Luxembourg to Kiel - suggestions for something along the way?

Hi msh, you could have a look at Göttingen. I think the train to Kiel comes via Frankfurt and up through that city. It is a mid-sized city with a huge student population, and it is one of the half-timbered cities. It is walkable and pleasant. Don't miss Cron & Lanz, which is a lovely café that serves amazing cakes, which are all in the window. If you had been driving I would have suggested Münster, which is further west.

Lavandula

From Luxemburg to Kiel on logical route would be via Trier, Koblenz, Cologne, Bremen and Hamburg. Cologne is definitely worth a stopover if you haven't been there, and the ride there is quite scenic.

How about Munster or Kassel? I'm interested in Celle, but haven't been there, and it's 3/4 of the way to Kiel.

Thanks, everyone. The DB website has two different routes with similar journey times. So I reckon I'd have my pick.

One route goes from Luxembourg to Koblenz, change for Frankfurt, then at Frankfurt, take an ICE to Kiel. That ICE stops at Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Göttingen, Hannover, Celle, Hamburg, and Neumünster.

The second route is Luxembourg to Koblenz. Then change trains to Cologne, then change again in Cologne for an ICE to Hamburg. That Cologne to Hamburg ICE stops in: Solingen, Wuppertal, Hagen, Dortmund, Münster, Osnabrück, Bremen, and Hamburg.

Those two routes seem to stop at almost every town suggested. I have been to Cologne. That was my base for Christmas markets last December.

... and Wuppertal is interesting for it's suspended monorail- https://schwebebahn.de/en

I happen to own some German tools from companies that are headquartered in Wuppertal (Stahlwille & Knipex). But I don't think they're open for visits.

Münster is a nice little town. University town with a good vibe.

Wengen, I'm not quarreling with you, but when a certain subset of this newsboard sees the word "town", they take that as very close to "village", meaning (to them, if not in reality) a wooden-house place that the real-life cast of "Private Ryan" recently left. I would describe Münster as a lovely small city, with a long history. The main street is suitable for a medieval parade, which of course is what it was originally used for, now with multi-story stone buildings, running for some distance.

I went there for the art museum, and the last, once every 10 year, Skulptur Projekte Münster, which has left many outdoor sculptures around. So it's also known for contemporary art. msh, check the dates for the 2027 version of it to see if it runs in April.

For purposes of searching on DB's website, I think I was using Saturday, October 17 at 7:00am. My best guess is I'd be starting out from Luxembourg on a Saturday morning. But I'm flexible on that.

"Wengen, I'm not quarreling with you, but when a certain subset of this newsboard sees the word "town", they take that as very close to "village", "

Well, "Stadt" has a specific meaning. It means that a place has special privileges, bestowed upon it during its history. Its not always clear to me when "town" is the best translation for that or when whan should use "city".

If calling Oxford a "university town" is appropriate than calling Münster that certainly is too.

And I think that if you want something half way, and something that would not be an obvious stop at first glance would make a good stopover for our OP :-)

If you look at the train details for that Frankfurt to Kiel train you will see that it runs daily between September and December, only takes 48 minutes longer (with a pretty robust connection time) and costs €7 more than via Cologne (as a through journey), so via Frankfurt feels a perfectly logical route to me.
As this is a 2 day journey then logical, a few minutes faster and marginally cheaper doesn't come into it very much for me, as long as I'm moving in broadly the right direction.

In fact, if I wanted to route through Cologne (with time in hand) I wouldn't even route via Koblenz. I would change at Trier onto the 30 minute slower regional route RE22 direct to Cologne.

That actually puts Göttingen (as suggested in the first response) firmly back in the possible stopovers as it has a number of direct trains to Kiel daily, in just over 3 hours.

Sorry, I only meant to say that the journey would be tough when done all at once. I don't mind adding a few minutes travel if I'm breaking it up over a 2-3 days. Either route will be okay. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.