/villas you can choose from in either of these locations, and you can sort to include a pool, Wi-Fi, air-conditioning, etc. Also, when we visited Salzburg, we used Rick's recommendation to stay mid-mountain in Werfenweng, Austria. In just a 45 minute drive, we were singing how the hills were alive over in Salzburg, and then returned "home" for the kids to play on the mountain (no pool), which they loved. Younger kids often prefer rural/country locations over big cities. Also, for a 16-day trip, we have typically had no more than 3-4 base locations and stick with no more than two countries.
Also, by using a gite, etc., the cost goes down if you can book in one place for an entire week. Keep in mind, young kids enjoy these things more when they have a bit of consistency. If they enjoy this trip, they will begin to look forward to exploring more with you in the future.
Best of luck!!

Stick with your original plan, it will be just fine. We LOVE Germany! You would never know it has been rebuilt because whatever has been rebuilt has been done with such originality that it looks old and beautiful! Germany is much cheaper than other areas in Europe and you will love it and your kids too. Don't stress!! It will be just fine!

Last year I took my 14-year-old grandson to Italy and Germany, spending five days in each. He was interested enough in the historic aspects of Rome, but he loved our time in Munich and our side trips to Nuremberg, Herrsching and Dießen. He said, "I could live here!"

Wherever you go, look for opportunities for the youngsters to interact with locals. My grandson and I attended a Sunday evening contemporary worship service at historic St. Matthäuskirche in Munich. There we met a lovely English-speaking couple who invited us to their home for dinner afterward. We had a wonderful time and have new friends for life!