American travel itineraries in Germany vs German travel itineraries in Germany

Rob,
It all comes down to time/money/familiarity constraints and necessary trade-offs, especially for non-retired folks. Guided trips by their very nature will narrow the itinerary to just the popular, well-touristed spots because that's what people expect. Guide books are hardly exhaustive and will narrow down the options as well. Marketing, marketing, and more marketing is the reason why people are flocking to Cinque Terre, Paris, Dubrovnik, and other hyped up locations, and not to the extreme boot of Italy or to Moldova or Georgia. Comparing Germans traveling in their own country to Americans traveling in Germany should take into account the difference in familiarity/knowledge of certain areas, distance to get to them, cost, vacation days at disposal, facility with German (language), etc. I live in Virginia and would not expect a German traveler to be as well travelled in off-the-beaten path sites in Virginia as I am - for the simple fact that the person has more barriers than I do to have those experiences. They're more accessible and I can spread small trips out throughout several years in a less costly way. I can't speak to why folks who are retired and have less limitations see or not see certain spots, but I bet it has to do with personal interests and other constraints that are less pronounced but ultimately the same. If you don't know how great a certain place is or even know about it (or have time or luck to stumble upon it), then it's likely you won't feel compelled to see it. Budgets only go so far and some don't allow for repeat trips to delve deeper into less visited parts of European countries. I travel a lot but will only see a sliver of the world in my lifetime and I'll have to prioritize what I see - I'm sure that's true of others too. Lamentable, but reality...also, let's not forget that there are also many, many interesting places not in Europe that compete for travel dollars and there is only so much to go around.

If you were to survey international tourists to the US, wouldn't you assume that the "typical" visitor also does "typical" things and sees "typical" sites here as well? Unless it's their 2nd or 3rd trip, they will be steered to the conventional as well (or wherever guidebooks and trip planning tools in that country assume they would be interested in and want to see).

I think you're right. I try to go beyond the all-Europe-guidebook sights and really love it when I seem to be the only American in town, or at least in the neighborhood. I look for ideas in newspaper and magazine articles, then get a single-country guidebook for further planning. Very rarely I'll end up somewhere that's perfectly pleasant but sort of underwhelming, but there's nothing wrong with a slow day every now and then.

Last year I spent nearly 3 weeks in eastern Germany. Berlin filled 6 days (and could have used more), but I really loved the other places I visited: the Spreewald, Erfurt, Eisenach, Weimar, Quedlinburg, Schwerin, Dresden and Gorlitz. My overnights were in Berlin, Erfurt, Quedlinburg, Schwerin and Dresden. It made for some rather long day-trips and stopovers that could have used a bit more time, but I was constrained by public-transportation schedules and do not like changing hotels often. There are a lot of other places I want to see in that part of Germany alone, so I hope I am able to return there soon.

Many European countries have those sights which especially seem to appeal to American visitors. Neuschwanstein is apparently the iconic German castle, notwithstanding it being a nineteenth-century fantasy and so many real castles and palaces are on offer. In Italy the classics of Rome, Florence and Venice are rightly popular, but it would escape many Europeans why the Cinque Terre is almost unvariably on the circuit. Here in the Netherlands most don't come further than Amsterdam with the Keukenhof as an almost obligatory day-trip, while so much else worthwhile is around the corner.
The short American holidays might be to blame. Two weeks don't allow for much exploration of the lesser known sights, let alone allow for something which might turn out not to meet the expectations. They indeed have »to make the most of it«, although it's debatable whether the tourist clichés are »the most«.
And Germany is a wonderful country with so much to enjoy and to discover.

Interesting observation Rob in Cal. Places that we North Americans tend to visit in Germany are analogous to Germans visiting New York CITY and Disney World in Florida and thinking that they have seen America. That said, we encountered young Germans camped in the White Mountains of California heading to Death Valley and beyond.

We were fortunate to join a North American friend on a two week bike ride through Northeastern Germany organized by her German friend. He lives in the North Rhine-Westphalia state and the Mecklenburg Lake District and Rügen Ostsee areas were on his must visit list.

While riding around Mecklenburg we encountered the Ravensbrück women's camp. Our German friend commented on the importance of preserving these camps so that Germans do not forget about that dark period of German history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravensbr%C3%BCck_concentration_camp

The Nazi elite also appeared to enjoy Rügen. (They had good taste). We rode by some Nazi holiday retreats on our way to the seaside villages of Binz and Sellin. But the startling sight was riding by the ravaged holiday camp at Prora. Apparently the Russians stripped the buildings of there fixtures (e.g. toilets) to take back to Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prora

The trip was educational in many ways. Wind and solar power springing up all over the former East German area. Discussions of the ramification of reunification with both our West German friend and former East Germans living in the area. (Seems like many former West Germans think the government is doing too much economically and the former East Germans think the government is doing too little).

Also interesting to learn from the Stralsund bike tour people that their biggest group of foreign tourist are from Poland. The Ostsee during summer (we toured early October and were the last group on the road) must be balmy to the Poles.

The touring company ("Viking Travel") we used did not have an "English" web page:
http://www.wikinger-reisen.de/radreisen/europa/7668R.php
Rügen, Darß and Fischland

http://www.wikinger-reisen.de/radreisen/europa/7667R.php
Die Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
The Mecklenburg Lake District

"In terms of German history there is so much more than the Nazi era..." Bravo! Well put. In 45 years of traveling in Germany on 21 trips, you see absolutely which cities/towns/ sites or museums are mainly or exclusively visited by German tourists , ie, if any tourists were around, they were German, and/or coincidentally, an Italian or some French, also by the early 1990s some Russians, certainly no Anglophones. I've seen that in Dresden, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Marburg an der Lahn, Luneburg. Weimar, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Duisburg, Eutin/Holstein, Sigmaringen, Kiel, Wesel am Rhein, Soest/Westf., Xanten, Wustrau/Brandenburg, etc, etc.

If you are into the war history/military and naval war museums, they are spread all over in Germany, such as the one, the biggest, you saw in Dresden-Neustadt. Look at Ingolstadt, Munster/Õrtze, Rastatt...very good, Stralsund, Koblenz, Möltenort and Laboe bei Kiel, Seelow, etc.

Lots and lots of towns for their cultural aspects such as music, German literature, if that's an interest, are located in north and eastern Germany, Neuruppin, Frankfurt an der Oder, etc

On the music I left out Leipzig for seeing museums/houses of Schumann, Wagner, Liszt, Mendelsohn, Bach, Halle an der Salle, Hamburg, Eutin/Hostein, and of course Bonn.

Germans tend to live in areas with concentrated populations, like the Ruhr Gebiet, but because the country is so compact, if they want to see one site in a big city, they can often do it in a day trip. But when it comes to a long vacation, they want to get out of the big city environment. I've spent about 1/3rd of my time in Germany in a small town (3000 people) in the Illertal of the Oberallgäu, and people come there for three weeks from the Ruhr Gebiet just to spend time and to hike in the Alps.

I think that Americans read the RS Guides and if it isn't in the book they don't go there,I have been to many places that are not in the RS Guides such as Dresden and Swiss Saxony,Gorlitz and Bautzen which were very interesting and not highly covered.We went to the Harz Mountains and Mt Bracken and based in Wernegrode which also has a great Castle,we also spent time in Goslar which is has a medievil theme.I have gone to these places because of interests that I have.
Mike

Rob, this is such an interesting topic. Thanks for starting the thread! I'm happy to see that you mentioned Tegernsee - it will be my home base in Germany for about 10 days this June. I will take advantage of hiking in and around the mountains and lake district of Tegernsee. I also intend to do a tandem paraglide in the area and visit Monte Mare - the "textile-free" sauna complex. Based on my RS guidebook, I plan a day trip on the well-worn path to the Kings Castles, Zugspitze, and Oberammergau, plus one overnight to Rothenburg o d T. My interests tend toward the cultural and environmental. What to do residents do for fun? Where do they shop for bread, fresh fruit and veg, clothes/shoes? What and where do they eat/drink? Is there cycling or hiking in their area, etc?

I will have a rental car and want to take day-trips and a couple of overnights from Tegernsee and that's where I need the help of the Forum Community. I am a relative newby to travel, (this is my first trip to Germany) but am SO willing to forge my own way, without the use of organized tours.

For those of you experienced travelers, can you suggest some day trips and overnights from Tegernsee? I would prefer to day trip to locations an hour or two away and overnight in locations within a 3-hour drive from Tegernsee. Would love to hear your suggestions! Thanks.

My experience is dated from the 70's and 80's. I worked 6 years in American Army hospitals. The majority of people working in the financial management offices were Germans. They tended to rent a vacation apartment in a rural area where they could go for walks or enjoy other outdoor activities.

One German told me that Rome would always be there next year, so he never got around to visiting it. That of course applied to almost countless places. He had been in World War II, wounded early in the fight for Stalingrad and then later captured by the Americans on the Western Front. The war-time and post war Germans were the majority that I knew. Perhaps the war explain the desire for peaceful vacations.

I will say that Germans are still in the majority in places typically visited by Americans, like Rothenburg. They are often the bus loads of day trippers.

Also interesting to learn from the Stralsund bike tour people that
their biggest group of foreign tourist are from Poland. The Ostsee
during summer (we toured early October and were the last group on the
road) must be balmy to the Poles.

Yes, the Polish Ostsee (Baltic Sea), but the German side is way too expensive... but also much better in my opinion. Most tourists on the German side are Germans (the region is Germanys most popular summer destination), but you also see quite a few Skandinavians, partly because alcohol is much cheaper there.
Most foreign tourist probably don't want to spend 150€/night for a beach holiday with mixed weather and pretty cold water. Germans on the other hand like the relaxed and cozy atmosphere and are willing to pay for it.
The Polish side is the complete opposite btw..

I live in the Oberpfalz. You can add that to the list of places not many Americans visit along with the Bavarian Forest and Nederbayern to the South and into Oberfranken in the North. There are a lot of little gems here and beautiful countryside, but you have to have the time to find and visit them outside the large cites like Bamberg, Passau and Regensburg. With having only two weeks and limited resources to visit and complete a whirlwind tour of Germany/Europe, not many American take the time to visit this region and I can sympathize with that. There are US Soldiers here that get to experience the region based out of Kaserne and Training Areas built here by Germany years ago, because the area was/is so rural. If you have the time I would recommend the area for a slower more relaxing visit. Costs are lower in this area too and German tourists take advantage of that. This area was very popular with Germans from West Berlin before the wall came down, but now things have slowed down some. There are still a lot of older German tourists that visit the region and you still see Berlin license plates just to the North of me in the Fichtelgebirge. Just FYI when my brother from the US visited his comments were "where are all the people" and "you live in the park." My Aunt and Uncle from the US visited for 16 days and we hardly left the region other than a dip down to Berchtesgaden and Oberbayern. My Uncle commented it was one of the best vacations he ever had, but they had a personal guide.

This is a map of the (former) American bases in Germany:
American bases

And this is a map of Germanys highlights according to Germanys most popular travel guide and the places Rick Steves mentions in his book:
Baedeker vs Rick

A good friend of mine went to see Bacharach a few years back not only for the tourist reasons but also to see the historical site on the Rhine, that of a memorial plaque (Gedenkstein) on Blücher because of 1814 and the Allied invasion of France. It was in early September, still a good number of tourists were in Bacharach. I asked him if he saw on his one day there lots of Americans, since the town is well recommended by RS. . He said no, mostly Dutch, some Germans, and fewer Americans, no French.

All four of my visits to Germany were based around visiting my good friend. He lived in Goettingen during my first two visits, so we spent some time there. We also took a day trip into the Harz Mountains and saw an East German watchtower along the former border; a 12th-century Cistercian monastery in the town of Walkenried; and a fort originally built in the 9th century. We also went to Kassel to see the Documenta exhibition.

By my third trip, he had moved to Hamburg. From there, we went to Wolfsburg to see the VW / car museum there; Wolfenbuettel to visit a mutual friend; Braunschweig to see his mom and the town; Alfeld; Hildesheim for the cathedral; Berlin to see the city and visit another mutual friend.

Fourth trip: Hamburg and a day trip to Luebeck.

Until a few years go, I didn't know that most Americans go to southern Germany. I've still never been there and would like to see it, but it isn't a high priority.

In terms of German history there is so much more than the Nazi era,
and I wonder how many Americans take the time to seek out museums and
memorials to those other eras.

It's also worth pointing out... the remnants of the period from 1933-1945 (usually referred to as die Zeit der Nationalsocializmus in German) are by and large neither preserved nor memorialized. Other than a few concentration camps, and memorials to the "victims of fascism", a historically curious traveler will find very little of "WWII or Nazi history". Of the physical remnants of the period, almost all have long since been renovated and repurposed to practical modern uses. In my opinion, the most lasting legacy is not what the NS party built, but what's missing because of their actions.

@ Mrs EB regarding more than just history in the Nazi era....If you're looking for that in particular, .there are lots of memorials, I've seen numerous, pertaining to plaques on victims, liberation of Munich by US troops, sites such as concentration camps...Dachau, Nordhausen, Sachsenhausen in Oranienburg, Belsen, Neuengammen outside of Hamburg, Ravenbruck, Buchenwald, reachable by bus from the Gotheplatz in Weimar, Flössenburg, etc along with WW2 military cemetery sites. If one is tracking these sites, military and/or Nazi related, one will find them and there are lots of them, depends if one thinks it's worth it to get to it. I've seen plaques in Lübeck, Berlin (Invalidenfriedhof, Gedenkstätte Plötzensee and the meathooks, (haven't seen that yet) victims of the camps on which the camps are listed) ,

When you go to Berlin and are at Bebelplatz (named after the Socialist leader), you know that's where Nazi book burning (Buchverbrennung) took place, Munich at the Marienplatz, Weimar (on the particular victim E. Thälmann), war cemeteries on WW 2 are all over, Go to the lower Rhine area, the big Reichswald mil. cemtery, military plaques to pertaining to WW2 to the fallen German soldiers in Dortmund-Hohensyburg, Koblenz, also Berchtesgaden, Also on hotels such as that on the famous Kempinski on K'damm in Berlin, a memorial plaque dedicated to the memory of the family, Nazi victims.

What about WW 2 military cemeteries in Germany for the British and Soviets in WW2? One can find them too. Aside from the two big ones in Berlin, the Soviets have a cemetery in Seelow ( Gedenkstätte Seelow Höhen), between Berlin and Frankfurt an der Oder, I found this place very interesting), Weimar and also Dresden. There is also the Polish military memorial in Bautzen near Dresden. Bottom line is, if one is seeking war related or Nazi sites, apart from Documentation Centers, you'll find them.

If one is seeking examples of historical legacy, especially in the area of Prussian-German military historical legacy, there are numerous examples of that in the form of streets, parks, statues, squares which are named after battles, generals, officers, which I've come across, mostly in Berlin, where I've paid the most attention, such as Stauffenberg, Bülow, Kluck, Lützow, Yorck, Scharnhorst, Moltke, Roon, Blücher...of course, Goltz, Hardenberg, Knesebeck, Grolmann, Kleist, Clausewitz, Großbeeren, Hochkirch, Fehrbellinerplatz, Vormärz, etc ,etc.

My experience with Germans is they enjoy visiting sites in Germany that cover all of the history of Germany. Neanderthal, Celts, Romans, Germanic tribes, Franks, Charlemagne especially, the Holy Roman Empire, many Jewish cultural sites that span the centuries (Worms, Speyer, Mainz, Frankfurt), and the Reformation.

Just around Frankfurt as an example, you can visit the Glauberg, once a large Celtic settlement and now home to a wonderful museum, the Saalburg, which is a reconstructed Roman fort, Mainz which was the home of the Archbishop of Mainz who was once one of the most powerful electors for the Holy Roman Empire, (don't pay attention to Ricks' advice to avoid Mainz). Visit the massive cathedral in Mainz, Bad Homburg which was the summer palace for the Kaiser as well as home of the 1st casino, Heidelberg and Marburg are both university towns that go WAY back, all of the Rhine castles, the vineyards and wineries of the Rheingau as well as the Neckar. Hessen Park Open Air museum is extremely popular with local residents who want to see how their ancestors lived and farmed. Medieval towns like Büdingen, Idstein, Gelnhausen, Seligenstadt or Limburg are all popular with Germans who visit their fests as well as go on regularly offered tours in these towns. Many Germans ride their bikes down the Main river to visit Seligenstadt, Aschaffenburg or even Würzburg on the weekends.

Aachen was packed with Germans visiting the cathedral of Charlemagne when I was there last year. Heidelberg always has lots of Germans visiting. Ancient monasteries are popular, like Eberbach near Eltville or the one in Seligenstadt.

So, yes, there are many other sites of German history to visit and the Germans make good use of them.

If you can understand a little bit of German, the entries in the German version of Wikipedia are invaluable. Although not every single village has it's own page, every town does, and if you know the name of the town under which the village belongs, you can usually find some information. The town entries will usually list the "Sehenswardigkeiten" (sites of interest) and/or any "Denkmaler" (monuments). There is often a picture, and sometimes even a link to a more detailed article on the individual site.

And if a picture is worth a thousand words, I've found that German Wikipedia makes far more liberal use of photographs than the English version. Nearly every town entry has at least one or two photographs. Some have hundreds, and in the case of cities, thousands.

I'm of 100% German descent. In the course of two generations we went from my grandmother being required to take German (at a Catholic school in KY) to my high school surveying incoming freshman to determine if they could get enough students to sign up to even offer German. They couldn't so I studied French instead. Our history classes focused on Britain, France, Spain, and Russia--the European history powerhouses. I don't recall hearing much about principalities, barons, duchies, etc. Modern day Germany was that area of Europe in the middle--Romans, Barbarians, Jutes (or were they someplace else?), Martin Luther. I've visited southern Germany. Eventually I hope to see the rest of the country. My long-winded point is that I think part of the reason is that despite the overwhelming number of German immigrants who settled in the U. S, many Americans are less familiar with the history, the language and the geography of Germany than we are with other Western European countries.

I am native German lived in the USA for 33 years now. I suggest looking up my hometown Fulda Germany . The best little place in the world :) Happy travels

The town entries will usually list the "Sehenswardigkeiten" (sites of
interest) and/or any "Denkmaler" (monuments).

These town websites also often have a list of accommodations (Gastgeberverzeichnis) which has a lot of places, usually on the more economical end of the spectrum, which aren't listed on any booking website.

@ Rachel...Jutes is correct within the context of the list you gave.