My sister and I have 5 days to travel in Germany with our trip beginning and ending in Amsterdam. We will be traveling by train. We love to walk everywhere. We are interested in choosing 2 different places to stay and will take day adventures from there. We are considering Hamburg and Cologne. Do these seem like good options? Are they different enough for a varied experience? Thank you in advance.
For variety of experience, try Aachen/Cologne for one base (you could visit Aachen for most of a day en route to Cologne for your hotel stay there) - then the Middle Rhine / Mosel River region for your second base.
http://flyhahn.com/regions/moselle-saar-holiday-region-rhineland-palatinate-germany.htm
Rhine:
http://flyhahn.com/regions/romantic-rhine-holiday-region-rhineland-palatinate-germany.htm
Why Hamburg?
Hamburg was recommended to us. I am now thinking Cologne and Berlin might be the two best options?