Berlin to Munich 2 week itinerary help please

I know in Italy we like to actually stay in the small towns to get the quiet nights and mornings, but not sure if that's the best option.

If that's your preference, it works just fine in Germany as well.

We like airbnb because we can get 2 bedrooms with our teenager, but not sure if that's wise being in a new country.

Apartments (Ferienwohnungen) are a great choice in Germany too. Vacation rentals and agencies that book them are banned in certain larger cities but far more available in smaller towns and rural areas. There are MANY ways to book apartments apart from airbnb in Germany... booking.com and the local tourist offices together will provide a much greater selection.

Small old-world towns, castles, and vacation rentals are ABUNDANT in the Rhine and Mosel River Valleys. Some castles (Marksburg and Burg Eltz for example) can be toured, others are hotels or youth hostels. River cruises and outdoor activities are popular there as well. You would do well to book there.

http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/castles.php
http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/walking-hiking.php
https://www.mosel-inside.de/en/travel-guide/mosel-villages.html

First thing I do is come up with my base cities. I suggest Berlin to Dresden to Nuremberg to Munich . Get Ricks book on Germany watch YouTube videos and Rick videos on things to do in each city. These four cities are full of WW2 history. Look for day trips and tours in each and that will help decide how many days in each place you need to stay. Many hotels in these cities have room for three and ricks books will supply you with that information. Lastly come back to the forum for any more information.

...we're thinking Berlin to Munich would give us a good mix of WW2 history for my husband and son, and the possibility of beautiful castles, fairytale Bavaria, cute towns for me?

My previous post hit the small-cute-towns-and-castles topic but never got around to the WW II options in the Rhine/Mosel region...

• The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen was the spot where Allied troops first crossed the Rhine into Germany. The battle for this bridge is chronicled in the Hollywood Classic, "The Bridge at Remagen", with Robert Vaughn, George Segal, and Ben Gazzara - you might want to see it before visiting the museum that is now housed there in the supports of the old bridge.

• In Cologne, the former GESTAPO headquarters is now the location for one of several NS Dokumentation Centers in Germany.

• Trier (Germany's oldest city, on the Mosel River near Luxembourg) is popular for many reasons - including a visit to the grave of General Patton and the graves of the other 5,000 or so Americans who perished in the Battle of the Bulge. The American Cemetery in Luxembourg is a place that should be of great interest not just WW II fans, but Americans in general - and it's only a 30-minute drive from Trier.

• Also near Trier in the town of IRREL: "Panzerwerk Katzenkopf", one of the few German bunkers on the Westwall which was not dynamited after the War's end. It's kept open by a volunteer organization, as I recall, so I arranged to visit on a Sunday afternoon during their limited hours.

• Your son and husband probably know this already, but the Westwall was once shielded from allied tank assaults by Dragons' teeth like the ones you see in the linked photo in one of Saarbrücken's neighborhoods. Unlike most of them, these teeth are still there and in a few other Westwall locations. Maybe dad and son would want to check them out.

So based on your stated interests, the Rhine/Mosel looks like a place you could all get excited about.

I would add 3 days in / around Hamburg prior to Berlin and Munich.
Because "cute" towns we have in whole Germany - not in Bavaria only. Stade, Lüneburg, Lübeck, Wismar and Schwerin around Hamburg which btw offers the best place to leave husband and son for a few hours alone in Miniatur Wunderland. Hamburg is only 2 hrs by train from Berlin. Also Harz mountains have UNESCO world heritage old town Goslar with over 1,500 half-timbered houses.

Again the "WW2" question. What do you mean?

1. Combats and weapons
2. Nazi terror --> How could this happen?
3. Holocaust

Read post "Looking for Recommendations for 11-Year-Old WWII Enthusiast" for long list of places.

Berlin has the most places (see link to post). North of Germany has some remarkable places as well. From #1 Munich has nearly nothing - it was "only" bombed; nearly no combats. Munich has Dachau which is mix of #2 and 3; no kids below 14 recommended. Original purpose of it was #2, not #3. Around Berlin you will find Sachsenhausen Memorial (former c-camp).

Avoid renting tourist apartments in Berlin in Munich - they are widely illegally operated. The firms know about this but sell on and hinder authorities to protect tourists from fraud. Example: It happened a few times that the apartment "disappears" between booking and arrival. So, better stay away from this possibility of ending without accomodation. There are a lot of affordable family friendly hotels such as from Meininger Group or see list in Berlin.

Recommended towns between Berlin and Munich are Bamberg, Nuremberg and Erfurt if you travel by train.
Travelling by car you have much more options.

Automotive / tech fans?

• Autostadt by Volkswagen in Wolfsburg (close to Harz)
• BMW museum in Munich
• Porsche factory in Leipzig (not HQs)
• BMW factory in Leipzig (not HQs)
• Tesla factory close to Berlin has no tours - just test driving for interested buyers
• Tech museum in Berlin
• Audi HQs in Ingolstadt

Train journey planner: https://int.bahn.de/en

If one of your goals in Berlin is to see and visit WW2 sites, then I would suggest 2 singular sites among the many pertinent sites in the greater Berlin area.

1. Seelow Heights, (Gedenkstätte Seelower Hoehen) the last and greatest battle fought on German soil took place. Very easy to do as a day trip. Take the train from Berlin to Frankfurt an der Oder, itself interesting in terms of broadening your perspective on WW2 sites, even though the city gets no tourists, hardly any German ones, let alone international. Then transfer to the S-Bahn to Seelow. Catch the S-Bahn in the train station. On the city itself, ca. a 30 mins walk from the train station to the Oder bridges, (where you can walk across into Poland) , imagine how this site looked like in 1945 as the Soviets were preparing to throw wave after wave from their armies of a million troops against the defenses of the most famous German general on Seelow Heights and whose expertise lay in defensive warfare.

2. The German-Russian Museum in Berlin-Karlshorst on the Nazi -Soviet war on the Eastern Front, the titanic war of annihilation between the two totalitarian ideologies. Take the S-3 from Berlin Hbf with "Eckner" as the terminus (Endstation) to Karlshorst.

Usually it is a direct shot unless some construction is going on, in which case you'll need to transfer at Ostkreuz or Warschauer Straße (I can't remember which as I've been out to Karlshorst a few times for "exploring." ) . A bus is there that takes you just about to Museum's entrance (You'll know when you are there when you see the Soviet tanks in the garden). Walking it from the S-Bahn station is ca. 35 mins or so.

If your family wants to see WWII spots that the USA was involved in you won't find much in Berlin (which was taken by the Russians), and Munich (the fighting was mostly over by the time we got there). And while Munich is in Bavaria, it's not a place with fairytale castles (although Schloss Nymphenburg is fantastic).

Consider this: Fly into Frankfurt. Drive north to Munster (Best tank museum in Germany). Then to Fulda, where the US sat for 40 years waiting for the Russians to come over. Then to Wurzburg (fantastic castle). Then down the Romantic road and all the pretty towns to Rothenburg odT, Dinkelsbuhl, or Nordlingen. Then over to Nuremberg where the stadium Hitler held the Nazi Rally's still stands just a short walk from the documentation center (and there's a great castle too.) Then Munich and Dachau, and then swing over to Stuttgart (Porsche Museum), and then pick up the Wine road in Speyer (lots of castles and small wine villages). And then head back to Frankfurt.

I like Berlin, and Munich. If you go that route put Nuremberg in the middle and then you can still see some of the Romantic Road. But most of the Western Front battles are over by the French Border, once they passed that it was over pretty quick.