Danger Man

I am leaving for Germany next week for an exploratory trip. Just wanting to see as much as I can in a short period of time. Interested in history, old buildings, WW1 & 2, Old Clocks, Crafts, Local Fairs (similar to craft fairs w/ music and fun), Toy makers, all those things that make the countries great. I have 7 full days and I am hiring a car. My thoughts are:
SAT land in Frankfurt EARLY and drive to Berlin, look around that night, see wall and get some rest.
SUN Go to a local WWII museum and anything else that is a must see and then drive down to Krakow that night.
MON Go to Auschwitz early and see a few more sights before heading out for Munich via the crooked path that would carry me down into Slovakia and Austria (really wanted to go through Czech but I figure this is already a lot.
TUE Go to Dachow and then take in a museum or tour an auto factory if I could, head to Innsbruck for the night.
WED Head back up to Neuchwestein Castle and then slowly head across the southern part of Germany to Lake Constance and depending on how much time I spend crossing this area and what there is to see maybe make it over near Rust for the night or just stop for the night in Lake Constance.
THU finish the trip through the area and go to the amusement park in Rust then spend the night across the border in France for the night.
FRI take a quick drive up through either Stuttgart or head straight toward Luxembourg and then on to Brussells before stopping for the night somewhere.
SAT flight leaves at 3:30 for Glasgow, so not sure I will actually make it this far.
Advice along the way, must sees and don't misses along my interest areas along with information about events and happenings that should not be missed.

I know I will be tired but I will spend the next week resting in Scotland.

flysurfer

Non-NonRev

It's an interesting concept - nothing wrong with trying to see as varied a group of attractions as possible.

Especially given your interest in WWII and old buildings, here's a thought for a possible alternative routing (keeps you within Germany, so ignore this idea if "collecting" countries is foremost

FRA - south to Stuttgart and Munich, then northwest via Nuremburg to Weimar (Buchenwald) and Dresden. Then up to Berlin. Then west to Hannover (Bergen-Belsen, a short ways north of HAJ, extremely moving Camp memorial), followed by a southwest routing through Cologne and on to Belgium.

Just a thouht, aimed at giving you more quality time at the sites you do visit.

Aviatrix

Looking at your itinerary I think most of your days will be spent stuck in traffic and most of your nights will be spent crashing out in your hotel room recovering from being stuck in traffic. I think you are vastly underestimating the time it will take you to travel between all these places.

Non-NonRev's suggestion is a good one. Alternatively you could pick out two or three cities and travel between them by train. That way you'll have time to relax while in transit, and time to do some unhurried sight-seeing while you're in those cities.

Or you could decide to make this a "countryside trip". Drive around leisurely, use minor roads instead of the Autobahn, avoid big cities (trying to drive into and out of big cities is going to be the time-consuming and stressful bit).

You're trying to pack far too much into your one week - do about half, and leave the rest for another trip.

Aviatrix

Another thought... are you flying into FRA on an overnight longhaul flight? If so... are you an experienced long-haul traveller?

When I started travelling long-haul I found that all I was able to do after an overnight eastbound flight was crash out. It got easier as I got used to it, but I still find that after flying overnight from North America to Europe, even in Business Class, I am not really fit to drive in the morning. I will drive myself home from the airport, but I would not want to drive for more than about an hour after an overnight flight, especially not on unfamiliar roads.

If you're flying in from the USA overnight then you may want to think again about that drive to Berlin.

etch5895

You can catch an ICE train from FRA airport train station to Berlin. The trip is much, much shorter than what the drive would take. Most of the train stations have car rental agencies (Sixt or Europcar), and that might be a better option if you feel the need to get out and drive.

Driving in Poland is another issue. Your car rental agency might not like the idea of their cars being driven there! Again, a train trip or a flight into Krakow might be a better idea here.

I've gotten used to Trans-Atlantic flights, so I know pretty much how I'm going to feel the first day. I used to pack a lot of driving in and would often find myself almost dozing off at the wheel. Do yourself a favor and let your body ease into the new time zone without being behind the wheel of a car for long periods of time. And, as was mentioned earlier, the stau possibility is real and maddening. I can't imagine trying to negotiate Berlin after a long drive and being exhausted from a flight on top of it. I don't even like driving around Berlin wide awake.

That is a busy, busy trip you have planned. I'd say to enjoy it you should cut some things out and use it as an excuse to come back another time.

Flying Lawyer

Having read the OP plan i believe it cannot be done. He will find himself in so many traffic jams, will enjoy plenty of border controls, might not be allowed to take the car rented in Germany to Poland and other eastern places and will experiene great roads in Poland.

The plan itself creates somes questionsmarks on my face. What "Wall" does the OP expect to see in Berlin? And a local WWII museum? I am not really aware of any. And driving from Berlin via Krakow to Munich in about 36 to 40 hours (without any sleep) and crossing borders several times seems to be difficult to impossible. Could continue with that.....

gilpin

I am in agreement with the other responders. Not only is the orignial plan absolutely impossible, it betrays a very firm preconception (and to my mind misconception) about what Germany is and has to offer.

Why not just settle on one or two geographic areas of interest and discover what they are like for yourself? With an open mind you are likely to find the things of greatest interest are those which you have never seen portrayed in movies or on television.

Danger Man

Ok so this may be a little much. I thought it would be myself but family wants to see "everything". Since it is impossible, I will make some priorities. We are landing in FRA and travel TA many times a year and my wife and I rotate driving on the arrival day since she sleeps like a rock on a plane and I don't. I sleep while she drives and then we swap. Our research does not reveal anything of interest in FRA but that is where AA flies to for our ticket. Everyone wants to see Berlin. The wall is the surviving portions of the Berline Wall that were left standing and then there is the German Museum of Technology Berlin, German Historical Museum, Mauermuseum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (where wall exhibits are) and the Reichstag. I don't know which of these would be the most interesting. I am not opposed to staying in a hotel on the outskirts of town and taking a underground if they have one into sightsee. I will be there on Saturday night and Sunday. I planned on leaving so that I would not be in there during high traffic periods. I would like to avoid traffic so advice as to which cities to avoid on certain days and times would be appreciated. I did not think there would be restrictions on travel into other EU member countries. So which countries should I avoid crossing into. We always like to cross borders, get a few more passport stamps just to say we went to the border if nothing else. However the main attraction to Krakow is Auschwitz-Birkenau, there may be other things of interest there as well. Driving is less expensive by far since there are 5 of us. This is a place that my sons think would be very meaningful. The reason for Munich is not Munich but Dachau. Now the information I have read states that Auschwitz is very much the way it was and worth the visit. The information on Dachau is limited but it appears that it is worth the visit. I am not against the train or eliminating Auschwitz this trip. My sons REALLY want to go there. I prefer seeing the country side and visiting local craft type areas and we are really into places like Neuschwanstein and other forts and castles and technology/military/train museums. Really want to visit the Alps and Black Forest. Of course since we are into amusement parks, we always try to visit at least one amusement park that we have never visited before on every trip, that is where Rust came in. We fly out Sat evening.

Danger Man

So what if I stayed in Berlin or Munich and took a train to Auschwitz? Which would be cheaper, how long would I have for the visit on a same day turn around? I am sure that someone on here has done this before or at least knows the drill.

Aviatrix

Which Saturday are you flying, this coming one (19th) or the one after (26th)? If it's the latter you need to be aware that Monday 29th is a holiday in most of Europe.

Also... a lot of museums are closed on Mondays. This may not apply on the 29th (since it's a holiday), but it's worth checking.

If you're going this coming Saturday (19th) you need to be aware that there will be lots of extra traffic on the Sunday because tomorrow is also a holiday (Ascension Day) and lots of people are taking Friday off so there will be lots of people driving back from week-end breaks.

Flying Lawyer

Ok, lets think:

Driving from Frankfurt to Berlin seems to be doable and with the five of you it seems to be reasonable:

• surviving portions of the Berline Wall
• German Museum of Technology Berlin,
• German Historical Museum,
• Mauermuseum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie
• and the Reichstag

is doable, but it is a challenge. I would take at least half a day for each of the museums. I would take a hotel directly in the center, this give you the opportunity so see at least a bit of Berlin at night. Getting out of town on a Sunday or even Monday morning should not be a big problem.

There will be problems to take the car into Poland. For the five of you you will not chose a VW Polo but I expect you to take a Mercedes or BMW. And most car rental companies will not allow you to take these into Poland (because the car without you might be quite quickly be further east). Corssing borders can still be time consuming as these borders are "real" borders between the "inner circle" of EU countries (Schengen) and further EU countries.

Krakau is one of the most beautifil cities in Poland and limiting it to Auschwitz would be a shame. But you are right: Auschwitz is very much the same as it was 60 years ago. I would not say, it is worth seing but it is an experience. And if you have seen Auschwitz there is no need to see Dachau. BTW: You might wish to see the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, it is in 10 minutes walking distance from the Reichstag in quite impressive. The exhibition there is well worth seeing, too.

What I would consider is to fly back from Krakow to Stuttgart on Germanwings, a German LCC. The ticket should be around Euro 50. The only challenge might be to get rid of the car. From Stuttgart you can drive via the Black Forst to Lake Constance and Bavaria. Other possibility could be to take that car to Dresden (you know, the city which was bombed to ruins in WW 2 and rose to its original beauty), leave the car there and fly on Air Berlin to Munich. What I definitely would not do is to drive the full distance from Krakow to Munich and further on.

bcmatt

I doubt anybody on here has attempted this as a day trip - it would probably take 10 or 11 hours by train just to get to Auschwitz from either of those cities, let alone visit the site and come back again! You can use the DB web site to investigate train timetables.

Flying Lawyer

Danger Man: You will experience that we are all quite helpful here. But may I honestly propose that you do some planing for yourself to get a feeling of what you propose to do? There are plenty of useful resources for

Railways: www.bahn.de
LCC: www.airberlin.de, www.centralwings.com, www.germanwings.com, www.tuifly.de and of course Ryanair and Easyjet.

Your latest idea gives evidence that you wasted not really a minute on planing yourself. Berlin to Krakow will be 9 to 12 hours on the train, Munich to Krakow will be in the range of 11 to 13 hours. So a same day turn around is nothing but illusion.

Danger Man

I have been working on this for a month and it seems hectic to me to do all that the "family" wants to do. I used aa.co.uk to find the travel times and it states that Krakow is a 6.5 hour drive from Berlin. When I take vacation in the US we normally drive from about 7:30am until about 8 or 9 at night with some stops and even have driven until midnight to get where we are going. We then spend the next morning sightseeing and then drive again. And you are right it seems that the Mercedes is the best deal around that would meet our size requirements.

I might could do FRA / BER / MUN (dachow) then consider a flight from there to Krakow leaving the car in MUN upon return continue to the alps / black forest areas or FRA / BER / MUN / Alps - Black Forest / Rust / Stuttgart (take a flight from here to Krakow) and then continue on based on time.

Doing it this way might allow the opportunity to NOT go to Krakow on this trip because seeing Dachow might satisfy the concentration camp curiosity for this trip and seeing what else is offered in the southern part of Germany may use up the time sufficiently.

On another note which countries are Schengen boarding Germany? It may be easier just to say which ones are not if it is only Poland.

Thanks for all of your help, planning for Germany is much more difficult than I had expected.