Best place in Germany to visit

Well, where exactly in Germany are you flying in to? Two days is hardly anytime at all anywhere, since you will use up most of one day just getting from one place to another.

That's what we're trying to decide. We don't know yet where we are going in Germany, so was wanting some advice. I know it's a very packed schedule in 10 days, but we want to try and hit as many countries as possible! If you had one city in Germany to go to to see the history, castles, culture, etc where would you go?

Which airports are you flying to and from? Does your 10 days translate to 8 nights in country? This has a lot to do with logistics and planning. You do not have much time and none to waste by excessive travel. If you are flying into a Swiss city first and then leaving from Paris, in the short time you have, I would drop Rome and Germany and head to Paris by train with a possible overnight in Colmar, Strasbourg or Reims on the way.

If you fly into frankfurt, the Rhine is a short train ride1-2 hrs from airport. Stay in Bacharach . Enjoy the castle above, half timbered houses and rhine cruise for E10. You can jump off and on. Done it twice and hope to again next year. Take a beer and cheese or wine and relax

Practicalities are a consideration with your precious little time for Germany. Würzburg would be a possibility. It has one of those typical German palaces (Residenz), a fortress (Marienberg) on the hill opposite the city centre, which you can walk up to through vineyards, is situated on a river with a beautiful bridge, and... is only 1,5 hrs from Frankfurt with a direct train connection from the airport.

I agree with the Rhine suggestion, however even though I like to travel fairly fast - you are basically trying to get to 4 countries in 8 days. To me - Rome is the obvious destination to cut out. Think about how much time you will spend in transit between destination vs. time actually seeing those destinations.

May I ask why you want to get to as many countries as possible? You don't have enough time for it and you could do better justice to the places you do visit if you pare it down a bit. If you fly into Frankfurt the Rhine is good. Base in Bacharach and see Reinfehls Castle and take a river cruise. Ditch Rome. Way to far south compared to the rest of your itinerary. You'll spend way too much time traveling and Rome deserves more time. See it on a different trip. If your flying out of Paris than you could spend some time there, but I would really suggest not doing Paris as well and focusing on Switzerland and Germany. You could then add Munich to the Rhine and maybe even Salzburg. Do you have airline tickets already or are those still to be determined?

I agree with those suggesting the Rhine - it is just right for a two-day, two-night visit.

Map of Rhine Valley with FRA airport shown: http://www.mittelrhein-wein.com/Bilder/rheinlauf-gross.jpg

"Base in Bacharach and see Reinfehls Castle and take a river cruise."
"Stay in Bacharach . Enjoy the castle above, half timbered houses and rhine cruise for E10."

A few comments to help you sort this out...

• Rheinfels (not Reinfehls) is a ruined castle but it's an interesting one with a small museum as well. The tour is self-guided. It is not in Bacharach - it sits high on the cliffs above St. Goar. Next to Rheinfels is a hotel with an outdoor terrace-restaurant - outstanding views: http://sr47.de/t/pics/56e71e44de.jpg

• The castle above Bacharach is not one that you can explore. It was turned into a youth hostel many years ago. It's possible to walk up and back but I would just do that at Rheinfels castle in St. Goar.

• The Rhine cruise is a good experience. But a €10 Rhine cruise from Bacharach would last only 20 minutes, end in Oberwesel, and show you only a tiny portion of the scenic part of the Rhine. Don't cheat yourselves... cruise from Bingen north to St. Goar (1.5 hours) for a better experience. See map of this river segment here. What time do you arrive at FRA? You could probably do this cruise right after leaving the airport as a means of entering the Rhine Valley for the first time. Take the train from FRA to Bingen, walk a few minutes to the dock, board the cruise boat (5 daily) and get off in St. Goar. (If you stay in Bacharach you'll need to catch a train afterward - 10 minutes back to Bacharach.) This cruise is €20 but should cost €16 if you show your train ticket at the KD cruise dock kiosk for a discount.

• Bacharach has very attractive old-world buildings. But St. Goar has a much more picturesque setting on the river and takes better advantage of the river views. Also, Rheinfels Castle is right there, and it's a perfect spot to end a river cruise. Bacharach is definitely worth visiting and you should - but if you stay in St. Goar you can get there by train in 10 minutes. I think most forum members here just stay in Bacharach because Rick makes such a fuss over it. But for a short visit like yours, St. Goar has certain advantages...

• One more of those advantages: St. Goar's ferry crossing to St. Goarshausen allows you to visit Marksburg Castle in Braubach quite easily; it's only 20 minutes by direct train from St. Goarshausen to Braubach. The 1-hr. guided tour of this intact medieval castle is very special.. Rheinfels is a good castle experience - Marksburg is outstanding - don't miss it. Rüdesheim is a popular destination that shares the east bank of the Rhine with Braubach - you could visit both places easily in one day if you wish. (Bacharach has no ferry crossing - you'd need to catch a train to St. Goar to ferry across.)

"If you had only one city in Germany to go...." In such a case, the answer is Berlin. I went to (west) Berlin on my first trip to Germany, it was unthinkable not to go there as a tourist in Germany.

I agree with those that say that with your limited time you should consider dropping Rome off the list. It is too far and needs more time. I think a much more realistic schedule would be the Berner Oberland in Switzerland, then to Venice in Italy, and then to Munich, Germany, from which you can go to the Bavarian Alps including the Neuschwanstein Castle, Garmisch, and even Salzburg, Austria (yet another country). You can also just take the train from Venice to Munich and get off for a couple of hours in Innsbruck, Austria. Then after Munich consider flying from there to Paris.

"we want to try and hit as many countries as possible!"

Careful - they will hit back!

Seriously, if you just run around to "hit" lots of places, you not only won't see much of any one place, you will see a lot of train stations, airports, and/or highways, rather than the places you came to see.

Unless the purpose of this trip is just to be able to tell others how many countries you went to, with such a short trip, pick fewer places. Remember that the day of arrival (assuming you're starting in the US) is often a jet-lagged haze, and the day of departure is consumed with getting to the airport, so those can't be used as serious sightseeing days. Also remember that the larger a group, the slower it moves (four people won't move as quickly as a solo traveler or a couple), and a group only moves as fast as its slowest member (whoever that is at the moment). Remember that two nights in a place is only one full day, and one night is less than a full day. And finally, you lose a half day to a whole day when you change locations, when you factor everything in (packing, checking out, getting to train station, taking train, getting to new hotel, checking in).

If you have already booked flights from the US, where are you arriving and departing? Do you have any other non-refundable bookings (trains, flights, hotels)? Let us know, and people can help you figure out an itinerary that you'll actually enjoy.

4 countries in 10 days means you will spend much of your time traveling and moving in and out of hotels. It will likely take a big toll on the energy you will have for sightseeing. Our first trip to Europe was a 10 day group bus tour to Rome, Florence, Venice, Lucerne and Paris and it was fine but tours handle a lot of the logistics for you and on a bus we didn't have to spend time going through airport security etc (although back then there was no security!)

I'm agreeing with what the others are saying. And I'd like to re-emphasize the advice on how to count your time.

You say 10 days, but what's more important is how many nights you will be in Europe. Even if you have 10 nights, I agree with others that your itinerary is too spread out to experience much of the places you list.

June is like next month. I'm assuming you already have your plane tickets, so we could probably help more if we knew your flight itinerary. If the German part is not set, you're pretty late to try to find available flights for next month.

I recommend that you use Rome2rio to get an idea of types if transportation between your destinations, how long it will take and costs. It's not perfect, but it will be illuminating.

Since this is your first trip, I hope you have researched the practicalities, especially about money. You will be using Swiss Francs (CHF) as well as Euros (€). This RS money travel tip should be very helpful.

This does not sound really practical. Here's a better idea:

Day 1: Arrive Paris
Day 2-4: Paris
Day 5: Travel to German city (Munich, Berlin)
Day 6-10: Munich or Berlin (NOT BOTH)
Day 10: Return to US

Each city is a huge place, with a lot to do. Plus each has multiple options for day trips if you somehow finish the city in 2-3 days.

I don't think there is a "best place in Germany to visit" or best in France, England, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, etc. You have to do research online and in travel books from the library to discern which areas/regions/cities/venues in Germany hold great interest for you. What I love or any of us here loves could be boring for you.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who took the time to reply on my post! Lots of good info here and so glad I found this site. Due to unfortunate circumstances, we won't be making this trip this year, but hopefully I'll get to cross the ocean one day :). I will definitely be sure to come back to this forum for some advice when I am ready to plan! Thanks again everyone