What to see in Germany?

[the_tyrant]

Hey guys, I'm sitting in Berlin right now, and I would like to ask the guys here, what do you guys suggest doing in Germany?

I'll be in Berlin for the next 3 days, and than I'll head down to Budapest, than back into Germany. We already went to Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Potsdam, and we are thinking of going to eastern Germany first, western Germany weeks later.

Is there any must see attractions? Must eat foods? Good travel tips?

Is Germany (especially Berlin) "safe"? are the odds of getting my car window smashed high? What about my odds of getting mugged? I'm currently staying in north western berlin, in an apartment on Wittstocker Straße. Is it a "safe" part of town? Or is it a "sketchy" area?


Just some of my observations for now:
Germans are very "punctual" with their food. Unlike Spain, you can't expect to get dinner from 6pm -12pm.
Turkish food is everywhere! Interesting to see how the kebabs here compare to the stuff in Istanbul.
I HATE the fact that public washrooms charge you. But alas, this seems to be common throughout Europe.


Thanks!

[Herr-Berbunch]

Ahem, Reeperbahn in Hamburg is supposed to be quite nice. I know Sky doesn't like Berlin but living there and visiting from overseas must be polar opposite. There is the Luftwaffe museum at Gatow near Berlin.

Aside from that all my visits to Germany have been work and beer, but mostly on the NL border.

Have fun, keep us informed what you're up to and don't forget photos.

[STEED]

Ask Skybird.

[Cybermat47]

Go to U-995 in Laboe

[August]

I would definitely get Skybird or someone similars opinion before stepping out. From what I understand Berlin has some definite no go areas for "Ausländers" , even a Canadian like yourself.

[Catfish]

If you are near Hannover drop me a line here
(There is a small nice aviation Museum in Hannover-Laatzen).

Apart from that, depends what you are interested in. E.g. the Schiffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven is a must-see if you are up there
There's a lot to see in every major city.

If you are into nature the 'Elbsandsteingebirge' in the east, or of course the Alps are nice. Lots of other regions though, the 'Harz' is also very nice, comes with a lot of mining museums and even a 'scotch' wiskey distillery. North sea, baltic sea, whatever ...

Have a nice stay,
thanks and greetings,
Catfish

[Skybird]

That there are "no go"areas is an exaggeration. "No need" describes it better. That is true for Germany in general. It is not the Bronx in the 70s, nor are the racists and xenophobes patrolling in swarms.

But Berlin: avoid to be in the subway alone, even at day. Incidents have constantly risen there. Avoid antisocials who obviously seek trouble, or drunk or stoned. Unfriendly, rude tone is part of the Berliners' way of life, at least some of the old Berliners that have not moved in just years ago. But with some others, mostly the younger, it may be according to "rough, but hearty".

The Western city hotspot is around Tauentzien and Kurfürstendamm. It is the major shopping area now. It used to be a paradise for some really great and wonderful movie houses, but they are almost all gone now, a very great loss. The aquarium of the Belrin Zoo. right of it, was great and nice in the 80s, that was the last time I visited it. If you like classical music and a concert is tkaing place, check the Philharmonic, it is one of the concert halls with the best acoustic characteristic wordwide (and has some architecture that many admire, very fast going in and find your seat, very fast leaving, even if it is full hopuse), a bit spaceship like, some say. Second biggest shopping mall is the Schlossstrasse and Rheinstrasse in Schöneberg/Steglitz, but it is just shopping, not culture, and it is more the kind of shopping for the locals, not the big vogue-kind of thing. The Eastern centre of the city, Pariserstrasse and such, is the place to go for restaurants, nightlife and the like - at least so they say, I have little own expoerience with that, it is not my interest so much, and I know the West better than the East. The welathier parts are the former American sector: Charlottenburg, Zehlendorf; the closer you move towards Grunewald and the lakes there, and the Havel in the West, the greener, wealthier, and better looking the city becomes, many villas. The more centre and East of centre you go, the dirtier it becomes. Some people like Kreuzberg and such, I personally hate it. Most overestimated tourist "must sees" are Alexanderplatz and Brandenburgertor, you can safely scratch them from your program, you miss nothing. If weather is nice (unlikely) and you want to do a picnic without leaving the city to the West, Tiergarten has many nice and green corners, its a very huge park. the whole city is surprisingly green and fiulled with small and big parks, you maybe will realise. It's said to be the greeniest city of its size in Europe.

If you move to or through East Germany, consider Spreewald (Google) which is not too far away from Berlin.

When you return from your excursion to Budapest, you maybe move North again, then the oldtown of Wismar and especially Lübeck are the places to see, I think. Very very beautiful old Hanse cities, much restoration done there in the past 20 and 30 years.

General advise for the above: do not rush through Wismar and especially Lübeck. In Lübeck, even take more than just one day. Optionally, you can go from there to Travemünde and the Brodner Ufer at he baltic coast. First is the biggest ferry harbour in the Baltic and has a tourist-attracting pier and holiday city (small one), seocnd is if you would like to walk at the beach, lonely, its is very breautiful a place and you can walk aroudn the whole Lübecker Bay, if you want, all day long, from town to town. If you go to Lübeck, take your time, consider a longer stay. If you go to Lübeck, ask me again, I can talk you through the city, I still know it quite well. Espoecially two or three good restaurants (at least they were good when I ws there the last time. Some atmospheric places also are not that easily to be found. But the old town is a very nice place in general.

US-Americans would consider the old town of Heidelberg to be the place to go in South-West Germany. They used to crawl over that place like ants. Just pulling your legs, Yanks!

Sorry, on museums I cannot help much, they simply do not interest me. But there are many in Berlin, on and close to the socalled Museumsinsel. Any tourism site on Berlin should point them out.

Maybe I can give more advise if I knew what your tourist interests are when you go travelling.

If you are like me and siscover a city by just walking,walking, walking thoruzgh it to get a feel for it, let me know, we can design a kmz-file for Google Earth together that gets you around. My record day-tour I did on feet in Berlin was in summer 2000, one of the most beautiful and one of these really perfect days. I did a tour of 38 km through seven city districts on that day, in close to 12 hours. Needless to say that I was exhausted. But happy.

[the_tyrant]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!
Had lots of fun in berlin today, went to see 3 museams on museam island, and the Berlin Wall.

Thinking of going to the topography of terror, Pergamon, and the DDR museam tomorrow!

[Catfish]

Hope you like it, have fun

[tat501]

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!
Had lots of fun in berlin today, went to see 3 museams on museam island, and the Berlin Wall.

Thinking of going to the topography of terror, Pergamon, and the DDR museam tomorrow!

The Reichstag is worth checking out. Its pretty cool how they've changed it. Unter-den linden is nice aswell. Very interesting to see the US and Russian Embassy's staring at each other across the street.

Also I enjoyed some cool cocktail bars on Charlottenstrasse last time I was there.

Hope you have a good time. Germany is a cool place actually. I prefer Munich to anywhere else by a factor of about 500 though...no offence anyone else!

[August]

I haven't seen enough of Germany to have an opinion of what are the best places to visit.

Of the places I have been though I can recommend taking a trip along the Rhine River, and the area my family comes from which is called Der Spessart. There is also Lake Chiemsee along the Austrian border.

Of course i'm not a fan of cities so my preferences reflect that. Of the ones I've been in I had the most fun in Ansbach.

[the_tyrant]

WOW, I did not budget enough time for berlin.

I went to see 2 more museums on Museum island today, also saw the Jewish memorial, and a museum on the boarder crossing (this one: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...n.html#REVIEWS)


I want to go see the zoo tomorrow, and hopefully fit in the DDR or History museum, but damn, there is just SO MUCH TO DO!

Loving Berlin! Great city!