A Specific Central Germany Itinerary

I would consider also visiting Dresden between Berlin and Prague.

Frankfurt to Berlin, where would you stay on the way?

Erfurt, Weimar and the castles around. Discover state of Thuringia.

A different option is Harz area (near Hanover) with World Heritage towns Goslar and Wernigerode,also steam train to mount Brocken.

The ICE network map for 2025 (link) and the journey planner of Deutsche Bahn might help you as well.

Erfurt is a stop on one of the direct ICE routes between Frankfurt and Berlin. Figure 2 - 2.25 hours to Erfurt from Frankfurt(Main) Hauptbahnhof, the main station in Frankfurt. It's a fine town and a good base for visiting other nearby towns by train for a few days. Eisenach (Wartburg Castle), Weimar, Bad Langensalza, and Mühlhausen are fine places to explore in the immediate vicinity - they can be reached by direct train in less than one hour from Erfurt.

Leipzig: I think I might choose to make it a stopover for the day on your way to Berlin; it's about half way to Berlin from Erfurt already, so you could just drop bags in a Leipzig station locker and explore.

From Frankfurt to Berlin -> Eisenach and Wartburg for sure

Travelling by car on the A5 and A4 Autobahn from Frankfurt 2,5 hrs to Eisenach from there 3,5 hrs to Berlin

or by train ICE 694 Frankfurt to Berlin 4hrs 20min stop in Eisenach after 1hr 45 min

Both Erfurt and Eisenach look like great options. Halfway between Frankfurt and Berlin, small cities, on a main line. I had seen those, but it's good to hear from those who know. I suppose I should just pick one, that's always hard.

You have gotten good answers to your real question, so I hope you don’t mind a bit of an unsolicited thought. As background, I was the organizer and group administrative leader for at least 7 of those kind of youth choir tours - back before I retired.

You absolutely know your family best, as well as how you need to balance moving around with the other children. Normally I would comment on how thoughtful you are being to not rush everything. But after having worked with parents also traveling (either with the group or on their own) on all those trips, no one was ever sad to have seen all the concerts because they are all unique. So I am going to second MarKK’s suggestion to add Dresden between Berlin and Prague, if you are able.

I would also say that not all of the performance venues and arrangements on a tour are created equal, though. So it might bear checking which is going to be more “formal” and where the concert will be before deciding between Leipzig and Dresden, if logistics would work for either. Sometimes a company will pop in a very casual and not well advertised (thus not well attended) “informal concert”. But Leipzig in June has the Bach Festival and there is some cool musical stuff going on. If they happened to be singing in Thomaskirsch, you would want to be there. Dresden is probably easier logistically, though.

You could arrive in Berlin for sightseeing before the choir does and have sightseeing time there. Then pick one of the middle cities for the next few days, hitting one of the concerts, then wind up in Prague.

Just a thought.

We visited Erfurt and Dresden when the old DDR opened up after the Berlin Wall fell. We were working for the US Army in Augsburg.
Visiting East Germany was a bit disappointing, since the infrastructure was terrible. The Communists had practically run the country into the ground. There were still lots of ruins from WWII, bridges on the autobahn that were destroyed in WWII and not rebuilt since the autobahn headed toward West Germany.

Both cities were worth a visit. The firebombing of Dresden at the end of the war did a real job on the city and it still looked a bit devastated. This was over 30 years ago, so I can't say what they look like today.

Those are some good thoughts about the concerts. I'm not the parent, so I'm getting secondhand info, but I was told that the choir didn't want visiting families to go to more than one or two performances, so as not to make the other children feel bad. I do see an informal concert scheduled at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, so that is something to consider. Is it extra special for performances? Or just the Bach connection?

I wouldn't want to add any more time to Berlin, as bigger cities are not fun for us with little kids in my experience so far. There will be some boys that want to see WWII stuff though. None of the concerts are actually in Berlin, just Brandenburg and Potsdam. I was hesitant with Dresden and Leipzig as they were more Eastern bloc style which is not my cup of tea. But maybe I'm wrong! I watched the video about them and my 8 year old said "that looks like here". LOL. I wouldn't mind visiting them all, but it's a lot of moving around.

I'm not the parent, so I'm getting secondhand info, but I was told that the choir didn't want visiting families to go to more than one or two performances, so as not to make the other children feel bad. I do see an informal concert scheduled at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, so that is something to consider. Is it extra special for performances? Or just the Bach connection?

What an interesting perspective. Perhaps other group dynamics are different - our families were inclusive so the kids without families were included and very happy to have people they knew in their audience. Or perhaps there are an overwhelming number of families traveling and not enough room. I will say that I am stumped. But people do things in different ways.

While the staff at Thomaskirche are so nice and accommodating, it’s a fact that it is a prestigious place to get to sing because of the history (as opposed to being over the top beautiful or more amazing acoustically than other churches) and not everyone is able to sing there. Attending a concert is more a matter of being able to share that with their child. But that is also family dynamics.

I liked Leipzig and Dresden both (haven’t been to Berlin). They are smaller than Berlin and Prague and strike me as being fine for kids, although I haven’t taken any kids there. Leipzig was MUCH more charming than I expected and I need to go back. Dresden is very manageable. You will encounter far more crowds in Prague in the tourist areas. Oh, and all I meant with the comment about Berlin was that if you start there earlier in your trip, you would have time to see whatever you want, with then time in the middle of your trip for a third city. I didn’t mean you needed to add more days.

That's a good point about Berlin and Prague. I didn't want to do big cities for too long either but the rest of the family is more interested in moving around less. But I am going to take your ideas and present that at Christmas, you have given really good food for thought.

It is impossible to overstate the vast amount of superb art museums in Dresden (and porcelain in Meissen). For those interested in wars and history, the Military Museum (with trendy addition by Daniel Liebeskind) is one-of-a-kind in Germany, if a U-Bahn ride from downtown. It is not the case that Dresden looks, remotely, like photos taken in 1948. Just one example, the hand-reconstructed from rubble Frauenkirche is a major concert venue; just look at YouTube, no cost involved.

Leipzig: We were lucky enough to hear a choir rehearsal in the Thomaskirche, which by American standards, is not a very large in-town church. Bach not involve, the St. Nicholas Church was a MAJOR center of anti-Soviet occupation and a big factor in the Fall of the Wall. I don't see how someone interested in Bach or baroque music could skip Leipzig. There are only faint traces of Bach in Eisenach, but we were glad to see the Wartburg castle.

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/leipzig-iron-curtain

I will say that I'm sorry I did not visit Prague earlier in my European travels. It is a very rich, enjoyable destination. I also like to minimize hotel changes, but these are all superb destinations. A quieter, less bustling, but rich in literature, art and history is Weimar, in the same area. (Also Buchenwald by city bus, if desired.) Consider also the UNESCO WHS Dessau-Worlitz Gartenreich in this warm time of year.

I can't comment on west coast air connections, but I don't rate Frankfurt as highly as Berlin, which is good for a week on a first visit. I urge you to check two-segment flights; that's how we (from NYC, home of direct flights ... ) flew to start a vacation in Cologne, no extra cost because Lufthansa partners with United. Have you considered Hamburg?

I would suggest 3 full days for Leipzig, it's a major German cultural city.

En route to Berlin I support spending a day in Goslar. There are lots of other places too, the hard part is deciding since you don't have 3 weeks or so devoted to just this part of Germany.

You could drop Prague but I leave that to your family's decision.

Places to explore in Germany here....Dresden, Leipzig, Meissen, Jena, Erfurt, Naumburg an der Saale, Weimar. Halle, If you want WW2 site Torgau an der Elbe, Halbe, Fürstenwalde, not to mention the Greater Berlin area.

Don't drop Prague, it's way too good to miss. And I'd aim at routing back from there to Frankfurt via Nuremberg; at least long enough to spend 5-6 hours walking into the old city.

Oof, tough. Leipzig and Dresden are worth visits!

I would consider the Harz, as someone suggested. It's very underrated and prettier than people realize. Places like Goslar and Wernigerode are great!