Arrive in Berlin, transfer & check-in. late afternoon, from Museumsinsel, you can walk to Friedrichstrasse, the upscale shopping street of eastern Berlin or visit the East Side Gallery. Or if the day is clear, you might walk over to Alexanderplatz and zoom up to the observation deck of the Fernsehturm (Television Tower), the tallest structure in western Europe.
Spend your second day on the western side of the city. Visit Schloss (Palace) Charlottenburg, Kurfürstendamm, Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche, Tiergarten-Berlin’s most famous park. Have something fun lined up for the evening: Berlin has three opera houses, seven symphony orchestras, cabarets and variety shows, and countless bars and clubs.
Explore to the Schloss Sanssouci and visit one of Berlin’s great museums, such as the Gemaldegalerie (Painting Gallery) or the Jüdisches Museum (Jewish Museum), where Germany’s Jewish life is chronicled and commemorated through art and artifacts.
Dresden is one of the great art cities of Germany. Visit Albertinum, Grunes Gewolbe and the Zwinger, a restored royal palace that is home to four museums, the most important being the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery). Also visit Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).
From Berlin, head north to Hamburg, visit the Kunsthalle-an outstanding collection of old masters and modern works and HafenCity. Also explore St. Pauli, where the Reeperbahn, Europe’s most famous red-light district, is ground zero for salacious nightlife.
A short trip from Hamburg, this port on the Baltic Sea boasts more buildings from the 13th to the 15th centuries than any other city in northern Germany—more than just about anywhere else in Europe, for that matter, since it’s said that within an area of 5 sq. km around the Marktplatz stand 1,000 medieval houses.
Start your day in Munich, explore to Marienplatz, the city’s main square, and Viktualienmarkt to wander through this wonderland of an outdoor market. Visit the Alte Pinakothek (Old Masters Gallery), & the Deutsches Museum, devoted to science and industry, is one of the most popular museums in the country.
Explore to the Residenz, after lunch near Marienplatz, stroll in the lovely Englischer Garten. There are many other museums to choose from in Munich, including Lenbachhaus, with its superb collection of German Expression art, and the Greek and Roman antiquities on display in the Glyptothek.
This is one of Germany’s best-preserved medieval cities and the only one to remain completely unscathed by World War II bombings. Some 1,400 medieval buildings have survived and create a jumble of steep, red-tiled roofs above narrow lanes and lively squares next to the Danube.
Make your way back to Munich and on to Fussen, from the most famous tourist attraction in all of Germany-Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein Castle. Explore to Hohenschwangau Castle and Wieskirche (Church in the Meadow).
Start your day at the town on the Neckar River, the Altstadt (Old Town). Explore to Heidelberg Castle, a romantic hilltop ruin with a view down to the tiled roofs of the Altstadt nestled alongside the river & the Kurpfalzisches Museum gives you a look at Tilman Riemenschneider’s masterful wooden altarpiece of Christ and the Apostles, dating from 1509.
Begin the day in the Marktplatz, the Altstadt’s main square, dominated by the Gothic Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit). Cross the Alte Brucke (Old Bridge) and stroll along Philosophenweg. You can “take the waters” at Friedrichsbad, a 125-year-old mineral-bath establishment.
Nuremberg, one of the most attractive mid-size cities in Germany. Squares with lovely fountains, Gothic churches, and the picturesque precincts alongside the Pegnitz River are below the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle). Visit the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande.
Head back to Berlin, where your tour began, to catch your flight home.