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Need advices/opinions on my itiniary

Hi , My family of four (2 adults, 2 kids 4 and 8 yearls old) are going to Germany next summer (22-25 days between july 11 and august 20). I need advice on that itiniary (we are very open to any change since nothing is booked yet).

Our plan is to go to 4-5 base place and stay ther for 4-5 nights and them do daytrip from those places. We intend to do it all by train but if most of you told us that the car is a better way to go we can rent one (for the whole trip or parts of it) .

  • Arrival in Luxembourg (stay all day and one night because of jet lag ! We choose that place instead of Munich, Frankfurt or Berlin because it would cost something like 300$ less by person)
  • Luxembourg- Boppard (Cochem ? Koblenz ?)4-5 nights
  • Boppard- Berlin 4-5 nights
  • Berlin Dresden 2 nights
  • Dresden-Nuremberg 3-4 nights Nuremberg (or a small town not too far from Nuremberg)
  • Nuremberg-Munich 4-5 nights Munich (Maybe Prien since we want to do a daytrip to Salzburg)
  • Munich Luxembourg (the worst part I guess) 1 night Luxembourg and back home !

Questions:

1) Should we do it another way (Munich first, Nuremberg, Berlin and Moselle valley last ? )
2) Is it too rushed ?
3) any suggestions for our bases that take in account that we need moments for adults (Architecture, history and wine !) and for kids (zoo, park) ?

Thanks a lot in advance !

Posted by
426 posts

If you want to end in Munich, I would look into booking an open jaw ticket into Luxembourg if that's what you want, and back from Munich. If you keep an eye on airfares, you might find it just as cheap and you will save travel time and expense back to Luxembourg. I love Munich. I took my kids there when they were 11 and they loved it - especially the day trip we took to Neuschwanstein with Mike's Bike Tours. There is a sommerrodelbahn there that your kids would like and a chance to go biking to Swan Lake and even swim in the lake. Salzburg was also nice and your kids would probably love a Salt Mine tour and the water tricks at Hellbrunn Palace. In fact, you could probably entertain your kids for 2 days in Salzburg without a problem. We also did a puppet show, which while impressive, suffered from our inability to understand the German. While I have been to some of the other cities you mention, it was many years ago before kids, so it's harder for me to say whether they would be as fun for the 4 and 8 year old.

Posted by
23178 posts

Absolutely book an open jaw ticket - into Lux-- and home from Munich. Cheaper and save time.

Posted by
357 posts

Thanks for those answers just some quick infos:

1) My girlfriend and I already been to Prague for a week. It was 10 years ago but we don't need or want to go back there for now.

2) Open jaw with return for Munich would have been great but it's not cheaper at all (on the contrary). If you could find me a cheaper flight tann Yul-LUX (stop Zurich) with Swiss i'll be very please....I haven't !

3) about biking, my youngest don't know how to do it on 2 wheels, and my older is not very good at it !

Posted by
380 posts

If you can do open jaw that would save time but I totally understand the cost oart of it. In Munich my 4 year old loves the zoo (so do I). I think its better than the Atlanta Zoo. English Garden would be a great place for a picnic and a place to run and play. Find a Euro store (there is one 2-3 blocks from Hauptbanhof) to get a ball or a few other outdoor toys to take with you. There is a playground aroung the Chinese Pagoda too. Be prepared though for people sun bathing nude in the park. The Viktualienmarkt is a great place to walk around, eat lunch, get picnic or snack stuff (awesome ice cream booth along one of the sides by the street). My 4 year old loves watching the scene in Marienplatz clock. The 8 year old would probably like the Deutsches Museum too. A great day trip would be to Garmisch and up to the Zugspitze.

Berlin has great parks. I haven't been to their zoo yet (I can tell you about it in March after we return) but I've heard lots of great things about it. We always go to the major department stores (KaDaWe and Galleria in Berlin, Karsdadt in Munich) to go through the toy departments.

In Dresden the transportation museum would pribably be fun for the kids. A river boat cruise would be fun too.

You probably want to build in a few days of down time. If you can book apartments or houses to stay in then you could do everything on your own schedule and be able to cook some of your own meals, have access to a washer (hopefully) and maybe a yard.

Posted by
14482 posts

Hi,

The Karstadt dept store is located near and opposite of Munich Hbf. In Berlin the Karstadt is located at the corner of Kantstraße and Joachimstalerstraße, a few minutes from Bahnhof Zoo.

Posted by
980 posts

1) Should we do it another way (Munich first, Nuremberg, Berlin and Moselle valley last ? )

Either direction is fine this time of year.

2) Is it too rushed ?

No, rushed 1-2 nights each location

3) any suggestions for our bases that take in account that we need moments for adults (Architecture, history and wine !) and for kids (zoo, park) ?

Pick Munich over Prien as one can easily do day trips to Salzburg from Munich. In Munich be aware the Deutsches Museum is under going extensive renovations over the next few years so check the website to see what's open before you go.

DJ

Posted by
6590 posts

"Pick Munich over Prien as one can easily do day trips to Salzburg from Munich."

Actually, Prien cuts the travel time to Salzburg in half. It's one hour by direct train for Prien - Salzburg (under normal geopolitical circumstances that is, no doubt longer if border security checks continue.) It's two hours for Munich-Salzburg; four hours round trip on the train cuts a pretty large slice from a day trip to Salzburg.

Posted by
980 posts

Prien cuts the travel time to Salzburg in half

True, but spending 4-5 days in Prien to save 2 hours on a day trip to Salzburg would be an unusual itinerary. The OP's original itinerary lists Munich with a possible day trip to Salzburg which is easily done from Munich. If it were me with two young kids that's what I'd do but to each his own.

DJ

Posted by
6590 posts

DJ: On the OP's other thread, this objective was stated:

"We are looking for a mix of cities, small places, mountain, architecture, history and fun for kids."

So I assume he has identified Prien as a smaller place (which it is) where he could see Munich (1 hour away) and Salzburg (1 hour away) and also get into the mountains (nearby Aschau and the Kampenwand, for example.) I think this idea makes sense with this goal in mind.