KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

Is Dusseldorf or Munich more interesting for kids? Is it easy to drive around in Germany, considering its left hand drive?

Hiaweh wrote:Is Dusseldorf or Munich more interesting for kids? Is it easy to drive around in Germany, considering its left hand drive?

Definitely Munich.
Google things to do in Munich.

I don't drive in Germany, since I stay mainly in the cities, where public transport is very convenient.

I take the train, or inter-city bus, from one city to the next.

But there are other people who prefer to drive.

Hmmm.... hard decision to make. Hb has friends in Dusseldorf and flights are cheaper to Dusseldorf too.

DUS isn't a tourist destination, but in recent years, SIA has been selling quite a lot of cheap flights to DUS.

Agree with speedmaths you should fly to MUC or FRA. Munich will entrall a lot of kids cos the Bavarian scenery is much more magical and instagramworthy, compared to Düsseldorf.

From Munich (and also from Frankfurt), you can take the classic Romantic Road to visit the fairytale-like medieval castles around Bavaria.

If your younger kids enjoy reading Bros Grimm tales, you can make some detours to selected quaint Germanic towns/villages that the Grimm bros stayed in or drew inspiration from. Or just do the classic Deutsche Märchenstraße trail that takes you to Bremen, Hanau, Steinau an der Straße, Marburg, Kassel, Hamelin (Pied Piper), Sababurg (Sleeping Beauty), Trendelburg (Rapunzel), Alsfeld Märchenhaus (Fairy Tale House: Hansel&Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood) and Neuschwanstein Castle (Cinderella)...*However, note that some of these towns/villages are very far from Munich and absolutely require you to self-drive.

The eldest child might be interested in WW2 history, so you can take him/her to Dachau concentration camp from Munich (under 1 hour). But that might be too grim for your year-end vacay...

Munich is also the city where Albert Einstein spent his elementary and secondary school years, though he was born in Ulm (1+ hr from Munich).

If driving in winter looking for castles proves too overwhelming for you, just pick a full day tour departing from Munich. Some of the hottest day trips from Munich are: Rothenburg ob der Tauber (THE must-visit old town with the Christmas Museum/Deutsches Weihnachtsmuseum), and Neuschwanstein Castle+Linderholf Castle. Hitler's Eagle's Nest is closed in winter irrc...

Advent & Christmas markets originated from Germany, so you can imagine yourself hopping from market to market every single day & night in Dec. It's almost like living inside a Christmas postcard every day in Bavaria. Incredibly delightful for young children.


Scoot flies to Berlin, by the way. No free in-flight entertainment.

Wow! Zeit, I m impressed. You just helped me do up our itinerary. Million thanks.

I have only been to FRA for layovers when I was still working many yrs ago but after reading yr info, i realised that there is still so much to discover in Germany.

Dus mainly is to visit hb's friend living there but if time permits, it would be easy to cross over to the Netherlands fm there. Wishful thinking.....

Hiaweh wrote:Wow! Zeit, I m impressed. You just helped me do up our itinerary. Million thanks.

I have only been to FRA for layovers when I was still working many yrs ago but after reading yr info, i realised that there is still so much to discover in Germany.

Dus mainly is to visit hb's friend living there but if time permits, it would be easy to cross over to the Netherlands fm there. Wishful thinking.....

Hi,

We normally rather fly into Munich, and work our way towards DUS,
and depart from DUS.
From our experience, we will rather not depart from Munich airport.

Yes, DUS is close to Belgium and Holland.

Am being kiasu now - pondering for next dec trip
Can advise is English widely spoken in Germany big cities - munich, frankfurt?
I took Luth air and transit in frankfurt in June, all speak good English in airport .
Worry about language barrier ? will it be easy for me to do Munich and Austria -taking train fr munich to innsbruk, salzburg, English speaking staff in major train stations and sign boards for trains? we dunno german/french etc
Many Thanks ,yah

MyPillow wrote:Am being kiasu now - pondering for next dec trip
Can advise is English widely spoken in Germany big cities - munich, frankfurt?
I took Luth air and transit in frankfurt in June, all speak good English in airport .
Worry about language barrier ? will it be easy for me to do Munich and Austria -taking train fr munich to innsbruk, salzburg, English speaking staff in major train stations and sign boards for trains? we dunno german/french etc
Many Thanks ,yah

Yes
(Can advise is English widely spoken in Germany big cities - munich, frankfurt?)

Hiaweh wrote:Wow! Zeit, I m impressed. You just helped me do up our itinerary. Million thanks.

I have only been to FRA for layovers when I was still working many yrs ago but after reading yr info, i realised that there is still so much to discover in Germany.

Dus mainly is to visit hb's friend living there but if time permits, it would be easy to cross over to the Netherlands fm there. Wishful thinking.....

Germany is large and needs to be 'divided' ( ) into a few regions over a few trips, so I doubt you can do the entire Romantic Road or Fairytale Route or even the less popular Castle Road (runs horizontally from Heidelberg / Manneheim to the East) this time. These routes have been promoted to travel agencies and tourists by the German tourism board for several decades; I didn't invent them





It took me a few trips to cover most of Germany also. Looooong time ago, I went to West Germany, Rhine region, Heidelberg, Blackforest, West Berlin...Those were the popular routes before 1989 reunification, so yes, I stood on the western part of Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie and paid in deutsche marks.

Then I covered the central region with friends from uni. Later on, I slowly did the other cities after extension of my work trips. It depends on your onward journey. You cover the region enroute to the neighbouring destination...

From Dusseldorf, you can also do Cologne, Aachen, Essen and former capital city, Bonn. I also covered these places looooong time ago. Bonn was where the embassies were & where Beethoven's house is.

You can take a train or drive across the border to the Netherlands easily. Not sure where you'll be going ultimately; Eindhoven (Philips HQ), Maastricht and Nijmegen are near the border. However, let me preempt you first, they are very boring during non-Christmas lull periods. Otherwise, train trip to Amsterdam won't take too long.

Thanks, Zeit. My hb thinks that Dec is not a good time to visit Germany because it cold and wet(rainy) so may end up not being able to do much due to the shorter day also.

But will keep this in mind if we decide to go ahead.