Where to go!

I%26#39;ve been to Germany a number of times but I have been Berlin too many times now (Not a bad thing) and I have been to Dresden.

I%26#39;m thinking of going to Germany again in the summer or possibly next winter but I want opinions on which cities are worth visiting.

I know I%26#39;m asking an impossible question as everyone has their own opinions about which city is better.

Here are some ideas

For example, always wanted to go to Munich not for Oktoberfest. Does Munich have many other beer festivals or do any other cities have better festivals. Are there many ski resorts in close proximity to Munich so I can go skiing for a day. Is Munich worth a short 2-3 day break?

Cologne, I can easily get to Brussells by train from London and then get to Cologne by train. Cologne looks nice from what I%26#39;ve seen and a friend has recommended it to.

Hamburg, The Beatles made their name there, it has got a good nightlife.

Karlsruhe, I%26#39;ve got a friend there

I just want a few opinions on what city is worth visiting or what places off the beaten track is worth visiting? Any ideas would be great: )

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Munich is a beautiful city and worth of a 2-3 day visit. The area within 2 hours of Munich has a lifetime of things to see and do.

From Munich you can go to:

Garmisch

Fuessen and the Neuschwanstein %26amp; Hohenschwangau castles

the Wieskirche

Regensburg

Passau

Salzburg

Chiemsee (castle Herrenchimsee)

Berchtesgaden (Konigsee, church in the Ramsau, Eaglesnest, Maria Gern)

Augsburg

Weltenberg (brewing beer at the monastery since 1050)

Many lakes and cathederals to see, drive the alpenstrasse, go skiing in Garmisch, go to Landshut,

or Mittenwald. Take the train to Innsbruck..

All pretty much within 2 hours of Munich...and I am sure I left out a bunch...so grab a book on Bavaria and map it out!

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Since you mentioned beer festivals, Munich%26#39;s is the world%26#39;s largest, and Stuttgart%26#39;s ( www.cannstatter-volksfest.de ) the world%26#39;s second largest from late September to early October. (Unlike Munich, however, there is little price gouging by the Stuttgart hotels.) Stuttgart ( www.stuttgart-tourist.de ) also has a very large wine festival ( www.stuttgarter-weindorf.de probably only in German) in late August early September, and the world%26#39;s largest Spring beer festival ( www.stuttgarter-fruehlingsfest.de only in German) from late April to early May. Then there is the Christmas Market ( www.stuttgarter-weihnachtsmarkt.de only in German) which is one of Europe%26#39;s oldest, largest, most visited, and most beautiful with all the stalls highly decorated and in a lovely setting by the palace square, the Old Palace, the New Palace and the Stiftskirche (old church).

Some excellent things to see and do in Stuttgart, birthplace of the automobile:

Mercedes Benz Museum

Porsche Museum

other excellent museums such as the Staatsgallerie for art, Linden Museum for ethnology, Museum am Loewentor for local dinosaur and Ice Age fossils, Wuerttemberg Museum in the Old Palace for history up to the early 1800s, etc.

Wilhelma ( www.wilhelma.de ) Europe%26#39;s largest combined zoo-botanical garden set amidst the nice Moorish architecture of this former palace

walk around the city center with the palaces, churches, opera house, Markthalle with sights and smells of gourmet foods from around the world, etc.

world%26#39;s first modern TV tower, has a viewing platform

three large mineral baths associated with western Europe%26#39;s largest mineral waters

world reknown ballet and Germany%26#39;s opera house of the year 6 out of the last 11 years

panoramic walks about the steep valley walls

extensive vineyards ( www.stuttgarter-weinwanderweg.de only in German) with nice walks through them with wineries, Weinstube%26#39;s and Besenwirtschaft%26#39;s along the way

Weissenhofseidlung where world-famous architects designed houses for a 1927 architectural exhibition

15 minutes away by public transportation in the form of the S-bahn are: Esslingen ( www.esslingen.de ) with its well preserved medieval center; and Ludwigsburg ( www.ludwigsburg.de ) with Germany%26#39;s largest perfectly preserved (all original) Baroque Palace (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de along with the Stuttgart palaces, Wilhelma, and other excellent places operated by the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg), the Swabian Versailles, with the longest and best European palace tour I%26#39;ve been on, four excellent museums, extensive gardens, porcellan manufacture and sales (Ludwigsburg Porcellan celebrated their 250th anniversary last year), and two smaller associated palaces set near a deer park (several days to see it all).

Venturing slightly further away, any of the towns at the ends of the 6 S-bahn lines are enjoyable to visit for a few hours: such as Weil der Stadt, birthplace of the mathematician/astronomer Keppler; Marbach birthplace of the poet Schiller (250th anniversary of his birth this year, so some special activities); and Schorndorf birthplace of the automobile inventor Daimler. All have museums dedicated to their favorite sons.

Slightly further away and accessable by train: the old college town of Tuebingen ( www.tuebingen.de )with its hilly cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, castle, interesting nontourist shops, and one of Europe%26#39;s oldest universities (our favorite place in Germany to repeatedly visit) and nextdoor well preserved medieval Bebenhausen Monastery (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ); Metzingen ( www.Metzingen.de ) which has Germany%26#39;s most factory outlets for some inexpensive shopping; Bad Urach ( www.badurach.de ) a lovely old mountain valley town: etc.

With a car, there are many other places that become easily accessable such as my favorite area of Germany, the Swabian Alb ( www.schwaebischealb.de ) with its many castles and caves and excellent cliffside scenery; the Black Forest ( www.schwarzwald-tourismus.de ); the walled cities of the Romantic Road; etc.

For other interesting places to visit in and around Stuttgart, just click on my name for my many forum posts for this area of Germany.

From the UK, Stuttgart is inexpensively accessable by Germanwings ( www.germanwings.com ) and TUIfly ( www.tuifly.com ), and there are other airlines serving Stuttgart.

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Thats great advice from you both. Thats really appreciated.

I still need to do a lot of thinking about where to go but at least the suggestions so far has made it easier for me.

Vielen Danke!

Stuttgart with kids in June

My family (girl age 12, boy age 8 and my husband) will be traveling with me to Stuttgart while I am on business June 15-June18. What is of interest for them to do?

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First, information on Stuttgart can be found at www.stuttgart-tourist.de . You can also click on my name for my many forum replies concerning Stuttgart and its surroundings.

Some things the whole family would enjoy:

Mercedes Benz Museum is loved by all visitors irregardless of age or gender, Stuttgart is where the automobile was invented

Porsche Museum

Museum am Loewentor with its excellent collection of local fossil dinosaurs and Ice Age mammals

Wilhelma ( www.wilhelma.de ), Europe%26#39;s largest combination zoo-botanical garden

Leuze mineral bath which has a Kinderland

observatory on Uhlandshoehe open on clear evenings

world%26#39;s first TV tower has a viewing platform

Hoehenpark Killesberg with the architecturally interesting climbable double helix tower; a long miniature train ride; flamingos; some animals like ponies, llamas, sheep, etc.; a swimming pool; and a few rides such as a hundred year old carousel

nice local parks with things like big slides and climbing walls

Linden Museum of ethnology

Rosenstein Palace museum of biology and ecology

Wuerttemberg Museum in the Old Palace for history from the Ice Age to the early 1800s, ticket also allows entra to the nearby Musical Instrument Museum and the Roman artifacts in the basement of the New Palace

Markthalle with the sights and smells of gourmet food from around the world

Rathaus (city hall) with its paternoster

climb some of the hundreds of Staeffele (stairways) on the steep valley hillsides

go to Pinguin at Eugensplatz for Stuttgart%26#39;s best ice cream and nice views over Stuttgart and also a nice fountain

horseback ride at one of the many stables

ride the cogwheel railway and/or the cable car

attend a puppet performance

visit the large toy store at the NW corner of the Marktplatz opposite city hall

a boat ride on the Neckar River

go to Tripsdrill amusement park ( www.tripsdrill.de ) with its rides which also has bears and wolves

visit Germany%26#39;s largest perfectly preserved Baroque Palace (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ) at Ludwigsburg ( www.ludwigsburg.de ) with its tour of the royal chambers, four excellent museums- the fashion one has lots of clothes from the 1700s including childrens, extensive gardens including an interesting fairytale one with some rides, and two smaller associated palaces set near a deer park- there is also a crime and punishment museum in the town with a guillotine and an old prison cell that you can enter

visit Esslingen ( www.esslingen.de ) with its well preserved medieval center, and climb the city walls to the %26quot;Fat%26quot; Tower

That%26#39;s probably more than enough to keep you busy. And with a car, there are plenty of other excellent things nearby for the entire family to enjoy.

1 Day in the black forest

We are starting our trip of at Baden-baden and plannin on heading down to titisee and then evenyually to Germisch to spend the night there.

What are the most important spots to see along the way?

We are planning on purchasing a Cuckoo clock.

So any feedback on the best place to buy with decent prices would be much appreciated.

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I am not sure how you are travelling so i assume you will be in a car. Avoid the dull motorway south from Baden Baden and drive down the B500 instead, the road runs along a ridge with views across the Rhine valley and across to Strasbourg. I would head to Freudenstadt and then down to Schiltach. Schiltach is a lovely village with wooden framed buildings, really nice we stayed here for a week. Plana route then down through Triberg for the touristy Cuckoo clocks and then down to Titisee. Again we stayed close to Titisee and really enjoyed the area, great restaurants overlooking the lake. Prices were very good as there are quite a few places competing.

Have a look at the route planning site www.viamichelin.com

Titisee town web site titisee.de/servlet/…index.html

Its a long way to Garmish lets hope you have enough time to take in all the sites. Try the Rhine Falls just over the border of Switzerland near Schaffhausen, Konstanz, Lindau, Fussen for Neuschwanstein Castle, Oberamergau, Garmish. Most towns in Germany will have a tourist web site just try www.townname.de

If want anymore info let me know.

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Driving alone will be about 6 hours according to www.viamichelin.com . That probably doesn%26#39;t give you much time to stop along the way to do anything except buy your cuckoo clock (possibly Triberg) and eat. The B500 route will allow you to see some of the Black Forest from your car. Hohentwiel by Singen is Germany%26#39;s largest castle ruin, perched atop a former volcano, but climbing it takes a while. The whole of the Lake Constance area is nice, Meersburg is the loveliest town on the lake with Germany%26#39;s oldest castle. You%26#39;ll also be driving by Neuschwanstein Palace by Fuessen. But you could easily take a week making this drive.

Bus service

We are planning a trip to Ruhpolding in July. We intend to go walking and wondered what the public transport to the start of walks is like. will we need a car to be flexible or are the bus services plentiful in the area? We wouldnt want to have to hurry the walk to get the last bus back by say 4pm. (The reason for the question is that we have been to some walking areas that werent serviced by buses and others where they do run buses but not very regularly).

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As far as you can reach a place by train you don%26#39;t have to fear that the last one is around 4pm.

bus network southern Bavaria

rvo-bus.de/site/…gesamtplan__oberbayern.pdf

really of interest is only the bus line 9506 Reit im Winkel - Ruhpolding - Inzell

rvo-bus.de/site/…9506.pdf

Reit im Winkel -%26gt; Ruhpolding: the last bus departs at Reit im Winkel exactly at 4pm

Inzell -%26gt; Ruhpolding: there are buses after 4pm

But also with cable cars etc. it%26#39;s quite normal in the Alps that these close for the day between 4pm and 5pm.

You can use the DB timetable to query also for the bus times.

rvo-bus.de/site/…9506.pdf

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DB timetable link

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Munich - Fussen - Stuttgart on 6th June on RE train

Hey all,

I would like some opinions on the traveling rout of munich to fussen to stuttgart on 6th june.

We are a group of 4, intending to leave munich hbf at about 10am, traveling to fussen (neuschwanstein) reaching at about 1pm and then leaving neuschwanstein at 2.45pm to stuttgart reaching at about 7.26pm. We will be using RE %26amp; Bus. May i know if we will be able to use the schoneswochenende ticket since it is on a saturday?

Also on this route, would there be anything in terms of view on the RE trains? According to bahn.de, the train leaving fussen will pass by buchloe, memmingen and ulm...

We intend to leave our bags at the fussen train station, does anyone know how much does it cost and how big are the lockers? we will be having 3 40L backpacks.

Advice please. Thank you!

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If you take the connection

Munich Hbf dep 09:51

you%26#39;ll arrive in

Hohenschwangau arr 12:13

Which may however indeed mean that you could be a the castle at 1pm.

Memmingen

http://www.memmingen.de/593.html

Ulm

tourismus.ulm.de/tourismus/en/index.php

You%26#39;ll arrive however too late to climb on the cathedral tower. Last admission in June is at 17:45.

%26gt; anyone know how much does it cost

EUR 2-3

%26gt; and how big are the lockers? we will be having 3 40L backpacks.

Depends if their are only small lockers (large enough for a 60-70 l backpack) or also big ones (large enough for all 3 - EUR 4-5).

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%26quot;Also on this route, would there be anything in terms of view on the RE trains? %26quot;

You should be able to see the world%26#39;s highest church spire in Ulm, and as you%26#39;re leaving town possibly some of the Wilhelmsburg fortifications constructed in the 1800s. The train route then crosses the Swabian Alb which is usually nice, but I%26#39;ve never been along this part of the route. There should be some castles along the way. At Plochingen, try to get a view of Hundertwasser%26#39;s architecturally interesting famous apartment complex on the right. Then you should start to pass the vineyards, and the well preserved medieval center of Esslingen. From Plochingen on, the best views are out the right side windows.

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Thanks for the replies :) greatly appreciated!

I will be trying to sit on the right side of the train!

I think you guys missed out my question of using a schoneswochenende ticket. Does this ticket work on buses as well?

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%26gt; I think you guys missed out my question of using a schoneswochenende ticket. Does this ticket work on buses as well?

That was the most complicated question ;-)

Happy Weekend Ticket covers only some %26quot;Verkehrsverbünde%26quot; (local public transport authorities). E.g. the MVV in Munich and the VVS in Stuttgart. There all local public transport, thus also buses, is covered.

http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/index.html

http://www.vvs.de/en/index.php

The buses from Füssen to Hohenschwangau are however not covered. With the applying OVG tariff a ticket for 4-5 km is EUR 1,80.

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hey abalada, thanks for the reply. May i know where can i get tickets for the bus? and if i have 4 people with me, is the price 1.8 multiplied by 4? Also, 1.80 euros is a single way cost?

airports

What is the difference between the different airports in Berlin? I have run across several (Tegel TXL, Schoenefeld SXF, Tempel hof THF, and Berlin BER)

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Berlin BER is used by some systems to find connections to all Berlin Airports.

You have only 2 options: Tegel and Schönefeld airport

Tempelhof was shut down last October

Flights from the US go normally to Tegel.

Just choose the ones which offers the best flight options for you.

There are no other criteria which would give one a worthwhile advantage compared to the other one.

BVG timetable

fahrinfo-berlin.de/Fahrinfo/bin/query.bin/en

From: TXL

From: SXF

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Thank you so much for the info.

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Tegel is a small airport and very easy to navigate. It also has good connections to the center of town by bus. It is always my choice when flying into Berlin.

train travel

I need to get to Nuremberg after flying into Munic or Franfurt. How long does it take and what is the cost? Is one to be prefererd? Thanks for your help. Also, what is a bahn card and how is it used or purchased?

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DB timetable

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

From: FRA

To: Nuremberg

or just

To: N

.

DB timetable

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

From: MUC

To: N

and select as means of transport %26quot;only local transport%26quot;.

.

%26gt; How long does it take and what is the cost?

Munich is the nicer airport.

Also cheaper if you us the Bavaria Ticket to Nuremberg.

This is a day ticket covering all regional trains in Bavaria. Plus nearly all other local public transport. E.g. the buses from the airport to Freising station. And the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams and buses in Nuremberg.

Bavaria Ticket is valid

Mo-Fr: from 9am till 3am next day

Sa,Su: from midnight till 3am next day

Bavaria Ticket Single (1 person) EUR 20,00

Bavaria Ticket (2-5 persons) EUR 28,00

http://www.munich-airport.de

http://www.airportcity-frankfurt.com

VGN - local public transport in Nuremberg and area

http://www.vgn.de/

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BahnCard 25/50/100

discount cards giving 25/50/100 % discount on normal price tickets valid 1 year

An offer directed in first place to residents. For a tourist this won%26#39;t pay for in most case or there are better offers like a German Rail pass.

bahn.de/international/…en_bahncard_info.shtml

More offers

bahn.de/international/…prices.shtml

Interesting are e.g. the Rail%26amp;Fly tickets, the German Rail Pass, the Länder-Tickets (Bavaria Ticket is one of them).