Help with Germany

There are many nice places with good rail access that you might consider.

You should tell us specifically which cities you have already seen. There's no reason to send you to, say, a small town just outside Hamburg so that you could experience Hamburg on a day outing. I'd also like to know your definition of good lodging. I have never stayed in a German town that did not have good lodging as I define it. But people can be very particular about such things.

Below is a starter kit of places off the top of my head.

Gengenbach
Iphofen
Osterspai
Löffingen
Herleshausen
Radolfzell
Dießen am Ammersee

Well, I think that's difficult, because it's not clear which part of Germany you liked most. Was it the stereotypical south/Bavaria, or the always popular destinations like the Black Forest or Rhine/Moselle? Perhaps the north, including Hamburg, or perhaps Berlin and the surrounding area? Maybe other areas like Dresden/Saxon Switzerland, or even the Baltic coast in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania?

There's no such thing as the perfect German village. I don't know if your village should taste like pork knuckle or fish :-)

I was born and raised in Munich, so the south doesn't hold much exciting for me anymore, even though I quite enjoy living there. My adventures are more in the north of Germany, and that's why I'd like to recommend it to you. I don't know how well you know the Hamburg area, or if you've already been to Lübeck, but if not, then definitely the north.

The following places, 2 hrs. away by train from Hamburg, come to mind - I'd like to spend a longer time there. Some are too big, but I'll mention them anyway:

Lübeck
Wismar
Schwerin
Lüneburg
Stade
Flensburg
Ratzeburg
Schleswig
Husum

Travel time by train 2 hours from Hamburg:
https://www.chronotrains.com/de/station/2911298-Hamburg?maxTime=2

Thanks for responding. I have been to the big cities (Berlin, Munich,Frankfurt, etc) and like all of them. They are just a bit too expensive and I don't think I could relax there like I would in a town like Baccharach or other towns along the Rhine. I'm a country boy at heart. I prefer the western and southern parts of Germany, but I am open to any place that provides a simpler, slower pace of life.

I forgot to answer the housing question. For me, I don't need a lot for my housing. I just need a place that's clean, quite (not next to busy highways or roads) and is in a safe area. I would like it to be close to shops and restaurants and public transportation. I fell in love with the German transportation system and love the idea of not having to own a car to get my daily essentials. What you pay for cars, gas and insurance is crazy now. If I didn't have/need a car, I can save $8K a year that could be used for a better lifestyle or just better living. If there are any other questions that would help you make a more informed suggestion, please ask. Thank you!!

Hats off to the the replies to this post!

Additionally, get a couple German travel books from your local library and see what they have to say about smaller towns. Rick does a fantastic job with his books, blogs, tours, etc. Yet, he does more narrowly focus his work on the larger and most popular cities and sites for American tastes.

One approach to this is to do a broad geographic search on Booking.com or AirBnB for accommodation that suits your needs and budget. Both sites offer loads of filters to make sure you're only seeing places that will work for you (wifi, laundry, a kitchen, whatever). Neither site is great at letting you search without dates, but there are ways to work around that. Make a list of favorite places that make you stop and say, "Man, I would love to live there (for a week)." Then go through those for specifics like size of city, transportation connections, availability, etc.

My favorite areas of Germany are as follows and in this order-
1) Bavaria
2) The Rhine Valley
3) Berlin

There are some great villages in each area.

Bavaria is a large state in the SE part of Germany and has many great places:
Berchtesgaden and nearby Salzburg, Austria
Garmish and Fussen near the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany
Also, there is Nuremberg, Bamburg, and Wurzburg.
From Wurzburg, you can take the Romantic Road through several medieval walled towns and villages, including the larger city of Augsburg (over 2000 years old) and Oberammergau ending in Fussen.
https://www.romanticroadgermany.com
It's not too hard to see the reason for the popularity - despite the modern roots of the idea, the tour combines the historic cities of Würzburg and Augsburg with the three medieval walled towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen, and then finishes off with the tourist highlights of Neuschwanstein Castle and the Alps.

The Rhine Valley includes great places from the Dutch Border to Switzerland, including Strasbourg, France and the Black Forest as well as the great Mosel Valley. Places like Mainz, Heidelberg, Trier, Cologne are worth a visit.

You want a perfect village. I say don't limit yourself to staying in one place. There are many great places to see.

What time of the year are you going? Some regions become very busy (and possibly expensive) in Tourist Season, but are rather relaxed in the rest of the year.
Most towns (approx. 10k pop.) should have a train station, so that should be easy. Booking.com works okay for guessing the average price per night if you use it around the dates you go, unless you are very unlucky with a special event that drives prices up.
There were already a couple of nice suggestions for the North, and I am less familiar with that anyway, so I just drop some names in south and center:
- Harz, Taunus, Odenwald or Black Forest are mountain-ish (Appalachians, not Rockies) with towns like Goslar, Idstein, Weinheim
- Lake Constance (Constance, Meersburg, Uberlingen) and the region a bit to the North (e.g. Ravensburg) if not going in the High Season
- Central Bavaria/Franconia (Eichstaett/Weissenburg)

Late hope not too late.

Have a look at Kelheim a the Danube and Altmühl River/Canal or Riedenburg in the Altmühl River Valley

From Regensburg 20min by train to Saal an der Donau 20 min by bus to Kelheim
from there 20 min by Bus or 1,5 hrs by Boat to Riedenburg.

Danube Gorge to Weltenburg Monastery by boat from Kelheim

Nice Guesthouse in Essing half the way between Kelheim and Riedenburg

More detailed info about area and lodging if you wish

For the timebeing a little video

Your expectations for housing are very reasonable and should allow you to stay in just about any town you like.

You say you want "..to actually live there like a local." I would not expect to turn into a local or be treated like one. Small-towners know each other and spot outsiders readily. If you stay in Rick-Steves-suggested towns - I'm thinking of his favorites like Rothenburg, Füssen and Bacharach - you will be around many of your fellow countrymen and other foreign visitors, places where locals are very accustomed to visitors and unsurprisingly will definitely see you as just another visitor. If you stay in places that are generally unknown to tourists, you'll probably get a better feel for what local life is like. But you'll still be housed in lodgings for tourists, eating in restaurants, and likely not conversing in local dialect with locals on the local news, etc. It would be impossible to actually live like a local, I'm afraid.

You probably haven't heard of the towns I mentioned previously. They'd be good bets for avoiding tourist crowds, generally speaking, if that's part of living like a local. Neustadt-an-der-Aisch might be another good one. It's an attractive, normal little town in Bavaria no tourists to speak of and with a good railway location in between Würzburg and Nuremberg (neither of which you mentioned as previous destinations.) I've stayed there on two separate occasions in different apartments. Besides Würzburg and Nuremberg, other nearby places make for good daytrip destinations and lie easily within the travel radius you have in mind... Bad Windsheim (open-air museum), Rothenburg, Iphofen, Ochsenfurt, and Bamberg come to mind.

One of my apartment stays is no longer operational. The other one is here:

https://www.accommodation.de/48003.htm

It's at the edge of town, quiet, but a longish walk to the nearest rail station.

Other options can be found at the town website:

https://freizeit.neustadt-aisch.de/stadtbummel/branchenverzeichnis

Scroll down a little at the above page. Enter übernachten in the Kategorien" box on the right. Then hit Suchen.

Now, scroll down to see a table with all the accommodations there are in Neustadt/Aisch. Phone and email information is provided there. Or you can google the accommodation names and their addresses to see if there are other websites, some in English, hopefully, that will provide pictures and descriptions of the hotel rooms/apartments there.

just spend a day in the town "Living the German life"

Germany has very different subcultures. So "living a German life" is hard to define. The five biggest cities do not have the same name for a bread roll or like the same lunch / dinner dishes or sorts of beer. Not talking about dialect or regional music. And also below state level the regional cultures are sometimes strong, e. g. Bavaria with Franconia and Swabia. On top come differences between city and country life plus other differentiating factor.

That said a few towns came to my mind:

• Schwerin (undervalued diamond)
• Ludwigslust (undiscovered pearl)
• Bamberg
• Celle with close Harz mountains
• Siegburrg
• Radeburg
• Bad Münstereifel
• Königstein im Taunus

Always have a heads-up about the main rail construction sites in Germany, e. g. from August 25 to April 26 the direct rail route from Berlin to Hamburg is closed which makes Schwerin and Ludwigslust a less good choice in terms of traffic connectivity.

OK, if it should be the south, then I would be in favor of the following places - you rarely read about them here in the forum and they are therefore just right for you:

Wasserburg am Inn
Landsberg am Lech
Siegsdorf
Mühldorf am Inn
Iffeldorf
Kochel am See
Lenggries
Bad Aibling
Bad Endorf
Murnau am Staffelsee
Weilheim in Oberbayern
Bayerischzell

https://www.chronotrains.com/de/station/2867714-Munich?maxTime=2

I neglected to provide this link with photos of that unassuming town-with-no-tourists I mentioned, Neustadt/Aisch.

https://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org/forum/index.php?thread/5806-neustadt-an-der-aisch-galerie/&postID=182279#post182279

Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions. It looks like I'll have a lot of research to do on these towns. I would love to go to all of them, but that will take some time. But, that's a good reason for multiple trips :)

Here is my list and some places to stay, all reasonably priced

Gengenbach - Ferienwohnung Kienlzer
Lichtenfels ( north of Bamberg ). - Weinhaus Heidenreich ( apartment upstairs )
Bacharach. - Privat Zimmer Irmgard Orth
Limburg an der Lahn - Ferienwohnung. Rutsche 10

Another vote for Ludwigslust /Mecklenburg. Several years ago the Schloss in Ludwigslust was the picture on the German 90 cent stamp, which was the postage needed to send a post card back to the USA. Check out that Schloss

You want to see rural sites, villages different from what you're used to. In that case, I suggest seeing those in Brandenburg, those in the greater Potsdam and Berlin areas, these not only "backdoor" villages but Prussian backwater places.

I have visited some of them but was driven or went by train, places such as Neuruppin, Rheinsberg, Neuhardenberg, Wustrau/Brandenburg, Neustrelitz, Babelsberg,

Tourists don't go out to these places, only German ones, if at that. Culturally and sociologically these places are keenly interesting.

Someplace by train: how about Werder an der Havel, a lovely and serene place.

You'll see villages in North Germany are different from those in Bavaria, those in eastern Germany be it Saxony or in Mecklenburg are distinctly different too. It all depends on your level of interest to tracking these places, language-wise, culturally, historically, etc.

If I were to move to Germany, it would be to Munich. I'm a city kid. And Bavaria, in general, is my kind of place.