Group trip in Germany

Its a tough job. Not organizing the trip, that's the easy part. Keeping 6 people with different personalities, desires, and styles all happy is the hard part. 6 is a bit of an awkward number. 2 couples can get along a fairly well, but more than that can get tricky. Also, things change and people who were eager to go at first, drop out for various reasons. There is a good reason they do tours, like the Rick's Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna in 8 Days. Then you have an external schedule everyone has to keep up with and the onus is not on you.

Edit - I would pick no more than 2 places with plenty to do. I'll suggest the Rhine area, Bacharach, St Goar, or Boppard. You have Rhine river cruises, castles, vineyards, trips to the Mosel valley, wine. Then maybe Munich, with day trips to the Alps, Salzburg, Berchdesgaden. That way on a given day, if some people don't want to roll out of bed in the morning, others can tour around individually. Fly into Frankfort and out of Munich with a train in between. Everyone buys there own airline tickets so no one, especially not you is stuck if someone can't go. Keep it as simple as you can, with plenty of optional activities.

Inform yourself about Germany and possible destinations and / or events which match interests of group. You can either start on Rick's page or on official tourist pages, e.g. Germany's tourist page. Also other guides on the market but I want to respect the forum of our forum host.

Tip: If you find a special city or area interesting they have own tourist pages.

Some basic things to know for traveling to & in Germany will help as well. Also other pages available on that topic.

I organized a trip for 6 for one week. We were 3 couples. I chose a city - Rome - with plenty to do as a base. One couple wanted to go to Florence for one day, i told them, go ahead, figure it out, they did, but they ended up not going cause the trains tickets were too expensive. I told them the tours i was booking and the price and asked for a yes or no - my hubby and i were going regardless. They all said yes. I planned one tour or sight for each morning, such as Borghese Gallery, then had a choice or two for the afternoon. We would discuss this either at breakfast or lunch. I only had one restaurant i wanted to go to and left the other choices to the group. It worked out great. Two couples did an evening walking tour, the other opted out. 4 people went to Mass, the other 2 met us afterwards. Be very upfront, but because you are planning it, plan on the sights you want to see. I did and no one was dissappointed, especially me.

With only one week, 2 cities is the max I would visit. A personal suggestion would be Berlin and Salzburg (border of Germany close to Munich). Both cities have a lot to offer with many day trips possible. You won't be able to please everyone if you plan the "whole" trip yourself. Ask everyone to research the two cities and make plans as to what they want to see/do. According to other posters in the forum what seems to work well is for everyone to do their own stuff during the day and meeting back in the evening at the hotel/restaurant to talk about your experiences.

Sam's right. Keep it simple... and also right about the Rhine/Mosel, where you simply cannot go wrong. There's a LOT of variety there, even more than Sam mentions...

Mosel
Ancient Roman history, UNESCO World Heritage sites: Trier - Roman Villa (outside Trier)
Museums, churches, abbeys, palaces - also in Trier - Maria Laach -
Castles: Burg Eltz - Reichsburg (Cochem)
WW II sites: Besseringen Bunker - Panzerwerk Katzenkopf (near Trier) - Bundesbank Bunker (Cochem)
Wine "Underworld" - Traben-Trarbach
Scenic Mosel bike rides

Rhine
Medieval Castle: Marksburg in Braubach
WW II sites: Remagen Bridge Historical Museum - Nazi Documentation center, Gestapo prison, Cologne
Chairlifts to Rhine lookouts - in Boppard - in Assmannshausen
Open-air cultural museum in Bad Sobernheim
Cathedrals of significance: Cologne and Mainz
Scenic walks: Oberwesel - Rhine Castle Trail

"How to do it?" Rhine base town and Mosel base town - 3-4 nights in each. Fly in and out of FRA. Spend your last night in Mainz, which is very close to FRA (direct morning trains) - see the Cathedral, the Gutenberg museum, etc. and get a brew-fix at the Eisgrub Braeu.

From your Rhine base, do day trips locally and further north to Cologne/Remagen.
From your Mosel base (Cochem is good) day trip to Trier, Burg Eltz, Beilstein (which is 1 hr. by river boat.)

IMHO Munich is too far and day trips from Munich too long for your limited time. If you do Munich, skip the Rhine/Mosel, and vice-versa.

You might get more useful replies if you describe what you & your friends want to do - shopping, partying, hiking, museums, etc.

Mindyhops(?). You might want to take a look at this post in the Beyond Europe forum this AM. It is basically asking the same question as yours but for a different area, coincidence?

“Hello, I need to plan a trip for me and 5 more friends for a week in Australia. Can someone tell me / share, how they did your last planning for a group of people so that I get the idea of how it's done? Thank you.”

uh oh... lol.

Hi,

Is there a common interest , a common thread among these friends? If they know each well, do they have a common interests as to cities, towns, etc, your job will will be a easier, likewise with travel styles.

How are their individual personalities traits? Any prima donnas or their opposites? Where do they want to go in Germany? The usual American destinations or something different entirely, or a combination of both? I would pose these questions and more in a survey to see what is revealed in their answers.

If you're the chosen planner, there's no point in inviting input from 5 others who are even more lost than you. I would just tell them you've sought the advice of experts, the planning is going well, and you're taking them to the best places in Germany - then take them where I've suggested (heh!) or wherever you decide. If you turn them all into cooks, they'll spoil the broth, as it were. Trips that try to please everyone in just a week's time can be a real mess.

Decide if you want to change hotels every day or two or if perhaps staying in just one place and doing day trips would be good. My last trip I spent a week in 3 different towns. Next trip it will be 7,5,3,3 days although I certainly could do a week in each.

Contrary to many on this and other forums, I don’t have a problem with changing hotels every day if that suits your itinerary.

As you plan the trip, put in actual travel times for trains, opening/closing times for attractions and tours. On my upcoming trip I was having trouble with one day’s itinerary but when I reversed the direction it worked out well.

Maybe not every day changing hotels but every other day is no problem with me either, since I stay in the train station area, ie 2-3 mins to the hotel or hostel in Munich, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, Minden, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Kiel, Dresden, Krakow, London,

Within a minute or two from the B&B or hotel, I'm in the underground passage rolling that spinner to the platform....all very convenient, no need to depend on public transport, or, worse still, a taxi to reach the station.