I'll be in Prague and have been there several times. We'll stay a few days, but I'm thinking of venturing to Germany via rail. I just have about 4 days and will be traveling with two adventurous kids. Any recommendations of places to visit? I've been to Baden-Baden, Munich, Dachau but neither of them have been to Germany. Last year, the 10 year old and I went to Auschwitz when we were in Poland and the 14 year old has expressed interest in seeing Auschwitz or Dachau since he's be studying it. I think we'll need a mix of history and fun! We can return to Prague for flight out or fly out of somewhere in Germany (need to still book flight).
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
The closest worthy German site to Prague is Dresden.
Posted by
Germany
868 posts
I agree with Ilja, see Dresden. The city offers quite a lot for kids. There is the cool armory and the Turkish Chamber, the unique Green Vaults and the Military Museum, you can take a steam train to Moritzburg hunting castle or a nostalgic paddle steamer to Pillnitz castle or Königstein fortress, you can hike in Saxon Switzerland or visit a village with nothing but Christmas shops in Germanys Christmas country, or see some beautiful preserved towns in the surroundings like Meissen, Bautzen or Görlitz.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Not sure if a 14 year old would be interested in a zoo, but Dresden has a nice one. One of the few in Europe that houses koalas.
If the kids like equestrian sports, there's a lot of opportunities for riding at the various stud farms around the aforementioned Schloss Moritzburg. The Schloss itself is a stunning building on the outside, but unfortunately when I visited, an exhibit on some old East German-Czechoslovakian fairy tale movie that I had never heard of occupied the entire interior of the structure, so I wasn't really able to see what it actually looked like.
Posted by
OP
Midwest, USA
223 posts
Thanks so much for your help!
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8319 posts
I think it takes just over 2 hours to get to Dresden from Prague and that train goes on to Berlin. I have family that was born in Dresden and left at age 15 in 1939.
Dresden was one of the most beautiful if not the most beautiful city in Europe--before Allied bombers destroyed much of the city at the end of WWII. It's in the midst of a renewal, and is quite a place to go. My sister's been there a couple of times over the years. The city has incredible art museums.
Dachau is in the northwest suburbs of Munich, and it's a very worthwhile trip for any teenager. It made a lasting impression on my daughter when she was 12 years old. The rest of Munich is also a very good city for a young person to see. And Munich also has a very fine airport to fly home from.
I've got to where we only fly open jaw on any trip to Europe. We always visit more than one city, and backtracking to fly home is very expensive.