Germany Advice

I am trying to get an itinerary. This will be my first time in Germany but I am not new to European travel. Travel will be in the 2nd half of April, traveling with my girlfriend.



A rough plan is fly into Nuremberg and out of Cologne. I would swing up to Bamberg; to Rothenburg; take a couple days to get to Munich; Salzburg; then west to the Black Forest region and north to Cologne. Another idea I had was to cut out Rothenburg and go to Plzen and head back through Regensburg.



What cities/towns should I add?

Do I need a car? If I do, where should I pick up and drop off?

I am looking for beer/breweries but this is not solely a beer vacation.

don’t invade Poland.

I won’t lift a hand to liberate anyone. This time.

Make sure you stop at Mahrun outside of Frankfurt. Best bottle shop in Germany. Never heard of any good beer in Rothenburg, and the Black Forest is nothing interesting. Skip both. The entire country can be crossed in about 10 hours by car. Or you can take the ICE. Just get a pass for it. When in Nuremberg, see the Nazi war crime museum, and eat some braised hog knuckle. Munich needs a few days to take in. Cologne is nice that all of the Kolsch breweries are basically all next to each other.

The big thing to remember is that most places close around 6:00 pm, and nothing is open on Sundays. So plan your long travel days then. Restaurant service is long and terrible. And always bring some spare coins to use the rest rooms, because most charge.

I lived over in Germany for close to 6 months, and have some interesting stories if you want to know.

My girlfriend wants to get into the mountains. I am thinking maybe Garmisch, but other than that I don’t know yet.

So even beer aside, you wouldn’t go to Rothenburg or the black forest area?

A few things to note, I just did Karlsruhe to Mainz/Frankfurt on bike in the summer. Certainly not bad, but Germany offers better sights and better beer.
I assume you are going to Cologne because you really want to taste Alt and Kolsch, which is fair enough, but that area is far out of the way from other places you are traveling.

If your gf wants mountains and you want beer, I suggest a loop. Arrive in Munich, up to Nurnberg (eat local sausage, drink beer and check out WWII sights) then to Bamberg - Bamberg needs lots of time. Not only for beer, but if you just want to cruise around the countryside in your car or on bike, it is just beautiful country, you could easily spend a week between these places.

After that, drive to Pilsen to Cesky Krulov to Salzburg and/or Berchtesgaden (lots and lots of mountains there) and back up to Munich.

Tons and tons of great scenery and pretty much good beer everywhere, though Salzburg/Berchtesgaden is not top-quality, there is still not bad stuff.

I think you would need three weeks for a trip like this.

Tim

a couple observations;
-if skiing is part of wanting to get into the mountains,you really need to cross into austria.
-concerning a city like karlsrhue,i have friends who live here and i know this city;i personally like this city a lot.when considering what is better i always look at how much tourist traffic it gets...BUT THAT IS JUST MY OPINION!

I am in Koln during the last weekend of April - BM me if you are likely to be there then and fancy meeting for some beers.


Koln is just 25/30 minutes from Dusseldorf on the train so I’d recommend an afternoon/evening visit for some alt at the source - which we’ll be doing on this visit.


Dortmund is just over an hour away also.


My experience of some 20 + beercations to Deutschland is that Monday is just as likely a day for a dose of the "geschlossens" as a Sunday!

In Cologne the two places where I found Kölsch I enjoyed the most were
http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=786
http://www.ratebeer.com/p/weissbrau-zu-koln-cologne/788/

Also I very much second the stated opinion on going to Düsseldorf to try the Alt.

Originally posted by Unclerudy
Never heard of any good beer in Rothenburg, and the Black Forest is nothing interesting. Skip both.

Originally posted by Theydon_Bois
My experience of some 20 + beercations to Deutschland is that Monday is just as likely a day for a dose of the "geschlossens" as a Sunday!

Köln, Düsseldorf, Bamberg (take a few extra days to discover the countryside), Windischeschenbach (Zoigl!), München (not very interesting beerwise) and Berchtesgaden for the mountains. Salzburg is very close to Berchtesgaden, so mountains and Salzburg can be combined.