Germany

We LOVE Germany. Been there twice in the last 2 years. Bavaria is our favorite area. Munich is an incredible city but also loved the smaller towns of Rothenburg and St Goar. The Rhine is amazing and I would highly recommend getting to that area. If time is available Slazburg is not far and a visit to Austria is a must since you are so close.

You'd need to tell us a bit more about your interests and preferences. Do you want to see old historic towns? Beach resorts (German Baltic sea cost is a bit like Cape Cod, just with older towns), mountains, river valleys, big cities, oompah music and lederhosen, modern architecture... There is so much to see and 10 days is only a short amount of time... we'd have to prioritize...

Thank you for your reply. We love old historic towns, sea cost towns just about everything. We are leaning towards renting a car once we leave Berlin so we will have more travelling options. We really wanted to focus on the must sees but I quess that is somewhat subjective. I would like to get advice on another person's must sees. Thanks!

For starters, your two days in Berlin won't really be two days, as day 1 you'l be exhausted, jet lagged, and getting your bearings. I'd allocate at LEAST 3 days for Berlin. Germany is big, and Berlin is relatively far from the most visited "highlights" - not that there aren't wonderful places to see near Berlin. So I would think about how you want your trip to be paced, how much time you're willing to spend in transit, that sort of thing. If I were you though, I'd split my time between Berlin and Munich/Bavaria in the south, seeing both cities, then getting out into the Bavarian countryside, maybe a day trip to Salzburg in Austria, seeing one or two of Ludwigs' castles, cable car trip up a mountain peak, that sort of thing. Your other question asked about transportation - I would take the train for this itinerary. A car is worse than useless in Berlin and Munich proper, it could be helpful for getting around Bavaria but you can get by with the train fine, too. If you do decide to rent one, I'd rent it out of Munich and return it in Munich and take the train back to Berlin from there.

I visited Berlin last summer and went to see Usedom island on the Polish border. What a wonderful time. I only noticed native Germans. The ocean and sights were awesome! Would highly recommend! If you have kids there are lots of things for them to do as well.

From Berlin, I think I would hit the North Sea and Hamburg. Additional small towns would be Luebeck, Potsdam, and maybe Quedlinburg or Dresden. Add on some additional days to see Berlin as 2 days is certainly not enough. Ten days is really not very many, so rather than spend it traveling down to Bavaria, why not stick to Northern Germany and the delights of this region.