My son and I will be travelling to Germany and Great Britain from Sept. 28-Oct. 14. Our tentative Germany itinerary: Frankfurt arrival 2-3 days, hopefully a 1-day trip to Munich by car (my brother is working south of Frankfurt and we will stay there for this part.) What one thing (sightseeing only) could we do in Munich? The train from Frankfurt to Hamburg for 2-3 days where we will rent a car and travel around the area, doing genealogy work, some near Bremen and some near Schwerin. This is the only time we plan on renting a car. Suggestions for this? Then train to Berlin for 2-3 days, again, sightseeing, maybe Checkpoint Charlie, but don't know what else we want to see.
Then likely fly to London from Berlin via Ryan Air. I'll go to another area for the Great Britain portion questions. We do not have a place for Hamburg or Berlin. Suggestions? Likely a B&B or hostel or inexpensive hotels. Steve
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"Frankfurt arrival 2-3 days, hopefully a 1-day trip to Munich by
car" Just to clarify... is this a "daytrip" or are you spending a 24 hour period in Munich? If the former, don't bother, you won't have enough time to do anything. If the latter, I might suggest taking the train, because it is a pretty long drive.
Posted by
OP
Council Bluffs, IA, US
5 posts
re: Munich 1-day trip, leaving south of Frankfurt one morning and staying overnight. Yes, we could take the train. My brother has a car and offered to drive us, as he's taking a couple of days off work with us. He indicated the drive to be 3.5 - 4 hr. each way.
Posted by
Madison, WI, USA
534 posts
Munich will be in the throws of Oktoberfest in late Sept and early Oct. If you only see one thing - that could be it but parking may be a near impossibility. If the party atomosphere is not your thing - the very large Englishgarden (park) is great. The Residenz is good, but I thought the audio guide was dry dry dry. I am not a big fan of the Deutches museum. But if you had time I would go to the market in the heart of Munich - it is fun to pick out food and make a lunch of it. There should be nearby picnic tables where you can be served beer with your picnic finds.
Posted by
Kirn, Germany
331 posts
Your brother is probably about right estimating the drive to Munich at 4 hours, but the A3 is one of Germany's busiest motorways and we have spent hours stationary. Even on a good day you will be spending at least 8 hours in the car. If you can travel on a Sunday when lorries are not allowed on the roads you will have a more pleasant time. I live not far from Frankfurt and drive to Munich relatively often but would not consider it for a day trip. Munich is a wonderful city, but there are many other places near Frankfurt worth a visit and with less time spent sitting in traffic. Aschaffenburg, Wurzburg, even small places like Wertheim or Seligenstadt, or the towns and castles on the Rhein, or the Wasserkuppe near Fulda. If you do decide to go to Munich then I would imagine that you won't want to spend your short time there in a museum or art gallery, so just wander around the Innenstadt, sit in the Viktualien Markt and have a beer and a bite to eat and get a feel for the place. There's so much to see and do in the centre, churches, beerhalls, shops, markets, the Englischergarten, Residenz, Opera house, Schwabing the artistic/jazz quarter, beautiful squares and great architecture.
Posted by
OP
Council Bluffs, IA, US
5 posts
All of the suggestions (Jeff, Amy, Shoni..) are just the type we're looking for. It sounds as if we would want to restrict our time around Frankfurt and not head to Munich (another trip perhaps). And the alternate locations and options really seem more plausible. Thank you all for the tips on the driving, places to see, places to stay. I'll need to confer with my son on our options and do some further research on availability. I'm sure I'll have further questions; but if you have more suggestions, that would be great to hear.
Steve