Roadtrip through Germany

[ZombieHunter]

Me, DH and DS (6) are planning a roadtrip through Germany for next summer. I am from Germany and I want to show them as much of my country as possible.

Definite stops are - Cologne and Berlin. Anything else is as we go along. As I grew up in the Rhein Ruhr area I'd also like to spend some time there, so Duisburg/Essen and vicinity.

Current idea is:
Calais, quick stop in Brussles then Cologne for a couple of nights.
Head South to Heidelberg or Koblenz as closer.
Then East through villages with stops there for hiking.
Further East to Berlin and spend a few days there.
Back West direction Hanover (as one of my friends lives there).
Back through Wuppertal and then Duisburg area.
And then back, maybe with a quick stop in Holland.

We are thinking 14-21 days in total. Has anyone done something like this before? Definite stops to do on this route? If you have done this, did you book all accommodation in advance? The mad part of me wants to just drive along, see where we end up, find a place to sleep and just book in.

Attached map of route at the moment. Thanks for any input.

We did a road trip in France last summer and booked all our accommodation as I didn't fancy turning up tired and having to hunt for a campsite or hotel. Plus I like to research where we're staying,check prices etc.

We're doing a road trip through Belgium, Germany and Holland this year. Not going very far East, but further south as we want to stay in the Black Forest.

Harz Mountains are lovely, so is the Schwarzwald. Love Heidelberg, especially the castle.
Oberammergau.

Looking for ideas. We are driving to Romania this summer. We've booked the crossings (flexible on return) and the first night's hotel in Dunkirk. We plan to go to Koln, Heidelberg, Munchen. Then Viena, perhaps Bratislava. We'll take a few days.

What stops are you making Asheth?

I like the Schwarzwald, been there before, but not sure if we can fit it in. We could take 3 weeks in theory.

Is everyone staying in hotels or campsites? Not sure yet on that, could fit a collapsible tent in the boot and just go where it takes us.

DH is German and my 2 favourite places in Germany ( possibly the world?)
Are Freiberg and Erding. Bit off your route but I would recommend anyone going to Germany to visit if possible.

When I was a child Mum and Dad did that sort of drive and see where you get to holiday with us. It was great. We generally followed the Rhine and saw Koeln, Heidelburg etc and ended on the Bodensee.

I think Mum bought some vouchers with Novotel where basically each one was for one nights stay and we just picked the nearest one to stay at each night. I'm not sure if that's still possible though.

Hopping will have a look into those places.

Bodensee would be lovely Mrsmortis but I really want Berlin which means we have to head East.

Will see if Novotel still does that, that would be great.

Today I was listening to a podcast about cities and it included interesting things about Gropiusstadt in Berlin ("The Urbanist - 1960s Utopias").

We're camping. First stop on the Belgian coast, next in Beaufort Luxembourg, then Schwarzwald and then Eifel. We have about two weeks for this and then have a week in Holland before coming home.