My Trip to Germany
My family and I just got back from a trip to Germany. It was really fun, a lot of work, and a culturally enriching experience for everyone. I figured I'd write up a reflection on the trip - the good, the bad, and the adventure - while it's still fresh on my mind. So here we go...
General Impressions #
Before I jump into the specifics of our itinerary and what came with it, I'll start with some general bits.
Culture #
Most importantly, the people of Germany are super friendly. Don't get me wrong, they're definitely German, which carries with it a certain degree of directness and seeming impatience. But when you really engage with folks, they are quite nice and enjoy a laugh. Also, things were generally safe pretty much everywhere that we went, even in Munich, which is a decent sized city. I never once thought twice about carrying my wallet in my back pocket or my backpack on my back. My daughters wandered a bit on their own and I had zero worries. Every single small town we went through was really well kept - pretty much the opposite of American small towns. The only thing negative I can say is that nothing was terribly intuitive. Signage is minimal for everything, and what you do get is not clear. For instance, when the speed limit changes, sometimes the sign just tells you that the speed you were just limited to is no longer the limit without explicitly telling what speed you are allowed. I'm sure the natives think it's perfectly clear. I'm just a dumb American.
Weather #
Weather is obviously highly variable. When we went in late May, it was pretty varied but generally comfortable. We had a little bit of rain, though usually it was light. It was shockingly cool for the first half of the trip. Even when it warmed up in the second half it wasn't miserable by any stretch. I didn't quite factor in how northern the latitude is in Germany, so I was surprised by how cool the nights always were and how long the sun was up every day. None of our accommodations had air conditioning, but it was really only a little warm one evening when we were going to bed. There was one night we actually had to crack the radiators in our place to get the chill out of the air.
Food #
The food is hearty. I was never hungry. If you like meat and potatoes, this place is going to be your jam. If you love a big salad, the food in Germany will not be the highlight of your trip. The beer is plentiful and relatively inexpensive. It's good, but it's not some holy grail of beer. I compared most of what I had with Coors (banquet, not light). Coffee is terrible. Everywhere. There was no reprieve for this coffee addict. I'm not one to waste a drop of coffee and I poured out several cups. Lastly, for a country with the second best drinking water in the world, water is super hard to come by. You can, of course, order a bottle of water for the table. But it runs out quickly and no one will ask you if you want more. (Related: Trash cans are sometimes really hard to find as well.)
Quick tips:
- When you eat at a restaurant, take care of as much of the transaction as possible when the waiter visits the first time. Have in mind what you want to eat and drink when they greet you. It will be the last time you see them for a while in most cases.
- Sandwiches from bakeries are the smartest lunch option. If you need breakfast, heading to the local bakery is a tasty option. While you're there, grab some sandwiches to eat for lunch later. It's a way cheaper option for lunch, and it gives you a lot of flexibility as to when and where you eat.
Transit #
As indicated earlier, nothing is intuitive about getting around. Like...it's really hard to adapt in my opinion. I'm pretty positive I broke a LOT of traffic laws behind the wheel. If you're in a city, public transit is definitely better than driving. Buy tickets through an app rather than at a kiosk. Get either the DB app or the local app for the city you're in (MVV App for Munich, for instance). When you buy tickets, odds are a 1-day or multi-day pass are the best bet. If you're traveling with your family, there's almost always a family pass that is a way better deal than buying individual passes. Regardless of what form of transit you're using, use Google maps to plan your journey - most handy when there are multiple legs with different modes of transport. The minute you get out of the city, public transit becomes a little more challenging. It's still usable, but schedules become a little more sparse - like, you may get a train every hour instead of every 10 minutes. We opted for a car rental for the part of our itinerary that had us in smaller towns, and I would highly recommend it.
Speaking of driving...If you're going to drive, rent a capable, comfortable automobile. Do not get a SUV. The minute speed limits go up, you'll wish you had a nice German sedan or station wagon with plenty of pep. BUT! Don't set your expectations too high with regard to the autobahn. Yes, there are sections with no speed limit. And, yes, I did get to take advantage of unlimited speed. Just know that those sections are few and far between. Know that when you do get the chance to go fast you're often thwarted by a long line of cars in the left lane trying to pass a long line of trucks in the right lane - and there are an absurd number of tractor-trailers on the roads. Know that all of the other speed limits are frustratingly slow and strictly enforced. Also, use your blinker religiously like the locals.
The Itinerary #
We invested a fair amount of time planning this trip. We booked flights, rental car, and most lodging 6-8 months in advance. There were times when we just couldn't book things because they were closed for the off-season. We used a lot of resources to plan the trip: ChatGPT, Tripadvisor, travel blogs, etc. We ended up grabbing the pertinent Rick Steves guide book and using it for a lot of the details for experiences, hotels, and restaurants. The good thing about Rick Steves is that he rarely steers you wrong and his suggestions are within reach for the common-folk traveler, which I definitely am. You might also want to grab the Rick Steves app and download some audio tours. We did this for a few of our experiences, and it worked perfectly to have one earbud in and walk together as a family. (Coordinating our "play"s and "pause"s was a fun game.) We would also often bring the Rick Steves book with us when there wasn't an audio guide or guided tour, and I would read things to the fam and use the tips for what to see and what to skip.
We stuck mostly to the southern part of the country. We had 10 days for the trip, so popping up to Berlin or Hamburg while possible, would have taken time away from other things we wanted. Even keeping the destinations relatively close, there was plenty of time in the car. Here's a quick glance at the destinations we visited.
The Rhine (or Rhein, 2 nights) #
We flew direct from Denver to Frankfurt. When we landed around lunch time, we grabbed our rental car and drove directly to our first stop: Bacharach. We stayed at Im Malerwinkel. It was basic and old school, but it was great, and breakfast was included. We hiked to the local castle (now a hostel), grabbed dinner at a local wine place, and went to bed. The second day was spent heading downstream on the river where we visited Burg Rheinfels and Marksburg Castle. Both castles were fantastic. We took the boat to the first stop and then tried the train. The trip back to Bacharach was a pain due to the sparse schedules of public transit. We nearly missed our bus back to Bacharach from Koblenz, which would have meant getting back at 9:45pm rather than 6:45pm. I would recommend driving. The next morning we checked out and drove to Berg Eltz. The walk into and out of the castle was steep but short and well worth it, and you can grab a shuttle if you like. We then drove to Rothenburg with a stop at the palace in Würzburg.
Worth noting: When we stopped at the palace in Würzburg we grabbed a pass for the family that got us into a few subsequent stops.
Rothenburg (1 night) #
In Rothenburg we stayed at the Villa Mittermeier hotel. It was a pretty hip (well, hip to this middle-aged dude) small hotel just outside of the city wall. The town is every bit as cool as it looks in pictures. The evening we arrived we did the Night Watchman's Tour. It was well worth the cash. It was super informative and entertaining. The next morning I took a jog around the wall - the old moat has a path in the bottom now and there are sidewalks where the moat runs out. I grabbed breakfast for the fam at Brot & Zeit. The giant pastry that looks like powdered sugar crumbles tastes like heaven if heaven was made out of butter. We tooled around the wall for the morning and grabbed some sandwiches from a bakery for lunch before heading out of town. If I had it to do over again, particularly if it was just me and the wife, I would spend more than one night in Rothenburg.
Füssen (3 nights) #
Füssen was next up. Here we stayed in an apartment in one of the towers in the old city wall. The apartment got an A+ from the family. It was super cool and had a really convenient location right across the street from a grocery store and just a few steps into the old town. We ended up grabbing breakfast pastries and sandwiches for lunches at a bakery about 50 yards from the apartment. We had reservations for tours at Hohenschwangau Castle as well as Neuschwanstein Castle with a lunch break between. Holy smokes...both were amazing, but Neuschwanstein was bonkers. Speaking of bonkers, we also visited Linderhof Palace, another of Ludwig II's places. The house was great, but the big "WHOA" was the man-made grotto. It was like Disney before there was Disney. Well worth the combo ticket to experience it. On the way back from Linderhof we stopped for lunch in Oberammergau and then took a ride on the alpine coaster at the local ski hill. Super fun and beautiful.
Other things worth noting in Füssen:
- You can do laundry here. We were traveling in carry-ons, so washing clothes was an expected detour. You can have them wash and fold with 24-hour turnaround or just take a break and wash them yourself.
- This is a cool place to grab beer/food with a view of Neuschwanstein (if it's good weather).
- We also ate at Il Pescatore and RIWA restaurants. They were just OK and way over-priced.
- This place was shockingly cool and a bit of a detour from all the history - particularly nice if you have younger kids. There's this suspension bridge you can walk on through the treetops and the park below is really pretty with some trails and a slide in the hillside, among other things.
If you want a little more info on King Ludwig II than they give on the tour, I'd recommend listing to this Stuff You Should Know podcast.
Salzburg (1 night) #
From Füssen we popped over the border into Austria for a taste of Salzburg. I wish we had planned a little more time here, but what we got was fantastic. We stayed at what is essentially the Holiday Inn of Austria - not fancy, but just fine for a night. We wandered the Grünmarkt market at grabbed some food from a vendor. Dinner was at Bärenwirt, which is traditional Bavarian fare and has been in business since 1663...for good reason. The food and service was excellent. We booked this restaurant in particular because they serve a unique-to-Salzburg (as far as I know) dessert called nockerl. I highly recommend the dessert. We ended our evening with beer in the biergarten at Augustiner Bräu Mülln, which was established by monks in the 1600s and has a 1400-seat biergarten. This is another experience I highly recommend.
The next day we did the Sound of Music bike tour. While I'm not one to pop on the musical of my own accord, the ladies in my family are fans. Beyond the things we saw from the movie, it was just generally a really pleasant way to see a lot of the city with a local. Regardless of my attitude toward the namesake, I'd send anyone looking for an experience in Salzburg on this tour. Two thumbs up.
Munich (or München, 3 nights) #
Munich was our final stop. I dropped off the rental car in favor of public transit in the city. We dropped bags at the hotel (perfect location, BTW), rendezvous'd with our Italian exchange student from last year, and headed into the Viktualienmarkt market to wander for a moment and grab a beer. Dinner was at Ratskeller and was good. The restaurant is huge and super cool, though we were sat right by the host stand - not great. We ended the night with a beer at Hofbräuhaus because it's famous and old and cool and had a polka band playing.
The next day we did a walking tour of Munich through Radius Tours. It was informative. After lunch we toured the Residenz - good tour. Then we wandered over to the Chinese Tower Biergarten in the English Garden park. First off, the English Garden is a beautiful city park. When we were there I swear every young person from the city was there playing volleyball. Second, the biergarten we were at was fantastic. There was great food. Of course there was beer. It was beautiful weather. It was perfect.
Our final full day took us to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. We took the 30-ish-minute train ride and then a short bus ride to the memorial and grabbed an audio guide for 4€. It was sobering, to say the least. Gut-wrenching at times. I'm so glad that we went, and I'm so glad that my daughters got the experience. After we wrapped up at the memorial, we headed back into old-town Munich and wandered a bit. We went in a couple of churches, went up to the observation deck in the glockenspiel in Marienplatz, and grabbed a few souvenirs. Dinner was at Wirtshaus Zum Straubinger per my old roommate's recommendation. He also met us there with his daughter because they just happened to be in town. Seriously. It was a great meal with great company - a great way to cap off the trip.
Final Thoughts #
In short: This was a fantastic experience that I would recommend to anyone interested. If you do it like we did, don't expect it to be a relaxing vacation, though. You will see beautiful things. You will get up close and personal with history. If you're open to it, you should come away more wise with new perspective.
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