Hey Guys needed some suggestions. We are 4 of us planning to travel to Germany around Feb 16 2017.
Kindly suggest an Itinerary for 10-12 days.
We would like to start from Berlin and will be heavy on luggage...
Would appreciate some feedback if possible during this time of the year.
It would help to know your interests. Big cities or small towns? Museums? Nature? Middle Ages or WW2? Religion? Food?
And why do you plan to be "heavy on luggage"? Warm coat with muffler, hat and gloves, wool socks -- but you will be wearing that, not packing it. (And all your pictures will show you in the coat, hat, etc. so even if you pack 10 complete outfits nobody will be able to tell.)
It will likely be pretty chilly at that time of year, and Berlin has magnificent museums and historical sights that offer great indoor sightseeing, so I'd tend to spend a lot of my time there.
I've visited three cities within about 3 hours of Berlin by rail that are really striking for their architecture. All survived the war without massive damage and are great to wander around.
Görlitz sites on the Polish border east of Dresden. (You can walk across a bridge and say you've been to Poland.) It's full of half-timbered buildings and also has some art nouveau structures. Görlitz is sometimes used for location filming. Because of its slightly obscure location, it doesn't seem to get as many tourists as one would expect.
Quedlinburg is SW of Berlin and would be the longest rail trip, but it's gorgeous and chock-full of medieval architecture. The tourist office has an audio guide you can rent. There's a castle and a cathedral with a very impressive treasury (Google for the American connections). Also the Feininger art gallery.
Erfurt, SSW of Berlin, is a university city that I imagine is reasonably lively even in mid-winter. It has a very nice historic district.
If you need more museums, they can be found in Dresden (not far from Görlitz). The Historic Green Vault holds an unbelievable collection of objects ranging from the stunning to the over-done. It requires a timed ticket. Other important museums are nearby. The city was fire-bombed during World War II and only a small part of the historic center was rebuilt in the old style.
We are participating at a Trade show in Berlin so we will have our bags with samples for the trade show.
Understanding its going to be pretty pretty cold our interests are
Small towns
Some Museums
WW2
Nature
Doing further research we thought we would do Berlin and Munich and towns around and fly out of Munich towards end of the trip considering Berlin to Munich is approx 6 hours drive so we could break the journey visiting small towns. (Not knowing the road system)
We could add few days if needed (2-3 days)
Thanks to everyone who have already suggested...
Hi,
How many days will you be in Berlin? For the entire day 12 days? On the history and war related sites, that depends on how deep is your interest level. There are numerous sites in Berlin connected with the war history....cemeteries, museums, memorial plaques, Start with the German History Museum (DHM) on Unter den Linden.
For WW2 I heartily suggest going Seelow since you already are in Berlin. Take the regional train to Frankfurt an der Oder, then transfer to the S-Bahn. The Seelow Battlefield Memorial and Museum focuses on the horrific battle for Berlin which began as the Soviets tried to break across the Oder.
Notice that streets in Berlin are named after historical personalities, poets, philosophers, politicians, scientists, military figures, etc. (such as Grolmannstrasse, Tresckowstrasse, Hardenbergstrasse, Knesebeckstrasse, Kleiststrasse, Scharnhorststrasse, Clausewitzstrasse, Lutzowstrasse, Kluckstrasse, and on and on.
