Itinerary Help

I guess I should have said we would arrive on the 7th in Berlin.

I've been to Berlin, Dresden, Munich (briefly) and Frankfurt. I think you are short-changing Berlin. Are you arriving on a long-haul flights? If you are, your first day won't be terribly productive. Berlin has enough sights for 5 full days, without a day trip to Potsdam.

It looks good to me but Rothenburg could be done as a day trip from Nürnberg, which would save you a travel day. That would give you more time to allocate to Berlin as the previous poster suggested. Also, it may be worth knowing (although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it considering your itinerary) that Nürnberg can be done as a day trip from Munich.

Good info. I'm still working on this trip, its far from being set. I think we want to focus on the country side but def want to spend some time in Berlin and do want to be there on the weekend to hit up the flea market. I've adjusted around where I think we can do three full days in Berlin and then I'm still shifting where we are going between and also instead of departing from Frankfurt, I think we might just leave from Munich and cut out Frankfurt. Always fun to plan and get the opinions of others who have actually done the trip!

"I think we want to focus on the country side"

All of your destinations are cities, except the not-nearly-as-unique-as-touted Rothenburg.

If you want to tighten things up a little to allow more time for Berlin, consider dropping Dresden and adding maybe a one-nighter in Leipzig. Don't get me wrong, I liked Dresden well enough. But unless you're a huge fan of communist-era Plattenbau architecture, the restored scenic part of the city can be seen in about a day. I think Leipzig is much more attractive city, and it's more on the direct path from Berlin.

"I think we want to focus on the country side"

Like Tom says.
1 extra night for Berlin (Day 1 will be compromised - transport, jet-lag, etc.) And I agree about Dresden. 2 nights is enough.
That's 6 nights for Berlin and Dresden - 10/7-12. that leaves you about 10 nights for the "countryside," your main focus.

I would suggest 5-6 nights in/near Nuremberg (which could include a day trip to Rothenburg, a 1-day proposition) and 4-5 nights near Frankfurt - probably in the Middle Rhine Valley.

Nuremberg is a real city but not too big and a good base for visiting some smaller places like (Iphofen, Bad Windsheim, Rothenburg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Amberg, Weissenburg, and Weissenburg for example, all very charming places, some of which you might never have heard of, but very worthwhile. ) Nuremberg would permit a day trip to Munich too.

If you prefer a smaller town outside Nuremberg, Bad Windsheim and Iphofen are well-located for outings by train as well. You could also hit some of the Main River wine towns (Ochsenfurt, Marktbreit, Sommerhausen) from these bases as well.

A day out - video

Daypasses for the above outings cost either €17.50 or €27 (per couple for both prices) depending on destination.

In the Middle Rhine Valley, Boppard, Bacharach, Oberwesel and St. Goar are all good base towns. Make day trips to these towns and to Braubach (Marksburg Castle), Cochem (Mosel River), Linz am Rhein and Remagen (both north of Koblenz.)

Middle Rhine Valley

If you pick Boppard or Oberwesel as your base town, you can probably stay there your final night and head to FRA by direct RE train in the morning.

Leipzig instead of Dresden is a strange suggestion. It's true that the centre of Dresden mostly consists of Commie blocks (just like Nurembergs centre mostly consists of ugly postwar boxes), but the surroundings are much more interesting and exactly what the OP wants to see. Vineyards and wine villages, small old towns, castles and palaces, fortresses, bizarre mountains etc.. If Dresden is a bad choice, so is Nuremberg. Actually, all places listed by the OP (except Rothenburg) were destroyed in WW2.

But there are other alternatives to Dresden between Berlin and Nuremberg. The direct train stops at Naumburg. Naumburg is a preserved town with a famous cathedral, which is good for a few hours of seightseeing. After that take the train to Weimar or Erfurt. Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, offers one of the biggest preserved old towns of Germany, and Weimar is a very pleasant small town and a World Heritage Site. Stay in Thuringia for 2 days and see Weimar, Erfurt and Wartburg castle.
Other trains from Berlin to Nuremberg go via Hannover and Göttingen, which means they cross the Harz mountains. That's exactly what the OP is looking for. The Harz mountains are full of perfectly preserved towns with literally thousands of half-timbered houses, like Goslar, Quedlinburg, Wernigerode or Wolfenbüttel for example. It's like the Romantic Road, but without the tourist hordes.

And in Berlin I recommend to visit Potsdam, and not just Sanssouci. Potsdam was the summer residence of the Prussian kings for 200 years, and almost every prince or king built a new palace or park. Today the city is surrounded by five royal parks. Sanssouci is the biggest and most famous one and requires a full day. My favorites however are Babelsberg Park and Peacock Island, which are much quieter and more romantic. The whole area is really beautiful, especially around the famous spy bridge.

Yes, the uplands around Dresden are far more interesting than the flat land and windmill parks around Leipzig. But if you're not venturing outside the cities, Leipzig is much more attractive. And more of a direct shot from Berlin to Bavaria. The intention is to free up more time for Berlin.

My suggestion would be Berlin (3 nights), Dresden (2 nights), Prague (3 nights), Salzburg (3 nights with daytrip to Munich), Rothenburg (3 nights with day trip to Nuremburg), Frankfurt (2 nights). For me, Munich, Nuremburg and Frankfurt did not have a lot of keep my interest. Happy travels and have fun.

Frankfurt has plenty to keep people interested, but it depends on what their interests are though.

The city has more museums than you can shake a stick at, medieval churches including one of the oldest in Germany and the Imperial church where the emperors were elected and crowned. Anyone interested in Jewish history in Germany, might want to spend some time here too. Frankfurt was the center of Jewish culture for centuries, home of the Rothschilds and Anne Frank, and personally, one of the most moving Holocaust Memorials in Germany. We have Farmers Markets galore, but make sure you visit the Klein Markt Halle too. Beautiful turn of the century neighborhoods, including the neighborhood of Höchst which just got added to the Half-Timbered Route last year.

Sadly Frankfurt was destroyed in WW2, like all cities on this list. Even Munich, whose main square offers just one prewar house for example. If the OP really wants to see the countryside and "Old Germany" I would recommend a itinerary like this:

Oct 8th Berlin
Oct 9th Berlin
Oct 10th Berlin (Potsdam)
Oct 11th Berlin (maybe Spreewald or Wittenberg)
Oct 12th Travel to Erfurt (stopver in Naumburg) ||| or Travel to Goslar
Oct 13th Erfurt ||| Goslar
Oct 14th Erfurt (Weimar) ||| Goslar (Quedlinburg)
Oct 15th Erfurt (Wartburg castle) ||| Goslar (Wernigerode)
Oct 16th Travel to Nuremberg (stopover in Rudolstadt from Erfurt ||| stopover in Kassel Wilhelmshöhe from Goslar)
Oct 17th Nuremberg
Oct 18th Nuremberg (Bamberg)
Oct 18th Nuremberg (Rothenburg)
Oct 19th Travel to Munich (stopver in Regensburg or Landshut)
Oct 20th Munich
Oct 21st Munich
Oct 22nd Munich (Alps + castles)
Oct 23rd Depart

Unlike the usual itineraries, which jump from Berlin to Southern Bavaria and ignore large parts of the country, this one takes the most direct route (less traveling, more sightseeing), covers Central Germany, one of the cultural centres of Germany in the last 500 years (Luther, Goethe, Schiller, Bach, Bauhaus), and offers a bit of everything, from picturesque towns, castles and parks to nature, museums and a big metropolis.

Hi,

"Never been to Germany." Well, you can choose between just the big cities as you have listed, (I would drop Nürnberg for Leipzig and skip Rothenburg o. d. Tauber), a mixture of towns and cities, or just focus on towns. If you want to see mainly towns, then I heartily suggest those mentioned above.....Weimar, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, and Naumburg an der Saale, which has church towers unlike anywhere else in Germany. I know the first two, esp Weimar since I made two visits there. All three are important in German cultural history.