Trip to Germany

What an exciting goal to have! I visited Munich some years ago and absolutely loved it. I would go back there in a heartbeat I'm not much help regarding learning the language or any of that. I did take an English speaking bicycle tour of Munich and enjoyed it immensely. Also, there are bus tours that will let you visit castles in the region and also travel through the Alps. My stay was much too short as I was there for work.

I love Germany, lived there for around 4.5 years!
It depends really where about in Germany you want to go?
Biggest cities are Berlin, Hamburg, Colon and Munich.
Berlin is a must see city, it has a lot of history and culture.
Hamburg is a gorgeous romantic city, a big port.
Colon is located in an agglomeration of cities such as Dusseldorf, Bonn.
Heidelberg is a small town but it supposed to be the prettiest city in Germany.
I have never been to Munich, but it should be very nice too.

Food-wise, you have to try the Wiener schnitzel (austrian but still!), street-food include turkish Doner Kebabs, Berlin's famous curry-wurst, bratwurst in the tiny bread bun! and beer, lotsa beer

I flew 85000 miles last year and am on track to do the same this year.
Here are my two tips: take your pillow on the plane, and try to get a window seat on the way over. It;s your best shot of getting some sleep.
DON'T even think about drinking alcohol on the plane on the way over. You may think it will help you sleep. Instead, it will mess with your body's attempt to adjust to the time zone and, combined with the dehydration and pressure changes with flying, it will make you feel like doodoo when you get there- if you are lucky enough to not get a migraine.
Do those two things, and you will arrive in the morning feeling decent and have a great start to your trip. Enjoy it!

I am from and live in Germany Feel free to add me and ask me anything

Ive been to Germany a good few time(Kiel and Hamburg).

Its a great country. Most Germans have a very good understanding of Engligh. Its cheap, clean.

Hamburg is really cool. The zoo is briolloaint to go and see

I went to Munich & loved it. Its very beautiful! I wouldnt worry about learning the language. We did just fine... I would however recommend taking a train (its about 2 hours from Munich) to Fussen to see the Neschwanstein (Im sure I spelled all that wrong) castle & others in that vicinity that sleeping beauty or one of those movies was based off of. We went in March & it was one of my favorite places that we visited on our Europe tour, going up that mountain when it was still freezing out, seeing all the beauty all the while it seemed as if we were IN a cloud. And the castles of course are amazing. So, I would def add that to your list!

Call me a paleoanthropology nerd if you will, but I'd pick the Neanderthal museum in Neandertal. My avatar lives there

Many years ago I went to the Oktoberfest in Munich. I went in September but the Germans really know how to hold a festival, it lasts more than a month AFAIK. You'd probably have to save up calories for a week to fit that in your macros though lol

There's loads of places to go and things to see there. Though what appeals the most (other than the Neanderthal museum) is going for walks in the countryside.... it's very hot, humid and dusty here in Bahrain... green hills and forests are really appealing right now.

My husband speaks German like a native so I'd let him handle all the language/translation stuff for me :flowerforyou:

we lived in barcelona for a year (came back late last year). we traveled around a lot that year. we visited berlin for a weekend. it was awesome!

pick up a lonely planet book and browse through it to see where you want to go. as far as learning the language fluenz has a program for learning german. i've found it to be the most effect language learning software. i used it to brush up on my spanish a little when we got to spain (but they speak catalan in barcelona!) and right now i'm learning french through that same software. it's awesome!

have fun!

I live in Duisburg, NRW. While there's not a lot I'd recomment about my hometown, there are many interesting and gorgeous little towns nearby and by the Dutch border, such as Xanten or Moers. In Xanten, you can see a lot of old buildings and ruins from the Roman times. They even have a whole park dedicated to it where they have a Roman temple, circus, etc. If you're into that, of course.

I live in Berlin and will reply later, but if you want to start learning German in one of the most pleasant ways possible, try "Coffee Break German" - you will find it online as podcasts that you can download or listen to directly, each lesson lasts app 15 minutes.

Are you more into nature or big cities?

Thanks everyone for the advice! I love the old country, medieval type stuff. I'm not big on crowds so I want to try and plan not-so-tourist-like activities. I'm thinking I would love to hike then because that's what I'm losing weight for. I really don't want to go to the big cities like Berlin because of it being so crowded. I love the castles and culture. I really would like to stay in bed and breakfasts that are family owned so I can learn more about the culture.

I want to visit places like Rothenburg and the castles but I also know those are major tourist hotspots and get crowded quickly. I want to feel like a local, go where locals love to go, speak the language, and connect with people.

Berlin isn't particularly crowded.

But if you want to hike - all of Germany has something to offer. Especially the Bayern (Munich) area with the Alps and pre-alps. Also conisder that Germany is a biking paradise and you can ride everywhere - especially in those regions.

Unfortunately you will never be a local, even the "locals" from Hessen, don't speak or fit perfectly in Bayersich areas, but you have the right attitude so just enjoy the difference while fitting in as much as possible.

A great hiking resource is the DAV - the German Hiking Association - I'm a member and have used them for guides, campsite and material...

http://www.alpenverein.de/

Also, if you want to learn more and ask questions about Germany - do not hesitate to join toytowngermany.com - the expat community in Germany site. BUT BEWARE THE SNARK IS HEAVY there. :drinker: :laugh:

I think somebody mentioned Leipzig (which is beautiful and if you're a music buff you can visit the Thomaskirche which is where Bach worked and wrote a huge portion of his music--his remains are also there).

Wittenberg is also really cool and you can visit the Castle Church where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis.

I also loved Berlin. I would definitely recommend Checkpoint Charlie (as someone else metioned as well) and the Holocaust Memorial which is within walking distance from the Brandenburg Gate (also a must-see). You can also see sections of the Berlin wall which are covered in painted scenes now. Most of the wall is now gone but there are bricks in the street that serve as a marker for where the wall once stood.

As an American, the funniest part of my experience (and most interesting) were how the tour guides would describe some of the places we visited. The would say things like "this church is only 600 years old" and I would laugh thinking that's more than twice as old as our country!!!!!

Definitely take sturdy shoes!!!! I was touring with my university choir and wore my black flats everywhere for 2 weeks, and all of the streets are cobblestone!!!!! I had the worst leg and foot pain of my life by the second week and it lasted for a couple weeks after I came back to the states!


Don't skip over the smaller towns. I was lucky enough to visit several all over the country because we performed almost every night in a new place! Everywhere we went was beautiful and there's so much history.

I had taken 3 semesters of German before the trip, but everyone we met was so helpful and more than willing to correct German or talk to me in English. I would recommend getting a guide book with some basic phrases and you'll definitely want to learn some of the food so you can read a menu.

I hope you have so much fun!!! The two weeks I spent there were probably some of the most memorable of my life!!!!

I think somebody mentioned Leipzig (which is beautiful and if you're a music buff you can visit the Thomaskirche which is where Bach worked and wrote a huge portion of his music--his remains are also there).

Leipzig sounds awesome! I do love music and didn't even know that was there! When I research online for travel spots, I mostly get the "tourist" destinations like the castles and big cities and of course Oktoberfest. I'm so glad I asked on here for information! Thanks so much!

It might be helpful to find out where the American Army Kaserns are located.
Over in Germany, the American Army does not have massive bases like we do here in the States.
They are closer to little communities then small towns.
Typically the Soldiers will venture out on the town very similar to what the locals will do.
Maybe you can meet up with a small group and hang out or something?

I love Germany! And it's such a great place to visit. Especially as a "novice" traveller. Everything is signed very well, a lot (most?) Germans speak at least some English, the people are extremely friendly, clean, safe, wonderful! I remember when I first went to Munich and was standing on the corner with my friend with our backpacks on, looking at our map. People literally were leaning out the windows of their car and pointing down the street to direct us to the hostel.

I love Munich, I could easily live there. Augsburg is also very pretty. I agree with everybody's recommendation of Neuschwanstein (sp?). Berlin is great, and completely different from Bavaria. Fascinating, urban, hip and especially great if you have any interest in WWII (if you do, Dachau is also worth the trip, although obviously very sobering).

While I agree that gramtically German is difficult to become good at. I think it's actually rather easy to learn the basics. A lot of the words have similarities to English, and once you learn that you literally pronounce every letter - the big long words that look scary, aren't really. There's a great logic to German that makes it relatively easy to "get by" with. The language (not necessarily grammar, but vocabulary) is very intuitive. Once you know some German, you can often make a very good educated guess at what some of the other words are, because they're often compounds of lots of smaller words that you are familiar with.

Mmmmm, and eat spatzle (sp??).