Originally Posted by
Monty_GER
The area Savignyviertel
http://g.co/maps/dbe6f is always nice to walk and sit in the number of cafes around there. To the south you find a lot of nice, small restaurants with local food.
Thanks for the tip! I'm definitely going to do this.
Aachen ist quite small, compared to cologne, but has an interesting historic city center. You should see the cathedral with the throne of Charlemagne and take a guided tour, because there are some interesting legends and stories behind that stuff. This is really entertaining!
This sounds great! And right up my alley. ^
If you have specific questions about transportation and stuff feel free to ask.
Thank you! From my research I know I won't be able to buy my train tickets until three months in advance and I definitely plan to bump this thread up at that time and ask some questions.
Originally Posted by
etch5895
The B9 is a very pretty route and a nice drive, but I wouldn't want to try to follow a particular time schedule around it. An option would be to zip down to Mainz on an early ICE train, show your bags at your evening hotel, then catch a regional back up to Boppard or St. Goar, then work your way back down towards Bingen on the regional trains and maybe a K-D line cruise. You'll get the scenery on the train or boat, and not have to worry about driving. On a nice day, a glass of Riesling on the deck of a Rhine cruise ship is very nice. About the only advantage to driving on Sunday is there are almost no trucks on the autobahns.
I actually thought of something like you've planned out. My only hesitation is traveling up and down the same area three times as opposed to one. But maybe the scenery is worth it.
Do you find that the amount of tourists at this time of year is much less on the weekdays? If so, I would definitely consider that.
I wouldn't scrap Bavaria for Berlin. You can easily spend a day in and around Munich/Dachau, a day for Neuschwanstein/Hohenschwangau, and a day in Nuremberg (or maybe even Regensburg) and see far more Germany than you would in that same time period in Berlin.
This sounds great. Thanks!
Originally Posted by
Flying Lawyer
Sounds like a great plan. I like it and would do it the same way. When you have finalized it, drop me an email and I buy you a beer in Düsseldorf.
Good to hear. Will do.
Originally Posted by
SmilingBoy
I think 3 nights in Bruges is too much. Although it is very nice (and I often go there with visitors that come and visit me in Brussels), I would not spend more than a day there. For Belgium, I would therefore maybe get a hotel in Ghent, and do day trips to Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp and spend a few hours in Ghent. Each of those is just half an hour or so by train from Ghent.
Believe me, you're not the first person to tell me this.
I thought long and hard on this and decided that it was important to me to be able to spend a night in Bruges and that, along with wanting to change hotels as infrequently as possible, led me to do all three nights there. And because I'd be arriving late the first night (I think I'd probably also stop in Ghent after Brussels on the way from DUS) and leaving early the third morning it really only amounts to 2 days there.
But your idea of staying in Ghent is something I hadn't considered. I considered Brussels but Ghent, as you say, is very centrally located to the places I want to see. Definitely something to think about..
One thing I forgot to mention (for anyone still reading) is I am a huge football fanatic and would love to catch a match if possible. I had assumed I would be there in the off season for the Bundesliga but apparently that's not the case. A far as I can tell, next season's schedule hasn't been released so any help on when to expect the schedule and how best to acquire a ticket would be most appreciated.
Thanks, everyone, for all your thoughtful replies.