Help with the order of our Germany itinerary

Posted by ktheis on 09/21/14 03:54 PM

We will be leaving from New York. We can arrive/depart from Frankfurt, Berlin, or Munich. We would like to visit each city below, but are unsure of the easiest/most efficient route to take. Please advise. We are open to driving or taking the train.

Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden
Riquewhir, France (Alsace region)
Munich or Stuttgart

We have chosen these areas based on personal preferences and a prior visit to Germany hitting other major points of interest. We will be visiting these areas in July and have 15 nights to explore. One can use Stuttgart or Munich for order of itinerary advice.

Thanks for your help!

Posted by Lee

Lakewood, Colorado

09/21/14 04:32 PM

19092 posts

All those cities are very accessible by train.

If you fly into, and stay in, Berlin for a few days to a week, you can make a side trip to Hamburg. It's only about 1 hr 45 min by train to Hamburg.

There are regular EuroCity (EC) trains between Berlin and Dresden. The trip takes about 2 hours. With advance purchase, train specific, non-refundable tickets can be as low as 19€ for the first person, another 10€ each for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th person.

I would definitely recommend a visit to Munich. In my opinion, it's the best tourist city in Germany. Best way from Dresden to Munich would be a Regional Express to Nürnberg and an ICE from there to Munich. About 6 hours travel. With advance purchase, train specific, non-refundable tickets can be as low as 49€ (29€ + 20€) for two.

Freiburg and the Alsace are kind of outliers for the rest of you trip. Depending on the amount of time you have, I would just fly home from Munich.

If you have a lot of time (say more than 2 weeks), there are fast connections to Strasbourg by ICE to Stuttgart and TGV to Strasbourg. From the Alsace, go to Frankfurt to fly out.

Posted by Fred

San Francisco

09/21/14 06:30 PM

14507 posts

Hi,

Good choices in having Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg on the intinerary. Very accurate description of Berlin as "without peer." Nowhere else like it in Germany, ie, exciting, incomparable, vibrant, pulsating, captivating, etc. If Americans don't go there in such numbers, you'll see tons of tourists of various and numerous nationalities in Berlin in July. Much as I like going to Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Leipzig, etc, they're all provincial compared to Berlin.

Like from LAX isn't there a direct flight from New York to Berlin? Where do you plan of staying in Berlin and Munich?

Posted by ktheis OP

09/21/14 06:46 PM

4 posts

Thanks Phil and Lee. Great information. Fred, I am still working on where I'll be staying in Berlin and in Munich (or Stuttgart since I have previously visited Munich). I am thinking that I can fly into Hamburg (2), take the train to Berlin (4), then onward to Dresden (2), Stuttgart or Munich (2), Alsace area in Riquewhir, France (4) and then fly out of Frankfurt.