My family (2 adults, 2 kids (ages 6 %26amp; 8) will be taking our annual summer trip – usually about 6 weeks or more - to Southern Germany this year. I have been planning our itinerary and I would love some input. Since we travel for so long to a relatively small area/city, we usually spend like to spend a week or longer at a place to really soak it in. Also, we usually have only 1 or 2 things planned for a day so we don’t burn out the kids. Our current plan is to drive for most of the time with a 12 day stay in Munich at the end.
The adults like cathedrals, art museums, rococo architecture, castles, car museums and travel experiences (last year it was the Edinburgh fringe festival and military tattoo). The kids like amusement parks, bike rides if the area is flat, natural history and kids’ museums.
Here is our current itinerary:
Frankfurt Area (3 nights): We fly in here. We want to enjoy the sights and conquer jet lag. Possible sightseeing: Kaiserdom, Natural History Museum, Heinerfest, and the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz.
Heidelberg Area (6 nights): Big question here. Some tour books recommend skipping this entirely, while others say don’t miss it. Possible Sightseeing: Heidelberg Castle; Imperial Cathedral in Speyer; Dom St. Peters in Worms, a bonsai museum (a hobby of ours); Zum Roten Ochsen, a Heidelberg beer hall; Tripdrill Amusement Park; Holiday Amusement Park.
Rothenberg Area (6 nights): Rothenberg, day trip to Dinkelsbühl for Children’s parade, day trip to Wurzburg for Residenz;
Fussen Area (6 nights): Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, Linderhof, Skyline Amusement Park, Kaltenberg Knight Tournament, Weis Church
Friedrichshafen Area (4 nights): Lake Rabbit Fest, Legoland (although we have one in CA), Rutenfest in Ravensburg, lake bike rides, Fritz Busch Car Museum;
Rust (2 nights): Europa Park followed by on long drive across country with a 1 night stay.
Berchdesgaden Area (6 nights): Salzburg, salt mines, Sound of Music tours, Konigsee, Herrenchiemsee
Munich Area (12 nights): Englisher Garten, Bike trips; Residenz, Schloss Nymphenburg, Summer Fest, Hofbrauhaus; Alte Pinakothek, Deutsches Museum, BMW Museum, Bavaria Filmstadt
The time we have is fixed so additional areas (Cologne, Mosel Valley, Stuttgart, Nurnberg) would reduce time planned in others. Is Heidelberg worth that much time? Are there any other recommended changes?
Other questions:
Best amusement parks for 6 %26amp; 8 year olds? The 8 year old loves roller coasters.
I tried to find certain fairs that seemed different. Are there others that I missed?
Any rococo architecture/interiors that should be added to the list above?
Best local auto rental ideas for a 35 rental with pickup in Frankfurt and drop off in Munich?
Are German beer halls acceptable for our kids’ ages, just as an experience?
Sorry for the long post.
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You have digged out alread ysome really good places for your interests.
Europapark is the best amusement park in Germany. But mainly directed to an age group above the age of your kids.
Playmobil FunPark is the best for smaller kids.
playmobil.de/on/…
Your 8 years old is here a bit in between for both.
%26gt; I tried to find certain fairs that seemed different.
Think you%26#39;ve already found some really interesting and also different events. Liked e.g. the Rutenfest in Ravensburg very much when I once by accident run into it.
I would not look out for more as a %26quot;main%26quot; destination. But if you there are some in the region where you are anyway, a visit is always worth it.
Best will be generally to make a visit of the tourist office of any new region/town as one of your first steps there.
Heidelberg Area
Speyer technical museum
http://www.technik-museum.de/uk/speyer/
Castles in the Neckar Valley, e.g. in Neckarsteinach
www.burgenstrasse.de/showpage.php…
or Guttenberg with the German falconry center
www.burgenstrasse.de/showpage.php…
and a just bit further up the river Neckar
Salt Mine in Bad Friedrichshall-Kochendorf
salzwerke.de/besucherbergwerk/vorstellung/
and e.g. in the opposite direction of Heidelberg
%26quot;Baumwipfelpfad%26quot; near Dahn (pics they more than words)
www.biosphaerenhaus.de/bildergalerie.php…
The Palatinate Forest is Germany%26#39;s biggest forest. With many castles (ruins).
…wikimedia.org/wikipedia/…Wegelnburg_nord.jpg
or e.g. the Trifels, where Richard the Lionheart was in captivity (while Robin Hood was waiting for his return).
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsburg_Trifels
And if we speak of castles. Why not stay in a family room in one of the castles that have been turned into a youth hostel?
http://www.burg-breuberg.de/
That%26#39;s a bit east of the direct route Frankfurt - Heidelberg in the Odenwald. Have really good reports by families staying there.
www.jugendherberge-burg-wildenstein.de/
Above the Upper Danube valley. An outstanding castle (one of the few newer destroyed ones) at an outstanding location. As hostel however not as good as Breuberg. North of Friedrichshafen/Lake Constance.
And speaking of Friedrichshafen
The Zeppelin Museum is also quite interesting for kids, as they have a reconstruction of a section from LZ 129 Hindenburg you can walk in.
http://www.zeppelin-museum.de
Hohenzollern Castle Sigmaringen
is also one of the more interesting castles for kids, i.e. not only old furniture and art
www.hohenzollern.de/schloss-sigmaringen/en/
museum railway Blumberg - Weizen
stadt-blumberg.de/ceasy/…
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%26gt; Are German beer halls acceptable for our kids’ ages, just as an experience?
No problem. But in summer beer gardens are the better option esp. with kids. Some have even playgrounds.
One of the best combinations on this you can do:
Drive to Kehlheim (near Regensburg). Take the boat through the Danube Gorge to Weltenburg Monastry. Have one of their excellent beers.
www.klosterschenke-weltenburg.de/index.php…
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%26gt; Rococo
You have already some of the more important places in your list.
E.g. the Wieskirche and also parts of Heidelberg Castle and some houses in the Altstadt (old town) are Rococo.
Munich, Asamkirche (St. Johann Nepomuck, built as private %26quot;chapel%26quot; by the Asams borthers)
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asamkirche
Upper Swabian Baroque route (Friedrichshafen region)
…wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Swabian_Baroque_Ro…
pilgrimage church Steinhausen
…wikipedia.org/wiki/…29
library Bad Schussenread monastry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schussenried_Abbey
Bamberg/Vierzehnheiligen (Rothenburg region)
pilgrimage church Vierzehnheiligen (north of Bamberg)
http://www.vierzehnheiligen.de/fr_rundum.htm
Bamberg Old Town Hall (mainly interior)
bamberg.info/www_tks/…
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You could spend years visiting southern Germany and still have excellent things you%26#39;ve missed. The time you are spending in a lot of places is excessive for that place itself, but in the near region there is more than enough to do. I don%26#39;t know your travel dates, but my Events 2007 Festefeiern in Baden-Wuerttemberg lists over 5600 events in this German state alone for 2007.
I would also suggest visiting Stuttgart (www.stuttgart-tourist.de) and its surroundings. The new Mercedes Benz museum should interest all with cars ranging from the first one, Mercedes through the years, racing cars, and ones driven or used by famous people such as the popemobile. After all, Stuttgart is where the automobile was invented. The Museum am Loewentor will be having a special exhibition on dinosaurs, and nearby in Holzmaden you can collect your own fossils in the fossil quarries and there is also an excellent museum with local fossils and outside life-size dinosaur models. Wilhelma is Europe%26#39;s largest combination zoo-botanical gardens set amidst the nice Moorish architecture of this former palace. Nearby Ludwigsburg has Germany%26#39;s largest perfectly preserved Baroque palace (Swabian Versailles) with its visitable rooms, two associated smaller palaces in a deer park, four museums, and extensive gardens including one that is based on fairy tales. Esslingen has an excellent medieval old town center and the children would enjoy climbing the remains of the town walls which go up a steep hillside. Both towns are accessible in 15 minutes by local transportation (S-bahn).
I believe that nearby Lichtenberg Castle by Oberstenfeld has a falcon show. The castles of Lichtenstein and Hohenzollern (Hechingen) south of Stuttgart are fairytale-like and set amidst the nice cliff-side scenery of the Scwaebische Alb. Close to Lichtenstein is the oldest German state stables at Marbach (Gomadingen) which are fun to visit for close up views of these magnificent horses in their stalls. The ruins of Hohenneuffen are the largest castle ruins of the Scwaebische Alb and the restaurant there has both very good food and excellent views. Nearby in this region is the idyllic valley of the Grosse Lauter river with one of the highest concentrations of castle ruins in Germany, several of which are visitable, and you can canoe on this river (more a gentle stream). I enjoy the old college town of Tuebingen much better than Heidelberg (row your own boat on the Neckar), and just north of it is the excellently preserved medieval monastery Bebenhausen. Between Stuttgart and Tuebingen is the Ritter (Sport) chocloate factory with a visitable nice art museum with art in the form of squares (the shape of their candy bars), much of it moving, and a small museum concerned with chocolate manufacture and a sales room for their chocolate. World heritage Maulbronn is the best preserved medieval monastery north of the Alps. The Maerklin Museum in Goeppingen is free and has many models on display and is where model trains were invented.
Between Stuttgart and Rothenburg ob der Tauber is nice Schwaebisch Hall and medieval walled Comburg monastery. Vellberg a little east of there is also very nice.
There are 24 visitable caves on the Schwaebische Alb, one very near Lichtenstein (Traumland an der Baerenhoehle). There are also 19 tourist railways in Baden Wuerttemberg.
All of the above are excellent places to visit, and you will see few German tourists and almost no foreign ones. There is also Legoland by Ulm.
Abalada has mentioned Steinhausen, I believe rightfully called the most beautiful village church in the world. At the brewery in nearby Bad Schussenried is Germany%26#39;s first beer mug museum and a lovely beer garden, the monastery there has a famous library (now unfortunately with no books) and a nice church, and nearby is the open air museum (Kuernbach) with old buildings of Upper Swabia restored there including an interesting one lane bowling alley and also a steam train. Upper Swabia is full of beautiful Baroque churches, monasteries and palaces. If you visit Biberach, besides the very nice church, make sure to have some cakes at Kolesch on Gymnasiumstrasse, one of the best bakeries in Germany, and try their Wielandstorte. The brewery in Ummendorf (my wife%26#39;s village) is nextdoor, and has excellent beer and food and you can also stay there (www.braeuhaus.de). I always marvel at their 3 liter magnum bottles of their special beer Placidus Cobaldus, and they also make beer schnapps and interesting beer containing chocolates, and have some interesting mugs and glasses for sale, including a 2 liter one. Although I%26#39;ve never seen it mentioned in any guide books, the church there is beautiful and the storks will have taken up residence on the palace roof.
I strongly suggest your stopping in a Shell gas station and getting maps in the large scale (1cm=1.5km) Die Shell Regional Karte series, 18 of which cover Germany in detail and buy the ones where you will be traveling. These are the best maps I have found, show ALL rural roads, and places of interest to tourists including churches, monasteries, castles, palaces, caves, interesting towns, etc. plus roads subject to traffic jams. They also have an included booklet with town maps. We%26#39;ve spent several interesting days going to a destination and stopping to view all the churches and monasteries along the way and have discovered some unbelievable gems which are never mentioned in guidebooks.
The southern Catholic areas are much more enjoyable to visit than the northern Protestant areas because Catholic churches are always open and usually more ornate, while most Protestant churches are kept locked.
You should have an excellent vacation as you are taking time to see various areas instead of madly dashing from place to place and missing better things along the way.
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I think Heidelberg is a good stop, it%26#39;s pretty and lively and the area around it is really interesting, esp. driving down the river Neckar is a treat. Up to you how long you want to stay, the Mosel valley or Stuttgart are also really worthwhile. From Heidelberg to Stuttgart a stop in Ludwigsburg might be considered for the castle and baroque gardens
ludwigsburg.de/servlet/…index.html
and the adjacent fairy tale garden (but the kids may already be a bit too old for that).
Skyline amusement park is not very big, but folks say it%26#39;s really good (I%26#39;m driving past there every now and then, but have never been), it doesn%26#39;t seem to be very crowded and has some interesting rides. By far the best amusement park is Europapark Rust, including enormous roller coaster). Kaltenberg is a gem, the kids will love the tournament (mind you, the adults like it too), but it also gets really crowded. Def. worth seeing.
No probs taking the kids to a beer hall (just remember that there%26#39;s no smoking ban in G., so it may be quite smokey), but apart from that it%26#39;s quite civilized.
Hey, you%26#39;ve got a super plan and a good measure of time, hope you%26#39;ll have good weather, too, have a great stay!
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Some fun things by Salzburg:
a visit to the salt mine from either the German or Austrian side
the bishop%26#39;s water gardens where he liked to play tricks with water on his unsuspecting guests
the ice caves by Werfen, a great experience in the heat of summer, but wear something warm. Also Werfen has a very nice castle. My son still mentions the ice caves after our visit 15 years ago.
A boat ride on the Koenigsee.
Places in the German Alps have summer bobsled runs that can be fun. There is also one to the SE of Stuttgart at Donnstetten on the Scwaebische Alb ( www.skilift-donnstetten.de ) which is close to some other places I previously mentioned.
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