3 Week Itinerary w/ Family - Suggestions Welcomed!

In my opinion your ratio of travel versus experience time ist too high and the destinations need more time but you already said that your plan is to just rush through with min depth. One full day for Berlin only is very limited - especially if you have a history buff with you.

Only one day in Berlin!?!? Are you aware of what a unique place this is? Your history buff child will not thank you for skimping here.

Otherwise this is a busy but doable itinerary for the family you have described. I would skip either Prague (simply from a distance standpoint, not because it isn't amazing) or the mountains part of your trip. Alternatively you could skip Munich and just do mountains around Salzburg and maybe do Munich as a day trip. If a KZ is a must on your agenda, you could go to Sachsenhausen north of Berlin.

If you do go to Munich, I can say that Freising is lovely. And it has easy access to Munich, the Weihenstephan (oldest continuously brewing brewery in the world), the TUM, the Dom (which is the seat of the diocese--not Munich!).

Be aware that the mountains section in the fall could be quite chilly and be aware of implications re: Oktoberfest when planning Munich. October 3 is also a national holiday, so nothing will be open.

Was this itinerary list prepared by the teens? They need to run some mock train ticket purchases on DBB, and think about sitting on the train for six or eight hours. This plan maps (please fill in your home area in your newsboard public profile) "Sturbridge, Cape Cod, Boston, Hampton NH" onto an area the size of Texas. I'm saying this list is a bad use of three weeks. Sorry. This will not be the last time these teens will be in Europe.

Dachau is not the only KL in Germany. How was it selected? It would be helpful to know what "a family thing" means; for example, "... Uncle Ed was stationed here during the cold war". Does "mountains" mean serious hiking, or just riding cable cars, etc.? Do you need a downtown mountain like Innsbruck, or will you take the Sound Of Music bus tour from Salzburg? How about Garmisch-Partenkirchen?

If you have a history buff, spend more time in Berlin. Visit Sachsenhausen or Ravensbrück. Drop Prague and Munich.
Visit the Taunus mountains around Wiesbaden and Frankfurt if you want to hike. Lots of history around this whole area too. Mainz, Frankfurt, Limburg, Marburg, Idstein, and all the castles on the Rhein.
Everything is accessable by train.

Thank you for all the suggestions! I know it's a lot of moving and not a lot of soaking in - and a lot of train time. I look at it more as getting a feel for the places, so we know where we want to come back to and truly give it the time it is due. My family really enjoyed the trip we did to England/Scotland like this, so we thought we'd do it here as well. That being said, we'll chat it over as the Mts/Salzburg could come off to allow more time elsewhere (from what I'm hearing - Berlin)! I went to Berlin a long time ago and it wasn't my favorite, but I had no money and no agenda, so I probably didn't give it its due :)

To answer questions: Frankfurt - our traveling companion's mom grew up there and he wants to visit the areas he went to as a kid/where his grandparents lived. My brother was born in Weissbaden, so I also would like to check out the area a bit.

Hiking - light hikes. Just get out into nature, not do anything hardcore!

Suggestions on the top historical, nature things in these towns? Thanks everyone!

And thank you Howlingmad for the tip about Oct 3rd! We had Oktoberfest on our radar, but not that!

Suggestions on the top historical, nature things in these towns?

Typically, I try to identify sightseeing/activity objectives first - and THEN pare them down into a doable itinerary - one that allows me to see/do what I have in mind - with specific towns, cities, and specific train trips after that.

You seem to have done just this with Day 16, where you have something specific in mind. But in my eyes, the rest of the itinerary seems pretty arbitrary, guided only by random place names that share the rail system. Of course, your time starts in Copenhagen and ends in A'dam. But in between, how did you choose the destinations and decide the time in each if you don't already know what you want to see/do in these places?

What's top for one person isn't top for another - so it's hard to provide individual advice to you on a forum like this without knowing a little more about you aside form "history" and "nature." (Pretty much everywhere in Europe is truly "historical" in some way, right?) So If you are firmly locked into this lengthy train journey, day by day, I suggest you check out some travel guidebooks or look on Tripadvisor to find the top-rated history and nature experiences in your pre-chosen destinations.

My family really enjoyed the trip we did to England/Scotland like this, so we thought we'd do it here as well.

Sure. Travel is inherently enjoyable. But by trying out different travel strategies, you can compare the experiences to see what suits you. I think it's great that you're trying the trains this time, for example. It might also be advantageous to try a different approach to organizing your time this time (which I think is the message you are receiving on this thread.)

Day 9-11. Maybe Berchtesgaden, which is near Salzburg. Nearby Königssee (King's Lake) has a really nice hike. Take an electric boat across the lake, get off at the Salet stop, take the 15-minutes walk to Obersee, admire the Instagram-perfect view (go early to avoid having Instagrammers cluttering the view!), hike around the right side of the lake, admire the view from the opposite side of the lake, ascend toward Röthbach Wasserfall (the tallest waterfall in Germany) to find a gorgeous alpine meadow surrounded by granite peaks, and then continue on to the foot of the waterfall to feel the cool breeze coming off the water. Watch your step! Cows live here during summer. Head back the way you come and stop at the snack shack on Obersee -- you can sample freshly-collected raw milk from the cows or get more traditional snack shack fare.

Other nice nature things: Wimbachklamm. Zauberwald (Enchanted Forest). Other hikes.