Visiting Germany in November

Do you mean the Hartz Mountains? They are not near Regensburg, though in 4 weeks you can cover a lot of ground. November can have messy weather in mountains and perhaps not the best driving conditions.

Germany is filled with nice places with little tourist impact. Are you interested in towns, villages , monasteries, churches, etc.???

A guide book is a good starting point. I might suggest the Michelin Green Guide or Lonely Planet. They cover places like the wonderful town of Regensburg.

As Gary said, the Harz mountains are nowhere near Regensburg. They straddle the old West German/East German border just north of Göttingen, near Hannover. They are now a national park. They are an island of pine covered mountains rising almost 4000' above the relatively flat plains of northern Germany.

I was there for five nights in 2008. One day I took a bus from Braunlage, where I was staying, to the neighboring town of Schierke, then the special steam powered narrow gauge train to the top of the Brocken, a 3800' mountain just over the border into "East Germany". During the cold war it was a Stasi listening station. Although not that high, the Brocken is so far north that it is above the timberline, and bald on top. Earlier people thought it was enchanted, and the lore of witchcraft permeates the area. Walpurgisnacht, a scene from Göthe's Faust, supposedly took place there.

If you want to leave the mountains, on the flat, just to the north, the towns of Wernigerode and Quedlinburg are well preserved examples of Fachwerk construction.

IMO, you don't need a car. Once you get there, you will find convenient buses. The websites for these bus lines are a little hard to find (and in Germany), but if you are interested, I'll look through my records and try to find some information.

Another thing, during my stay, I spoke English with 1½ people. The manager of the lodge was fluent and one of the front desk personel spoke a little.

I was there in early November. I didn't encounter snow, just rain, but I just missed it on both ends.

our plans are to stay around Regensburg about a week to visit with family (maybe a few days trips to Wurzburg or Prague or Nurnberg) then leave on our "journey" toward Berlin - through the Harz Mtn area (Wartburg Castle/Wittenberg;Stalag 13)- down toward Frankfurt (considering Colonge area) maybe following the Romantic Rd (tour castles)toward Fussen/Ruette area /Garmish area up toward to Munich and back to Regensburg for Thanksgiving - then hit the Christmas markets in the area and head toward Salzburg and Vienna - if we have time maybe some parts of northern Italy. Not much for big cities but like scenery, countryside, out of the way places.
This is our first time to Europe and want to make the most of our trip without tiring ourselves out - not much on a lot of hiking.

Keep one thing in mind for planning purposes in November/December... not the weather, which is usually manageable, but the short daylight hours. This greatly limits how much you can see outside of cities. Particularly in Germany, most smaller towns and rural areas have very little artificial illumination after dark. By December, you can expect sunrise after 8 in the morning, and sunsets around 4 pm. So, if you're planning a driving itinerary, it has to be kept considerably less ambitious than it would in the summer (and note that most travel guides are written with summer travel in mind).

If you're staying near Vilseck/Grafenwohr or Hohenfelds, you may find the Romantic Road rather redundant. The scenery along this road is really no better or worse than any other two lane country road in Bavaria. The only exception is the final southern stretch as you approach Fuessen, the castles and the Alps.

Finally- don't go out of your way to visit Reutte.

would we do better with our time going thru Baden-Baden and Offenburg rather than the Romantic Rd? cutting across at Freiburg toward Fussen OR if time permits going on down to Switzerland and up to Fussen? thanks so much for all of the information - it is really helping me out - one other thing - someone mentioned in a post about the "hidden" secret places that RS does not mention in his books - how do you find out about them - is there a web site or just mainly from others experiences?

Baden-Baden: big snooze.

Wouldn't recommend going all the way to Switzerland from the Regensburg area in November (a LONG drive), when most of the tourist infrastructure in the mountains is closed... and Switzerland is also no where near Fuessen. If you want to see the Alps, just drive south to the Bavarian and Tyrolian Alpine regions, which are much closer.

Regarding finding things not in the travel guides- just get in the car and drive.

"someone mentioned in a post about the 'hidden' secret places that RS does not mention in his books - how do you find out about them - is there a web site or just mainly from others experiences?"

Rick's book does a very thorough job on a few places. He is good at what he does but he does not try to be comprehensive. He misses most of Germany. There are not a few hidden, secret places but hundreds of places worth visiting with a small American tourist presence. If you travel only to recommended places, you will more likely follow typical tourist routes.

Any single website would have trouble giving a fairly comprehensive view of Germany. I still think a good guide book or two is the secret. Michelin Green Guide is gear towards car touring and may be available in your library. The ADAC (German Auto Club) publishes an atlas (Stassen Atlas) with 100s of scenic towns highlighted. You would probably have to order it.

Once you have a rough itinerary, you can search specific towns on line as just about every town and village in Germany has a website. Wikipedia pages are also often good.

Regards, Gary

Although I generally like Rick Steves' books, his Germany guide, quite frankly, isn't very good. I would recommend using it only for lodging recommendations in places you already planned on visiting. For overall ideas, go with the Michelin Green Guide, Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, or Eye Witness Travel series.

I've long been a proponent of Wurzburg as I've always considered it somewhat of a hidden gem. The Marienburg Fortress is a sight to behold and the Residenz is spectacular, definitely one of the highlights of Germany. Some of the most beautiful architecture and churches there as well and the view of the city from the fortress is one of my favorites in all of Europe. The military bases there have long since closed so there are probably few, if any, Americans around anymore. Perfect for a daytrip and right up the road from Rothenburg.

The Altstadt in Nurnberg is another place I've always felt was a bit underrated. Tons of history there. Another good day trip.

Another easy resource for destination ideas is the official tourism site for Germany. This page has the big hitter sites listed, but you can then link from here to the various city/state (Länder) sites for more ideas within each region…many of these aren’t in RS guidebook.

http://www.cometogermany.com/ENU/culture_and_events/places_to_visit.htm