German Citybreak

Agricola

Never been, so looking at a short citybreak in September, probably 2 full days. Would like a city which is easy to get around, not too taxing on foot, nice architecture (preferably Gothic/Medieval, that kind of thing) and maybe some war museums / memorials etc thrown in. Was obviously thinking of Berlin first but I'd imagine its largely new buildings since the 50s and generally not what Im into.....

What would you recommend?

roundymac

It's got to be Berlin, full of museums and ww2 and cold war history. Also the Permagon Museum off the Under den Linden full of every thing that was looted from the Turkish/Middle Eastern regions around the late 19th early 20th centuries. Most of Germany is 1950's style buildings, it was'nt just Berlin that got flattened.
http://www.smb.museum/smb/standorte/index.php?lang=en&objID=27

crockholm

Trier........................Pro's include,

Easy to get to,ryanair fly to ffurt hamm,and it's maybe 30 mins away

Located in the Mosel valley,qed,lots of wines

The city dates back to Roman times with the porta nigra being the most impressive standing feature of the era.

It was an archbishopric that had one of only 7 votes to cast for who would be Holy Roman Emperor,and as a rasult was charmed/bribed by many wealthy suitors which manifests itself in the wonderful buildings that can be seen today.

I've been there 4 times,even when I was living in holland,I would drive down there because it really is one of my favourite German cities

mickyellow

All German cities are totally different. Bit like comparing cities in the US to each other. Depends what kind of break you are looking for. Berlin for sightseeing & shopping, Munich for beer-halls & shopping etc, Koln for relaxation etc

I love German cities and each one offers something completely different every time I visit

donadoni

Agricola wrote: »

Never been, so looking at a short citybreak in September, probably 2 full days. Would like a city which is easy to get around, not too taxing on foot, nice architecture (preferably Gothic/Medieval, that kind of thing) and maybe some war museums / memorials etc thrown in. Was obviously thinking of Berlin first but I'd imagine its largely new buildings since the 50s and generally not what Im into.....

What would you recommend?

That's a difficult combination you're looking for there. Cities with good war memorials and museums are usually the ones that have been badly effected by the war (bombed out) and there is not much left in relation to medieval buildings.
Generally when it comes to war memorials and museums there is no place like Berlin, but as far as I know it is not a good place if your into medieval stuff. A compromise may be to go to the nearby city of Potsdam for a day, which was the residence of the Prussian kings and has some interesting sites. They are not really medieval either, but from the 17th 18th century. Maybe somebody else knows a better, not totally bombed out, smaller town near Berlin. I don't know the area well enough.

Real great medieval towns however are Rothenburg in northern Bavaria, Regensburg and Passau (South East Bavaria) and Tuebingen (near Stuttgart)
Good luck with your choice and enjoy your trip....

zagmund

We went to Augsburg recently for an overnight and it's a lovely city, easy to get around, and with plenty of old buildings. Apparently it's named after Augustus and is/was a roman town. It was also a big part of the textile production revolution so there's bits of history there and a great textile museum. In addition there's the Fuggerei - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuggerei - which is social housing dating back to the 16th century and plenty of other "Fugger" related things.

It's linked by train directly to Memmingen (Ryanair fly there) and Munich.

Worth checking out.

z

keithclancy

Aachen is lovely and you can fly there with Ryanair from Dublin to Maastricht.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aachen

Carolus Thermal Baths are pretty nice, architecture is pretty interested, a bit dutch and german at the same time.

You can also walk to the The land point:

http://www.drielandenpunt.nl/

Have a stroll between Germany/Belgium and the Netherlands.

daheff

+1 on Munich

Theres loads to see there. There are concentration camp museums around it if you want (eg Dachau).

You can take the S-Bahn to the south to the lakes (Starnberg -about 30/40mins from city i think) & go on a short cruise on the lakes.

Beer halls & beer gardens. Shopping. they have the 1970s olympic village, BMW factory & tour.

If you were going at Xmas there is a christmas market in the main square.

There is a legoland near munich, if you rent a car you are about 90mins drive from Neuschwanstein (the castle Disney modelled the Disney castle on). You arent that far from the Alps either

loads to do in and around Munich
Plus the people are more laid back that the typical German stereotype

Jocelynel

apart from munich and berlin, i loved heidelberg...beautiful city, great day spent up at the castle

Agricola

Thanks all. Some good stuff to get researching there. Its a tough mixture to manage alright. Im sure there is alot of WW2 stuff in Berlin that I wouldnt like to miss, but equally getting to see some older stuff on the same journey could necessitate some very long train journeys, which I want to avoid.

grumpymunster

Trier really is lovely birthplace of Karl Marx as well no less and as mentioned the wine is excellent as well been there a few times as well it is worth a visit. It also has a very well maintained amphitheatre where you can go underground to where the animals and slaves well kept in Roman times.

I found Nuremberg good as well a lot of interesting places to visit and some good food a very manageable city. The thing about the larger German cities is the public transport system will be excellent so getting about will not be an issue.

OkayWhatever

The only German city that I've been to is Berlin, and highly recommend it! You won't get a chance to be bored in 2 days! So much to do and see, so much history and it's all so interesting!

I heard Munich is pretty good too, although I've never been so can't personally recommend it.

But yeah, Berlin is a place you have to see in your life!!

MadsL

As a Curve ball - Dresden. You get to see the devastation and the rebuild.