We have just 1 week to visit Germany late June and early July. We will be in Switzerland the 2 weeks prior; coming from and returning to Zurich.
Is there a "southern" route that makes sense? Any small hotels in Black Forest that can be recommended? If we have time, do you suggest a day trip to Salzburg?
Are there any festivals or ceremonies during that time that we should definitely see? We are interested in art, technology, robotics, cars, science, gardens, and castles.
Thanks!
If you're returning to Zurich, you're right, Berlin's too far. Munich is a ways too.
"My teens like both city and countryside. One would like to see the Black Forrest. We would also like to visit one of the concentration camp memorials."
The Black Forest makes very good sense as it's not far from Zurich. It would be a good place to spend a few days seeing the BF villages, the open-air museum in Gutach (Vogtsbauernhof) and doing some outdoor activities. Then maybe you could add some nearby places of interest...
Freiburg is a vibrant and interesting university town. Just outside the Black Forest in the direction of Stuttgart is the attractive town of Tübingen. Stuttgart itself may interest you (M. Benz museum?) Strasbourg and Colmar (France) are just across the border and make for interesting visits. Lake Constance (Bodensee) straddles the Swiss/German Border and has some interesting places to visit as well (Meersburg and its castle, the nearby Zeppelin Museum, Mainau, and Lindau,)
In the Black Forest itself, some nice towns lie on/near the Black Forest Railway, one of Germany's most scenic train routes -
Gutach
Schiltach
Gengenbach
Haslach
Villingen (in German, see photos)
Haslach is home to the Gedenkstätte Vulkan work/concentration camp memorial, which I visited recently. You can hike there from town.
Some BF towns like Gengenbach offer the KONUS card for free train travel to all guests throughout their stay. Gengenbach is on the BF Railway and a good base town for many areas of the Black Forest.
Obviously, a week wouldn't be enough for this part of Germany. But you can pick and choose.
Plenty of good suggestions in above post. However, if you haven't been to Germany before, would be a shame to miss one of the larger cities.
Munich is easy to reach from Zurich via car, train or bus (more or less same duration, ca 4hrs). That being said, Berlin is also not that difficult to reach if you fly - often very reasonable deals on Easyjet or AirBerlin. Berlin has more "big city" urban feeling than Munich though. Plenty of day trip options including Potsdam, Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Leipzig, even Dresden.
If flying is too much hassle, Munich is indeed a fine option. You could do a circle trip by heading to Munich, spending a couple of days there (Dachau concentration camp is only 25 mins from Munich, also plenty of nearby smaller cities too like Augsburg, Regensburg, or Nuremberg to choose from for day trips) - and then back down towards Switzerland via Freiburg/Black Forest if that area is a "must see." Vice versa obviously an option too! After 2 weeks in Switzerland, the Black Forest might be less of a draw though?
Other option might be to start in Salzburg (5 1/2 hour train ride from Zurich through nice Alpine scenery), then head up to Munich and finally back to Zurich.
Thank you both for your good suggestions. I think that we will visit both city and countryside.
This is a first draft for an itinerary.
Day 1: fly Zurich to Munich (5 nights/3 days)
2- Marienplatz, city tour,
3- bike tour, Residenz Museum, Cuvillies
4- day trip - Dachau Memorial
5- final day in Munich, neighborhoods, music, food??
6- check out of Munich accommodations.
Train to Fussen- Hohenschwangau, then Neuschwanstein Castle tour, Mary's bridge,
Then I'm not sure whether to stay the night in Fussen? or rent a car late afternoon to BF?
Night 6 or day 7- Fussen to Triburg area. 6 hours by train or 3 1/2 hours by car.
7- Triburg, Hornburg, Gutach, Hausach (2 nights/2 days in BF)
8-
9- early train to Zurich for afternoon flight back to San Francisco.
Is this a good balance and am I allowing enough time in BF? I'm wondering if it makes sense to have a guide in the BF area to make the best of the short time we have there? Or use regional trains and busses to go up and down the valley.
Thank you again for your help.
I recently took my 14-y/o grandson to Rome and Munich. He's a Latin student and appreciated the history of Rome, but when he got to Munich he said, "I could live here!"
The self-guided walking tour of central Munich in Rick Steves' Germany guidebook is excellent. It can take anywhere from two hours to two days, depending on your levels of interest and curiosity. Audio version is available for download here.
The walking tour ends at Odeonsplatz. I would recommend continuing west from there on Briennerstraße about 1 km to the new Doku-Zentrum, built on the site of the Third-Reich-era Nazi party headquarters building. Next door is Hitler's office building (Führerbau), now repurposed as a high school for music and theater (no public access inside). The infamous Munich Accord of 1938 was signed by Hitler, Mussolini and Chamberlain in that building. Across the street is historic Königsplatz.
The city of Munich's website offers free downloadable maps and audioguides for self-guided thematic walks tracing the city's role in the rise and fall of National Socialism.
Other Munich spots the teens might enjoy ... BMW Welt and the BMW Museum; Olympic Tower right across the street from BMW, via a pedestrian overpass; Verkehrszentrum, the branch of Deutsches Museum dealing with all manner of surface transport; and Flugwerft Schleißheim, the Museum's branch for things with wings.
First of all, I would say you should rent a car. I know that the train is cheap, but with only 7 days, you can do a lot more things and have the freedom of getting out into the countryside a lot easier with a car. I was just there last year with my partner and his brother and sister. We did a road trip of southern Germany, and here is where we went with adjustment with you traveling from/to Zurich.
Day 1 Drive to Innsbruck for the afternoon. Stroll the streets and have dinner. Spend the night in Mieders
Day 2 Spend the day in Mieders, Austria. They have an Alpine Coaster that is one of the funnest things I have ever done in my life! Plan on spending hours going up the hill and careening back down. Also, you can do a hike or just enjoy the beautiful vistas from the top of the mountain.
Day 3 Leave early for Schwangau, Germany to visit the castle that inspired Disney: Neuschwanstein Castle. Take a picnic up the mountain for a view from Mariensbrucke, and picnic on the castle grounds, and a tour of the castle. Drive the 1 1/2 up to Munich and take in a beergarden for dinner.
Day 4 Full day of Munich including Mariensplatz, Residenz, and Enlischer Garten.
Day 5 Morning in Munich/Drive to Bodensee. We stayed in Friedrichshafen. The boat rental there is very affordable. Take a couple hours and cruise on the lake/take a swim/picnic.
Day 6 Enjoy more time on the lake. Drive around, or take the ferry across with the car. Drive to Rust, Germany
Day 7 Spend a day at Europa Park! It's fun and affordable and the coasters are killer!
Next door is Hitler's office building (Führerbau), now repurposed as a high school for music and theater (no public access inside).
Nearby, in Katharina-Bora-Strasse 10, there is a building of the same architect (Paul Troost) and in the same neoclassical style, which served as an administrative building of the nazi party. The glass-roofed courtyard is accessible since it hosts the (interesting!) collection of plaster casts of the Institute of Classical Archeolgy.
Munich is endlessly good to visit. We once stayed in Rick's recommended Hotel Uhland many years ago and loved its style and breakfast. Since then we stay with friends. Last November they took me to the ornate Nymphenburg Palace, with its portraits of famous women in King Ludwig's time. These women are each a history lesson, and look at you as if alive today. The gardens of this palace are like a French chateau, and worth a walk around. Inner pedestrian zone Munich is fun to explore. My favourite cafe is beside the Michaelskirche. I plan to take my technically minded son to the Deutsches Museum one day. I like the Pinakotek galleries.
Munich train station is a wonder in itself. You can get anywhere from there. Teenagers about to visit Germany might like to watch the movie The White Rose, which shows what some brave university students did against Hitler. The Stolperstein project has now laid over 25000 raised cobblestones (to stumble over) naming the Jewish families who lived there and were killed in the KZ camps. It should be added that Munich residents welcomed the refugees in 2015 with food and clothing, and still do. Good people, Bavarians.
We are interested in visiting castle ruins in the southwest. Do you have any suggestions?
