OT: Travel recommendations in Germany
This is very off topic, but I figured I'd get some good input from this group. I'll be heading to Germany for work for 2 weeks, and I'm looking for some recommendations. Since I'm staying over a weekend, I should have some downtime from Friday - Sunday.
I'll be near Hamburg, but am considering taking a train from Hamburg to visit another part of Germany for that weekend. From what I've seen so far, Berlin appears to be the most doable in terms of proximity for a short trip. I'd prefer something less massive and touristy, but it would be tough to do the cities in the south.
So, any tips from anyone who has been there before? Any places or things that are a must do? Anything to avoid? How about souvenirs? Planning to get some German chocolate for the family, not sure what else.
My mom says I was conceived in Sitges. I dropped out of the UM for three years, spent one in LLeida teaching English, then moved to Barcelona for two years. Have been going back for years to teach in Valencia summers, then noodling around. Spain is my place!
Frankfurt is boring. I worked there for a month+ .... But outside the city was really nice. Also, you can take the train anywhere else. Amsterdam, Prague etc
Stay off the trains (too soon?) But do the Zugspitze und Neuschwanstein.
I literally just got back from Germany. Literally.
I echo all the comment about Berlin. It's wonderful and you can easily fill 2 full days without leaving the city center. If you're into history at all, I could recommend 2 tours if you're into that sort of thing. 1- Fat Tire Tours. I did an 8 hour bike tour which allowed me to see all of the major sites with a dose of history. 2- Berlin Underground. We did a 3 hour tour related to the tunnels under the Berlin Wall.
I also spent several days west of Frankfurt drinking wine. If that's of interest to you, just let me know and I'll tell you more.
Lastly, DO NOT TRUST the trains. None. 0. 0% of my long distance trains from DB arrive/departed on time. DB is basically every state's turnpike during the summer. Construction galore.
German trains not running on time? Scandalous!
I posted the same about the trains below. Never on time but luckily lots of options.
There isn’t a town in Germany you should avoid my friend! Such a beautiful country. Buy beer!!
Berlin Hohenschönhausen Memorial
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-hohenschonhausen-memorial
It was something that I remember from my visit in Berlin a few years ago.
Also,
Check out the Pergomom Musuem
https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/antikensammlung/collecti…
fond, fond, fond, of the autobahn. Rent a fast car and tour the rhein valley and Swiss alps. I liked the towns Thun and Basel from my limited travel in europe. Go to the Hofbrauhaus in Munchen and salzburg Austria for vittles, bier, and gemutlichkeit.
...or just take the train to amsterdam. plenty of chocolates there. Berlin, Copenhagen. Prague are tops on my wish list if I go again.
Haven't been to Germany since 1989 so perhaps not so helful, but I would say that you should definitely drive the "Romantische Strasse" (sp?), which translates to Romantic Road, from Munich to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Beautiful drive, and the latter is a small, medieval walled town in a that has been preserved and is absolutely lovely. It was considered so valuable from a historical point of view that the Allies purposely avoided bombing that area so as not to destroy it.
Hofhbrauhaus Munich classic beergarden
Rathensburg(sp) we stayed at a place they played Elvis music all weekend
Munich generally
I went there late Feb, (was in Munich for Fat Tuesday). I felt the Augustiner Keller was the better beergarten. The locals go there from what I have been told (by locals).
Deutsche Bahn was constantly late and canceling train routes when I was there a couple weeks ago. Not sure why.
I was fortunate enough to live in Germany for 6 years and I think you will enjoy the trip. I lived in the Frankfurt area so the north of Germany never really called me to visit other than Hamburg and Berlin. You will be in a good starting location for a good taste of Germany.
In Hamburg, you should take a Harbor tour and visit the Reepperbahn. Club Indra is completely remodeled but is famous for the Beatles playing there and it is just a short side street from the Reeperbahn. If you like more modern music, Molotow is a great club to visit. I actually saw the Killers play here during my only visit to Hamburg.
Berlin is great, I really enjoyed the Museuminsel. I generally like art museums and the Bode is great but I preferred the Pergamon Meuseum. The Pergamon altar is a massive structure depicting the battle of the gods and the titans, it is from Roman times. Also at Pergamon is the Ishtar Gate, you have to see it to believe it. Last on the Insel, you can find the Neus Museum and it shows a lot of Egyptian sculptures and artworks. When I was there I saw the bust of Nefertiti, I think it's a permanent exhibit. The Germans certainly collected a lot of art and antiquities over the years and it is probably only a matter of time before some of these things are given back.
There are a lot of other places worth seeing in Berlin, I liked the TV Tower in East Berlin. It has amazing views of the city and you can see the clear difference between east Berlin and west Berlin architecture. The Check Point Charley Museum is fun to see as well. You have a lot to see in Hamburg but Berlin will not be a mistake. The train ride is great if you take the ICE train, just buy a coach ticket and sit in the dinning car drinking some German beer and watch the countryside go by at 200 mph. Good luck.
Go to Berghain in Berlin and share all the details so I can live vicariously. It had been on my bucket list for the longest time until I aged out of that scene.
lived in Germany for a summer. Since you'll be in Hamburg I think Berlin is the right answer. If you were further south and/or had more time, then I would say Heidelberg, Munich, or Neuschwanstein Castle (below).
Yes! If you go to Neuschwanstein, rent a boat and look at it from the water.
I spent a couple days in Germany in 2011 on business. I flew into Munich and was given a rather invasive pat down by the authorities, like fingers under my belt. Took a train to Regensburg and passed field after field of their white asparagus. The city was beautiful. I stayed at a hotel across the river from the city. There’s a great old bridge (built between 1135 and 1146) into the city and a charming old Cathedral. This is essentially the view I had from the hotel.
I'm no help. I only got to stop over in Rhein-Main AB near Frankfurt and Ramstein AB.
I may have missed a mention, but I don't think anyone has mentioned touring a concentration camp. I've only been to Germany once, stayed in Munich and took a day trip to Vienna. It's been over a decade now. For me, the most memorable part was touring Dachau. It's a short train ride outside of Munich. Obviously there are other concentration camps as well, in other parts of Germany. It's a part of the history and culture (they were started before the Nazi's to house and re-educate political prisoners. Of course the Nazi's expanded and turned the camps into something far more evil and nefarious).
My youngest son was fresh out of high school backpacking across the old world with his friend in 2014. When they were in Germany, the home team won the World Cup. The natives seemed to enjoy that in the beer houses. So I would recommend that.
I've worked for a company in Berlin and another in Nuremberg. Been to Germany probably 6 times, seen all the major cities but never to Hamburg. As a former History major (thanks Sidney Fine) I'd also recommend Berlin. So much history there, from the Wall Museum to the Tränenpalast (old train station between East and West Berlin) to the Pergamon Musuem. The Jewish Museum is also excellent. Check out the Brandenburg Gate, the nearby Holocaust Memorial and Reichstag/Bundestag and Tiergarten. Make a reservation for the Bundestag which is very busy. The Alexandersplatz TV Tower. Even Potsdam for a half day. So much to see that you'll be worn out by the end of the weekend. It's a truly world class city.
BTW it is Swiss, not German, chocolate you want.
Wienerschnitzel and spaetzle is what you want in Germany. I like mine with a mushroom sauce. Pretzels and beer also obviously.
If you're in Berlin, have a doner kebab and currywurst. Find a street stall.
Go to Aachen. Charlemagne's Treasury, Aachen cathedral and the Lindt Chocolate Factory outlet store! The cathedral is different than others in Europe as part of it goes back to the reign of Charlemagne (~800 AD).
- Go to Berlin and get a guided tour (or multiple guided tours). I did one walking/biking tour that was kind of all-encompassing, then I did one that was strictly focused on world war II. Then, the best one, was a cold war tour where they had a bunch of awesome stories about the stasi and the spycraft that happened in the cold war and the ultimate lead up to the fall of the wall. That one was best
- Get some donor kebab
- In Berlin, check out "zur henne", and incredible fried chicken restaurant
- Do a pub crawl, but decide if you want to do the one that is more clubby (for the college age crowd) or more just pubs/bars (30s and above). Super fun
- In Hamburg, you should go to the reeperbahn, but watch out! Weird combination of fun outdoor party street and red light district intermingled together.
- Munich has a ton of awesome beer halls, the hofbrauhaus is the most famous, but there are a bunch of other beer halls.
- Every city has great beer gardens, I don’t have a strong recommendation since its been awhile
Try to get to the Bavarian area of Germany. Greatest scenery and food. Also train travel is great in Germany.
My $0.02, having been to all three of Hamburg, Berlin, and Lübeck:
- It sounds like you'll be somewhere around the Kiel area? My recommendation would be to do Hamburg and Lübeck, then, as I think the train ride/drive to and from Berlin would eat up a lot of your time. Berlin is absolutely a cool city with a ton of history, but doing it as a day trip might feel a bit underwhelming.
- Lübeck is a very, very cool Hanseatic city on the coast. You can see what parts of it were destroyed in the war, as some blocks are half very old buildings and switch to being very new ones. I was lucky enough to be invited into a friend of a friend's house there for coffee, and he had the coolest 16th century frescos on the walls in his basement! I would also recommend the Niederegger marzipan shop in Lübeck - very tasty chocolates and it's been around for over 200 years.
- Hamburg is also a very cool city with a ton of history, but also a very modern vibe as the vast majority of it had to be rebuilt post-war. The remnants of the Nikolaikirche might be interesting to see, and I also recommend seeing the Elbphilharmonie. Others have mentioned doing a harbor tour, and while I have not experienced that myself I have to imagine it would be a good time.
- Someone earlier recommended the Miniatur Wunderland, and I really have to second that opinion. It might not sound like the most interesting thing to do, but the scale and level of detail they are able to build their dioramas with is immensely impressive. They even have a working miniature airport!
- Lastly, definitely make sure to get plenty of döner and currywurst from a local Imbiss, wherever you go!
Take a train up the Rhine to Cologne, Koblenz, and Bacharach. Stay in Koblenz long enough to walk over to the cable car and go across the river to the fortress. There you can really see "Das Deutsche Eck." Stay overnight in Bacharach and enjoy the cobblestones and half timber homes, drink the Riesling, and enjoy the view from the castle/hostel above town! Ausgeseichnet!!
There are some really unique places to see in Berlin spanning the old German Empire to modern times.
I haven't seen it mentioned, but the DDR museum in Berlin about life in Communist East Germany was fascinating.
Train? Rent a nice car and drive on the Autobahn. Just make sure to follow their laws as Germans are VERY strict about driving.
Doner Kebob
I travel to Hamburg for work occasionally.
Check out the Fish Market on Sunday mornings (opens @ 7am) for a mix of Saturday nights revelers, live bands, great food and beers from around the region. It is a scene.
For a great traditional German meal, go to Broderson's
For great cocktails, try the TurmBar which is located in a renovated military bunker. Walking distance from Broderson's.
Enjoy Hamburg!
For those wondering about the trains. That whole operation has been going downhill for at least a decade, but it's gotten progressively worse. There's huge amounts of construction for new projects (like the new Stuttgart station), but at the same time they have labor shortages and can't keep up with the routine maintenance of trains and tracks. It's just poorly managed and has been for a long time. It's gone from a strength of the country to a glaring weak point within 20 years.
I would recommend driving, but if you aren't used to driving in Europe, you'll need to make significant adjustments. One, freeway, i.e. Autobahn, traffic is much faster, but even smaller highways are much faster. But in direct contrast, you have to drive all towns/cities like Midtown Manhattan i.e. go fairly slowly and expect to stop at any time. The roads are smaller, there's way more cyclists and pedestrians, as well as congestion.
I'm going to Berlin at the end of September to run the Marathon. Going to be in Berlin about a week then we're heading to Munich for Oktoberfest!
What's the best way to get to Munich? I really kind of want to rent a car just so I can drive on the Autobahn. But, I'm think train might be the way to go.
If you are going one way, then the trains are probably the way to go. They are very good and the ICE (InterCity Express) are quite high speed with some traveling at speeds of 200 mph.
However, if you have never driven the autobahn, then I would personally recommend that you do that. The weather should be perfect and there will be plenty of places to really crank it up between Berlin and Munich. Unfortunately, summer is known for its road construction even in Germany.
Either way, I would also recommend that you stop in and see Nurnberg which is on the way. It's been beautifully restored and is full of history.
Best of luck in the marathon and have a great time in Deutschland!
did my google maps thing on POTSDAM this AM as a Haydn symphony youtube took me there, and it is just west of Berlin. It looks super cool. If you are in berlin it looks like a fascinating sidebar for a day or even an evening. the norman tower, dutch quarter, and handfuls of castles and beergartens are summoning me.