[Help Needed] 12 Days Travel Plan for Germany

Cem,

the best way to make your girlfriend happy is to let her choose where the two of you will go.

What does she want to see?

Are you saying you have 12 days after Koeln or does the 12 days include the "couple" of days there? If so, what does a "couple" mean to you?

Do you intend to drive or take trains?

Hello Cem,

When planning your itinerary you do not have to stick to a strait line. Depending on how much time you have you could go south along the Rhine then down, to the Black Forest or Rothenberg area, then work your way over to Munich, heading up to Nurnberg or Dresden finishing in Berlin. Make sure that you stay at least 2 nights in each place you choose to stop or you will burn yourself out. To determine if you are being reasonable with the amount of time you planned for train travel; I recommend routing all your trains on Deutsch Bahn, taking note of the transit time (this effect how much time you have for actual sightseeing). If your trip starts to feel like more trains than sights cut out a stop or two and spend more time in your top choice cities/areas. You could also consider night trains where applicable to save time (not everyone likes night trains, fyi. But I think they are a great way to save time and I don't need a hotel for that night if I have a couchette booked.)
Good luck with your planning!

"I need help to figure out a travel route to Berlin because I really want to see Berlin, but on the way what other cities would you recommend..."

Before you snatch up suggestions for lengthy train journeys that include the Black Forest and Munich, consult a map. You'll find that such places are anything but "on the way" to Berlin. It's often suggested that visitors need 4-5 days for Berlin; since that's a major goal of yours, then I'd go with that number of days. You may also wish to add a day trip out to Potsdam and Sans Souci. That leaves you about a week for other destinations and for getting around from place to place.

What cities should you visit with your remaining week? You already have about one week in two major cities, both flattened in WW II and rebuilt. I don't know what your interests are, but I would think at least a few days visiting some smaller places that were not bombed so heavily might be interesting. Hannoversch Münden (near Kassel) lies in the middle of Germany roughly between Berlin and Cologne. It's a gorgeous town with some 700 half-timbered buildings that are hundreds of years old:

HM brochure

Other towns like Hamelin (the Pied Piper's workplace,) Celle (just north of Hanover) and Goslar (near the Harz mountains) are also very handsome and are all roughly on the way to Berlin. You should check them out. All can be reached by train and all have official HI hostels in addition to other standard accommodations options (private B&B's, inns, hotels.)

And then the other question is... do you have to return to Cologne (or Düsseldorf?) If so, maybe you do a slightly different route back than you took to Berlin to see something different... Head back to Cologne via Frankfurt to the Middle Rhine Valley; stay over in Mainz for a day, then take a train north through the scenic valley for a tour of Marksburg Castle (open year-round) in Braubach before returning to Cologne.

Whao! Thanks everyone for your replies, I wasn't expecting to get this much of a useful advices, I'm just glad to finally get some suggestion from the ones who know about Germany :)

@Nigel, I have 12 Days including Cologne and I was thinking 3 days would be enough for me to stay there and see what's around. Please says o if you think I might need to spend more time there. I dont mind taking trains but depending on the itinerary I may consider to rent a car.

@Sara, My gf was studying in Munich so she already seen somer parts around there and for that we want visit places where both of us didn't see before. So rather than going down to south heading Munich, I would prefer to stay in the North.

@Russ, I need to return to Cologne since my return flight departs from there back to Istanbul.I'm just concerned about the weather conditions, I am not sure if it would be the best time to see Scenic Valley.

Before I posted in here, I was thinking to hit the places listed below and have a round trip back to Cologne;

Düsseldorf ( My flight lands there at 14:00 so I spend the day there)
Head to Cologne for the night and stay there for 2 more nights. ( a day trip to Aachen maybe)
Bremen
Lübeck (I'm don't know if that makes any sense)
Berlin( 3-4 nights with the day trips around Berlin)
Dresden
Erfurt
MArburg

But again, I dont even know if I have the enough time to see all of them and if it is even logical or not.

There is frequent fast train service from Duesseldorf airport to Cologne. It takes about 40 minutes on direct trains. If you land at 14:00, you would be in Cologne by 16:00 at the latest, so go straight to gf unless you want to visit Duesseldorf specifically. So figure 3 nights Cologne and 4 nights in Berlin. You will probably want to spend the last night back in Cologne before the flight home. that leaves 4 nights open.

Luebeck sounds interesting, although it is 5 hours on the train from Cologne. Dresden is interesting as is Erfurt. As was suggested, ask gf her must-sees as well.

Assuming Erfurt is the last stop, you can route the return through the Rhine gorge by specifying a stopover in Mainz. Otherwise, you will be on the high speed train between Frankfurt and Cologne that basically runs on the median of the autobahn. It does go 300 km/hr, but the scenery is automobiles.

It is easy to get to the airport from Cologne on the train, same way you arrived.