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Our two-week trip in Germany (driving vs. train and what else I'd change)

Posted by on

My family of three (parents in their 50s and our 12-year-old daughter) just finished a 15-day trip in Germany, using Rick's guide for the country. Modifying his 3-week trip for our schedule we flew into Dusseldorf, spent a day with friends in Cologne, drove to Bacharach for two nights, drove to Munich for three nights, drove to Rothenburg for two nights, drove to Wurzburg for one night, took a train (after dropping off the car in Wurzburg) to Nuremberg for one night, took the train to Dresden for one night and took the train to Berlin for three nights.

We had a wonderful time and I won't go into the details of the trip. Rick's guide was very helpful and made our trip far better than I could have imagined. However, would change two things. First, I would keep the car as long as possible. We had so much more flexibility when driving and with less stress than the train. German roads, drivers and cars put Americans to shame, and driving was a fast and preferred way to move around the country. Based on Rick's advice we dropped the car in Wurzburg, which was a costly mistake. Trains are not cheap and we needed to take cabs to and from the stations once we ditched the car. Worse, we were at the mercy of train schedules, which wasted time. The train to Berlin from Dresden was an hour late, causing us to get to Berlin around 2 PM, losing a day for an easy 1 hour plus drive.

The second change would be to skip Wurzburg and Nuremberg, and extend the stays in Munich and Dresden. Wurzburg has a beautiful palace and garden and a castle on a hill, but I would have much preferred to spend that day elsewhere. Nuremberg has the Nazi documentation center, but we learned the same information at the Dachau concentration camp outside Munich. There's not much more that's unique in Nuremberg. Munich is a big city with a lot to explore, and Dresden is gorgeous thanks to a massive restoration program. There are many excellent museums in Dresden, of which we sampled two.

I would also skip Cologne, but we had a personal interest in visiting our friends. Actually, Cologne was comparable to and maybe better than Wurzburg and Nuremberg.

Posted by
1155 posts

Not sure if you read my (way too long) trip report, but we also just returned from Germany and felt the same about driving vs. trains! Maybe we were just lucky, but we had no traffic issues, no parking issues, and driving was way more pleasurable than the train. I did like Wurzburg but we didn't visit some of your other locations so can't compare.

Posted by
3050 posts

How funny, I've lived in Germany for over 6 years now and I much prefer to take trains when possible, especially if I'm visiting big cities with central train stations like the cities you visited! I find the Autobahn pretty stressful and traffic can be just awful. To each their own!

I agree with you about Wurzburg however. When I finally made it there, I was confused as to why it's included in the book. There are plenty of other impressive palaces in Germany to visit. If you return to Munich, consider a day trip or overnight to Regensburg. It's entire city center is a UNESCO world heritage site, for good reason - it was one of the few major cities that wasn't extensively damaged during the war. Munich is a city that grows on me more every time I visit, too, especially once you get out of the tourist core and explore the different neighborhoods. Glad you had a great time!

Posted by
1529 posts

For sure to each his own! My husband and I strongly prefer traveling by train. We have rented a car and found it easy, but the train is completely stress free. We also really enjoyed Wurzburg and Nuremberg (been there twice). We do tend to enjoy smaller towns vs big cities though.

Posted by
7209 posts

It's tough for Americans to give up rental cars. My family, on the other hand, have learned to navigate trains easily and MUCH prefer being dropped right into the city center without having to find an expensive non-existent parking place for my car. Of course we could stay WAY out of the city center and have many more options to park the rental car - but that defeats the purpose of staying city center.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks everyone for the replies. My comment on driving versus the train stands. I strongly recommend driving unless you have phobias of driving in the U.S.. Driving in Germany is much easier than in our country with dilapidated infrastructure.

I didn't mention that we lost about two days in touring after we dropped off the car. One of our trains was even delayed an hour, despite Germany's heralded prowess of running its train on time. That alone compensates for the inconvenience of finding parking, and each of the hotels we stayed at except Berlin had convenient parking, so that was never a concern. All our hotels were in the center of each city we visited. Once we arrived we only used the car for day trips, which were wonderful. We walked, used public transit and cabs to navigate the cities.

We also visited four places outside of the cities we stayed in. That would have been far more inconvenient with public transportation, and impossible in at least one instance. We were more mobile and had more flexibility with the car, and could see more and do more because of it.

I live in the San Francisco bay area and commute by rail every day, so I'm a proponent of public transit and trains. Nationality has nothing to do with my strong recommendation. If you want to save time and see more, use a car.

Posted by
1529 posts

Wittala,

I think it's great you enjoyed driving, but want to make sure anyone reading this thread who is new to travel gets both perspectives. I've been to Germany 6 times and traveled mostly by train. Have never felt my time was waisted (although I have not had issues with late trains either, which I think is really not the norm). I think for most travelers on a first trip the train is a much more stress free way to go. We have rented a car in Germany to take us easily where the trains didn't go (in the black forest and Tyrol). And driving was easy, but on the train both adults get to relax and watch the view:)

Posted by
3 posts

To put this discussion in perspective let me point out that Rick Steves himself recommends driving for his itinerary through Germany. My only comment was that I would have driven more than he suggests. Our trip of eight hotels and four side trips would not have been possible without a car. We saw what we wanted, ate what we wanted and set our own schedule.

If you want flexibility and want to take advantage of the best highway system in the world, you should drive. Having used a car and train I can factually state cars are the superior form of transportation. If you don't like driving, use trains. If you drive you will see more.

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