Holidaying in Germany

[walkingonthemoon]

Hello

Thinking of taking my two teenagers (15 and 19) to Germany this summer.

Can anyone recommend great cities/areas to visit? Hotels? Camping? Modes of travel from the NW of England?

It's a blank canvas... TIA!

Do it! Go to the Bodensee (Lake Constance) on the Swiss/German border, but stay on the German side in or near Konstanz as much cheaper than Switzerland!
Zurich is the nearest airport, but not many flights from NW, so go Easyjet from Manchester to Basel. Then either hire a car (but prob not needed, coz you can use the excellent public transport free of charge once there) or get the train from Basel to Konstanz. There is a frequent bus service from right outside the airport to Basel railway station.

My only concern is that you have left it a bit late, as this is a v popular holiday area. If not a hotel, you may still be able to get a self-catering apartment. Try and get as close to the lake as you can.
Lots of fantastic outdoor sports etc and also beautiful thermal pools, as well as lakeside beaches.

I'm about to go camping in Germany next week
Near cologne ! I shall update this post after

Munich is lovely, Cologne is beautiful. the area round the Black Forest and Baden Baden is lovely also. Then there's Lorelei on The Rhine.
Germany is enormous. We go quite a lot and I'd like to do more.

Munich. Take the scenic train through the alps to Garmisch and on to Innsbruck.

Another vote for Southern Germany / Austria, which is stunning and great for an active holiday. Fly to Munich and take in Garmisch, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Zell am See - all easy to do by public transport or hire car. Stay in B&Bs (called "Pension" in German) or self-cater through the usual sites or the local Tourist Offices.

If you're more into cities: Hamburg, Berlin or Leipzig. Or Stuttgart for car freaks.

Beaches and history - look at the Baltic coast (Rügen, Lübeck)

We took teens to Munich at Easter for a long weekend. There was lots to do, and public transport is great over there. Really want to go back in summer and explore towards the alps.

Berlin is a fantastic city and still quite cheap for what it offers. And there’s a Ritter Sport Museum! With flavours and fillings you can’t get anywhere else.

If you like chocolate, that is

We’ve camped a lot in Germany. Always take the ferry from Hull across to Rotterdam and then drive.
Places we have enjoyed are Lake Bodensee, Black Forest and the Eifel Forest.
Camping in Germany is generally excellent. The stereotype rings true, everything is immaculate and extremely well organised. German campers also tend to be polite and quiet neighbours.

Black Forrest, if you stay somewhere around Freiburg you'll get something called Konuskarte that gives you acess to "free" local public transport.

There is loads to see and do - Europa Park, Hasenhorn coaster, a trip to Lake Constance, Strasdbourg in France, ...

We've driven to Kirchzarten Camping - it's around 12 hours from the Midlands. 🤔

...except the Ritter Sport museum is pretty much the other end of the country, in Waldenbuch near Stuttgart where their headquarters is, and it's actually dedicated to modern art. Square art in the main, to fit with the chocolate. Some of it's rather stunning!

Freiburg and Nuremberg are great cities.

Trier
Heidelberg
Bamberg
Würzburg
Rothenburg ob der Tauber

@GrumpyPanda There is a Ritter Sport Activity Centre in Berlin too!
Berlin (ritter-sport.com)

.except the Ritter Sport museum is pretty much the other end of the country, in Waldenbuch near Stuttgart

Well last time I was in Berlin there was a Ritter Sport "attraction" which called itself the Ritter Sport Musee. It was a glorified shop though, really. But I enjoyed the joke that they called it a museum. There was a display about chocolate making on the 1st floor. But my German relative loved that she could buy a greater variety of flavourings than she could find in her local Real or Edeka Supermarkt.

Looking on Google maps, I see they now call themselves "Bunte Schokowelt" - it's on Französische Straße @walkingonthemoon and IIRC, quite close to other touristic attractions.

Oh, and if you do go to Berlin @walkingonthemoon do book (often quite a way in advance) for a tour of the (new) Reichstag building. It is wonderful! we were there for Silvester (but not at the Brandenburger Tor) so the parliament was not sitting, but gosh it was an amazing building, and built with such ambitions for a united Germany. Stiff security to get in though - I had stupidly left a pair of tweezers in my handbag - auf Wiedersehn tweezers!

We've just got back from a family trip to the Black Forest over half term - my DDs are a bit younger (12 and 10) but they both loved it. We stayed in a pension about 30 mins from Freiburg and there was so much to do. The weather was amazing, people so friendly, scenery stunning, food delicious... Don't know why more Brits don't go there - think we'll go back next year!

from the nw you could take the ferry from newcastle to ijmunden (netherlands) and explore the north Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck.
baltic sea (different to north sea, no tide!)

Look at Landal if you want holiday park. We stayed at one before lockdown & it was about £750 for a week in summer hols.

www.landal.com/

If you prefer city then Berlin, Cologne, Munich are all interesting.

If you are doing cities then you can travel round cheaply using Deutschlandticket

www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/deutschlandticket

If you like theme parks Phantasialand & Europapark are good.

Companies like canvas and Eurocamp also have places you can glamp in Germany.

We’ve just got back from Leipzig. Fantastic city and we both really enjoyed it. But then we both like sitting at a pavement cafe drinking local beer so I’m not sure how that would fit with teens.

Heidelberg, Würzburg, Bad Wimpfen, the whole of the Neckar really. Lots of holiday houses in the smaller towns and easy to get around.

Or the much more rural area north of Nürnberg. Lots of great food and great scenery, amazing stalactite caves.

I am going to Binz in Rügen this year, where my father was buried. Probabaly not much left there by now and Prora is an acquired taste in brutalism.

I would not recommend the big cities in the summer, but anything the size of Stuttgart or smaller is nice.

It really depends what you want. As PP said, the south is good for active holidays, lots of walking but you also have the very flat north with the Baltic sea and lovely beaches.

You have the big lakes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the island Rügen, you can go on cycle holidays im Münsterland, castles everywhere, for walking you also have the Rhön, Frankonia Switzerland (north of Nürnberg) and the Harz which are less high than the Alps.

Cities:
Hamburg, Berlin, Munich. All have also smaller towns/areas around to visit.

We normally drive to Dover and take the eurotunnel to Calais and drive through France if we go to southern Germany.
To visit family in the north we go via Holland.

This place was one of our best family holidays. The campsite is within walking distance of the town and the swimming pools next to it were amazing. My children became the most daredevil divers whilst there!

i have such fond memories of this campsite from my childhood in the 90s. We used to go for 2 weeks every other summer but loved it so much we convinced my parents to go every year from the age of 8-13.

Titisee is lovely, we went by motorcycle, guessing that's not an option do just drive. Take the overnight ferry from hull if funds allow

Also lovely is Bavaria if you like castles, Munich is nice and we love Heidelberg