First time in Germany (and Belgium) - please critique my itinerary!
I'm doing a month long trip in Sept-Oct that will take me from LA to Israel. In between I'll be visiting Japan (11 nights), Thailand (6 nights), and finally Germany/Belgium before heading to Israel. I have a couple of weeks to play with for my European stop and I'd appreciate some input on what I've come up with so far.
About me: I love getting to know a city by walking through different neighborhoods and stopping to eat in places the locals frequent. Even though I'm a "foodie", since I'll be traveling alone I'm not interested in any five star restaurants but more the comfy places where I wouldn't feel awkward dining alone. I also love people watching and sitting in scenic outdoor areas and reading (though I'm not sure how likely this is in October). I'll visit the "can't miss" museums but in general museums aren't really my thing. I'm also not interested in shopping. I am very interested in visiting a concentration camp and seeing any Holocaust memorials, as well as all the historic tourist spots in any given city. I love looking at beautiful architecture, including cathedrals, castles, etc.
All that said, here are the stops I've come up with:
Nights 1-3 Berlin - I'll get in late the first night and have three full days there, leaving for Dusseldorf on an evening train on the third day.
Nights 4-5 Dusseldorf - I'll arrive around 21:00 and check into the hotel. After a good night's sleep I'll have a full day to explore the city and spend one more night before taking an early train to Belgium...destination Bruges!
Nights 6-8 Bruges - I'll try to arrive for the connection in Brussels by noon and store my luggage at the station while taking 2 (or 3? or 4?) hours to explore. I'm getting a discount for staying 3 nights in Bruges and there's a lot I want to do there. If I've had my fill after my first night and full day, I would love to take a train to Antwerp for the day. But I will play that by ear.
Night 9 Cologne - Then I'll take an early train back the way I came this time stopping in Aachen for a few hours. I'll hopefully get to Cologne by early evening time and spend the night and a half day there the next day.
Night 10 Mainz - I then plan to rent a car and leave by 13:00 or so to drive the Rhine. I'd like to take 6-7 hours stopping in Bonn, Koblenz, Boppard, Oberwesel, and Bacharach (I'm open to suggestions) before stopping in Mainz for the night.
Nights 11-13 Munich - After a few hours exploring Mainz in the morning I would take the train to Munich for three nights, including a day trip to Dachau.
Night 14 Nuremburg - On the way back towards FRA I would spend the night and most of one day in Nuremburg before making it for my 22:15 flight to TLV.
I've tried to plan as many days as possible in any one place because I like to be able to relax and not feel like I'm on the go all the time. That said, I realize I've packed a lot in here and would love suggestions from the experts.
(btw, even though I know it's totally out of the way, Bruges is a MUST!)
Thanks in advance!