Athens
Madeleine
The one to call for group travel — reunions, milestones, friends going together. She’s backpacked Europe and says yes to almost anything.
Around forty million Americans have German roots. A surprising number of trips here start with a surname.
Germany is one of the few places where a vacation and a family history project can be the same trip — the archives, the villages, the churches with the right name in the register. We’ve planned a number of those, and the research matters as much as the itinerary.
For everyone else, the pitch is variety. The Alps in the south, the sea in the north, and 150 marked scenic driving routes in between — including one that exists entirely to connect cheese producers. Add Europe’s densest concentration of museums and the best Christmas markets on the continent, and there’s a version of this trip for nearly anyone.
Where to go
Three places worth building a trip around
Sixteen states, each with a different accent and a different beer.
Bavaria
Munich, castles, and the Alps
Munich as a base, Neuschwanstein and the alpine lakes within easy reach, and the walled medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber up the Romantic Road. Leslie rates Rothenburg as one of her favorite places anywhere.
The Rhine Valley
Castles and vineyards
Terraced Riesling vineyards, hilltop castles every few miles, and river towns you can reach by boat. The stretch between Koblenz and Rüdesheim is UNESCO-listed and best seen from the water.
Berlin
History you can still touch
A city rebuilt twice in one century, with the seams left visible on purpose. Museum Island alone justifies three days, and the food scene is the most interesting in the country.
Endless ways to experience it
What kind of Germany are you after?
Tracing your family
Regional archives, parish records, and the village your great-grandparents left. We’ll build the trip around what you find.
Christmas markets
Around 2,500 of them across four weeks of Advent. Nuremberg and Dresden are the famous ones; the small-town versions are often better.
River cruising
The Rhine, the Danube, the Moselle. A comfortable way to cover a lot of castles and vineyards without repacking.
Museums and architecture
Some 6,800 museums, and the Bauhaus was founded here. More than 50 UNESCO sites, one of the highest densities anywhere.
Hiking
Bavarian Alps at one end, Rhineland vineyard paths at the other, and way-marking that makes the whole country walkable.
Spa towns
Over 350 certified health resorts — a tradition Germans have taken seriously for two centuries, and a good pairing with a walking week.
Who you’ll work with
Pick the office nearest you.
All four of our advisors plan Germany. Which one you work with is usually just a question of which office you’d rather walk into.
Dunwoody
Leslie
She’s walked Munich and Rothenburg ob der Tauber herself — the walled medieval town is one of her favorites anywhere. Planning European travel since 1990.
Dunwoody
Steve
Left a career as a chiropractor for a year-long trip around the world, and came back to help other people take theirs.
Tuscaloosa
Stella
A year living in France taught her to travel slowly. She builds trips around local life — markets, long meals, the streets past the checklist.
Go deeper
More on Germany
Region guides, hotels, and current offers — kept up to date through our relationships with colleagues around the world.
Ready when you are.
Tell us roughly what you have in mind and we’ll take it from there.
