The better half and I will be traveling to Germany at the end of August/beginning of September. We’ll have ten full days in country, and are staying with family just outside of Stuttgart. Here is the list of places we’d like to go:
Nymphenburg Palace/Gardens
Mercedes Benz Museum, Porsche Muesum
Triborg and the Schwarzwaldbahn
Neuschwannstein Castle/Hohenschwangau Castle/Rothenburg
Ulm Cathedral
Lake Constance/Flower Island
Nurburgring (drive the 'ring, then cross into Belgium for some special non-exportable beer made by monks that I’m sure I wouldn’t even remotely be able to pronounce)
CERN
Sedlec Ossuary
CERN and the Ossuary will be two-day excursions (the plan is to head to CERN, stay somewhere overnight, then hit Lake Constance and Flower Island on the way back, for instance). Those are the two non-negotiable places, and if you ask my better half he’d say the Nurburgring/monk beer are also non-negotiable.
What should we absolutely, positively not miss? Is the entire list doable, or should we lower our expectations? Are we missing something super-important?
Assuming you are American, be sure to visit a few local breweries. You have never actually had beer until you’ve drunk some good, German beer. The best analogy I can think of is… imagine that all your life you’ve been eating day old bread, and then suddenly someone gives a loaf fresh out of the oven.
In addition to John Mace’s beer recommendation, see if you can find a wine festival somewhere nearby. Great food and wine, in different varieties depending on what party of the country you’re in.
Sounds like a great trip. Only things I’d suggest are to do a little research in advance and make sure places will be open on the days you’ll be there. I think the Nurburgring closes sometimes for driving schools or testing, cathedrals close for renovations, etc. Be sure to get to Neuschwanstein early in the day before they sell out of tickets. If you’re planning to climb to the top of the cathedral in Ulm you might want to put in some time on a stairmaster in advance, and don’t be afraid of heights. And set aside some time for just strolling in town; one of my fondest memories of Germany is listening to a couple buskers in Stuttgart playing Back on two accordions.
FWIW, and I’ve loved the German beer I’ve tried in the past in Germany (anyone know where I can get Radeburger Pils in the USA?), I don’t think your main statement is true anymore. US brewers are among the best anywhere, if not the very best: the trick is finding them in a sea of microbrews. Though I still personally count some German beers as the best of their type. Schenkerla Rauchbier, Schneider Aventinus, Zum Uerige Altbier, etc…
If you like off-dry Riesling though, your statement is definitely true. Again, IMHO. But if you aren’t wine people, it’s not worth your time, when there’s so much else to do in Germany.
How are you getting around to all of those places? Renting a car & driving? If so, I’d strongly recommend also renting a GPS.
I’ve been enough rural places that don’t have cell signal to know I can’t rely on my phone, especially in a foreign country where they may not support your provider/to the level of service you have in the US. Also, you US-based GPS probably doesn’t have Euro/German maps in it. Depending upon the model, you may be able to upload, but the cost of buying them is probably more than the cost of renting from the car place.
Can’t do all three, plus driving from and to Stuttgart, in a single day.
Also, there’s only two time slots each week to drive on the Nurburgring in your own car, and they’re already late in the evening. You’ll need two days if you want to include a visit to Belgium.
If you have the time, Baden-Baden makes for a lovely afternoon. There are some Roman bath ruins, nice outdoor cafes and the casino where Tolstoy gambled away the family fortune. There’s also a Faberge museum run by a Russian oligarch that owns quite a lot of the imperial eggs, but I fear that may remain closed after relations with Russia went south.
The old baths (the Roman-Irish one, I’ve not been to the modern) are lovely. But be warned, they are nude. And sometimes mixed sex.
Triberg is full of cuckoo clocks. Really. And there’s a nice walk up around a waterfall.
I’ve not found a micro-brew beer in the US comparable to German beer, but I’ll take your word for it. Still, worth it go for the real thing while there!
Also, I share your concern about off-dry Riesling, although I have been able to find some good stuff at US wineries-- but you have to really look hard. Americans are still stuck on the premise that Riesling = Sweet.
Oh, there will be much beer and wine drinking. We are, after all, spending time with family.
The family will be driving and they’ve been stationed there for about a year and a half, so they’ve already got all the GPS bells and whistles. I am NOT letting the better half drive Nurburgring himself- his big-ticket item will be a ride along with an experienced driver. We’ll be sure to schedule that for earlier in the day to make sure we have time to sneak over the line to Belgium.
Nude baths, huh? Sounds like we may need to ditch the kids for an afternoon…
Seeing as you are in the area, Tubingen is lovely and the area around the Zugspitze and Garmisch in general is beautiful.
To be honest much of the German border area with Austria is delightful.
If you get chance and can stretch your visit along to Salzburg I’d highly recommend it. Just a short drive down the road is the sister castle to the Salzburg at Werfen.
Made famous on film of course in “Where Eagles Dare”
[richard burton] Broadsword calling Danny Boy, Broadsword calling Danny Boy [/richard burton]
From the Nürburgring it’s an hour’s drive to Cologne, where you could add another famous cathedral to the list (second highest in Europe after Ulm). But I’d understand Belgian beers taking precedence…
Well…not quite that sort of nudity but in that area of Europe you will often have saunas and spas attached to the main swimming pools and those will often be marked “FKK areas” and bathing wear is not allowed past that point. (though everyone has a gown that they discard when getting in the sauna). Some of those areas will have their own pools as well in which you can swim naked.
They are lovely places actually, very relaxed and the nudity ceases to be an issue after the first 5 minutes. They are very definitely not intended for more adult activities though, any hint in that direction is severely frowned upon.
For travel logistics, having recently been to Germany on a couple of trips…
Credit cards are chip-and-PIN there, but most places did not accept the alternative signature option that American chip cards use. Even places whose card readers could accept a signature choose not to. Make absolutely sure your card works with a PIN. Additionally, many places were cash only, it isn’t possible to just live directly off of a card like you can do in the US.
I have to disagree with you a bit here. For me, Chip and sign was available and worked anywhere Visa was displayed. Chip and Pin (i.e. U.S. Debit cards) worked at all other locations as this would be the same as a bank card in europe-- I actually only found one place that couldn’t do a Swipe and Pin, but they tried hard. I will agree with remote “backwaters” Germany being the least card-friendly cash-only place, I’ve traveled in a long time.
Since you’re visiting Nurburgring, there’s a must-see landmark just south of there at Spangdahlem AFB. Upon arrival at the base, just drive right through the main gate while waving at the security guard. Security’s pretty lax and ignore any shouting. Head north and park in front of the clinic. Once you’re out of the vehicle facing the clinic, do a 180 and you will be facing two barracks. Bring everyone’s attention to the barrack on the left and announce, “Behold everyone! That’s where Dereknocue67 was domiciled for 3 years. WOW!” Feel free to take photos.
And the 60 year old nude German women look like 60 year old women everywhere. Nude swimming/spa areas are God’s way of reminding you that most people nude are frankly sort of funny looking - and do not live up to the dreams of the average sixteen year old boy.
We were just there at the beginning of June. We were mostly in Munich and surroundings, with a couple of days in Ulm and a couple in Tubingen (a late medieval college town a little south of Stuttgart, where our daughter is studying for the semester).
The climb of the Ulm Munster is really fun, but not for the acrophobic or claustrophobic. Don’t forget to walk around inside the Munster after climbing the spire–the interior is quite beautiful, plus there’s a huge LEGO model of the cathedral inside the cathedral that is worth seeing. Wish I could remember the name, but there’s a restaurant in the older part of the Altstadt (Old City) that makes Flamkuchen, a kind of wood-fired, thin-crust Swabian pizza that’s quite good.
