Me and 2 Girlfriends are traveling to Germany in April. Our girls trips in the past have been mostly to Hawaii. We have never been before. We would like to try to do some of the following:
-Sylt Island (Is it worth seeing? We are beach lovers.)
-Rothenburg (Should we stay the night or travel by bus/ car and stay for a couple of hours?)
-Rhine River Curise (day trip or 3 nighter?)
-Wurzburg (we hear there's good wine there?)
I have family in Northern Germany near Kiel. I would like to fit a day or two in to visit there...I am thinking this is close to Sylt Island? I would love to hear feed back on our ideas so far and any other recommendations would be great! We fly into Frankfurt- Does anyone have a recommended itinerary? North 1st, then south, or visa versa? Thank you!
Thanks for the feed back...We are not looking for Tropical weather, just enjoy coastal areas...Correction to my orig post- the family is in Niebull, not Kiel...
Your trip will be fine, if you have realistic expectations about the weather in extreme northern Germany in April (your original post talks about enjoying the beaches). Niebull is up around Denmark, the average temps in April are 37 to 50 with about 13 days out of the month having some precipitation.
Sylt is a lot like Carmel....very pricy...cold water (even in the summer) but with a strong wind coming off the North Sea....I stayed in Kampen in the late 60's visiting two life guards that I had met previously surfing in the Canary Islands...I stayed just long enough to catch my breath...quickly I realized I couldn't afford to linger...one interesting difference between Sylt and Carmel is that many of the beaches there were nudist...
I took my daughter when she was 21 and she loved Wurzburg because it was a college town. Also, Munich with lots of street music and young people. It will be very cool at that time of year, so the further south might be best. There is a beautiful place called the Lake of Konstanz and is surrounded by the mountains of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. I think Freidrickschafen might also be a college town, but she met some fun people there and the scenery is beautiful. Heidelberg, although touristy seemed to have lots of fun people. However, it is off season for tourists, so going to the college towns you are more likely to find people to party with.
Heidi,
On one business trip to Germany, some of my colleagues asked why I didn't bring my wife. I told them her idea of a vacation was a warm beach. They replied, "In Germany you can have warm or you can have beach, but you can't have them both together.
I would probably not worry about beaches and pick other spots. Berlin and Munich both have a lot of fun things to do. You would probably also like getting into the Alps.
It will still be fairly cool in April (compared to San Diego).
Rhotenburg is small. I think you will like the Nightwatchman's tour followed by hanging out at the Hell bar.
There is good wine everywhere along the Rhine and Mosel valeys.
Kiel is completely different from the South. It's a navy town like San Diego. I really like it but my main goals for travel are seeing things off the beaten tourist path, learning local history and experiencing local culture (food, customs, religion).