Business/Leisure Trip to Germany in November (Munich/Erlangen)

It's probably easier to fly into Frankfurt; then take the long-distance train to Nuremberg and then the suburban train to Erlangen. Nuremberg also has an airport (which is 15km from Erlangen), but has no direct flights from the US. Instead of taking the long way from Erlangen to Munich, you could also explore the surroundings of Erlangen, e.g. Nuremberg, Bamberg, Würzburg, Rothenburg o.d.T. and many other possibilities (google “Franconia, sightseeing”).

Forgot to mention the ages of my kids but they will be 9 and 7 by then. Not sure if museums would be something of much interest to them.

We spend a couple days in Erlangen to visit friends and had a nice visit. It is attractive town.

Erlangen is quite near by train (or car) to the towns mentioned above. Bamberg has a half-timber town hall in the middle of a river. Würzburg has a castle on the hill across the Main River from downtown. Rothenburg is a walled fortress town on a hill overlooking the Tauber River. Nürnberg has 3 famous Middle Ages churches. It is great part of Germany for sight-seeing, my favorite.

Nuremberg is a terrific German city to visit and a convenient place from which to take outings.

Not sure if museums would be something of much interest to them.

Have a look at the DB (German Railways) train museum:
https://dbmuseum.de/en/nuremberg/exhibitions/the-history-of-the-railway-in-germany

Other family/kid-oriented museums:
https://tourismus.nuernberg.de/en/discover/museums/family-childrens-museums/

Then there's Nuremberg's Castle, the Kaiserburg:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187310-d659773-Reviews-Kaiserburg_Nurnberg-Nuremberg_Middle_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

And everyone seems to like the Craftsmen's Courtyard (Handwerkerhof) on some level:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187310-d241803-Reviews-Handwerkerhof-Nuremberg_Middle_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

Outings by train to the authentic medieval cities of Regensburg and Bamberg are also easy. Take the train on a cheap group day pass. Both cities have been designated UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites. This may interest the parents more than the kids, but train rides can be fun for kids... lots of people-watching opportunities... and and ice cream stop here and there can work wonders....... like this one near the cathedral in Regensburg:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eisdiele-am-Dom/211669348845414

I lived in Erlangen years ago when there was a large US Military Community in the City.
They organized daytrips in the surrounding area so there are things to see and do

Check these website of Franconian Tourism

You are travelling in November so many attractions maybe closed already.

Perhaps something for the Kids is Fürthermare
Not far from Erlangen(15min by car) in Fürth

and a daytour beside the already mentioned maybe the Franconian "Switzerland"
and here Pottenstein 45 min north by car from Erlangen
Check for opening times in November Erlebnisfelsen Pottenstein and more

First thing I would do is make a contact with the Co. HQ. They probably can help with your planning. I'm sure they can recommend hotels if they have hosted international visitors before.

Is the show in Erlangen, Nuremberg, or Munich? I've worked trade shows at both the Nuremberg and Munich Messe (convention centers). I didn't know that Erlangen had one. Both the Nuremberg and Munich Messe are easy to reach by train, they have their own rail stop.

Erlangen is a University town, just next to Nuremberg, and it's easy to travel between those two by train. It's also a really good town to bike around, but probably not in November, due to the weather. Expect cold and wet. You will need a raincoat and waterproof shoes.

If you can, fly into Nuremberg. It's easy to get to the train station from there and from the station to Erlangen. If you fly into Munich or Frankfurt you'll want to take the train, which you can do from the airports, with minimal changes.

Before, or after, the closest place to visit is Nuremberg, not Munich. There's plenty to see there, and you can spend weeks in that part of Germany and not see everything. If you do have the family with you plan to visit Rothenberg, especially the torture museum, and the castle tour in Nuremberg. Both of those are places German school kids go with their classes.

If the family is staying while you're working there's stuff they can do. I highly recommend taking the kids to a water park, where they can run around, play in the wave pools, the wife can hit the spa, and they have food and drink available. It's really nice in the winter, and every city has one. Just look for therme or water park.

November is kind of a quiet time between the end of the autumn fests and the start of the Christmas season. But let us know once you have an idea as to where you'll be based out of and i'm sure we can give you plenty of things to think about seeing. And yes, I'd seriously consider the family joining for at least a week before or after. (They don't have to fly with you if they don't think they want to sit around the hotel while you work.)

Thanks all for the insights! I think the one major thing that is making me hesitate is the weather in November that I'm hearing about: dark/gloomy/cold/wet... I feel like that would make travel hard especially on the kids. I'm also apprehensive about it but renting a car seems a bit intimidating in another country

It looks like the conference would likely end up being in Munich at a hotel BTW

Take the trip from a career perspective.

If you and your spouse are not in to Europe right now, use the air and hotel miles to take the family somewhere you want to go when it is most convenient to go.

I know it's a little more time away from the family, but try to get a least one evening post-conference to network with some of your colleagues from Germany or other parts of Europe.

@jkh, I would plan on networking w/ coworkers (and apart from family) while there at least for the two days that I'm at the conference. I'm guessing that a few of them that we met in Vegas for another work trip may be at this event (that team is from Baden Switzerland) and I took them to get authentic Tijuana-style tacos at a popular taco joint that expanded into Vegas (Tacos El Guero in case anyone is interested hahaha). They had a great time so I've made several connections that way and hoping we can at least reconnect and also that I might be able to meet a few other colleagues. We shall see!

If my family is there, I would just research ahead of time places they can go grab a bite to eat. Or, another possibility is that I fly in a day or two before the conference, have my family meet me there after the conference ends, and then stay longer after and we all fly back together.

have my family meet me there after the conference ends, and then stay
longer after and we all fly back together

Sounds fantastic. I got to do this a few times with my family...wish I had done it more often.

@jkh, do you have any suggestions on one way or the other? I figure, if they were to meet me there, it might make better sense for me to leave first and then have them meet me at the hotel but I wonder how difficult it would be for them to navigate. The other option of course is to all fly together and then they leave before I do.

The most ideal of course is just to fly to and from all together. 2 days at the conference isn't all that much and even if my wife wants to stay at the hotel, she can have the kids do their school work or maybe just have them do pool time at the hotel pool (well, if there is one). I'm not sure how adventurous she would be to take them around Munich on her own although it sounds like it really isn't hard at all?

If it's in Munich that's a great place to have your family join you. There's a huge amount of stuff to do and it's very easy to get around the central part of the city, even with kids. It's easy to walk around, the subway and trams go everywhere, and a huge portion of the population speaks English. And they are used to tourists.

And if they do come, take your kids here: https://www.therme-erding.de/

@jkh, do you have any suggestions on one way or the other?

I always went first and the family followed. This way my work was fully concluded day of or day before they arrived. No issues with my availability for the family vs work. When they arrived, sometimes I met them at the airport and other times they came to the hotel. We then flew home together.

Taking your kids out of school at that age for a week or two will not be horrible. What is horrible is if you ask the teachers to prepare work for them to do while they are out of school. Your vacation should not involve making extra work for your children's teachers. Instead, focus on doing things like having them keep a journal each day about what they have seen or done. Keep the expectation appropriate for their ages. Make up silly math problems about things you see. Do a lot of compare/contrast discussions. How is the food the same in Germany? How is it different? Talk about the history of the places you visit.

They can have a fun, and educational visit, without dragging worksheets with them.

@Carol now retired

We took the kids out of school for a week during our trip to China back in April (one week was Spring break) and brought homework with us. I don't recall it being unnecessarily burdensome. The kids are in a Mandarin immersion program too, so visiting China sort of felt like a "pass" in of itself haha.

I think the teachers at our school know and expect that families there are likely going to travel (it seems like many other families do this often). I think post-COVID, a lot of the teachers have adapted and become more flexible about homework and what's acceptable. Of course, our kids will be in the next grade up by the time we travel to Europe so not sure if the expectations will be higher. But overall, I think it will be manageable. They're going to be in 3rd and 4th grade, so I don't think any homework packets they get are going to be crazy (like studying for SATs in high school) haha.

So quick update but I had a call with my manager and our team and it sounds like our immediate group is planning a workshop together and it's going to be in one of two places: Munich/Erlangen or Budapest... They are looking at doing this sometime from January-March of next year.

If that's the case, I'm wondering if I should defer bringing my family on the trip in November and just go solo for that, then plan to have them join me next year... this in the case that the weather is better during that time of year but I wouldn't know haha. The other consideration is that the workshop will probably be longer than the conference I'm attending so my wife and kids may be without me for longer (unless they join me at the tail-end of the workshop perhaps).