Germany is not considered a top tourist country. If you ask anyone where they want to go in Europe, Germany won't probably be on the first place. I cannot say whether it's true or not. Each country is unique and in our reports we never put one country over another.
We've been to Germany many times, so visited a lot of places. As a rule, it were one-day trips, but there had also been one long route for 17 days, which we described below. We should say that some important places were not included in the route: Dresden, Hamburg, Bremen. So, if you decide to use the route, consider this fact. The long route was planned so that we could see as manyinteresting places in Germany as possible.
We used trains and buses. Germany has one of the best transportation networks, and railway connection is definitely the best in the world. Besides, there's a wonderful website www.bahn.de, which combines all kinds of transport.
And did you know that German highways have no speed limits?
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| Map of Germany ©vidiani.com |
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Our personal top of best places in Germany (in random order):
Berlin, Reichstag dome, Airlift, Aquarium in Radisson Hotel and other places
Dresden
Wilhelmshöhe Park in Kassel
Hamburg
Rhine Valley from Rüdesheim to Koblenz by bike or car
Cologne Cathedral
Potsdam by bike
Neuschwanstein Castle
Frankfurt am Main, especially the evening
Zollverein mine in Essen
Mount Nebelhorn
Bremen Market Square
Weimar together with nearby palaces (Belvedere, Ettersburg, Tifurt) and Buchenwald concentration camp
Wartburg Castle
Wernigerode
Zugspitze
Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus)
Quedlinburg
Koenigssee Lake
Eltz Castle
Hannover Zoo
Schwebebahn in Wuppertal
The map below shows the main points of our 17-day route. Just consider that it was an experimental route, and we have never travelled so actively since that time :)
View Germany - Pizzatravel.com.ua on a bigger map
Day 1 - Berlin
We started with Berlin. First we settled in the hotel, which was the worst in the entire trip. The overall impressions of German hotels is great, and it's easy to find a hotel for 50-60 euros almost in the downtown. But in Berlin we didn't find such hotel and lived far from the downtown, in a hotel with shared shower and toilet. As it turned out, such hotels are popular in eastern Germany, especially among football fans.
Then we went for a walk. Our route in Berlin is described in this article.
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| Berlin central station ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Reichstag ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Brandenburg Gate ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Holocaust Memorial in Berlin ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 2 - Berlin, Potsdam
Early in the morning we went to see the Reichstag dome. The entrance is free and queues can be impressive, so we arrived at 8 am and were the first to enter.
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| Circular viewing platform in the Reichstag dome ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Then, on the shortest metro line in Germany, U55, we reached the main railway station and went to Potsdam by S7. There, right at the station, we rented bicycles and went for a ride.
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| Small castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Cecilienhof Palace ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Belvedere in Potsdam ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Sanssouci Palace ©Yuriy Buriak |
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By S7 we went back to Berlin and reached the Hackescher Markt station in the downtown. We walked along the main street and visited the Berlin Aquarium and Berlin High Flier. In the evening we also visited the most fashionable food shop in the city, KaDeWe (Wittenbergplatz metro station), which is located on the top floor of the shopping mall.
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| Airlift in Berlin (Berlin High Flyer) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Aquadom in Sea Life in Berlin ©wikipedia |
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Day 3 - Berlin
In the morning we first went to the central station and left our stuff in the baggage storage. Then we took a subway to Südstern and walked in the Kreuzberg district, the route map is here.
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| Victoria Park in Berlin ©Nastya Mironets |
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| Victoria Park in Berlin ©Nastya Mironets |
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| Kreuzberg district in Berlin ©Yuriy Buriak |
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After that we returned to the central railway station and traveled to Essen by IC (4 hours 30 minutes, 54 euros for two of us). We bought all tickets for traveling between the regions in advance and therefore they were not expensive. In Essen we stayed for 3 days close to the train station (http://www.gasthaus-nordstern.de/).
Day 4 - Atta Cave, Zollverein Mine, Ronald McDonald House in Essen
Early in the morning we went to Attendorn (1 hour 50 minutes) and visited the Atta Cave.
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| ©atta-hoehle.de |
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Then we returned to Essen, reached Zollverein by tram and visited the famous mine museum.
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| Zollverein mine ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Zollverein mine ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Zollverein mine ©Yuriy Buriak |
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In the evening we took a tram to Grugapark to see the unique Ronald McDonald House.
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| Ronald McDonald House in Essen ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 5 - Wuppertal Schwebebahn, Burg Castle, Movie Park
Early in the morning we went to Wuppertal by S9 (46 minutes). At the station, we boarded the Schwebebahn and went to the final stop W-Vohwinkel Schwebebahn. There we took a bus #683 and drove to the Burg Bruecke stop. Then we took a cable car to the Burg Castle.
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| Burg Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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By the same bus we returned to W-Vohwinkel, there took S9 to Bottrop Hbf and changed to NWB to reach Feldhausen. From there we walked to the Movie Park.
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| Movie Park in Bottrop ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Movie Park in Bottrop ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Movie Park in Bottrop ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 6 - Cologne, Satzvey Castle, Bonn, Drachenburg Castle
At 7 am we went to Cologne, put our stuff in a baggage storage and took a RB to Satzvey, where we walked around the castle and the courtyard.
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| Satzvey Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Then we took a train to Bonn and walked around the city. After that we reached the local train station Bonn-Beuel and took a RE to the Königswinter station. There's a funicular up to the Drachenburg Castle.
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| Old City Hall in Bonn ©Thomas Wolf, wikimedia.org |
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| Beethoven monument in Bonn ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Pleasure boat on the Rhine in Bonn ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Drachenburg Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View of the Rhine and Bonn from the Drachenburg Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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We took a RE back to Cologne, settled in the City Pension Köln guesthouse (49 euros, 5 minutes from the cathedral), and went for a walk around the city. In the evening we visited the observation deck.
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| View of Cologne from observation deck ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Locks on the Hohenzollern bridge in Cologne ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 7 - Koblenz, Castles of the Rhine Valley, Rüdesheim, Loreley Cliff
In the morning we took an IC to Koblenz and found our hotel near the train station (67 euros). Then we rented bicycles (http://www.fahrradverleihkoblenz.de, Stegemannstraße 43, from 9 am), returned to the station, bought daily regional tickets and went for a ride along the Rhine Valley. Read more in the article.
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| View of the Rhine valley from the Lorelei rock ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Reichenstein Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Stahleck Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Katz Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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After that we returned to Koblenz and in the evening went for a walk around the city.
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| German Corner in Koblenz ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Cable car in Koblenz ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Koblenz ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 8 - Eltz Castle, Frankfurt, Forest Spiral House in Darmstadt
In the morning we left our stuff in baggage storage in Koblenz and drove to the Moselkern station, where walked through the forest to the Eltz Castle, one of the best castles in Germany.
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| Eltz Castle ©Carschten, wikipedia.org |
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After visiting the castle we returned to Koblenz and went to Frankfurt. There we settled in a hotel near the train station and then took a train to Darmstadt Nord. In a 15-minute walk from the station there's a house by architect Hundertwasser, "Forest Spiral".
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| Forest Spiral House in Darmstadt ©Yuriy Buriak |
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After that we returned to Frankfurt and went for a walk around the city.
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| Old city, Roemer Square ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Frankfurt am Main ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Huge Euro sign near the European Central Bank ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Frankfurt am Main ©Yuriy Buriak |
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The best pictures of Frankfurt can be made at sunset. In our article we described the place where you can shoot such pictures.
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| Frankfurt at night ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 9 - Baden-Baden, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg
In the morning went to Karlsruhe (29 euros, 1 hour 10 minutes), left our stuff in the hotel (Best Western Queens Hotel, 60 euros) and took a train to Baden-Baden (20 minutes), where we spent 4 hours.
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| Casino in Baden-Baden ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Casino in Baden-Baden ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from Mount Merkur ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Waterfall in Geroldsau ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Next we took an S3 to Heidelberg (43 minutes) and walked there in the old city.
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| ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Heidelberg Castle (1294) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Cat or baboon? =) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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After that we returned to Karlsruhe.
Day 10 - Karlsruhe, Munich
In the morning we walked around the Karlsruhe downtown for a couple of hours and then traveled to Munich (54 euros, 3 hours). We had settled in a hotel near the train station (Winter's Hotel München City Center, 69 euros per night), where we stayed for the following 7 days. And went for a walk around the city.
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| Munich hog ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| City Hall in Munich ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| TV tower in the Olympic Park in Munich ©Maximilian D?rrbecker (Chumwa) / wikipedia.org |
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| The Alps are visible in clear weather. ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Olympic Park in Munich ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 11 - Neuschwanstein Castle, Mount Tegelberg
In the following days we had planned various trips in the Bavaria region. We were selecting the destinations depending on the weather, which was quite convenient. This day we went to see the most famous castle in Germany, Neuschwanstein.
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| Neuschwanstein Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Marienbruecke Bridge ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from the Neuschwanstein Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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We also took a cable car to Mount Tegelberg.
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| Cable car to Mount Tegelberg (Tegelbergbahn) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View of the Forggensee Lake from Mount Tegelberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from Mount Tegelberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from Mount Tegelberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Hang-gliders on Mount Tegelberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 12 - Nymphenburg Palace, Allianz Arena, Therme Erding, indoor water park and thermal baths
This day, we continued to walk around Munich and visited the Nymphenburg Palace in the morning.
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| Nymphenburg Palace ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Nymphenburg Palace ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Then we took a tour around the best stadium in Germany, Allianz Arena.
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| Allianz Arena stadium ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Allianz Arena stadium ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Locker rooms at the Allianz Arena stadium ©Yuriy Buriak |
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And then we took an S2 to Altenerding where we changed to bus #550 and visited Therme Erding, indoor water park and thermal baths.
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| Therme Erding ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Therme Erding ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 13 - Residence Museum
This day was rainy, so we went to the Residence museum.
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| Antiquarium of the XVI century is called the first museum to the north of the Alps. ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Residence museum ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 14 - Nuremberg, Bamberg, Würzburg
This day we visited three cities. We woke up as usual at 6 am and went to Nuremberg (1 hour 40 minutes).
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| Market Square in Nuremberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Burg (Nuremberg Fortress) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View of the old city from Burg (Nuremberg Fortress) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Nuremberg Hare ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Sculpture in Nuremberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Then we went to Bamberg, 45 minutes to go.
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| Old Town Hall in Bamberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Bamberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Little Venice on the Regnitz river in Bamberg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View of Bamberg from the terrace of the St. Michael Monastery ©Yuriy Buriak |
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And in the late afternoon we went to Wurzburg. Summer daylight hours in Germany last almost until 10 pm, so there's enough time for everything.
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| Old bridge and the Marienberg Fortress in Wuerzburg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Old bridge in Wuerzburg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Old bridge in Wuerzburg ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 15 - Mount Nebelhorn
This day we went to Oberstdorf and took a cable car to Mount Nebelhorn.
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| Cable car to Mount Nebelhorn ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from Mount Nebelhorn ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Mount Nebelhorn ©Yuriy Buriak |
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We returned to Munich early and walked in the English garden.
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| Chinese tower in the English garden in Munich ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| English garden in Munich ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 16 - Eagle's Nest (Hitler's house), Koenigssee and Obersee lakes
This day we got up at 5 am and went to Berchtesgaden Hbf (3 hours) to see the Eagle's Nest (Hitler's house). Bus from the train station to the ticket office runs not frequently, so we took a taxi for 11 euros.
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| Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus, Hitler's house) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from the Eagle's Nest: Konigssee lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Then we returned to Berchtesgaden Hbf by bus and took a taxi fo 10 euros to Koenigssee, where we bought tickets for the next boat ride on the lake.
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| St. Bartholomew's Church ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Koenigssee lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Obersee lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 17 - Zugspitze, Oberammergau
This day we went to the famous winter resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen and took a rack train to the top of the highest mountain in Germany, Zugspitze (2962 meters). The tickets here were the most expensive for the entire trip, they cost about 35 euros per person.
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| Mount Zugspitze ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Zugspitze rack railway ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Zugspitze rack railway ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Former hotel in the Alps, which is now used as an environmental research station. ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from Zugspitze ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Mount Zugspitze ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View from Zugspitze ©Yuriy Buriak |
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We returned to Garmish by cable car and then went to a small town of Oberammergau, which was famous for painted houses.
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| Oberammergau ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Oberammergau ©Yuriy Buriak |
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This place concluded our journey around Germany.
Useful links:
Tourism
http://www.guide-to-bavaria.com/en - Bavaria travel guide
http://www.burgen-und-schloesser.net - all castles of Germany
Routes
http://www.burgenstrasse.de - road of castles
http://www.romantic-road.com - romantic road
http://www.deutsche-maerchenstrasse.com/en/ - road of tales
http://www.hanse.org/en/ - road of Hanseatic League
http://www.deutsche-alpenstrasse.de/en/stages/ - Alpine road
http://www.nibelungen-siegfriedstrasse.de/ - two parallel routes dedicated to the famous "Song of the Nibelungs", Siegfried route and route of the Nibelungs
http://www.deutsche-donau.com - route on the Danube
http://www.eurob.org/index.php/1/4 - road of gothic
http://www.die-glasstrasse.de/ - road of glass
http://www.spielzeugstrasse.de - road of toys
Transport
http://www.bahn.de - website of German transport. Definetely the best such website in the world. Here you can find any route for any kind of transport.
http://www.ryanair.com/en - The largest lowcost has flights to Germany.
http://www.lufthansa.com - main German airline
https://www.germanwings.com/en/ - German budget airlines
http://www.airberlin.com - German lowcost
https://www.berlinlinienbus.de - buses
http://www.gratisparken.de - free parking
Hotels and apartments
http://www.fewo24.de - apartments
http://www.hotel.de - hotels
Miscellaneous
http://www.wetter.com - weather, there are other sites, but we use this one
http://www.zeit.de/2008/48/Karte-48 - a list of 300 cities and towns with the most preserved historical centers
Some movies where you can see Germany:
Run Lola Run (1998) - Tom Tykwer's movie, one of the most famous in Germany, got a bunch of different awards. Was shot entirely in Berlin.
Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997) - a German drama, shot almost entirely in Germany. The movie brought fame to the actor Til Schweiger, most of his movies were shot in Germany. Among the last ones is the Guardian Angel thriller (2012).
Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) - another must-see German film, which was shot entirely in Berlin.
Inglourious Bastards (2009) - a German-American movie about the World War II, which was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Shot entirely in Germany.
The Very Same Munchhausen (1979) - one of the few Soviet films that was shot in Europe. It was impossible to shoot it in the real hometown of Munchausen, Bodenwerder, as it was in West Germany. Therefore, an authentic town in East Germany, Wernigerode, was chosen.
The Name of the Rose (1986) - a historical thriller with Sean Connery and Christian Slater, which was shoot partly in Germany. It shows the Eberbach Monastery that is located in the Rhine Valley. To find it, the filmmakers visited more than 300 monasteries in Europe.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) - a fantasy thriller about hunters for different evil creatures, which was shot entirely in Germany.
Three Nuts for Cinderella (1973) - a famous fairytale film that shows the Moritzburg Castle.
Unknown (2011) - a thriller with forever cool Liam Neeson, which was shot entirely in Germany, mostly in Berlin.
Resident Evil (2002) - a thriller with Mila Jovovich. Some scenes were shot in Germany. For example, the Lindstedt Palace in Potsdam was Spencer's mansion. And the Berlin underground station Bundestag was shown as an entrance to the Hive.
Aeon Flux (2005) - a thriller with Charlize Theron, which was shoot entirely in Germany, mainly in Berlin and Potsdam. Modern German architecture is shown as buildings of the future in a post-apocalyptic world.
Hanna (2011) - action thriller about a killer girl, which was shot almost entirely in Germany.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) - old British musical movie which shows the Neuschwanstein Castle and the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
The Neverending Story (1984) - a movie by Wolfgang Petersen, one of the best children's movies in history. It was shot at the Bavarian Film Studio. Though Germany is almost not shown, as most of the action takes place in a fictional world.
Iron Sky (2012 ) - a must-see movie :). It was shoot partially by using donations from fans who watched the viral trailer. Although Germany is shown a little, the movie is about very unusual Nazis. |
