Help me decide Germany destination

I'm biased toward Stuttgart since I live there. It's a real city and
has been called the greenest city in Europe (having vinyards, forests
and parks throughout the city), has Europe's largest combination
zoo-botanical gardens in Wilhelma with its wonderful moorish
architecture, Europe's second largest mineral waters, and the world's
first reinforced concrete TV tower. The ballet and opera are
excellent, as is the Staatsgallerie art museum and the enjoyable (even
by those not liking cars) Mercedes Benz museum. The downtown palaces,
Stiftskirche, Markthalle, and palace park are nice. Public
transportation is good and there is a lot of nice scenic nearby
attractions reachable by it, such as one of Germany's largest baroque
palaces at Ludwigsburg- the Swabian Versailles which contains four
museums (as well as two smaller palaces) and the fairy tale gardens,
the old center of Esslingen, and the old centers of almost any town at
the end of the S-bahns. There are a fair number of museums and
hundreds of staeffele (stairways between streets on the steep hillsides
which used to lead up to the vineyards) many with associated small
quiet pleasant parks. There is even a cable car.

The Canstatter Volksfest will also be occuring at that time. It is
Germany's second largest "Oktoberfest" but should have little effect on
other things to do. For non-beer drinkers, there is also the French
Village section with wine and French food.

Leaving the public transportation area, there are also a large number
of nearby nice places to visit such as the college towns of Tuebingen
and Heidelberg, Ulm, Schwaebisch Gmuend, etc. There are also some
excellent cloisters (Maulbronn, Bebenhausen) and castles (Hohenzollern,
Lichtenstein) nearby, but I don't really know how easy they are to
visit by public transportation, we just drive our car.

Alexander 30 Hostel is one possible inexpensive place to stay as is the
Espenlaub Hotel. The youth hostel itself has been newly remodeled so
it should be qute nice.

If you come to Stuttgart, I'm sure you would have a pleasant visit.

George

Juliana L Holm wrote:

> I'm thinking about Dresden, since I won't be there, Hamburg,
> some place in wine country (possibly for a festival)?

If you are interested in wine and wine festivals, Rheinhessen - the "german
tuscany" - could be of some interest for you. The cities of Mainz, Worms
and Speyer are worth a visit and Rheinhessen is very scenic especially
during autumn. Mainz is just a short ride from Frankfurt airport.

Oliver

BrianW wrote:

> I'd also suggest the Mosel region. Cochem is the most well known town,
> but the city of Trier also has much to recommend (Roman ruins, etc.).
> Trains run from Frankfurt. Of course, there's always Rothenburg and the
> Tauber valley region (don't they still have a Goethe Institut there?).
>
> See, I didn't say a word about Bayern. :-)

Yes, you did - Rothenburg belongs there.

SCNR ... Martin

Yeah, I know, I realized that after I posted; I went back and added the
Rothenburg suggestion at the last minute! :-)


Martin Bienwald wrote:
> BrianW wrote:
>
> > I'd also suggest the Mosel region. Cochem is the most well known town,
> > but the city of Trier also has much to recommend (Roman ruins, etc.).
> > Trains run from Frankfurt. Of course, there's always Rothenburg and the
> > Tauber valley region (don't they still have a Goethe Institut there?).
> >
> > See, I didn't say a word about Bayern. :-)
>
> Yes, you did - Rothenburg belongs there.
>
> SCNR ... Martin

The 'KD thing' is a very nice rail pass freebie I might add... I picked
up the first AM ferry out of Bopall and later enjoyed a pleasant
afternoon in Rudesheim; easy connections to the rail line on the other
side of the Rhine.

Tim K

"Juliana L Holm" <jholm@osf1.gmu.edu> wrote in message
news:dgos4o$ddj9$2@osf1.gmu.edu...
> Oliver, you may know that I have almost taken your suggestion. I'll
actually
> be in the Mittlerhein area in St. Goar. It also is not far via train
from
> Frankfurt. I won't even use a day on my rail pass (unless I decide to
do the
> K-D thing that day.)
>

Timothy Kroesen schrieb:

> The 'KD thing' is a very nice rail pass freebie I might add... I picked
> up the first AM ferry out of Bopall

Bhopal? Boppard?

Regards, ULF

Juliana L Holm schrieb:

> Thanks, George. I'm receiving a number of suggestions and researching them all
> I may not decide until next Friday in the Frankfurt train station.

If you agree, we could meet in Mainz on your way from FRA to St. Goar.
If you have time left.

Regards, ULF

Oops and yup... Boppard!

Glad I got off the Southbound before I hit India...

Tim K

"Ulf Kutzner" <kutzu000@mail.uni-mainz.de> wrote in message
news:dgr1dn$kcv$4@news1.zdv.uni-mainz.de...
> Timothy Kroesen schrieb:
>
> > The 'KD thing' is a very nice rail pass freebie I might add... I
picked
> > up the first AM ferry out of Bopall
>
> Bhopal? Boppard?
>
> Regards, ULF