Rhine vs. Berlin with teenagers

Depends on the interests of your teenagers and their ages. If their young teenagers, perhaps the Rhine, but if they're almost college age and you can trust them to go off on their own, they'll like Berlin much better.

Totally subjective and, depends on age of kids in question (young teens, close to college-age, etc.). Assuming it's somewhere in between (15-ish or so); I'd PROB choose Berlin after Munich, if time's tight and you must choose ONE area after Munich. I think teens MAY be a tad bored with traveling on the Rhine, looking at castles, etc. 40 yrs old here, but have teen nieces (17 & 13), and am pretty certain they'd like the Rhine for the 1st little while....then would get bored! Of course, all teens are different..... Berlin's a fascinating, historic, big city....very different in look & feel from Munich. So, nice contrast from Munich/S. Germany. And if they're older/somewhat mature and have learned re: WWII and the Cold War in school, Berlin offers a fantastic, "live" history lesson. Taking them to the CheckPoint Charlie Museum, the Reichtag, what remains of the Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, a themed walking tour, the Holocaust Memorial, Jewish Museum Berlin; etc. brings ALL they've learned in school to life. The Pergamon Museum may also be good for teens (depending on their tollerance/patience for museums, naturally). Seeing the massive Ishtar gate in person, with it's vibrant blue and yellow colors, pretty amazing stuff. Fact is, you can't go wrong w/ either area, but forced to choose for teens, my money's on Berlin. Hope they (and you!) have a great time in Germany, wherever you end up.

Thanks all! My kids are 15 and 17, and you are right Lawrence - they have learned about WWII / post/ cold-war era, so Berlin might be the call. If we did make it to Cologne / Bonn area for a day - any advice on where to stay? (Town / area). Thanks --

My vote is for Berlin. We took our 15 year old son last year and he loved it!
So many different things to do depending on their interests. We went on a Fat tire bike tour in the beginning of our trip and that gave us a good orientation of the city. We also went to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, the Reichstag, some museums, and lots more On the same trip we spent 2 days on the Mosel and 2 days on the Rhine, except for Burg Eltz, i don't think he enjoyed it as much. Have a good trip!

For a 15 and 17 yr old- DEF Berlin then! You can show them a lot and it's a safe city; I think certainly the kind of city where you can let them go off on their own and explore. Granted, I live in NYC, so think EVERYONES kids are safe in a large, busy city (!), but as you're from Boston, I imagine they've been out in that city on their own. Berlin IS huge (VERY spread out), but, that said, MOST of the main tourist/important areas are fairly contained (empahsis on the FAIRLY; it's DEF a city where you need to study your map before you head out for the day)!