Germany itinerary

From Munich, Nürnberg and Würzburg are easily accessible as day trips. Both have castles. I particularly liked the Marienberg in Würzburg. Maybe do an overnight trip to both with Rothenburg thrown in. No need to use the rail pass. Two €29 Bayern-Tickets would cover all the transportation for both of you. Another castle worth seeing is Burghausen, on the Austrian border. Not only is it an interesting castle to visit, but when you come back and say you visited Burghausen, no one will know what you mean. Just smile knowingly.

If you'll be in Berlin and heading towards Scandinavia, and small towns don't interest you, head to Hamburg. Easily my favorite city in this country. It has a completely different look, feel, cuisinel and vibe than the south... almost like a Dutch-Scandinavian hybrid. As it's the north, most of the churches are Lutheran. The North German Radio Symphony orchestra calls the city home. Great people watching, from the upper crust you see in the shopping areas around the Binnenalster, to the rough necks and sailors that hang out along the Reeperbahn. The Kunsthalle has a large ion of German Romantic art, including several of the most famous works by Caspar David Friedrich. I could go on and on. As for WWII history, there isn't much that remains from the Nazi era, either in Hamburg or anywhere else in Germany. Most of war's legacy is what's absent. That being said, the bombed out remains of St. Nicholas' Church are a great reminder that there's no such thing as a "good war".

Oh, and if budget is a concern.... forget any kind of third party rail pass. These are almost always more expensive than buying individual tickets with advanced discounts. Hey Lee, can you give them your usual spiel, I don't feel like typing all that right now (close to my bedtime...)

Well, depending on how you plan your itinerary, you could go to Dresden from Prague and then on to Berlin from there (Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Prague, Dresden, Berlin and points north....) Dresden, the capital of Saxony, would definitely meet your requirements in several areas. Check out their website and calendar for your time frame. There are several jazz clubs, by the way, just google jazz in Dresden. This is a good website for finding a place to stay: http://www.hotel.de/ - there's another one that has pensions and rooms for rent but it's in German only as far as I can tell. By the way, there is an Europa busline connecting a lot of the major cities from main railway station to main railway station, may be cheaper than the train in some cases.

I'll second the recommendation for Dresden, especially for WWII history. And while you're in the area, since you mentioned classical music, you can swing by Leipzig and say hello to Bach.

Hi, Munich is worth 4 full days but it's great that you plan to spend the rest of the time up north. Aside from Berlin the other place nearby is Potsdam, which deserves a full day if your interests include Prussian history, esp., see Neues Palais and walk around in the town of Potsdam. Berlin is one the greenest cities in the world, explore the Spandau and Grunewald areas, accessible by the S-Bahn. Depending on your time, flexibility, and over-all interest, you can get to a number of war memorials, battle sites, military cemeteries and museums in Brandenburg and northern Germany. esp., if you're into esoteric military history. For Lutheran churches, I second the suggestion made above, Dresden, and I would add Magdeburg, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Erfurt, and Naumburg an der Saale, all very well known in German cultural history.

Although it's a pretty small city, I might also recommend Eisenacht. Amongst your stated interests, there is a Bach museum, a museum dedicated to the time that Luther spent in the town, and a great town center. The highlight, though, is the Wartburg, a castle that overlooks the town from the edge of the Thuringian Forest. It is closely associated with the medieval legend of Tannhauser. I would rank it as one of the more impressive intact castles in Germany (the snobs will complain that it isn't completely "authentic" because it was renovated during the Romantic era... but why should this matter?).

I too second the area of former eastern Germany between Munich and Berlin (Dresden and Wittenburg in particular) for art, castles, music and Luther. While you are in Munich please visit the Lenbach Haus Museum--great German art in a beautiful setting.

hi everyone! Thanks for all of your responses. I'm definitely interested in Hamburg. I'll also check out Dresden. Though sounds like there's some conflict with the castles... :)

Definitely support the idea of Hamburg. We went there last year as a side trip to see some friends and LOVED it. Because of the damage it suffered in WWII, don't expect to see a ton of "classic" German architecture, but it has a certain joie de vivre (what's the German equivalent of that?) that we loved. Do a little reading up on it to make sure it matches your interests, but what started as a lark to visit is now on the list for a return (longer) visit. BTW, do some background checking on it to see if it does match your interest, but we were simply blown away by the Miniatur Wonderland in Hamburg. Located in the old warehouse area on the river, it is the largest model train layout in the world (17 kilometers of track). They just opened their new airport exhibit, complete with "flying" jumbo jets! See article at http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/The-world%27s-largest-model-airport/G2223,A9087 if you're interested. For video on the WHOLE attraction, go to youtube and type Miniatur Hamburg into the search engine. Bottom line, fitting Hamburg into your itinerary up to Scandinavia is a definite recommendation!

Tom's suggestion of visiting the Wartburg castle/Eisenach is an excellent one, not only because as a castle it ties into your interests but the Wartburg is also the place where Martin Luther translated the bible from Latin into German.

"but we were simply blown away by the Miniatur Wonderland in Hamburg. " OK, confession time. Miniatur Wonderland was the main reason I took a trip to Hamburg. It was everything I hoped for and much more. But I would recommend, if you visit, go early. By lunchtime, the place will be jammed packed. I was also surprised that for a city that got so heavily bombed in WWII, they managed to rebuild in such an elegant, dignified manner. I leave near Mannheim, which also took a severe beating, but was largely rebuilt in a boring, functional, modernist style.

How true...that rebuilding style of the early and mid-1960s is clearly recognisable as evidenced in Hannover, Dortmund, Kassel, parts of Frankfurt, Duisburg, Essen, (I don't know Mannheim), when you're in the Innenstadt. To decide on a castle Wartburg in Saxony is the most historical and cultural one listed here.

Sorry...my error here. Wartburg is in Thuringia, formerly SW Prussia.