Advise a travel plan in Germany for 5 days?

Question

We are planning for a family trip (me, my hubby son - 11 years, son - 6 years) to Germany between 20th March and 25th March. We are living in Dubai and totally new to Europe.

Our plan is to reach Frankfurt on 20th noon and leave from Frankfurt on 25th evening. We are planning to take Rent A Car and drive through places. We are yet to book for hotels and hence flexible to stay enroute during our drive. Mainly we keep the following cities in mind.

1. Dusseldorf

2. Hamberg

3. Berlin

4. Munich

and back to Frankfurt.

You are welcome to suggest new places or recommend deletion of places from above list, because we have very less information as of now.

We are collecting more information on these and other places around and your guidances will help us a lot.

Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

Is there a special reason for Dusseldorf?

It's not quite your average tourist town.

If you have some time I'd suggest maybe

an old town like Trier. It's not that far

from Frankfurt and it's one of the oldest

towns in northern Europe.

It's a rather small town but it's packing with

historic leftovers.

Answer 2

I adore the region that stretches between Wurzburg and Fussen in Bavaria that is known as the Romantic Road. It's gorgeous, historical, interesting, and kind of reminds me of a fairy tale. It's the first place we went in Germany, and it didn't disappoint. It looks like the way you imagine Germany would look. I think it would be a lovely and very manageable way to spend 5 days.

It might be a bit cool in March, but I still think it's an awesome time to go. The colors will be beginning to show, and everyplace is going to be a whole lot less crowded than in the summer.

I'm 16, and have been on the Romantic Road twice - once when I was little, and once with my sisters who are 8 & 6. We all had an awesome time there, and consider it to be one of our fav. spots. I think your boys will love it, and you will too. You can rent bikes in a lot of places, and it's a really fun, relaxing way to explore. Be sure to check out the stunning Neuschwanstein castle. It was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland! My little sisters almost keeled over from excitement when they saw it.

As far as the cities you've listed:

I've never been to Dusseldorf

Hamburg is pretty - it's called the Venice of the North - but it's more of a university town than one for grownups & little kids.

Berlin has loads of really great museums that I liked, but I wasn't in love with the city on the whole. It's a major urban city and has all the ups and downs of one. We didn't take my little sisters there - I don't think they would have enjoyed it very much at all. It's an extremely interesting and historical city, but in my opinion, it's not very pretty, and can be a bit overwhelming and hectic. Plus, the people were not nearly as warm and welcoming.

Munich is pretty. It's not as pretty as the little towns on the Romanic Road, but it is interesting, and might be a good place to base yourself if you don't want to keep changing hotels / B&Bs (stay in B&Bs!! way more interesting). Go on the Munich with Mike bike tour if you're there on a pretty day.

Frankfurt...meh. It's okay.

Have you ever been to TripAdvisor.com? They have forums for each country & most regions and loads of advice. We also like Rick Steve's Graffiti Wall and have gotten most of our B&B ideas from there.

Have a wonderful time!

Answer 3

It's too much, you will only see the Autobahn. That will be a hard job for you and a horror for the kids.

Take a trip to the South or the North or the West, that also will be a lot.

Greetings from Hamburg, Germany

Heinz

Answer 4

wow you wanna see a lot citiy´s in Germany with a large distance in 5 Day.I don´t know how you will do that.I need from Northern germany to Munich 9 hours and to Berlin 6 hours.I think you need more time.When you want to travel by car.Only Berlin have so much interesting places that you need more than one day.I think when you come it´s the time of happy eastern (lol).In these times the highways are most full (it´s the time where the most childrens have holiday and the family is travel) .

Answer 5

These cities are pretty spread out.  I would suggest concentrating on one region, that way you can spend more time enjoying than driving, which brings me to a different point.  If you are looking to visit cities, skip the car and take the train.  Aside from intense driving conditions (there are no speed limits on the highway and if you are ONLY going 90mph you WILL CAUSE traffic jams), parking will be a nightmare and fuel is crazily expensive.  If you have a microscopic scratch (they take cars very seriously here) in the rental car they will also hit you for at least EUR 500.

There are good offers from the "Deutsche Bahn" where the family can travel reasonably.  Maybe concentrate on Bavaria.  Frankfurt-Wurzburg-Nuremburg-Munich (possibly with an excursion to Füssen) and back to Frankfurt would be a good 5 day trip.

I agree with the other poster that there isn't much for a tourist to see in Düsseldorf (or Hamburg) if you only have 5 days.  Berlin itself could take 5 days to see, but having said that you could also have a good time travelling to Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin/Potsdam for 5 days.

Answer 6

If you go to Germany see Nürnberg and little Switzerland(Fränkische Schwitz) it is beautiful there lots of mountains.

And if you have time you should see Amsterdam in Holland you will never forget it .

Answer 7

Hamburg is fun - enjoy the Easter bonfires along the Elbe river - a tradition that dates back to Germanic tribes centuries ago; something kids will enjoy ... kids will enjoy Hamburg`s big port. They offer wonderful tours of the port .. then of course Hamburg is best for dining out in Germany, Germany´s shopping capital and the zoo ( for the kids) is wonderful and very famous. Also try the Miniaturwunderland - the Largest Model Train Exhibition in the World (kids love that, http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/exhib... are the romantic cities of Stade (subway), Luebeck(regional train) and Luebeck (regional train) ... there are nonstop flights into Hamburg from Dubai ..

I would not visit Frankfurt and Berlin (Berlin: too many n***s, too much crime and too poor)