Where to spend a full week in Germany.

Sounds like a great trip!

Personally, my wife and I like Bavaria. We don't care much for big cities, but we do like Munich very much. So much to see and do there. We like the town of Mittenwald a lot.

But I'm sure you will get a lot of replies that Berlin is their favorite city. Berlin really is a favorite on this forum.

Or maybe pick a town on the Rhine and stay there a week. You can travel up and down river by train or boat. Lot of beautiful small towns, castles and scenery.

As for travel, depends on how much travel you will do, but possibly the Deutchland Ticket would be useful. It is still 49 Euros per person for unlimited train and bus travel anywhere in Germany for 30 days. It doesn't include long distance trains and it's a bit tricky to buy, but there is a lot of good info about it on this forum.

We too retired in 2013 and my husband is 75 and I am almost 77. We go to Germany every year at least once. We enjoy Berlin and Leipzig and Dresden in the north but we also enjoy Wurzburg and Freiburg in the south. This year we are spending a week in Leipzig where we can take day trips to Berlin and Dresden. We are also spending a week in Wurzburg where we take day trips to Nurnberg and Bamberg. My husband has cousins who live near the Black Forest so we will spend a week there also. There are museums in Berlin and Leipzig that would keep you busy as well as the Monument to the Battle of the Nations that is spectacular where we spend at least half a day. Good luck picking your places to visit. It is very nice having an apartment to use as a base.

I wasn't impressed with Berlin-too dirty and unfriendly people, but if you'd want to spend a whole month there, I'd recommend Potsdam. Far enough out of Berlin but has a cute city center, parks and you can still take the S-Bahn into Berlin. And Krakow and Poland is close as a day trip or weekend trip.

Like the other poster, if I had a whole month I'd probably stay in or near Munich but it's because it feels more livable to me and calmer.

We love the Rhine area. I would be very happy based in Boppard for a week and exploring the gorgeous villages in the area. Take a river cruise. See the castles (Marksburg is great!). Check out Bacharach for a ridiculously cute town.

We’ve also traveled along the Mosel and loved it. Trier is amazing.

Alsace is another great choice. We’ve stayed in both Strasbourg and Colmar, and visited many of the small villages. It would be easier with a car, but there are great towns on the train line: Turckheim & Obernai come to mind. Gengenbach is another easy ride from Strasbourg, and is soooo charming.

Jane, welcome.

To clarify, you said this:

But then came an opportunity to book a river cruise with my sister leaving Amsterdam on May 27 . . .

Does that mean you've already booked the river cruise? Is it a Rhine Cruise (to Basel Switzerland or elsewhere) or something more local?

Hi Stan. It is a Gate 1 river cruise, one week Amsterdam-Basel. Already booked during Black Friday sale!

To spend this week I suggest Berlin along with Potsdam. Good that you have 8 nights , which is ample time for Berlin , Potsdam and the "Greater Berlin " area.

Get yourself out away from the typical tourist places , more to the esoteric places, such as to Werder an der Havel, Neustrelitz, Rheinsberg, Babelsberg, and many other places , all very much logistically feasible. I've been to Babelsberg (its famous Schloss/chateau), These places deserve more time an merely superficial visit.

"have been to Munich, Salzburg..."

If that's it for southern Germany - just southern Bavaria - I will suggest a few days in the other Bavaria, northern Bavaria. Würzburg has already been mentioned, but more impressive yet IMO art the cities of Bamberg and Nuremberg.

Bamberg has been accorded UNESCO World Heritage status for its medieval old town:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fd/7d/1a/fd7d1a5cce6467ba232e106cd5fb8149.jpg
https://en.bamberg.info/sehenswertes/
https://www.frankentourismus.com/cities/bamberg/

Nuremberg is very charming as well and ripe with museums of every kind. Very walkable for a city of its size.

https://iflyfirstclass.com/public/images/5f0b9964cbbe8.jpg
https://tourismus.nuernberg.de/en/discover/museums/
https://wikitravel.org/upload/shared/8/8d/Nuremberg_Altstadt.png

This fascinating museum in Bad Windsheim, near Nuremberg, is outdoors:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g198421-d284746-Reviews-Frankonian_Open_Air_Museum-Bad_Windsheim_Middle_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

And I strongly endorse your idea for some time on the Mosel as well. Trier, Bernkastel, and Cochem are perhaps the most popular destinations. Fantastic scenery, short day cruises, castles, wine... and one of Germany's most scenic train routes.

Cochem and Reichsburg Castle
Mosel towns: https://www.mosel-inside.de/en/travel-guide/mosel-villages.html
Mosel train line map
Offshoot railway for reaching Traben-Trarbach

I personally think a week in Berlin is a magnificent idea. I must do, as we did exactly that this summer. So many fine museums, so much history, so much culture. And the intracity transit is outstanding, what with U-Bahn, S-Bahn and Deutsche Bahn trains serving the city with many convenient stations.

We stayed at a lovely AirBnB near the Friedrichstrasse station. Excellent location. But if your budget can handle it, consider staying at the Hotel Adlon on Unter den Linden. The historical significance of the place is undeniable, plus it's a great hotel.

I've been to Berlin a few times and agree with the others. There is much to do in Berlin and surrounding areas to keep you busy for a week. Public transportation will take you everywhere. I think a car would be a hinderance just in regards to parking.

If you want the services of a hotel but an apartment like room with kitchen and washer/dryer, look at Adina hotels. (Most rooms have w/d but not all.) There are three in Berlin. I've stayed at both the Hackesher Market and the one near the Hauptbanhof. I prefer the one near Hackesher Markt. That location is also easy walking distance to many sights including Museum Island.

On your question if renting an apt. in Berlin is doable: Yes, definitely.

The longest I have stayed in Berlin consecutively is 15 nights. However, renting an apt. is not an option as I preferred then to stay in a Pension, which no longer exists in Berlin-Charlottenburg. I would suggest if you do choose Berlin that the apt. be close to a U-Bahn or S-Bahn stop. My Pension then was only 3 minutes from the Savignyplatz S-Bahn station, from which one could access directly Berlin Hbf or westward to Potsdam.

As pointed out above, no need for a rental car if you do not plan on going out to the villages and small towns in the Greater Berlin, to see these examples of rural Brandenburg, this Prussian "backwater" feature. Are they interesting? Absolutely.

I am also in Germany

Berlin is certainly good for a full week, and no car is needed for the adjacent attractions. I think April is a little early for the Mosel, but I've only been there in the summer. I wish I'd gone to Prague earlier in my travels. You could spend a week there, although transport in
Czech Republic (and distances, like to Cesky Krumlov, farther.)

Starting in Berlin puts you near a lot of interesting "former East" places, like:
Leipzig: Bach, Wagner, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Mazur, Martin Luther;
Dessau-Worlitz Gartenreich UNESCO WHS, Quedlinburg,
Weimar, Erfurt, Buchenwald, Eisenach, Jena, Dresden, Meissen, Saxon Switzerland

We found that Poland is not "an easy add-on" to Germany, but with your expansive time schedule, you might consider two weeks in Poland, if that interests you. Are you willing to fly discount airlines and pay fees for your carry-on? Be sure to consider an Open Jaw transatlantic booking, so you don't have to retrace your steps.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/four-cities-in-poland-2019

I would caution against being on the move for a whole month of day trips, especially if you like pre-planned packages like a River Cruise. We love the "great cities of Europe", because you can stroll someplace new every morning.

We spent 5 days in Berlin it was well worth it. Stayed centrally and made use of two guides during that time. I came back with new understanding of WWII and the cold war.

Go to Konstanz. You can see Mainau, hike the Alps from the cable tram at Dornbirn, tour the castle at Meersburg, take a zeppelin flight, take a boat tour, go to Lindau, visit the Rhine Falls, tour Lichtenstein, visit Basel, Zurich, Freiburg, Colmar, Fussen, Lucerne, and Stuttgart easily via train. Plus you have the food, the beer, the cider, and all the antique and flea markets.

Our trip this summer wrapped up with a week in the Black Forest (after a week in Alsace), with a couple of nights in Basel at the very end. You could head out from Basel up to the Black Forest. We rented a car from Europcar, and I don’t know what age restrictions they have.

There are some ethnographic and cuckoo clock museums, but I don’t know about a lot of others. It’s more small towns, a lovely outdoor setting, some easy hiking/walking, and great food, at least where we were. We stayed up the road from Furtwangen, at the Kolmenhof Gasthaus, at the headwaters of the Danube River, which is just a trickle there.

That's easy: Hamburg, of course!

It's flat and very walkable but also very easily navigated with public transport. We have waterfront, parks, museums, the Elphi, musicals galore, and you can very quickly get to lovely places like Glückstadt, Stade, Lüneburg, Lübeck, or even Bremen for day trips by train. Or venture a bit further and hit the North Sea at St. Peter-Ording (Wadden Sea UNESCO) or a day trip directly from Hamburg out to Heligoland. It's VERY different from the rest of Germany, and that gives it a fresher, less touristy feel. Did you know Hamburg is home to a number of the tallest churches in the world? The Miniatur Wunderland is a great way to spend a few hours--there's nothing like it! Ships and trade and gulls and pirates and the freedom of the see and the love affair with wind--that is who we are in Hamburg.

Second choice Berlin.

On the Rhine I stay in Bacharach. I recommend staying at Irmgard Orth’s small 3 room b&b. I’ve stayed for as long as a week. Budget friendly. Only possible negative is the rooms are on the third floor. Irmgard at 86 grabbed my wife’s bag and practically sprinted up the stairs ! I like the small size of Bacharach. Boppard would be too big for me.

In the Black Forest I have stayed in Gengenbach for up to a week. Last time we stayed in an apartment just one block from the central old town. Previously we had stayed right on the main square. Unfortunately no longer in business as the owner has died. Staying there entitles one to free local trains and buses.

In the area nearer to Nuremberg, I stayed for 5 nights north in the town of Lichenfels in an apartment over a wine shop. Good transportation. At least 2 nice restaurants - we ate at one 3 nights. Best schnitzel I have had in Germany.

I just use trains, so it is certainly possible and easy to do.

Somewhere in Bavaria. Maybe Garmisch.

Thanks so much for all these suggestions. Berlin for sure and possibly Prague. We will be ending our trip in Basel so if we visit the south, we will do it then. Hadn’t considered Hamburg so I’ll starting reading that section of the RS Germany guide. But still open to ideas!

Rick doesn't do justice to Hamburg; in fact, I have yet to read a guide that does! (Though he was just here, so hopefully he will finally see us). Try this forum instead!

You have one week. You end in Basel. Go to Konstanz. It doesn't make any sense to spend time traveling further away, that's lost time. Travel down through Belgium, Luxembourg, the Mosel, and Alsace-Lorraine. Stop along the way. But every minute you spend going any direction other than south is going to cost you the amount of time (or more) backtracking.

Hello KCG, we have a full month round trip from Amsterdam before we join the river cruise. I agree any further south than Koblenz is just a lot of backtracking. My original thinking was some time to visit tulips and windmills but now can add heading north towards Hamburg, to Berlin, possibly Prague (never been to any of these destinations) and finishing in the Mosel area (my husband would like to visit Burg Elz) and train back to Amsterdam to meet up with the river cruise. We have never been on a trip this long. Last summer was a transatlantic cruise followed by the Loire, Mont Blanc, Burgundy finishing with a river cruise from Basel, almost seven weeks. We’ll see how this one goes.

Hi Jane — have you been to Belgium or Luxembourg? You could easily combine those countries with the Rhine villages for a wonderful one-month round trip from Amsterdam.

You’d start with a train to Bruges (or Ghent or Antwerp — each has its fans on this forum). Spend a week or so exploring Belgium. If you have any interest in WWI history, the Flanders Field tour from Bruges is highly recommended.

Then it’s a short train ride to lovely Luxembourg. I’d suggest staying in little Ettelbruck, which is a transportation hub, as you’ll be taking lots of short train & bus trips — and all public transportation is free! You can spend a day in Luxembourg City, another at the amazing WWII Battle of the Bulge museum in tiny Diekirch, visit Vianden to see the castle, visit Clervaux to see the famous Family of Man photo exhibit, now on permanent display there. Luxembourg is a friendly, beautiful country.

Then another short train ride to Germany. We stayed in Boppard for almost a week, to explore the Rhine villages — Marksburg Castle, a beautiful Rhine ferry from Bingen back to Boppard. Then we spent a few days in Cochem on the Mosel.

And then, it’s easy to train back to Amsterdam — perhaps making another stop along the way. This is a beautiful, relaxing, restorative part of Europe that we really enjoyed.

If you're going to the Mosel Valley, a car is a near necessity. There are loads of places to stop and visit. Burg Landshut offered great views of the valley and was mostly free and not crowded.
And don't stay in Cochem. Too touristy. Try Zell. Or any town you've never heard of. A car allows you to stay anywhere you find appropriate accommodation. We had a great two-night stay at an AirBnB in Enkirch. I could have stayed there a week. I agree with another post that April seems early for Mosel. I was there in July, and it was perfect.

Thinking the Mosel Valley May 16-23. Too early? Then maybe two nights in Antwerp before heading back to Amsterdam.

Quick google says upper 50s, low 60s in second half of May. Rain on about half the days in May.

Thinking the Mosel Valley May 16-23. Too early?

Not at all. You will be leaving the area just before the "Himmelfahrt" weekend, so the demand for rooms shouldn't be too bad, even in popular Cochem (which is popular for good reason.) Himmelfahrt (Ascension Day) isn't much of a holiday in the USA but it's a huge one in Germany, so I think your timing is close to perfect for this popular area. You should find warm-ish weather and reasonable room/apartment prices on the Mosel during your stay. I would not worry about rain as there is no way to predict what days or how much... May rainfall totals on average are LOWER than the June, July and August totals anyway for the town of Cochem (roughly the mid-point of the German Mosel.)

While Cochem is a fine town to stay in, it's not the only option. I've stayed there many times but also in Bullay, Traben-Trarbach, Kroev, Trier and Bernkastel. Cochem, Bullay, and Traben-Trarbach are fairly close to one another in the central Mosel Valley and offer good public transport and day cruise options as well as outdoor activities. See the train-line map here.

Cochem is nearest to Burg Eltz Castle and turns Trier into an easy day trip by train. I have traveled the area by both car and train, predominantly by train, and I can assure you that a car for the area, while it is one way to see the area, is not a "necessity." Burg Landshut is a ruined castle near Bernkastel - not surprising that it might seem uncrowded - but it's not a place one can compare with Cochem or other towns as it's not even a town. I actually stayed in this castle a number of years back when it was a DJH-affiliated youth hostel. I recall hiking there through the vineyards with a pack from the town of Bernkastel, one of Germany's most stunning half-timbered towns - and very much worth a visit, even when it's crowded. There are stunning views all around the Mosel Valley. A short hike from Bullay to the Prinzenkopf lookout, or a chairlift ride from Cochem to the lookout above town, are other ways of taking in the area's scenery.

Even in more remote towns like Enkirch (which lacks a train station) you can often take advantage of public transport. In the case of Enkirch, you would just cross the river to Koevenig using the ferry and catch a train there.

Mid-May is tourist season. The prices are up, the boats are running. As Russ points out there are other towns to stay in along the Mosel. You can get around the Mosel valley with a train. Bikes are very common also. It's close to home for me so I use a car, and that's nice for seeing places with a bit more freedom of movement.