Rick’s recommended three week trip to Germany: advice please

Heads up for Berlin in September: IFA fair and Berlin Marathon annually drive accomodation prices to record highs. You might consider this cost-wise for your plans?

Tip: Gendarmenmarkt is this year a huge construction site - better avoid hotels directly at this normally wonderful place.

Most people here on the forum will have no idea what the guidebook itinerary involves. Is it the same one shown on this page?
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/germany/itinerary

Hi, roxanne. Disclaimer: I have not followed Rick's itinerary, so I may be offering advice that you will choose to discard. But having visited all these destinations, I will recommend AGAINST using his suggested itinerary as a starting point. Three weeks is a long time and a big investment, so I'd encourage you first to consider your own travel preferences, desires and needs... It's YOUR trip, after all. Remember that Rick's travel philosophy is less about "follow my suggestions to the letter" and more about "find your own back doors." Here are some things that might be worth considering before you make a list of places to go...

• pacing... see it all fast, or build in some relaxation? 10 different overnight stops across 20 travel days (Rick's recommendation is tour-bus-paced and might be right for some people but not for others.)

• train or car? (Cars are a pain in big cities like Munich and Berlin.)

• big cities, or walkable cities, or small towns, or nature...what do you lean toward, generally?

• tourist crowds, or places where fellow tourists are scarcer?

• What excites you most about going to Germany?

• Do you have specific interests you wish to pursue (hiking? arft museums? Roman history? cooking classes?)

• Festivals/cultural events - do they matter? (September is a big month for wine and harvest festivals, beer festivals, and more.)

Rick is not the only guide that publishes suggested itineraries. For instance, here is Frommers - note that there are five different options on the left. https://www.frommers.com/destinations/germany/suggested-itineraries/the-north

Some may consider it old fashioned these days, but I have had wonderful experiences planned in part with Michelin's Green Guides. The guides include suggested driving tours as well as describing points of interest in various cities. As with any guide, including R.S., all the info should be checked against venue websites for current hours, closings, etc.

Rick's Guides are limited. He includes what he likes, i.e. "Rick Steves' Europe". For instance, in Germany, he totally ignores the Schleswig Holstein area. It's best to use the RS guides with other resources.

The advice posted above - to plan your own trip, not Rick's - is very good. A quick way to research might be to survey several suggested itineraries and put together a personalized mix and match.

I have visited almost all of the places on Rick's itinerary but not followed them in that order in Germany. (I have followed other RS itineraries in other countries and I have found them to be excellent.)

I personally love his pacing. I would observe that the experienced old hands on this forum will pretty routinely suggest they are too fast. I have come to the conclusion that for new travelers and energetic folks, rick's pacing is spot on. For folks who have made multiple trips to Europe, they are too fast and go to too many places. There is no right or wrong here though. It is a matter of preference; and given the massive popularity of his tours and his books, I definitely wouldn't dismiss Ricks expert take.

With that said, I'd add Hamburg and I'd skip the Black Forest. Germany forests can't hold a candle to US forests if you ask me. (Nobody asked me so, yeah, never mind.)

I think above someone gave you good advice to consider what you like-- and craft a plan around that! Let me second that thought!

Happy travels!

Like the others said, use Rick as a baseline then choose what's best for you. For example, I originally had Berlin in my shorter trip but decided I couldn't do that and the Middle Rhine Valley (among other things). So out went Hamburg as well. Then I had to chose Black Forest or Bavarian Alps. No BF, so out went Freiberg and Baden-Baden (and Porsche museum). We're hitting Cologne (on a day trip from Dusseldorf) but only because we're coming from Amsterdam. Rick has Cologne at the bottom of his list.

Rick also has Dresden prioritized over Black Forest. Dresden was never a consideration in my trip plan. Many prefer Mosel Valley over Rhine Valley. If you're doing Rhine Valley, makes sense to get to BF while your over there.

Three weeks is a long time. I'd research each area in consideration, see what you want to do, lodging options, possible events, travel between stops.

I have come to the conclusion that for new travelers and energetic folks, rick's pacing is spot on.

Possibly, but pacing is very personal, I think. I've heard from new travelers who described their first European bus tour as a "blur" and weren't able to remember what they did where. Then there are those athletic folks who book a week or two in a single location and hike/bike every last trail within a 20-mile radius, reporting back that they had a grand time.

We planned our first few trips using Rick's suggested itineraries. Over the years we have realized that we strongly prefer small villages to cities. We do still visit cities, but just to visit desired museums / sights. We've been to almost all of his suggestions for Germany. We really enjoyed both Erfurt and Gorlitz. which he does not prioritize. I would suggest making sure you have a good mix of cities and villages.

We still pace most of our stops about like Rick suggests with the exception of the Berner Oberland in Switzerland where we like to spend a week.

For a first trip the pacing is not too bad, assuming that those are places YOU want to visit. My first time in Bacharach was for 2 nights. My one last year was for 7 nights. Make a more detailed itinerary putting in attractions you want to see and train times.

There are so many interesting towns to visit in Germany, you might enjoy ‘discovering’ one of your own. If you find that you would like to spend more time in any of the places ( such as Salzburg, hint, hint ), I would eliminate the Black Forest, even though I enjoy it, spending 5 days last trip.

"I've heard from new travelers who described their first European bus tour as a "blur" "

A blur you say? You must be referring to non-RS tours 'cause those Rick Steves' travelers are all equipped with high speed guaranteed not to blur Rick Steves software that allow them to optimize their traveling enjoyment. Indeed Rick Steves equipped travelers are like Batman and have supernatural senses which allow them to absorb information at terrific rates while still getting twice the enjoyment. Like a Swiss watch!!!! Except also having fun!

Have you seen the tour reviews? Wow! Top of the charts! They are off the hook. No blurs there, yessiree bob!

Someone said more salzburg! Great idea! Who doesn't love Mozart? Not me!

Happy travels everyone!

I have nothing against the plan as laid out but, is that what you want to see? I get a lot of folks asking about Europe, and Germany, especially since I'm back over here, and my advice is see what interests you. Pick three things you have to see and build your trip around those. The last time I took a vacation (20 days) where I flew into the EU from the States I did Munich, Salzburg, and Prague. I'd been to all of them before, but there was enough in those areas to interest me for another 3 weeks. I'm taking a cousin for her first trip over starting Tuesday and we'll spend two weeks going from Munich along the Alps to Konstanz and into the Alsace.

The point being that only you can make the decision about what your priority is. If you just want to run from place to place do that. If you prefer to actually spend some time learning about the area, slow down. And know that in the 30 years since Rick started pointing out places they have stopped being "back doors", and become quite crowded.

My opinion is that a number of the places on that list can easily take weeks to learn. The idea that Salzburg is only a day trip amuses me, as I've spent weeks there, and I have never done the SoM tour, or Mozart, etc. But I can show you where Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson sat while shooting a scene, or where Luigi Kasimir did his famous etching. And that's not the only place like that. Most tourists will walk right past the WWII flak tower in Trier and never know it, or the bomb shelters in Frankfurt, or try a pizza vending machine (not bad) on a back road in France.

Figure out what you want to see the most, then look at how to fill in the rest of your trip. Don't try to pack in too much; that's how you miss out. You don't want to have to pass a small fest in some town because you have to be in another place that night. Or not be able to stop and listen to a concert on a local church organ because it's time to get to the next place on your list. Stuff happens, and the truly interesting things are those you didn't plan down to the minute.

Since the opinions in the posts are more open two cents from my side.

1) It makes most sense to share your interests or what you want to see / explore / experience with the forum. We have so much combined knowledge here including locals that we can easily provide you with better in terms of more individually interesting ideas.

2) Travelling 3 weeks through Germany without even touching the North or Hamburg and without including Cologne and Ruhr area is not full view on Germany imo. Sorry, Rick. Germany is so manifold in its regional cultures incl. architecture, music, food, drinks, etc. that it would be a mess to miss it.

Thanks to all for their thoughtful responses. I really appreciate the suggestions and perspectives.