Holiday in Germany to do some cycling with 4 kids - where to base ourselves?

[melon6]

I have never been to Germany before, but this year we went to Holland and the boys (13,11,9,6) loved cycling there. I have heard there are lots of cycling paths in Germany & its quite safe. We are thinking of August next year. I don't have the money to go from place to place with a company, so was thinking of renting a self catering cottage or similar, for 1-2 weeks, but where should we base ourselves? Would need to be not too hilly, and somewhere where we can do lots of small day cycling trips. Has anyone got any suggestions? I don't know where to start...

How about Baltic Sea? There is an area called "Holsteinische Schweiz" which is a bit over one hour North of Hamburg and 1/2 hour to 45 minutes away from the sea side. Fairly flat, lots of thing to do and see.

We are Germans and stayed there last year in a Farm stay in a self catering apartment.

Otherwise the area around Münster. I come from there and hate hilly cycling but this is totally fine.

For the first option look for a city called Eutin which gives you the correct location.

Frieburg in the Black Forest is lovely and you could go to France easily too if you wanted

We had a fantastic holiday in various areas in the South of Germany, and canoed on the River Altmühl from Treutlingen to Eichstätt for three days, passing through Solnhofen, famed for its fossils and with lots of opportunities for fossil hunting. I believe you can also do cycling trips in that area. Further south, and easily doable by train from Munich, is the beautiful Allgäu, well worth a visit, but perhaps a bit hilly for cycling!

Germany is really fab, I love it, hope you do too!

Lots of cycle paths in the Mosel region too.

Ooh I was going to suggest Freiburg! We went there by train a few years ago and there were lots of cyclists heading into the black forest by bike. We didn't do any cycling but loved the city and the area.

North Sea and Baltic Sea are popular holiday destinations, and relatively flat. Lots of day trip opportunities, including Hamburg, Lübeck, Kiel.
Munich is surprisingly flat, Bavaria is beautiful, lots and lots to do as well.
Berlin is great for cycling, too and has lots of lovely countryside around it.
You can cycle along most big rivers, like the Danube or the Rhine.

Cycling is fab and easy in Germany. What else, other than cycling, do you and your children like?

Cycling along the Mosel is great with cycling paths along the side of the river for miles. It is great with lovely views or the vineyards along the route, very well signposted for cycling which is mostly on dedicated cycle paths. They also seem set up for putting your bike on the bus so you can just cycle one way and then bus back or vice versa. I have no idea about where to base yourselves as we have a campervan and so tend to stay at stellplatz (camper van dedicated spots to stay).

Rugen Island up in the Baltic, or Zingst peninsula nearby. Lovely areas full of cycle paths, but quite a long way east. (N of Berlin, E of Rostock and Hamburg).

Wow. Thanks for your great responses. This afternoon my parents in law lent me an old copy of the lonely planet guide to Germany, so I can get on with looking up some of the towns you have all suggested. As well as cycling Boy's like beaches (so we might spend one of the weeks near the coast) but also eating cakes and trying new foods which I guess we'll do anywhere! Probably would like looking round castles that sort of thing. I'll ask more once I've had a look where these towns are.

Northern Germany, the western part of the Baltic Sea or North Sea, doesn't have a lot of castles, if you want splendour you will be better off in Bavaria with King Ludwig castles or Frankonia with Wuerzburg and Nuernberg.

Berlin has a couple, you have Schwerin and Rostock on the eastern part of the Baltic Sea with castles.

You have a lot of small castles cluttered all around Germany but some are small and local museums.

There doesn't have to be castles. I just looked in the guidebook about the holsteinische schweiz and it looks like a great place for one of our weeks. I presume any town in this area would make a good base? If we choose this possibility then we would maybe choose our second week on the coast maybe not too far away. Any ideas? (I think we will get the ferry to Denmark and then drive down to Germany)

Schleswig-Holstein and the area stretching south beyond Bremen / Hannover is all pretty flat.

Lubeck is lovely and you have access to cycling, beaches and the ferry to Denmark.

Kiel is the capital of S-H. It's a bustling port of call for cruise ships these days.

Intrigued by the suggestion of the Holsteinische Schweiz, which is the hilliest area for miles around! It is pretty though, as are the towns of Eutin and (my favourite) Plon (that's 'o' with an umlaut), and the highest point is only about 300m anyway.

The west coast island of Sylt has beaches all around.

You can cycle along the Kiel Canal / Nord-Ost-See Kanal to the Germans, and feel small beside the cruise ships and freighters.

Saarland & the Mosel are pretty, more foreign-tourist oriented (well, Mosel area but Saarland not so much) and offer vineyards if that's your thing, but too far inland for beaches.

we have been to Dresden and loved it, an amazing city. We would catch the train to different places which was easy and cheap. Our favorite was getting the train to Rathen (known as Saxon Switzerland)25 minutes away, from there you take a little boat over the river to the stunning walks and cycle trails.

I think the ferry to Denmark has stopped (have been looking at this thread because we need to sail to Holland and drive up through Germany).

I would recommend Denmark as another excellent cycling place, even more-so than the Netherlands. Also lots of beaches, lakes and plenty of history- castles and vikings!