Germany

Look at Rick Steve's Germany pages. I think they are under the "plan your trip" tab and the top of this page. He always has great suggestions about where to go and how to get there. Happy Travels!

Penny,

I am also planning a 9 day trip through Germany. I have been reading different tavel guides, especially Rick's Germany book, and studying what they think are the important highlights to see. I have found that looking up many different websites on the internet is helpful, as well as reading this travelers helpline frequently to get ideas from others is very useful. I sort through and pick and choose activities and places to see according to what sounds the most imteresting to me. I think gathering all the info. and then going with your instincts on what might be considred a great trip for you is great. Good luck and Happy Travels!

"Im landing in Amsterdam and have 8 days to see Germany & be bacl om Amsterdam. Want to see small towns and beautiful country. Rail or Car? Where should I go and how?"

You won't see Germany, but you can see some of it. A lot of attractive areas lie near the Dutch border.

The Mosel River Valley meets your criteria; be sure to see Burg Eltz (in Rick's book):
www.mosel-reisefuehrer.de/moselhighengl/moselhighlightsengl.html

www.burg-eltz.de

The Rhine Valley is spectacular too:
www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/index.php?id=318&L=3

Monschau is a beautiful town north of the Mosel region near Aachen:
www.monschau.de/tourist-information/

Monschau is part of the Eifel Region, where you'll find lots of small towns and charm:
www.eifel.de/go/home-english.html

The Eifel National park is there too:
www.nationalpark-eifel.de/go/eifel/english.html

The Fairy Tale Road is a charming part of Germany not far from Holland:
www.deutsche-maerchenstrasse.com/seiten/index_en.html

A car works in these areas; the train might depending on where you go and the level of convenience you seek.

"Back in the day" when we were crazy and wanted to see the most for our time we had a Eurail, cris-crossed Germany doing night trains to use our nights for travel and days for experiencing the different regions. For example, Amsterdam-Berlin on the night train, then Berlin-Munich, Munich-Hamburg etc. so that even though it seems logical to go Berlin Hamburg as they are close, we had a night to travel and then the day to see, then a night to travel. I hope that makes sense. It only really works well if you are young, and/or energetic and really good getting around new cities and kind of know what you'll do in each place. Otherwise I'd pick an area (example: Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden or Bavaria) and do it fairly well.