Hi
My boyfriend and I are going to be in Germany this time next year for around 7-9 days. A while away, I know but I like to be prepared. We will most likely be flying into Frankfurt and from there will make our way to Stuttgart where we have relatives. We would also like to travel to Hanover and Berlin, but would like to see some of the smaller towns also. Do you think this is possible to do in this time and if so, what is the best way to get around? I was thinking train but not so sure. Our longest stay will probably be in Stuttgart. Is it possible to do day trips from here to see other sights?
Thanks in advance.
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%26gt;Do you think this is possible to do in this time and if so, what is the best way to get around? I was thinking train but not so sure
Why not? You seem to concentrate on bigger cities, where you definitely do not need a car. If you decide on an excursion into the countryside you can always rent a car for a day or two. Driving for longer distances just to get from city to city is both tiring and unnecessary. You can look into flying from Stuttgart to Berlin (Air Berlin or HLX fly these route) - it can be cheaper than train tickets of booked long enough in advance.
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You may be able to fly to Stuttgart for the same price as Frankfurt if flying Lufthansa. Otherwise it takes a little over an hour by train.
There are many excellent places for day trips from Stuttgart. Germany%26#39;s largest perfectly preserved Baroque palace in Ludwigsburg with visitable rooms, four museums, extensive gardens, and two smaller associated palaces is 15 minutes from Stuttgart by S-bahn. The excellent well preserved medieval old town center of Esslingen is also a 15 minute S-bahn journey. The old college town of Tuebingen is a nice place to visit, as would be also the small nice towns of Besigheim and Laufen. Schwaebisch Hall and nearby walled Comburg monastery are good, as well as Schwaebisch Gmuend, or Ulm with its record height cathedral tower. These all can be done by train, and any town at the end of the six S-bahn lines is worth a visit of a few hours, such as the astronomer Keppler%26#39;s hometown of Weil der Stadt or the poet Schiller%26#39;s hometown of Marbach.
If a car is used there are numerous pleasant towns near Stuttgart to visit. The fairy tale-like castles of Lichtenstein and Hohenzollern (Hechingen) are excellent, as are the two excellently preserved medieval monasteries of Bebenhausen and world heritage Maulbronn.
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Thanks! That is some really handy info. After Germany we are planning to travel to Salzburg, then Switzerland (not sure where yet) and Paris. Do you think that flying is the quickest and cheapest way to get to Salzburg? We aren%26#39;t sure what order we will be visiting the German cities in but will probably end up in Berlin.
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%26gt;Do you think that flying is the quickest and cheapest way to get to Salzburg?
From where? From Stuttgart? Again, definitely not. Salzburg is not a major airport, and besides Ryanair flights from/to UK and I think Paris-Beauvais there are no affordable flight services to Salzburg, nor would they make sense. Stuttgart-Salzburg is about 3 1/2-4 h by train
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There are no flights Stuttgart to Salzburg. Of the places you mention visiting, if from Stuttgart the following inexpensive airlines:
Hannover- dba, HLX, Condor, Hapagfly
Berlin- Germanwings, LTU, dba, Hapag-Lloyd Express, Hapagfly
Paris- Germanwings, Hapag-Lloyd Express
I frequently fly Germanwings- www.germanwings.com . They frequently have %26quot;free%26quot; flights where you only have to pay taxes and fees. I suggest that you go to their website and sign up for their ticket advisories so that you can take advantage of these extra cheap flights.
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Thanks. Unfortunately we will have to fly into Frankfurt as we are flying from Australia to Singapore to Frankfurt. I was thinking of taking the following route.
Frankfurt - Berlin (plane), Berlin - Hanover (train as they don%26#39;t seem very far apart), Hanover - Stuttgart (plane), Stuttgart - Salzburg (train).
Another thought it to also do Vienna but I don%26#39;t know if that is doing too much.
As we will be leaving Europe via Frankfurt, our final flight will be from Paris to Frankfurt so I am guessing it is fairly easy to find flights between these two cities.
Do you know how far in advance they release flights? I know that International ones for January next year will be released early March.
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For Berlin - Hannover and Stuttgart - Salzburg there is no real alternative to the trains.
I would also use the trains for Frankfurt - Berlin and Hannover to Stuttgart. City centre to city centre the time differences are not that big compared to flying. And flying is only cheap if you book with budget airlines well in advance.
A good deal would be a German Rail Twin Pass 2nd class for 4 days in 1 month. AUD 236 pp.
Berlin - Hannover + Stuttgart - Salzburg is together on normal p2p tickets EUR 118 pp ~ AUD 194 pp.
Salzburg Hbf is covered by a German Rail Pass despite being in Austria (by a few meters).
And compared to the flights you have full flexibility. You don%26#39;t have to reserve anything in advance. You can choose your travel dates. And if you miss a train you can just take the next one.
Currently there are 18 flights daily between Paris and Frankfurt. Either by Lufthansa or Air France. That means not the route to expect great bargains.
However this year the LGV-EST highspeed line will go into service.
hochgeschwindigkeitszuege.com/france/linienn…
Means 3:45 instead of 6:15 travel time Paris - Frankfurt. Flight time is 1:25. Plus check-in, transfer to/from the airports, baggage collection.
There will still be some flights for logistical and strategic regions. Mainly to offer connection flights. And as connecting flight they will offered also rather cheap. But as single flights such routes can be really expensive, if the airlines think they cannot attract normal passengers anyway. Only the ones who don%26#39;t know better or the ones for whom 1 hour or 30 min less travel time is important - and who are ready to pay for this. Something the airlines will happily take care for.
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Thank you so much. This information is fantastic. So you are pretty much saying that a 4 day german rail pass will cover everywhere we want to go in Germany as well as Salzburg? I just noticed on the website that it also covers Basel in Switzerland, which is great because we are going there too.
Now we just need to figure out how to get from Switzerland to Paris.
Do you think the German Rail pass is better value than the Eurail pass? They seem to be a lot more expensive.
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%26gt; So you are pretty much saying that a 4 day german rail pass will cover everywhere we want to go in Germany as well as Salzburg?
Yes.
%26gt; I just noticed on the website that it also covers Basel in Switzerland, which is great because we are going there too.
But only to Basel Bad. Bf. not to Basel SBB.
If you stay in Basel you can change already at Basel Bad. Bf. to the tram network.
%26gt; Now we just need to figure out how to get from Switzerland to Paris.
French railways have some good offers if you buy in advance
http://www.sncf-voyages.com
%26gt; Do you think the German Rail pass is better value than the Eurail pass? They seem to be a lot more expensive.
Yes. Eurail Passes (apart from the Youth ones) are only available as 1st class passes. German Rail Passes as 2nd and 1st class passes. And 2nd class is totally sufficient. Also you can buy 4/5/6/7/8/9/10 days in 1 month German Rail Passes, thus you have more options than with the Eurail Flexipasses.
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