Germany Itinerary
Munich / Berlin / Hamburg
I just got back from Germany after a 12-day trip with my boyfriend. We originally set our sights on Oktoberfest in Munich and just went from there. It was a great trip that allowed us to see some of the biggest cities in Germany, some quaint little towns and a bit of everything in between. As with every trip, there are things I would change and things I would add if I had to do it again. Below you’ll find what exactly we did and some other options we thought of along the way to help plan your trip to Germany!
We allotted three days in Munich - two days for Oktoberfest and one for actually spending time in the city. After traveling to Berlin and Hamburg, Paul and I both agreed Munich was our favorite city and we wish we would have spent more time there. Public transport is really nice and accessible from majority of places, it made it super easy to get around. We got an Airbnb in the Schwalbing area, which was cute and close to the Underground so we found everything very easy to get to. Just get a group day pass if you are traveling with two or more people and it’s pretty inexpensive.
After a long layover in Lisbon, Portugal, we arrived late on Friday, took the S-Bahn to our Airbnb and went right to bed. When we woke up we got ready and headed to the Marienplatz, a historic square in the middle of some insanely cool buildings. Here you’ll find Old Town Hall and the Rathaus-Glockenspiel inside of New Town Hall. We happened to be walking through when the clock striked noon so it was fun to see the little show the clock puts on. There was also a cute little market going on with anything from fresh fruit to Christmas ornaments for sale. From here, we decided to go to the Hofbräuhaus to get some authentic German food and our first steins of beer of the trip. It is such a fun atmosphere and something you absolutely have to do while in Munich. The place is massive and basically one giant party. The food and beer were also delicious! Overall, I’d say 5 stars, 10/10, Hofbräuhaus was a real highlight of the trip.
Paul is really into cars, so our next stop was the BMW Museum. It was an easy trip via the Underground and costed €10.00 a person to get in. As someone who doesn’t know anything about cars, I still thought it was a cool experience and worth checking out. You can also rent any car from BMW by the hour while you’re here. Since the BMW museum is by the Olympic Park, we decided to walk around. This is where we discovered our first Lime scooter, which would be the first of many, many Limes we took in Germany. For those of you who haven’t heard of Lime, it’s an electric scooter that you pay for with the Lime app (which I highly suggest downloading before you go.) Lime is a cheap, fun and quick way to get from point A to point B. They should really just sponsor me at this point because I think I’m their biggest fan.
After Liming around for awhile, we headed off to Glockenbachviertel. This is one of Munich’s prettiest districts, it’s filled with cute boutiques, bars and cafes. Definitely spend some time walking around this adorable neighborhood, but then stop into del fiore Gelato and Cafe in Gartnerplatz. We didn’t get gelato or food, but we sat outside as the sun set over the platz, people watched and drank some bomb German wine for a few hours. This was also a highlight of our trip.
If I were to go back to Munich (which I definitely plan on doing in the future), I would add the following to my trip:
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, 30 minutes outside of Munich
Weekend trip to the Black Forest
Neuschwanstein Castle, approximately 2 hours outside of Munich and the castle the the Cinderella castle is based off
Sunday and Monday we reserved for Oktoberfest. You can read more about that here. On Sunday we left at a decent time and went to the Beer Garden at the Chinese Tower. This is a really popular spot with locals and tourists alike, plus you can get some bomb traditional German food. Monday we stayed the whole day and got more drunk than we thought we would, given the fact that we had a flight to Berlin to catch in the morning - whoops.
Tuesday-Thursday we stayed in Berlin. We could tell the difference in the cities right away - I could tell within the first few hours of being there that Berlin is truly a city for the arts. The first thing we did after hopping off the plane, checking into our Airbnb and grabbing lunch was head to the historical area surrounding the iconic Brandenburg Gate. Here are a few of the sites in the area:
Großer Tiergarten - a huge park to stroll through featuring historically and culturally significant monuments and sculptures
Reichstag (parliament building) - a beautiful structure right on the water
Brandenburg Gate - a historical monument and obviously a must see
Berlin Cathedral Church - gorgeous church. Pay the €7 to go inside, it’s worth it. Plus you can walk up to the top and get a sweet view of the city
The following day we headed to BikiniHaus, a concept shopping mall featuring various pop-up stores. This place was awesome because when you looked out the window you could see MONKEYS because it was sitting right off the Berlin Zoo. After this we went to the Monkey Bar, a jungle-themed bar with a great view of EVEN MORE MONKEYS at the zoo. It was a cute bar that also served coffee while we sat and observed our monkey friends.
After this we hopped the train to East Berlin to see the notorious East Side Gallery. 100% a must see while you’re in Berlin. It’s amazing to look at it and think about the history of the Berlin Wall and what it used to stand for and how these artists turned it into a beautiful work of art. There are so many talented artists featured and we spent awhile just walking around the whole thing. Afterward, we crossed the landmark Oberbaumbrücke bridge and hit up the famous Burgermeister Schlesisches Tor - a very popular burger stand under a bridge.
After a long day of exploring, we went back to the Airbnb and discovered BRLO Brewery. This brewery was so good, we went back again the following day. I highly recommend checking it out if you are in the area.
NOTE: I somehow missed the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe while I was in Berlin and I really regret not seeing it, please go while you are there! It’s supposed to be absolutely incredible
On Thursday, we rented a car and drove to Quedlinburg. It’s a super cute medieval town a few hours outside of Berlin. I did a lot of research on where we wanted to go to for our day trips and this one stood out to me the most. I’m so happy we went, seeing the small towns of Germany was another big highlight of our trip! Quedlinburg was ruled by women for most of its history. The Old Town area was declared a National landmark by UNESCO. It has a ton of buildings dating back eight centuries and everything was beautiful. The Quedlinburg Castle is a short walk up some sandstone cliffs and features some astonishing views of the town. We ate at the Boulevard Cafe on the square and really enjoyed ourselves. I highly recommend spending some time walking around the town and checking out the little shops.
Friday we kept the rental car and stopped by Lüneburg on our way to Hamburg. Lüneburg is a 3 ½ hour drive from Berlin and there are some other cute towns along the way. I noticed there were a shocking amount of vegan options for it being such small town, it seemed that every restaurant catered to diet preferences! Here are some places to check out while you’re there:
Stintmarkt, a waterfront area with the highest concentrations of pubs in all of Europe (plus its CUTE)
Pons and Krone - Lüneburg’s oldest pubs
Am Sande market square are right in the area of Stintmarkt
Town Hall is around the same area
Then we drove to Hamburg. We ate at ALEX Hamburg on the water that night and loved it so much we went back for coffee a day later and ice cream the day after that. The view of Lake Aster is awesome. On Saturday, we went to Flohschanze - a Saturday outdoor marketplace featuring stalls with vintage vendors. We then walked around the neighborhood Schanzenviertel. It’s filled with indie boutiques, galleries and cafes. Honestly reminded me a lot of Brooklyn. We shopped around in the area and ended up going to the Braugasthaus Altes Mädchen after hitting some other bars on Schulterblatt and St. Pauli.
On Sunday morning we went to the famous Hamburg Fish Market at Altonaer Fischmarkt. There we saw everything from fish, fruit, flowers, clothing, and auctions. This fish market has been running since 1703! It was one of the most interesting things I’ve ever experienced and I highly recommend going! It’s only open from 5 am - 9:30 am so you will see a mix of early birds and people still clubbing from the night before. Afterward, we Limed around town and ended up going to the Town Hall area. The Town Hall is bigger than the Buckingham Palace! Here are just a few of the food options that we ate at while in Hamburg (among many others but I don’t want to embarrass myself with that large of a list):
Daniel Wischer - famous seafood restaurant
Brauhaus Joh. Albrecht - good schnitzel and home brews
Frau Möller - popular gastropub
On Monday, we went to Concentration Camp Neuengamme. It was about an hour bus ride and a definite must do while in Hamburg. We spent almost four hours there and we 100% could have spent an entire day there. It was free admission and you can download the museum app and listen to the free audio tour on your phone as it guides you around the entire memorial. Save time for the main exhibits because you will want to spend time reading all the information cards on each part of the exhibit. After the concentration camp we took the bus back to Hamburg and ate more food than one human should be able to consume and the following day we flew back to NYC!
Germany was amazing and you must go. If you do go, I want to hear about it! And before you go, read my blog post on what to know before going to Germany. I am so looking forward to going back again one day to see all the things I missed!