Germany....Any help?

Delree

For me it's Berlin or Munich. When you have no car somewhere more rural isn't the best idea IMO.

stu20vt

Yeah you could go to Majorca and hear some German being spoken, sadly you will also hear the lager lout British accent as well in abundance!!
We now holiday in Germany every second year and we love the country. Their cities are, as a whole, safe clean places and their countryside is second to none. We particularly like Bavaria region, both upper Bavaria and lower.
In upper Bavaria you have the Bavarian Alps, with stunning lakes and towns, a few to note are Garmisch, Mittenwald, Berchtesgaden, Bad Reichenhall, Fussen, all of which have train stations. You could stay in Munich and take the train to Salzburg, Dachua, Nurenburg. Berchtesgaden has a dark history, with the Eagles Nest, salt mines, lake Konnigisee (sp?)
We love Munich, fantastic train service (far better than UK) and its cheap. Good food, lovely parks, best football team in the world ;-) and is one of the best cities in the world to live for quality of life according to Mercers.
Its a beautiful country with fantastic people. Bavaria is rich in wealth, culture and beauty. Other towns in Bavaria worth noting are Dinkelsbuhl, Nordingen, Bamberg and Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber.

katejo

I suggest Berlin or Heidelberg. Heidelberg has beautiful walks by the river, a historic city centre , a castle and a funicular railway which takes visitors to a nature reserve with walking trails. Good train links to Frankfurt airport and excellent tram/ bus services so no car is needed.

richardw

stu20vt wrote: »

....you will also hear the lager lout British accent as well in abundance...

I didn't in Cala Ratjada. Mallorca is a very large island, the British Lager louts aren't everywhere.

Alexd52

cheepskate wrote: »

As the title implies, I am totally lost here, booking a holiday to Germany. It has never been a country I have ever looked at when booking a holiday, thus know so little about it.

We are picking Germany, as one of our party is learning German , so we thought this would be ideal to improve them.

This is to be a family holiday with a teen.

I do not want way out in the middle of nowhere,but anything else I am open to.

Anybody any help or advice in what areas to stay in, and what attractions are worth visiting

Many Thanks

We have booked a holiday in Germany this summer for very similar reasons to you, staying in Freiburg near the Swiss and French borders. We have booked flights (easyjet) to Basel in Switzerland and it is only about 1 1/2 hrs by train from the airport to Freiburg. There are plenty of rail connections from Freiburg into France, Switzerland and north towards Cologne etc. As someone has already mentioned, Europa Park is fairly close.
We are also thinking of hiring a car for a couple of days to explore the Black Forest, which is supposed to be beautiful.

adouglasmhor

stu20vt wrote: »

Yeah you could go to Majorca and hear some German being spoken, sadly you will also hear the lager lout British accent as well in abundance!!
We now holiday in Germany every second year and we love the country. Their cities are, as a whole, safe clean places and their countryside is second to none. We particularly like Bavaria region, both upper Bavaria and lower.
In upper Bavaria you have the Bavarian Alps, with stunning lakes and towns, a few to note are Garmisch, Mittenwald, Berchtesgaden, Bad Reichenhall, Fussen, all of which have train stations. You could stay in Munich and take the train to Salzburg, Dachua, Nurenburg. Berchtesgaden has a dark history, with the Eagles Nest, salt mines, lake Konnigisee (sp?)
We love Munich, fantastic train service (far better than UK) and its cheap. Good food, lovely parks, best football team in the world ;-) and is one of the best cities in the world to live for quality of life according to Mercers.
Its a beautiful country with fantastic people. Bavaria is rich in wealth, culture and beauty. Other towns in Bavaria worth noting are Dinkelsbuhl, Nordingen, Bamberg and Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber.

I used to work in Nesselwang (near !!!! the town you can't name on MSE) in the Upper Algau, I would say even if one of the party speaks German, they might sometimes struggle with the Bavarian accent.

Katiehound

Just the thing that occurred to me- you want an area where the german language is fairly standard- not some very broad local dialect! Same is true for other german speaking countries. What you want is Hochdeutsch- (like BBC english)- which is standard german as taught in schools. see here:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100516143816AAfD1Hr
Actually don't think that will help you, but at least makes you aware that there are very regional differences.

As to where to go- nearly everywhere in Germany has some beautiful spots. The Moselle and Eifel areas are lovely , and not that far away but I think you would need a car. (Prettier than the Rhine IMHO!)Think lots of half timbered buildings, quaint market squares etc. The Eifel is particularly lovely in the autumn.

katejo

Katiehound wrote: »

Just the thing that occurred to me- you want an area where the german language is fairly standard- not some very broad local dialect! Same is true for other german speaking countries. What you want is Hochdeutsch- (like BBC english)- which is standard german as taught in schools. see here:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100516143816AAfD1Hr
Actually don't think that will help you, but at least makes you aware that there are very regional differences.

As to where to go- nearly everywhere in Germany has some beautiful spots. The Moselle and Eifel areas are lovely , and not that far away but I think you would need a car. (Prettier than the Rhine IMHO!)Think lots of half timbered buildings, quaint market squares etc. The Eifel is particularly lovely in the autumn.

I agree re. dialect but you will often find that it is difficult to practise your German anyway. Germans have the irritating habit of replying in English even if you are competent in German! I ignore the English and continue in German.

skint_chick

katejo wrote: »

I agree re. dialect but you will often find that it is difficult to practise your German anyway. Germans have the irritating habit of replying in English even if you are competent in German! I ignore the English and continue in German.

I do this too and last year in a bakery when the server replied in English the lady behind me in the queue started shouting at the poor server that he should speak to me in German because my German was far better than his English! I have plenty of practice ordering slices of cheesecake in Germany :rotfl:

I definitely think the OP will have problems trying to practice German because when you're taught German you're taught that one phrase means something then a German will substitute a couple of different words and you lose understanding very quickly. Added into that the regional variations and feeling weird about constantly asking people to speak a little slower and most people revert to English pretty quickly.

adouglasmhor

Anyone who has lived in Germany and has “Ein Bißchen Deutch” will have had the experience of speaking German and making a tiny mistake in regional grammar or pronunciation and whoever you are speaking to saying "Maybe we should speak in English now"; followed by an barely understandable mangling of English with a comedy German accent.