Planning trip to Germany - please help!
 

Hello all - this is my first post. I am planning a trip to Germany with my girlfriend. We are flying into Berlin on September 24th and out of Berlin on October 8th. We'll have a rental car for the duration of the trip and want to visit Oktoberfest in Munich as well as possibly Prague and Vienna.

Right now our rough plan is to drive straight down to munich for the weekend and then make our way back up through the other cities. I would really appreciate any advice you all could give me on the trip.

We are traveling on a budget and really just want to experience the cities and towns and traveling. We love drinking beer/wine in awesome places, especially outdoors or in unique pubs. We aren't really into museums or fine dining and we don't want to try to jam too many things into our itinerary. We are 24 years old and fresh out of college. I scraped together $2500 for the trip (not including flights or car).

I am doing as much research as I can but would love to hear some details about some small towns that would be awesome to visit along the way, things to do in cities that won't break the bank, etc.

Do you recommend trying to visit Berlin, Munich, Vienna, and Prague? How about Dresden? Can I get cheap hostels for two in small towns? I would love to get the most out of my rental car and the fact that I can go anywhere.

Thanks!

If you want to do this trip cheaply, using an auto is the wrong way to do it. The German railroad will take you to most of the places you want to visit and at a cost far lower than auto rental, fuel purchase, parking costs, etc.

The railroad offers tickets, for example, that will cover a good deal of your trip at €26 for one day of unlimited travel for two people - thus €13 each.

Secondly, going to Munich for the Oktoberfest could be tricky. Many hotels are probably already booked and those that have rooms available will nearly double the cost of the room. If you really want to go there then, you'd be wise to look for a hotel outside the city.

Do either of you speak any German?

It's probably easier to find accommodation and space in beer tents in weekdays during the Oktoberfest. Little bit less crowded but you certainly won't have to drink alone.

To be honest if you don't have your Oktoberfest accomodation already booked then you will struggle to get anything, especially for a reasonable price.


As for where to go, then Dresden is nice as is Leipzig and worth a stop. Given your limited time then you should forget Vienna, its too far out of the way from Berlin / Munich with the car and you will spend too long driving and not enough time doing tourist things. Prague is certainly very nice, and worth it if you have time

Nuremberg is worth a visit, as is Bamberg (just north of Nuremberg).

It might also be worth stopping off at the old east-west frontier, although I don't know how interesting this is for you, or how much is in English as have not actually been myself but heard it was good.

Another vote for "don't drive". If you were planning to explore rural areas it would be different, but you really don't want to be lumbered with a car in places like Berlin and Munich. And driving in Germany isn't particularly relaxing, except in quiet rural areas.

If you want to do the odd trip out into the countryside just get a car for the day.

As others have said, getting accommodation in Munich for Oktoberfest is going to be pretty much impossible at this late stage - and even places in the commuter belt are going to be pretty much booked up. I would get out a map, draw a 100 km circle around Munich, and try a few places along that circle (making sure they have good train connections), and if necessary move further and further out until you've found somewhere.

I would recommend looking for Oktoberfest accommodations on airbnb. I procrastinated and didn't book my apartment until about a month ago, and was still able to find some relatively good deals.

I will also echo the advice to take trains over driving -- by the time you factor in gas and exorbitant parking in many of these city centers, you're not saving any time or money getting around yourself (and you don't have to stress out figuring out how to get there!).

Another vote for "don't drive" -- I'm not sure where you'll be flying in from, but if it involves an overnight flight (e.g. from US/Canada), you do NOT want to be going straight from your flight to the Autobahn and crazy German drivers at much higher speeds than you may be used to...

Or at least stay in Berlin a couple of nights before you go on to anywhere. Believe me, you do not want to be trying to change lanes between the right hand lane (trucks going 50-65mph) and left hand lane (Mercs and Beemers going 100-150mph) on the back of jetlag.

Once you've left Berlin... I hear Regensburg and Passau are nice. Nürnberg is also worth a stop.

Air BnB will save you a ton. Even in Oktoberfest you will find a deal.
Everyone is right. Using a car is a money killer. Gas is very expensive. Use Deutsche Bahn. Subways in every city you will visit. Bike share is awesome. Car not needed. Stay three days in Berlin, do a couple days in Munich, hit Hamburg, Vienna is great but not a hope and a skip, Dresden is a day trip...Lake Constance?

Neither of us speak German at all. My father offered to pay for a rental car for us. But I could probably trade that in for money. Even so I would be paying for gas and parking.

We are interested in seeing architecture and going to pubs and parks. Should we stay in the cities? Is the country worth exploring without knowing any German?

I'm looking into AirBNB and it looks like I can stay in Munic for about $70 per night with my girlfriend.

I was planning on renting a Passat Wagon and sleeping in it during Oktoberfest. I'm worried that if I don't get a car I will be lugging my backpack and everything I took to europe everywhere I go.

Also - plan on taking an iPad, camera, money belt, and wallet. Do I need a cell phone? And do I need to have any vaccinations or special documents to go into other countries?

I'll go for the contrarian approach and support driving. A few caveats: this could mean staying at hotels and pensions on the outskirts of the city where parking is free - and taking the U-Bahn or S-Bahn in. This also means becoming somewhat familiar with rules of the road (Vorfahrt, staying to the right, etc.).

There's an inherent freedom that comes from driving (I drive almost everywhere in Europe) that allows you to go where you want to go and do what you want to do - when you want to do it. No trains to catch, no tickets (except toll tickets) to buy.

And in the OP's case, he's not even paying for the rental car.

I would recommend making sure to rent a diesel so as to get the best possible fuel economy and I would NOT recommend sleeping in the car, however.

In your original post, you wrote "We are travelling on a budget..." Your fuel costs will be far higher than the rental costs. In Europe, fuel is sold by the liter, not the gallon. The current price per liter (about 1 US quart) is roughly €1.60. If you do the math, you'll see that your fuel costs alone will run into several hundred US $. As I wrote originally, you and your girlfriend can travel by train for as little as €13 each per day. What's the problem with that?
The countryside in Bavaria is quite lovely. Exploring it without knowing any German will be difficult as people in the countryside are not likely to know much English. So, if you stop somewhere for lunch, for example, how will you read the menu? How will you order dishes? How will you ask for the bill?

You came here asking for advice. Almost everyone has suggested using the train. That's advice from people who have already done (several times, in my case) what you are planning to do.

Planning trip to Germany - please help!
 

As jspira indicated, I also drive so that I'm not commited to someone's schedule.

You should consider the following.

Berlin and Munich are very far. Have you consider doing an open jaw and flying into one city and out the other city?

Are both you and your GF drivers?

Gas is relatively expensive. Diesel to cover 900km cost me $150USD on my trip last week but I was flying down the Autobahn at 180 to 250 km/h in a Jag.

If you want to stay in a hotel look into B&B (www.hotelbb.de) or Motel One.

As for language, download an offline translator onto a smartphone.

First of all, don't bring everything you own on your trip :) Try to travel light because you will have to carry it at times with or without an auto (for example, from the auto to your hotel room). Many train stations in Germany have lockers and/or check luggage departments. Use them. They are not expensive, but the lockers have limits on how long the items can stay. You might be better off checking them in.

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.

Planning trip to Germany - please help!
 

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 Altötting ... 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 Löwenbräu 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.

And avoiding gerunds. ;)

If GVA is a hint, maybe he is Swiss and doesn't *speak* German and only Schwiizerdütsch ;)

Hi There,

just a few quick links and tips:

www.kayak.com
(just check for flights from BER to MUC) - consider that the airport in Munich is about 40km out of town and you have to take a train.

INTERNET: just step in the next phone shop (Vodafone, O2 (Telefonica), Telekom or even Aldi) and get a SIM Card and some prepaid budget (10-15 Euro / Month). Best way to use the internet on the road.

AUTOBAHN: Just take care... I drive quite a lot for business and people who are just not used to the way of driving are dangerous for all of us.

BAHN: Take the train. The ICE is one of the most comfortable ways of traveling.

Other ways to travel:
- http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/ (huge carsharing service - works quite good. The system is supported by the ADAC - German AAA)
- https://www.deinbus.de/ (this service is like your Greyhound Bus. It´s running for a couple of monts now and a cheaper way of getting aroung)

Overview of some bus companies: http://www.busticket.de/alle-anbieter

If your flights aren't finalized you're better off buying an open jaw ticket, ie a ticket where you fly into one city and leave from another city. In your case home - Munich, Berlin - home.

I'd avoid a rental car as the cities you list are easy to get using the train.

[QUOTE]Do you recommend trying to visit Berlin, Munich, Vienna, and Prague? How about Dresden? [QUOTE]

Berlin - museums, parliament, WWII sights, cold war sights.

Munich - beer, BMW (Audi is an easy day trip from Munich too if you like cars), other day trips from Munich:- Neuchwanstein and Salzburg, Austria.

Vienna - the Hapsburgh Dynasty. Easy day trips:- Melk Abbey, Bratislava, Slovakia.

Prague - Old City, a city to stroll around and get lost in. Lots of touts and tourist scams to be aware of.

Dresden - the Green Vault, Frauenkirche.

The sights I list above are by no means complete. All the cities you mention are different. Your best bet is to get a guidebook and read about the sights in each city, then decide where you'd like to go. You Tube videos and DK Eyewitness guidebooks can help you visualize the sights in the different cities.

German is my mother tongue ... and your fluent German is the reason why nobody talks to you in Englisch. You can speak German.

Thanks for clearing that up.

My recent trip was with an Englishman who speaks very little German. He is from London and has a rather strong accent. One interesting incident occured at a small pub on the outskirts of Munich. While I was using the toilet, he asked the waitress for the check. He had heard me asking before and he tried to imitate what I said. According to the waitress, she thought he had ordered another beer (bezahlen vs. bestellen). I asked him to say what he had said to the waitress and it was abundently clear that it had very little relation to German. How she got to bestellen is a mystery to me. But it was also clearly not bezahlen.

Since his non-German accent is quite noticeable, and what he wanted was not clear at all, why didn't she just ask him in English?

Another thing to consider in the Car vs. Train debate:

Since it seems beer gardens, bars, and breweries are probably high on your list of places to visit, public transportation would make your lives much easier in that area too.

For a vineyard tour, in Baden-Württemberg you might need a car, but you won't be in that area.


If you do decide to drive, be sure to look up and learn the traffic signs, as many are different than in the US.

We're leaving for a 2-week trip in 2 weeks (wife and I). For transportation, we're doing both. I bought a "TwinPass" from DB (DeutscheBahn) that's good for a week's worth of travel provided my wife and I are together on every leg of the trip (costs 1.5x the price of a one-person rail pass but covers us both). In the middle, for the Romantic Road, driving along Lake constance and the Black Forest, we're renting a car - a Golf diesel to try and maximize fuel economy.

The Twinpass is good for as many 'days' as you buy: 3-10 within a month's time and you get other discounts as well (we're taking a round trip paddle-wheeler cruise along the Moselle to see a lot of castles and forts - free if you have a DB pass).

What are you trying to say by providing a link to a local transportation website?

I believe you mean chargers, not rechargers.

And almost all do work in Europe and support multiple voltages such as 110 V and 220 V. WRT to Apple chargers, they all work and you can easily snap on the right plug onto many of the chargers. Otherwise, a simple and inexpensive adapter will do the trick.