Germany for three generations: Berlin, Dresden, Rothenburg and Munich

1. Day 1: Arrive in Berlin

   Berlin Brandenburg Airport to your hotel in Mitte, then the Brandenburg Gate on foot

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Early welcome dinner
   • Stay in Berlin
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), where a driver meets your family in the arrivals hall for the transfer of about 45 minutes to the hotel in Mitte. Plan to land by about 2 pm; the exact latest arrival comes with your final itinerary. Check in and rest; family or connecting rooms are requested for every party when we confirm your dates. At about 4:30 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets everyone, grandparents and children included, for a short briefing, then we take a gentle walk of about an hour along Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate, finished in 1791 and for 28 years stranded behind the Berlin Wall. Children can step between the 2,711 concrete blocks of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe nearby, which your guide explains in words that suit each age. At about 6 pm we sit down to an early welcome dinner of Berlin dishes at a local restaurant, with simple plates for children, and everyone is back at the hotel by about 8 pm.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Short walk: Unter den Linden, the Brandenburg Gate and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
   • Early welcome dinner

   Easier option: Take a taxi back to the hotel from the Brandenburg Gate and meet the group at the restaurant.

   More active option: Walk on with your guide after dinner past the Reichstag to the Spree riverbank, about 20 minutes each way.

   Free time: Free until the 4:30 pm briefing

   Activity: About an hour on foot on level pavements.

2. Day 2: The Wall, Mitte and the Reichstag dome

   Berlin by tram and on foot: Bernauer Strasse, Museum Island, Gendarmenmarkt; the Reichstag dome in the early evening

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Berlin
   Day 2 details

   We start at 9 am at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, where a full section of the border strip still stands: the inner wall, the patrol road, a watchtower and the outer wall. Children understand it best from the viewing platform, looking down on the strip, and from the marked lines where tunnels ran under the street. A local Berlin guide used to families then takes us by tram into Mitte, kept to about two hours on foot: Museum Island, the Berlin Cathedral and its lawn, and Gendarmenmarkt, with Schinkel's Konzerthaus between two domed churches. We finish near Checkpoint Charlie at about 12:30. Lunch and the afternoon are free; the hotel is close for a rest, or the Neues Museum shows the bust of Nefertiti. At about 6 pm we go up into the Reichstag dome on a pre-registered slot and walk the gentle spiral ramp above the parliament chamber, with a free audio guide, then eat wherever suits your family.

   Included

   • Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse with your guide
   • Guided walk through Mitte with a local guide: Museum Island, the Berlin Cathedral, Gendarmenmarkt and Checkpoint Charlie
   • Berlin public transport tickets for the walk
   • The Reichstag dome in the early evening

   Optional experiences

   • The Neues Museum or the hands-on DDR Museum in the afternoon (entry at your own cost)

   Easier option: Leave the walk at Gendarmenmarkt and take a taxi back to the hotel; rejoin for the Reichstag dome.

   More active option: Hire bikes in the afternoon and follow your guide's route along the Spree to the East Side Gallery.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Berlin

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot in the morning on level pavements, with short tram rides. Bring passports, children's too, for the Reichstag security check. The Reichstag slot is at about 6 pm and dinner comes after, so plan an early snack or an early dinner at about 5 pm; your guide suggests places near the hotel.

   

3. Day 3: Sanssouci, then the Wannsee beach

   Berlin to Potsdam, the Glienicke Bridge and the Strandbad Wannsee, then back to Berlin by minibus

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Berlin
   Day 3 details

   About 40 minutes by minibus brings us to Potsdam, the summer seat of the Prussian kings, for one of the first timed tours of the morning at Sanssouci Palace. Frederick the Great's single-storey rococo retreat, finished in 1747, sits at the top of six terraces of vines under glass, and the tour inside lasts about 40 minutes. Afterwards we walk through the park to the gilded Chinese House, a short, flat stroll that children like for its golden figures. Lunch is on your own in the Dutch Quarter of red-brick gabled houses. On the way back we stop at the Glienicke Bridge, where the Americans and Soviets swapped captured spies during the Cold War, then spend the afternoon at the Strandbad Wannsee, a lake beach of fine sand on the edge of Berlin with shallow water, beach chairs and a kiosk. Grandparents can sit in the shade while children swim. We are back at the hotel by about 5 pm.

   Included

   • Sanssouci Palace on an early timed tour
   • Walk through Sanssouci park to the Chinese House
   • The Glienicke Bridge
   • Afternoon at the Strandbad Wannsee lake beach, entry included

   Optional experiences

   • Beach chair hire at Wannsee

   Easier option: Skip the park walk and wait at a café by the palace windmill; at Wannsee, take a shaded beach chair.

   More active option: Swim out from the Wannsee beach, or walk the lakeside path for about half an hour.

   Free time: Evening free in Berlin

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot on gravel paths and the terrace steps at Sanssouci. The beach afternoon runs in summer, about late May to mid-September; outside it we visit the Babelsberg park or return to Berlin early. Sanssouci closes on Mondays, so this day is never a Monday.

4. Day 4: By train to Dresden

   Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Dresden by fast train, then the Altstadt on foot

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dresden
   Day 4 details

   After breakfast the minibus takes the bags and the family to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, a five-level glass station that children enjoy, where we board a fast intercity train to Dresden in seats reserved together. The ride is about two hours across flat farmland and pine forest. Our Dresden minibus and driver meet the train and carry the bags to the hotel; from here on nobody lifts a suitcase into a vehicle. Lunch is near the Neumarkt, then a local guide walks us through the Altstadt for about an hour and a half. The Frauenkirche lay in rubble after the bombing of February 1945 and was rebuilt with its old blackened stones set back among the new; children can spot them on the outside walls. We pass the Procession of Princes, a mural about 102 m long made of porcelain tiles, and end in the Zwinger's baroque courtyard. A timed visit to the Historic Green Vault, the Saxon electors' treasure chamber of gold, ivory and jewels, follows, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Reserved seats on the fast intercity train from Berlin to Dresden
   • Lunch near the Neumarkt
   • Guided Altstadt walk with a local guide: the Frauenkirche, the Procession of Princes, Brühl's Terrace and the Zwinger
   • The Historic Green Vault on a timed entry

   Easier option: Skip the Green Vault and rest at the hotel or a café on Brühl's Terrace above the Elbe.

   More active option: Climb the Frauenkirche dome in the late afternoon for the view over the river.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Dresden

   Activity: About 2.5 hours on foot on level old-town paving; the bags go by minibus. The Green Vault closes on Tuesdays, so this day is never a Tuesday.

5. Day 5: The Bastei and a paddle steamer on the Elbe

   Dresden to the Bastei in Saxon Switzerland and Pillnitz by minibus, then back to Dresden by paddle steamer

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dresden
   Day 5 details

   We leave at about 8:30 for the Bastei in Saxon Switzerland, about 50 minutes up the Elbe valley, to be on the bridge before the day crowds. The minibus parks at the Berghotel Bastei car park, and a mostly flat path of 10 to 20 minutes, with some steps near the viewpoints, leads to the Bastei Bridge, a stone bridge of 1851 that spans a gorge between sandstone towers, with the river far below. Children love the rock shapes; grandparents can sit at the viewpoint terrace. Lunch is at the Bastei or in the valley. In the early afternoon the minibus takes us to Pillnitz, a summer palace of the Saxon kings in Chinese-inspired style on the riverbank, for a stroll through the gardens and a look at the camellia house. Then we board a paddle steamer for the ride back down the Elbe, about an hour and a half past vineyards and villas, under the steel Blue Wonder bridge and into Dresden by the Terrassenufer, a short walk from the hotel. The evening is free.

   Included

   • The Bastei Bridge and viewpoints in Saxon Switzerland
   • Lunch at the Bastei or in the valley
   • Pillnitz Palace gardens
   • Paddle steamer from Pillnitz to the Dresden old town

   Easier option: Stay at the Bastei viewpoint terrace while others walk out on the bridge, and sit on the steamer's covered deck.

   More active option: Walk from the bridge on the marked path to the Felsenburg Neurathen rock castle, with metal walkways and steps.

   Free time: Evening free in Dresden

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot, mostly on flat paths, with some steps at the Bastei viewpoints. If the minibus cannot use the Berghotel car park, we park at Rathewalde, about 3.5 km away, and take its shuttle bus. Steamer times change by season; if the timetable does not fit, the minibus brings us back and we ride the Loschwitz suspension railway for the river view instead.

   

6. Day 6: Bamberg for lunch, then into Rothenburg

   Dresden to Bamberg, then Rothenburg ob der Tauber

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rothenburg ob der Tauber
   Day 6 details

   The longest road day, about four and a quarter hours of driving in three legs, so that the next two nights are in one place. We leave Dresden at about 8:30 and drive about an hour and three-quarters west to a half-hour break near Hof for legs, toilets and snacks, then about an hour and a quarter more to Bamberg, arriving around noon. Bamberg came through the Second World War largely intact and its old town is listed by UNESCO. After lunch in a Franconian inn, a local guide takes us on an easy walk of about an hour and a half: the Old Town Hall, built on its own island in the river Regnitz, the painted bridges, and the fishermen's houses of Little Venice along the water. About an hour and a quarter more brings us to Rothenburg ob der Tauber by about 5:30 pm. The minibus drops the bags at the hotel inside the walls, and the evening is free for an early supper.

   Included

   • Lunch at a Franconian inn in Bamberg
   • Guided walk in Bamberg with a local guide: the Old Town Hall, the river bridges and Little Venice

   Easier option: Stay at a riverside café by the Old Town Hall while the others walk to Little Venice.

   More active option: Walk up the hill to Bamberg Cathedral and the rose garden of the New Residence for the view over the roofs.

   Free time: Evening free in Rothenburg

   Activity: About 4.25 hours on the road (about 385 km) in three legs of about 1.75, 1.25 and 1.25 hours, with a 30-minute break near Hof and lunch in Bamberg; no leg reaches 2 hours. About 1.5 hours on foot in Bamberg on cobbles.

7. Day 7: A whole day inside Rothenburg's walls

   Rothenburg ob der Tauber on foot: the wall walk, the Plönlein, the Burggarten and the Medieval Crime Museum

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Rothenburg ob der Tauber
   Day 7 details

   Rothenburg is quietest before the day coaches arrive mid-morning, so we are out at 8:30. Walk a stretch of the covered wall walk, where children can look through the arrow slits, then down to the Plönlein, the little square where two gate towers meet, and the Burggarten for the view over the Tauber valley. Late morning we visit the Medieval Crime and Justice Museum, whose shame masks, stocks and iron cages tell the town's old punishments; some rooms show torture instruments, so parents choose the route and your guide keeps it to about an hour. Lunch and the afternoon are free: a Schneeball pastry from a bakery, a rest at the hotel, or the gentle path down to the Tauber and the double bridge. At about 5:30 pm we sit down to an early Franconian dinner together. At 8 pm, still light in summer, the Night Watchman leads his hour-long lantern walk through the lanes, telling the town's history with humour; it ends near the market square, a few minutes from the hotel.

   Included

   • Early walk with your guide: the wall walk, the Plönlein, the Burggarten and the market square
   • The Medieval Crime and Justice Museum
   • Early Franconian dinner
   • The Night Watchman's tour

   Easier option: Skip the wall walk's steep steps and stroll the market square and the Plönlein at street level; skip the Night Watchman for an early night. With younger children, skip the Crime Museum's torture-instrument rooms, or the whole museum, for the Burggarten playground lawns or a bakery stop.

   More active option: Walk the path down into the Tauber valley to the Toppler Castle and back up to the walls, about an hour and a half.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Rothenburg

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on cobbles, with steep wooden steps up to the wall walk. The Night Watchman's English tour runs in season, at about 8 pm; times are confirmed with your itinerary.

   

8. Day 8: Dinkelsbühl and on to Munich

   Rothenburg ob der Tauber to Dinkelsbühl on the Romantic Road, then Munich

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Munich
   Day 8 details

   A relaxed start: we leave Rothenburg at about 9:30 and drive 45 minutes south on the Romantic Road to Dinkelsbühl, a walled town of painted gabled houses with almost nothing modern inside its gates. There is time for a walk along the walls and the mill pond, where children can watch the ducks and the swans, and an early lunch in town. From there it is about two and a quarter hours to Munich, with a break on the way, arriving at the hotel near the old town by about 3:30 pm. After a short rest a local Munich guide takes the group on an easy old-town walk of about an hour and a half: the Viktualienmarkt food market, the two domed towers of the Frauenkirche, and Marienplatz, where we wait for the 5 pm Glockenspiel on the New Town Hall, whose jousting knights and dancing coopers turn above the square. The evening is free; your guide suggests places that serve children early.

   Included

   • Walk and lunch in Dinkelsbühl
   • Guided old-town walk in Munich with a local guide: the Viktualienmarkt, the Frauenkirche and Marienplatz
   • The 5 pm Glockenspiel

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel after the drive and meet the group at Marienplatz for the Glockenspiel.

   More active option: Climb the tower of St Peter's Church after the walk for the view over Marienplatz and, on a clear day, the Alps.

   Free time: Evening free in Munich

   Activity: About 3 hours on the road in two legs of 0.75 and 2.25 hours. About 2.5 hours on foot on level paving. The 5 pm Glockenspiel runs from March to October; outside that season it plays at 11 am only, which you can catch on the free morning of day 10.

9. Day 9: Neuschwanstein and the Alpsee

   Munich to Schwangau, Neuschwanstein and the Alpsee, then the Wieskirche and back to Munich

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Munich
   Day 9 details

   Our longest outing, about four hours of driving in three legs of two hours or less, so we keep the same Munich hotel rather than move on. We leave at 8 am and drive about two hours south-west, the Alps rising ahead across the Allgäu meadows. From Hohenschwangau village the shuttle bus or a horse carriage takes us up to Neuschwanstein for a morning guided tour on tickets booked weeks ahead; fit walkers can take the lane, about 40 minutes uphill. King Ludwig II began the castle in 1869, and the tour of about 30 minutes takes in the Throne Hall and the Singers' Hall. Then down to lunch by the Alpsee, the clear lake below the castles, and about half an hour on the water in rowing or pedal boats for up to four each, or a swim from the small bathing beach in summer. On the way back we stop at the Wieskirche, a rococo church in a meadow, and reach Munich by about 5:30 pm for an early farewell dinner in a beer hall at 6:30.

   Included

   • Neuschwanstein Castle guided tour, tickets booked in advance
   • The shuttle bus or horse carriage up to the castle
   • Lunch in Hohenschwangau by the Alpsee
   • About 30 minutes in rowing or pedal boats on the Alpsee (up to 4 per boat), May to early autumn
   • The Wieskirche
   • Early farewell dinner in a Munich beer hall

   Easier option: Ride the shuttle bus or carriage up and back down, and wait at a lakeside café while others take the boats.

   More active option: Walk up to the castle and on to Mary's Bridge, when it is open, for the view over the gorge.

   Free time: Late afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activity: About 4 hours of driving in three legs (2, 0.5 and 1.5 hours). About 2 hours on foot, with many stairs inside the castle. Swimming at the Alpsee depends on season and weather; the boathouse rents boats from May into the autumn, cash only.

   

10. Day 10: Auf Wiedersehen, Munich

    Munich to Munich Airport

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    A last breakfast together, then the morning is yours until the airport transfer. The English Garden is a short ride or a longer walk from the old town: at its southern edge surfers ride the standing wave on the Eisbach, which children can watch from the bridge, and further in there are meadows, streams and a playground near the Chinese Tower. If the weather turns, the Deutsches Museum on its island in the Isar has hands-on halls of boats, aircraft and mining tunnels. Munich Airport (MUC) lies about 40 km north-east of the centre, roughly 45 minutes by road, and transfers leave the hotel at set times through the morning and around midday, matched to each family's flights when we confirm your dates. Your guide sees everyone onto the transfer and checks your flight before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm, or stay on: we can add nights in Munich, and the main station has direct trains to Salzburg and Vienna.

    Included

    • Transfer to Munich Airport (MUC)

    Optional experiences

    • The Deutsches Museum (entry at your own cost)

    Easier option: Stay near the hotel for a slow breakfast and a café on Marienplatz, ready for the transfer.

    More active option: Walk the English Garden from the Eisbach wave to the Chinese Tower and back, about an hour and a half.

    Free time: Morning free until your transfer

    Activity: Book a flight leaving Munich after about 2 pm.

Wildlife and weather: Late May to mid-September is the season for the full plan: the Wannsee lake beach and the Alpsee bathing area are open, steamers run their fullest timetable, and evenings stay light past 9 pm, so the Night Watchman's tour is not a late night for children. July and August are the warmest, often 25 °C or more, and the busiest at Neuschwanstein and Rothenburg; German school holidays add crowds, so the early slots matter most then. In April, May, late September and October the swim afternoons become park and museum afternoons. Expect some rain in any month and cooler, changeable weather near the Alps.

• Berlin3 nights
• Dresden2 nights
• Rothenburg ob der Tauber2 nights
• Munich2 nights