My college son will have 4 days away from his summer German classes to travel. His starting point will be Weimar. His interests do not include Berlin, Munich or Stuttgart due to previous visits. He is considering Prague or northern Germany. Because he will travel alone, I would like to know if Prague is a good choice (by train) or what you might recommend as an interesting location to visit in Germany.
There are likely student Euproen Forums. he could connect with someone to travel with and they can jointly come up with a plan. There might be a site right here in Rick Steves Forum.
I am going to bet that after spending time here with his fellow students, he is going to come up with some ideas of his own. Anything planned now will then get tossed out the window. He may even make friends who will want to travel with him.
Candace, It depends on how far your son wants to go when he starts, how far into northern Germany. I would suggest Leipzig or Dresden since they're not too far from where he's starting. If he wants to shoot directly up north, then the whole Schleswig-Holstein area, especially the Holstein and Mecklenburg areas. See Hamburg, Kiel (not so much the city itself but the small towns nearby), Lübeck, Bremen, and the smaller towns near those cities. For Mecklenburg a number well-worth cities to visit... Rostock and Schwerin are the tops.
Eisenacht isn't too far away and is worth a visit, mainly for the Wartburg castle that overlooks the town (one of the best in Germany, in my opinion). OK, not really a party town for young people, but I thought it was nice enough. If he's interested in northern Germany, Hamburg offers all sorts of things he might like to do but tell you nothing of...
Thank you...great suggestions..I'll pass them on.