5 Days in Germany

Mary, I'd suggest using Munich as a "home base", as that makes a great location for exploring southern Germany. Although it's a bit of a long travel day, one of the easiest options is a train departing Brussels Midi at 07:28, arriving Munich at 14:27 (time 6H:59M, one change at Köln, reservations compulsory on first leg). That's a good time of arrival for Hotel check-in. If you want to visit Neuschwanstein or Hohenschwangau Castles, that's easily done from Munich. You can either arrange the Castle tour and travel on your own, or take a day tour with Radius Tours. If you take a day tour, you'll still be travelling via public transit, but they take care of all the travel arrangements. Some of the other sights in that area..... > Dachau (if you're interested in the history) > Day trip to Salzburg (lots of Mozart and Sound of Music history) > Day trip to Berchtesgaden (beautiful town in the mountains, where you can tour the Dokumentation Centre and Bunkers, Eagle's Nest and / or a Salt Mine). Of course, there are also LOTS of sights in Munich. The Deutsches Museum has over 16 kM of exhibits at the main site. A visit to the famous Hofbrauhaus is usually quite entertaining. Radius Tours also offers good walking tours of the city. Happy travels!

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I'm overwhelmed. Can you recommend a reasonably priced place to stay? It will be just be the two of us and clearly we won't be in the room that much, but would consider safety, private bath, convenience to transportation and culture (in that order). Thanks again. We're very excited!!!

You can see scenery, castles, and more just across the Belgian border. Cologne: The largest Gothic Church in Europe, the Cologne Cathedral, and several good museums Trier: Germany's oldest city, Roman ruins and history Koblenz area. Middle Rhine Valley: Marksburg Castle in Braubach, Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar, Eltz Castle near Moselkern Old world villages: Bacharach, Linz, and Boppard on the Rhine; Cochem and Bernkastel on the Mosel River You could spend more than 5 days in the area, but 5 would be about right for an introduction and would help you avoid long train trips. About the Middle Rhine Valley http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de Numerous reasonably-priced accommodations on the Rhine and Mosel Rivers can be found here: http://www.bensbauernhof.com/accommodationsrhinemosel.html

Mary, you can get a couple of books on Munich through the Lilburn Library. One of them is: Munich & the Bavarian Alps by Izabella Galicka and Katarzyna Michalska. The one I would try to get for sure is called: Top 10 Munich by Elfi Ledig. At the moment they're both in but maybe not in Lilburn. (Note: I checked, the Top Ten is in in Lilburn, the other in Duluth.) If you have to order them, they'll usually come in within a couple of days. As to a hotel: I have stayed (and would stay there again) at the Hotel Antares in Amalienstrasse. It is three very short blocks from a couple of museums (the Alte and the Neue Pinakothek)and not far from from an Underground stop. I usually walked to the Marienplatz, took a bus to the railway station (in front of the museums) and also a taxi to the train station for an early morning departure, which the hotel ordered for me the night before. The hotel is located in a very quiet street, I felt completely safe there. Also, it has a very extensive breakfast buffet included and you can get dinner there if you want, the breakfast area is a restaurant. The rooms are small, clean and have private bathrooms. The place has an elevator and the windows open. This place may have a room when everything closer is already booked.
This website describes it: http://www.hotelplanner.com/Hotels/200807-Munich/Deal-Hotel-Antares-Amalienstrasse-20-80333.