How much are you taking to Europe? The one great thing about backpacks is that they fit in lockers at the train stations in Germany. If you're just stopping for a few hours, leave your bag, go in and tour, and then come back to the train station to continue on to where ever city you're spending the night.

The train stations in a lot of cities you'll be visiting have locations near the city center, or easy connections to local transit, so you're really not going to be hauling that backpack on your back for any long distance.

I was over again just this past February and did stays in Berlin, Leipzig, Munich, Salzburg and Frankfurt with individual train tickets bought about 6-8 weeks out, all at a discount. I was with friends and we all had rollaboards (had to give up the backpack after 20 years) and hotels near train stations or transit. With some planning you should be able to work around any concern about traveling with a backpack.

You asked about Prague. I've done it as round trip from Berlin. You can buy those tickets on line at the German Rail site.

Don't limit yourself to just hostels. Look at Motel One which is a budget chain with locations around Germany. For two people, they could come out close to the price of a hostel (typically 59-69 euros in my stays).

You only need your passport. Do you plan on recharging your iPad? How will you do that? You do realise that US rechargers do not work in Europe?

If you bring your mobile phone, your US provider will probably charge you a fortune if you actually use it. You can find Internet cafes in cities if you need to contact your family or communicate with anyone. It will be much cheaper.

Chargers for portable electronics usually work worldwide since they handle 100-240 volts (the charger would include a spec indicating input voltage). US Apple chargers work in Europe. All you need is a converter to handle the physical differences between the European outlet and the plug on the charger.

I use a Tripshell universal adapter. If you just need one country, you can get one from amazon cheaper than Tripshell.

Forget sleeping in the car during Oktoberfest in Munich. Germans are pretty law abiding and will report you sleeping in their neighbourhood. There are temporary camping grounds set up in the fairgrounds, but you have to pay an entrance fee. Another option with the train is to take the night trains, that way you get sleep and travel at the same time. If you buy a Eurail pass, you just pay 20�/Person for a bed on the train.

In the bavarian countryside people do speak English if there is no other options. I have guests visiting who do just fine and friends who live in Munich since years without speaking the language.

Munich is not the Bavarian countryside. People at hotels in the countryside may speak some English (I've never actually heard any), and here and there someone may speak English, but I certainly would not recommend a non-German speaker to wander around the Bavarian countryside expecting to run into fluent English speakers.

I also strongly suggest using Trains even if you go into neighboring countries.
You can buy a German Rail Twin Pass where the second person pays half price.
www.germanrailpasses.com
You can look at schedules and book individual train tickets at www.bahn.com
I lived in Germany for almost 2 years and would highly suggest seeing cities and towns that did not get destroyed in World War 2, such as Bamberg, Heidelberg and Eurfurt for midsize towns and Quedlinberg, Oshenfurt (near Rothenburg) or even the very touristy Rothenburg (40% destroyed) for small towns. Dresden, Nuremburg are nice as they have been somewhat restored of their former beauty.
Two hotel booking web sites that are based in Germany are www.hrs.com and www.hotels.de

Trust me, I was talking about Alt�tting ... in RO, TS or BGL (ie the more touristic areas were a sound of music loving anglo-saxon would venture) the proficiency is even better. Since I'm half Indian people usually start speaking English, especially when I'm with guests from Asia that I'm speaking English to. Most Germans are very concious about their Englisch, so avoid speaking it. But if there is no choice...

Yes, Bayreuth, Rothenburg ob der Taube, places that draw lots of tourists, I agree there are probably quite a few who can speak English there. However, I was thinking more about the countryside - Buttenheim, Pegnitz, Ebermannstadt, that is, little villages and towns. Those are the places I go to more often and I've never heard anyone speaking English.

Depending on your definition "fluent", but so far I think nowadays the most people will understand someone talking in Englisch. It might need some minutes until they figured exaclty out what they meant, but it has so far never been a problem.

They will most likely not start in Englisch themselves for the reason given by Oliver2002, but if they are addressed in English Language, they will try to communicate. I have experienced this with non German speaking friends or non German Speakers foreigners in my hometown or in the countryside in Northrhine-Westphalia as well as Rhineland-Palantine quite a few times ... Of course, their (like mine) Englisch will not always use the wrong grammar or words in the exact meaning ...

For the records I am living in the countryside, though not in Bavaria but in Nortrhine Westphalia, and had a couple of times non-German speaking friends who were able to get the right information they needed without my help. There is at last possibility someone knowing someone who talks Englisch.

Btw, Pegnitz is no problem to find someone talking in English. If you adress the old people (above 60 or 70) you might have some problems, but they are enough younger people around ... (I am for business reason once a year in Pegnitz, I think I can justify my statement)

OK, RO=Rosenheim BGL=Berchtesgardener Land TS=Traunstein, ie touristic areas.

Buttenheim, Pegnitz, Ebermannstadt = little known place in Franken. Why on earth would anyone go there?? Not to offend, but even Bayreuth was nothing earthshaking the one day I had lunch there. I would recommend anyone to tour Franconia as part of their bucket list....

Given your budget, I would vote against a car for all of the trip but recommend the train for long distance trips.

I also recommend to skip Munich during the Oktoberfest, Budget and Oktoberfest is a contradiction in terms if you do not arrive in the morning by train and leave by train. Luggage storage might be worth to consider.

Regarding your hotels, maybe have a look at the cheaper accorhotels.com brands like Ibis Budget, Ibis as well. Overnight Parking in big cities are around 20 EUR (often more expensive, not always cheaper; usually to park a car is 1 - 2 EUR / per hour in the parts not right in the city center).

I was also quite underwhelmed by Bayreuth, although it seems a nice enough town.

Buttenheim is the home of St.Georgen and L�wenbr�u breweries and beer gardens. If you like either good beer or good beer gardens, you should go there. Ebermannstadt has the best bus connections to the Frankenland in the Frankenland. Pegnitz is one of the few villages left that still has a communal brewery.

Clear now?

Do you speak German? How well, if you do?

Did you mean to ask OP this? Given FLYGVA's moderator status on this forum and use of Englisch, I don't think his ability to speak German is in doubt

Well, I really don't know, which is why I asked.

The point is simply this: I speak German rather fluently. I do not conceal this (ie, speak English and pretend that I can't speak German). This means that I don't know how well the other person speaks English.

That is why I asked.