Where to in Germany

Besides being a beautiful national park, Berchtesgaden is home to Hitler's Eagles' Nest (Kehlsteinhaus), which you can tour. That certainly has WWII historical significance. At the base of the mountain, in Obersalzberg, the top Nazi's had vacation homes and there was a large SS installation with extensive tunnels connecting all of the homes. There is a museum there now, called the Dokumentation Center, with a lot of exhibits about the Nazi raise to power. You can also tour some of the tunnel network.

And, of course, in the outskirts of Munich there is Dachau.

I know there are some WWII sites in Nürnberg.

You can easily get from Munich to Berchtesgaden and Nürnberg by train.

"I am a big WW II buff" In this aspect, you may find Germany a bit disappointing compared to France. Other than a select few sites, almost all traces of the Third Reich and WWII are gone. For example, I think only one building in Munich remains standing that was purpose-built for the Nazi regime. Everything else was destroyed during the war and not rebuilt. But here are a selection of WWII-Nazi sites that I know of: the ruins of the parade grounds outside of Nuremburg, the Eagle's Nest near Berchesgaden, a few concentration camps scattered throughout the country, and some remains of the West Wall. Probably Hitler's most enduring building project is one that few associate with him and is widely visible everywhere- the autobahn network.

Just a thought...you could base out of the mosel region which would allow you to experience part of the German culture(Trier, Bernkastel-Kues, Koblenz, Monschau, Bitburg, etc)...and wine. Then do day trips to Diekirch WWII museum, Luxembourg and NL WWII cemeteries, the Dragon Tooth barriers (part of the Siegfried line) near Monschau Germany, Bastogne, small SS cemetery in Bitburg (and a brewery that give tours) and the myriad other WWII stops that dot that area. If you come at the right time, you can even catch some liberation parades in Belgium and the Netherlands.

http://www.luxembourg.co.uk/NMMH/

http://users.skynet.be/bastogne.battle.bulge.guided.tours/index.htm

http://www.connectiontours.com/SpecialInterestTours2010/MilitaryHistoryTours2010/65thLiberationofHolland/tabid/108/Default.aspx

Berlin is just packed with WW2 history and many Nazi-built buildings still exist like the stadium of the 1936 Summer Olympics, the fair ground halls, Tempelhof airport terminal building and others. In Berlin you can also see even more of post-WW2, cold-war history including nuclear bunkers, etc. After all Berlin was one of the capital cities of the Eastern Block and from a Soviet point ov view wasn't even considered to be foreign but simply part of the USSR. Walk thru Friedrichshain, along Alexanderplatz etc. and you can definitely tell...

Thank you for the ideas. And they don't have to be all WW II ideas, just wanted to make sure I hit some of the highlights of Germany

OK, here's my highlights tour of Germany (but really just the very top level highlites): 3 days Berlin and Potsdam, train to Nuremberg, sidetrip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, down to Füssen along the Romantic Road, visit of Neuschwanstein castle (maybe a day of Garmisch or so, too), then Munich for 2 days.Alternatively 3 days Berlin, 2 days Hamburg, 1 day Cologne, then 3 days Rhine and Mosel river valleys, last day Frankfurt (see all of Jo's posts)...

Gary, I think Sam's suggestions above are terrific. It's not far at all from Paris to Germany'a western border with France - 3 hours by TGV train. And there's a LOT to see there. Stay in or near Trier for several days; see the villages of Bernkastel and Cochem, and drive the Belgian WW II sites. Trier itself is a very interesting place. Note also that there's a former Nazi bunker that can be toured on Sunday afternoons in Irrel , north of Trier, called Panzerwerk Katzenkopf:

http://agoodwordtailor.com/photopage.html

After 3-4 days there, head east to see the Rhine castles and wine villages. Boppard is a nice town to stay in, but there are several others as well, including St. Goar and Bacharach. Tour Burg Eltz on the way to the Rhine, and see Marksburg in Braubach:

www.burg-eltz.de
www.marksburg.de

On the Rhine north of Koblenz, check out the WW II museum at the site of the former "Bridge at Remagen", taken by American forces during the war. It's an interesting story that was chronicled in a film starring George Segal and Ben Gazzara. It's agreat museum, lots of stuff in English:

www.bruecke-remagen.de

I always like to throw in a vote for Berlin. Our highlight of the latest trip was a tour of the Reichstag. Its destruction in 1933 played a crucial role for the establishment of Hitler's regime. And the capture by the Russian Army marked the end of the war. Very intersting to look at the preserved graffitti the soldiers left behind on the rubble of the Reichstag and the discussions they caused for the reconstruction in the 1990s. Prebook a - free - guided tour to make sure you don't have to stand in line. The German Historic Museum also devotes a large part of its exhibits to WWII. The site "Topography of Terror" (close to Potsdamer Platz) is the former SS headquarters.

Personally, I'm more of a Roman era through 17th century buff. I visited the Bridge at Remagen with some Army officers. For me it was mildly interesting. For them it was like a trip to Mecca. Since you are into WWII, that may be a good site to visit.

Hi,

I totally agree with all the suggestions in these postings. Since you're focused on the military history of WW II, two more places come to mind, which I saw in 1984 and 1997: REIMS in France, which you could do as a day trip from Paris-Est and,

especially, in my opinion, BERLIN-Karlshorst, which is accessible by S-3 Bahn, sites of the two surrenders in '45. The museums there are well worth seeing...Karlshorst was more enlightening...to me and, obviously, more balanced now than when the Russians were in control of it.

How long are you going to be in Paris? Spend an afternoon at the army museum in Les Invalides, which has a large section on WW II, more now than in the past.

While in Munich, go to the Odeonplatz and the Feldherrnhalle, where Hitler tried to pull off his first coup in 1923. You will be at the exact site.

I've done 5 tours of Germany specifically dealing with WW2. Try the company Alpventures.com Tony is wonderful and has tours around every topic. I'm doing my 6th WW2 tour of Germany with his company this summer.

You'll have to see Nuremberg to the the Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Munich to see where the Beer Hall Putsch occurred, also where his office was, Berchtesgaden is lovely; and you can stay in a hotel right next to Hitler's Berghof; Hotel Zum Turken; you can see the underground tunnels of the Obersalzberg area, also the Eagle's Nest. I'm sure you will want to visit a concentration camp; Dachau is near Munich. If you go more north you can visit Nordhausen and Dora, also the Panzermuseum in Munster (www.achtungpanzer.com) They have hundreds of tanks and uniforms; very nice museum. You can visit Rommel's grave in Ulm.

Send me a private message if you would like more info on the tours :)

Gary,
We were just in Germany in July and went to Wurzburg, Nurnberg and Munich. The Residenz in Wurzburg was fantastic and the garden is beautiful. We really liked the Nazi rally grounds in Nurnberg and loved the town in general. While in Munich, we took a daytrip to Dachau which was one of the highlights. If you're a WWII buff, I would highly recommend it.