Anything and Everything I need to know before visiting Germany?

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spieleversteher

From your nickname I guess your favorite band is Tokyo Hotel ;).

Anyhow... I live in Germany and my best advice would be this:

Traveling by car in Germany takes a lot of getting used to. As you might know there is no general speed limit on the German Autobahns - that often causes some pretty nasty driving behaviors from "speeders" which isn't at all easy to manage.

The only two ways to travel from city to city is by train, plane or ..car (more on that later). In order to get some descent prices for that you have to plan and book your tickets way ahead - at the very least two weeks in advance for trains and 6 to 4 weeks ahead for air travel. Also keep in mind that the "discount airlines"approach only smaller airports that are hard to reach. So you have to take into account expenses for the trip from and to the airport - which in your case would be trains or taxi. ;)

You really can travel by car - and don't have to drive. Born out from hitching, some people established a safe service to hitch a ride in advance. It's now coordinated by Internet-Sites like "http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de" and it offers an affordable, easy way to travel from town to town. It's mostly used by students (I also used this service, and when I bought my first car I offered to take "hitchhikers"). But nowadays more and more people "discover" this possibility for themselves. Take a look at the aforementioned website to get more information (as the site is german only, it's a great way to practice ;) ).

A ticket from Munich to Hamburg (or Berlin) costs around 100 to 110 Euros (which would be around 130 to 150 US$). But there are plenty of ways to get a rebate - the most obvious would be to buy a "Bahncard" which in itself grants 50% off of each ticket. It costs 220ā‚¬ for adults and 110ā‚¬ for kids to the age of 17 (for one year). If you plan to travel allot it's definitely worth thinking about because it can save you money from the first trip on... On top you get more rebates - but these are very complicated and depending on booking date, type of train, class and so on. See the link in the source section for more information on train travel in Germany.

Places of interest:
That depends on whether you two want to make a round trip or just want to stay in one city. Also if you intend to avoid car travel you have to keep in mind that some of the more rural places of interest are hard to reach.

Towns to see:
Make sure you visit Hamburg - and its famous harbor.

Berlin and the former eastern sector (Checkpoint Charley, one of only a handful "gateways" to Eastern Germany still exists as a museum.)

A must see in Munich (MĆ¼nchen) is the Old Town in the very center of the town - and, if you are there by end of September, beginning of October the famous Oktoberfest. Even if you don't have a chance to get in one of the huge "Bierzelte" it a sight worth seeing.

If you are going to Cologne (KĆ¶ln) make sure you and your mother book a river cruise on the River Rhine. There are some great castles to see there.

Weimar, Leipzig and Erfurt are some nice towns to see in the eastern part of Germany. Leipzig for example hosts the world's biggest Video game Trade show - "The Games Convention".

Magdeburg should be of specil interest for you, if you are indeed a Tokio Hotel Fan ;) Because in Loitsche http://maps.google.de/maps?q=loitsche&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=52.301371,11.70413&spn=0.000579,0.001368&t=h&z=20) is the town were Bill and Tom Kaulitz lived - I centered the map over the old Bus Station where they waited for the School-Bus to arrive. Its directly in front of the parents house AND a popular destination for Tokio Hotel Fans. ;)

If you'ld like to hear mor, just contact me via my 360 Profile ;)

Best

Steve R

I absolutely love Germany, and working for a German company I get to go over there (from UK) very regularly.
The people are great, as long as you understand their way of thinking, they are very straighforward people so sometimes it can seem like they are being abrupt or short but that is just they way they are. Keep going with learning the language, it isn't all that difficult and has a lot of similarities with English. If you get stuck, just try saying the word out loud and often the sound will be similar to the English word.
I have spent most of my time in and around Southern Germany, this is a very beautiful place, I used to go quite a lot to a little(?) place called Lindau Bodensee (say bodensee out loud and it sounds a bit like "by the sea" which is where it is, It is on the edge of Lake Constance and the old part of the town is on a small island, you can still see the old painted signs on building walls!)
I have only really travelled around Germany by car, don't worry about driving, it will be just as natural to you as back home.
Some other tips; they always say "good morning" (Usually they just say "Morgen") so it's only right to reply to them. You probably won't experience it but every morning when they go to work, they always shake hands with their colleagues. Eastern Germany is now pretty much up to the same standards as Western Germany so if you get the chance, go there too.
The food is excellent wherever you go, I especially love Schwabian (Sp?) food, try to avoid all the usual McDonalds etc. and have a go of the local food.
If you want to know more, get in touch.
Steve

Daniel R

Really, I would suggest renting a car. The DB (www.diebahn.de) can get pretty expensive. The downside is that you won't find parking in any city.
As far as sightseeing, there's Neuschwanstein Castle, the "fairy tale" castle. It is located south of Munich in the Alps. A Rhein River cruise is a must-do for any tourist.
There are hidden gems all over Germany. For example, in Nuremberg you can see a castle over 1100 years old sitting at the top of a hill.
Where ever you go, you can find something interesting.
Many Germans speak English, so if you trip over yourself trying to speak German, they can help out.

RJ_inthehouse

I've been to Munich. They're public transit system is absolutely the best. Especially, if all that you are interested in is the tourist traps. Also Munich is a pedestrian friendly city, especially in Marienplatz, so maybe September - December is not such a good time. From Munich, is also a short train ride from Salzburg (Austria) which is also a great tourist city...

I went with my school's German club as part of an exchange program. 15 of us went over there in June, and 15 of them came back in September. You should see if your school has an exchange program, and try to sign up.

special k

if you don't plan on driving, then you better go to one of the bigger cities so you will have more public transportation available- berlin, hamburg, etc. if you aren't dead-set on coming between sept. and dec., i would recommend coming in late spring, the weather is much better and you'll have more hours of daylight for your sightseeing. late fall and winter are very gray and dreary. some tourist attractions close at the end of september. read some travel websites like tripadvisor or virtualtourist so you can decide which things look interesting to you and then you can make a plan.

have fun! =)

celebrate_me_home_2000

There are a lot of must sees for everyone of different ages. Since you love Germany so much, maybe you should look up the activities and things that you like to see and map out a plan of how you and your mom want to travel across Germany. You can pretty much do the trip by train. My wife and I often leave the car home and travel for weekends by train to different towns and stay overnight.

Erica

1. I actually love fall in Germany, but the weather is hit-or-miss. Past mid-October, the weather is constantly cold, gray, and dreary. Go in September or wait until summer - even the whole "springtime in Europe is wonderful!!!" stereotype is often bull.

2. For you, this is probably going to be a trip of a lifetime. If you're planning to spend a few thousand dollars already, invest in $30 or $40 worth of travel books to help you out - it'll be worth it. I've found that Rick Steves's books are error-ridden. For budget traveling and more off-the-beaten-path stuff, I like Let's Go (although the most recent version has a lot of typos in it). It'll help you figure out where you want to go and also help put you on the right track towards finding places to stay, things to do, etc.

3. Stick to bigger cities. There's a lot of vocabulary you don't realize you need till you get to a foreign country, interacting with native speakers is different than listening to Tokio Hotel, and your mom doesn't speak German. (P.S., it's "gute Nacht," not "guten Nacht.") If she needs anything, she's going to have to use English. It's harder to find people that speak English in smaller towns.

4. Remember that not too long ago, Germany was a lot of different little territories. Where you should go depends on what you want to do, because almost every city has maintained its own regional color and has something worth visiting. However, things that are "must-sees" to us might not be "must-sees" to you. Do you want to go to a resort on the Baltic or hang out in the Alps, or neither? Are you also interested in German-speaking regions of foreign countries, often close to the border? Give us some more information.

5. You don't have to buy a BahnCard to get cheap train tickets; if you book tickets a while in advance (think a month or two) through the bahn.de web site, tickets are often half price. You can also look into this: http://www.bahn.de/regional/view/bundesweit/bahnregional/freizeit/schoenes_wochenende_ticket.shtml Eurail passes are generally rip-offs.

6. Travel by bus is relatively common in Europe and doesn't carry the same stigmas or safety concerns as in the US. www.touring.de is the main company that offers bus travels in Germany.

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