Tourist advice needed about Germany and Switzerland

[Hyde]

Don't go to Switzerland if you want to party, good chance you will end up in some balkanoid night club where Balkan music blares through the speakers and rakia flows in the hectolitres.
If "hustle and bustle" is criteria, drop traveling through Germany altogether, start in Amsterdam, go wild there for two days then drive to Hannover.

Or, start in Munich, skip shithole Basel altogether (or go to contemporary art museum to waste time looking at shitty "art"), go to let's say BMW museum, then off to MB museum in Stuttgart. Also, attractive night life options in Munich, well, at least much more attractive than Basel.

But if you do decide to go through Switzerland and in the Zurich direction, there's an awesome technological museum in Wintherthur, called Technorama. Zurich also dwarfs Basel in terms of other things to do and see.

Enjoy your stay, leave lots of €'s. Thanks!

The only reason we are going to Basel is we have already bought the tickets for that...

Basically our plan was to go to Zurich and Bern and Basel was an hour drive from both cities, also we were supposed to be taking flight from Basel to Prague or less likely Vienna for 2 days before returning home from Prague but the whole plan changed after I received this invitation from one of my suppliers in China who are attending CeBIT and it sounds feasible for me to attend that exhibition.

We have already seen Amsterdam quite extensively so the plan was to stay near Swiss Alps a part from city life of Prague for 2 days. My cousin wanted to see Switzerland so I booked the flight to make sure that he at least lands in Switzerland even if we don't get enough time to get around.

Now what I am busy trying to do is, find a way to return the car around Hannover and take the flight from Hanover (wasting my return ticket from Basel) so that we don't have to drive back to Switzerland and take the flight from Hanover back to London so that we save a lot of time for coming back to Switzerland (650km) and we can rather utilise this time to explore deeper (Frankfurt or Stuttgart.

 

[Audio]

The only reason we are going to Basel is we have already bought the tickets for that...

Basically our plan was to go to Zurich and Bern and Basel was an hour drive from both cities, also we were supposed to be taking flight from Basel to Prague or less likely Vienna for 2 days before returning home from Prague but the whole plan changed after I received this invitation from one of my suppliers in China who are attending CeBIT and it sounds feasible for me to attend that exhibition.

We have already seen Amsterdam quite extensively so the plan was to stay near Swiss Alps a part from city life of Prague for 2 days. My cousin wanted to see Switzerland so I booked the flight to make sure that he at least lands in Switzerland even if we don't get enough time to get around.

Now what I am busy trying to do is, find a way to return the car around Hannover and take the flight from Hanover (wasting my return ticket from Basel) so that we don't have to drive back to Switzerland and take the flight from Hanover back to London so that we save a lot of time for coming back to Switzerland (650km) and we can rather utilise this time to explore deeper (Frankfurt or Stuttgart.

Idk much about rent a car, but from what i've been told it's standard process to start renting in one spot and return the car at the end of journey at another location. This "service" shouldn't be that expensive also.
Check Avis, Sixt, think one is called Autoeurope, these are somewhat large rent a car companies which seem to have "outlets" in a lot of towns, idk, i'm basing this on, if they have shops over here, where i live, they are sure to have a shop in Hannover. ....

In regards to airplane ticket, i recently heard about this, http://www.jumpflight.com/en idk nothing much about it, except it's sort of an auction house for unused plane tickets

In general, you kinda messed up, sry to say, imho, best would be to got with plane to Vienna, substitute Switzerland with Austria (not much difference, Vienna is a fantastic city with i dare say more on offer to see than Swiss cities, old imperial architecture for one), take car there, drive NW to Prague (where old city does it's best to equal old city of Basel, plus there's the incredibly impressive castle (Hradcani) on top of the hill), then drive further NW to Hannover. It's a nice diagonal line of those cities on the map, not many "detours" one would say.

In Switzerland, apart from the very beautiful, but somewhat generic alpine valleys and assorted alpine architecture (all of which you can find in a circle 500-600km in any direction of Bern), the only really worthy thing to see is Zurich, Geneva and the ski resorts, perhaps some thermal baths in Valais.

 

[Hyde]

Idk much about rent a car, but from what i've been told it's standard process to start renting in one spot and return the car at the end of journey at another location. This "service" shouldn't be that expensive also.
Check Avis, Sixt, think one is called Autoeurope, these are somewhat large rent a car companies which seem to have "outlets" in a lot of towns, idk, i'm basing this on, if they have shops over here, where i live, they are sure to have a shop in Hannover. ....

In regards to airplane ticket, i recently heard about this, http://www.jumpflight.com/en idk nothing much about it, except it's sort of an auction house for unused plane tickets

In general, you kinda messed up, sry to say, imho, best would be to got with plane to Vienna, substitute Switzerland with Austria (not much difference, Vienna is a fantastic city with i dare say more on offer to see than Swiss cities, old imperial architecture for one), take car there, drive NW to Prague (where old city does it's best to equal old city of Basel, plus there's the incredibly impressive castle (Hradcani) on top of the hill), then drive further NW to Hannover. It's a nice diagonal line of those cities on the map, not many "detours" one would say.

In Switzerland, apart from the very beautiful, but somewhat generic alpine valleys and assorted alpine architecture (all of which you can find in a circle 500-600km in any direction of Bern), the only really worthy thing to see is Zurich, Geneva and the ski resorts, perhaps some thermal baths in Valais.

Thank you for that website.. Very interesting tickets being sold over there, I would surely keep an eye on it in future

The plan has been organised something like this:

March 13th:
We reach Basel early morning
We rent a car from the airport (will be pre-booked)
We go straight to hotel in Stuttgart, park the car and use public transport
We expect to be there around 12PM so all day to see Stuttgart

March 14th:
We leave Stuttgart early morning and reach Hannover, visit exhibition and drive back to hotel in Stuttgart

March 15th:
We leave Stuttgart and spend all day in Zurich, may be see that technological museum you mentioned

March 16th:
We spend some time in Zurich and sorrounding areas before heading back to Basel / Home

The time is short so we will be visiting Mercedes Benz museum in Stuttgart, city centre and if any other places of interest and one or two places in Zurich before spending the day walking around the city

This is going to be very different type of travel for me as I usually go everything pre planned with every little detail written or memorised with plenty of time to spare for each attraction.

Ps: I have seen Geneva, I think I enjoyed Oslo a lot more as both cities are very similar in architecture (could be due to different people I travelled with)

 

[Scavenger]

I was there in Germany during the refugee crisis. Since I was on work permit so I decided to visit other European Countries. Trust me things has changed now. I have been there before and there was no as such checking while moving to other countries. Now a days they are checking everything. I had some hindus with me and after seeing their passports they were allowed to go but it is too difficult for muslims. It is a hard time for them.

If those Hindus were Indians, they (Indians whether Hindus, Buddhists or Muslims or anyone else) will almost always find it easier to travel and faced with relatively lesser scrutiny - compared to a Pakistani or an Afghan.

Not that Indians have it easy in absolute terms, but compared to you lot, we have it much easier.

 

[T-123456]

Hello

I am going to attend CeBIT 2016 at Hanover, Germany for business reasons but that is a boring city so my cousin and friends made a plan to book flights for Switzerland instead. I have already booked the flight for Basel, Switzerland from where we plan to head towards Zurich for over a day or 6-8 hours depending on how we enjoy. Everything else is shabby but the only thing confirmed is that we are attending CeBIT exhibition in Hannover that is about 700 kilometres away from that region of Basel/Zurich.

We initially thought to book everything one way and back from the last destination but now it seems like we will be hiring a car in Switzerland and may need to come back to return the car otherwise it might be too expensive

What do you suggest we should see in these 3 days starting from Basel with a must visit trip to Hannover. There will be 2 drivers (myself and other cousin) and long driving is not a problem for me so please don't worry about us getting tired with 1600km of distance in 3 days on top of visiting every place

Ps: I know Frankfurt can be visited for a day or Stuttgart on way towards Hannover, Zurich, Bern and Strasbourg are also near. Even Cologne isn't too far from one place along the route

So confused, please help.

Thanks

Depends on your interests,what do you want to do or see?

 

[Audio]

The plan has been organised something like this:

March 13th:
We reach Basel early morning
We rent a car from the airport (will be pre-booked)
We go straight to hotel in Stuttgart, park the car and use public transport
We expect to be there around 12PM so all day to see Stuttgart

March 14th:
We leave Stuttgart early morning and reach Hannover, visit exhibition and drive back to hotel in Stuttgart

March 15th:
We leave Stuttgart and spend all day in Zurich, may be see that technological museum you mentioned

March 16th:
We spend some time in Zurich and sorrounding areas before heading back to Basel / Home

Uff, that's a lot of driving, like, on 2nd day you'll be travelling basically the whole length of Germany in one day. Imho rent a decent car for this, basically, roadtrip.

Anyhow, enjoy, sometimes the unplanned things give best results in terms of fun

 

[Hyde]

Uff, that's a lot of driving, like, on 2nd day you'll be travelling basically the whole length of Germany in one day. Imho rent a decent car for this, basically, roadtrip.

Anyhow, enjoy, sometimes the unplanned things give best results in terms of fun

I have driven about 800 miles in a single day, here the target is 1000 miles in 3 days splitted for two drivers on uncontrolled German Autonahn. I think it should be ok

Your are right that unplanned things gives the best result in terms of fun. I have been to Paris for countless times but the most memorable tour was when I was standing at Highway at 2AM alongside 2 friends and didn't know where and how to get back to my hotel. That was fun

Luckily we managed to find a police station after a lot of struggle and they gave us one helpline number for foreign tourists and upon speaking to them, they arranged us a taxi who would come near the police station and drop us to the hotel. What a memorable night that was...

Thanks

 

[Joe Shearer]

If I have to choose between Frankfurt or Stuttgart

Which one would you recommend for 1 day visit?

Oh, Frankfurt, any day. I used to like hanging out in the student cafes around the uni., and there is of course the gorgeous beer garden area across the river. It's a nicer, bigger city, though not my favourite Germany city; not by far.

I have driven about 800 miles in a single day, here the target is 1000 miles in 3 days splitted for two drivers on uncontrolled German Autonahn. I think it should be ok

Your are right that unplanned things gives the best result in terms of fun. I have been to Paris for countless times but the most memorable tour was when I was standing at Highway at 2AM alongside 2 friends and didn't know where and how to get back to my hotel. That was fun

Luckily we managed to find a police station after a lot of struggle and they gave us one helpline number for foreign tourists and upon speaking to them, they arranged us a taxi who would come near the police station and drop us to the hotel. What a memorable night that was...

Thanks

Just looked at the maps, and @Audio is right; what he's suggesting is much nicer. Next time, maybe. What do you like to do? If you don't drink and you don't eat pork, that kind of limits your options in Germany, also in Switzerland, not much, but a bit. Do you like architecture, people-watching, old churches, museums, the cafe scene, opera, music, dance? What?

 

[Hyde]

Oh, Frankfurt, any day. I used to like hanging out in the student cafes around the uni., and there is of course the gorgeous beer garden area across the river. It's a nicer, bigger city, though not my favourite Germany city; not by far.



Just looked at the maps, and @Audio is right; what he's suggesting is much nicer. Next time, maybe. What do you like to do? If you don't drink and you don't eat pork, that kind of limits your options in Germany, also in Switzerland, not much, but a bit. Do you like architecture, people-watching, old churches, museums, the cafe scene, opera, music, dance? What?

Thank you for your post

No I don't drink, yes I love visiting old / popular churches and any religious and historical places, loves museums, cafes, watching people, architecture, natural beauty, city life and almost everything. I do love music and opera but it all depends on mood

 

[Joe Shearer]

Thank you for your post

No I don't drink, yes I love visiting old / popular churches and any religious and historical places, loves museums, cafes, watching people, architecture, natural beauty, city life and almost everything. I do love music and opera but it all depends on mood

I'd like to suggest that you stop over at Heidelberg on the way from Basel to Hannover, spend as little time as possible at Hannover, and go back to Zurich, which will take you through Stuttgart. That will get you churches, historical places, museums, cafes, people-watching, architecture and natural beauty (all at Heidelberg) and technology in bucketfuls, at Stuttgart. Don't know what to do about music, but this is probably not the trip for that.

Hope this helps. I love Heidelberg, and maybe that is showing.

 

[Hyde]

I'd like to suggest that you stop over at Heidelberg on the way from Basel to Hannover, spend as little time as possible at Hannover, and go back to Zurich, which will take you through Stuttgart. That will get you churches, historical places, museums, cafes, people-watching, architecture and natural beauty (all at Heidelberg) and technology in bucketfuls, at Stuttgart. Don't know what to do about music, but this is probably not the trip for that.

Hope this helps. I love Heidelberg, and maybe that is showing.

What to do in Heidelberg? How to spend a day or half day in Heidelberg please?

 

[Joe Shearer]

What to do in Heidelberg? How to spend a day or half day in Heidelberg please?

The University, the castle (it was a seat of the Rhine Wittelsbachs, Electors Palatine, and the cousins of the Bavarian Wittelsbachs, Kings of Bavaria), lovely eateries, the wonderful Philosophers' Way, across from the castle, and, sadly, wineries and beer gardens which you will pass with a disdainful glance <sigh>.

Heidelberg Tourism: Best of Heidelberg, Germany - TripAdvisor

Health warning: serious dose of history follows. Ignore the blue to avoid learning something new.

The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was actually not a hereditary position but an elected one: he was elected by the Electors, the Kurfuersten, the Electoral Princes. These were the three spiritual electors, the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Koeln, and the four secular electors, the King of Bohemia (today the Czech Republic), the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Saxony, the head of the House of Wettin, and the Markgraf (Margrave) of Brandenburg, head of the House of Hohenzollern. Heidelberg was the seat of the second of these, the Count Palatine, the Count of the Palace, the Major Domo, so to speak, of the Emperor, his central source of authority and power. His cousins, of the same family Wittelsbach, were the pretty nasty Kings of Bavaria, ruling out of Muenchen (Munich), not very far away, you might notice.

The Margrave of Brandenburg, of the House of Hohenzollern, later became King in Prussia (not King of Prussia), and finally, thanks to Bismarck, Emperor of Germany (the other Kings retained their titles but were subordinate to him). These three were known as the Elector Palatine, the Elector of Saxony and the Elector of Brandenburg. Together, these Electors occupied the highest positions in the Empire, next only to the ruling Emperor himself.

If you know that Germany originally consisted of four Stem Duchies, Franconia, Swabia, Saxony and Bavaria, you will find it easy to understand this arrangement: Franconia had vanished, and was represented by the Count Palatine, and Swabia, also vanished, was represented by the Elector of Brandenburg. Saxony and Bavaria remained in original though diminished form.

For those following military history and political history, Friedrich (Frederick) the son-in-law of James I, the first King of England and King of Scotland (James VI of Scotland), sought to gain the imperial throne. He lasted only three years, between 1618 and 1621, and was replaced as Elector by his conniving cousin of Bavaria. This was the Thirty Years' War, which ended in 1648, with the Treaty of Westphalia, which more or less marks the beginnings of the modern nation-state.

The War was one of the bloodiest, and the Sack of Magdeburg is still one of the spine-chilling massacres of history. It generated great generals - Spinola, Thurn, Ernest von Mansfeld, Duke Christian of Brunswick, Tilly, Wallenstein, Piccolomini, Baner, Tortensson, Wrangel, Mercy, Turenne and the two towering figures of The Great Conde and Gustav Adolfus.

Meanwhile, James' nephews had taken refuge in England, where one, Rupert, fought for his cousin, Charles I, during the English Civil War, and soon became known as a dashing cavalry commander. Rupert of the Rhine became one of the most romantic characters of the times, a sharp contrast to the figure of his elder brother, Mauritz, who succeeded as Count Palatine. Rupert ended his military career as an Admiral, after the restoration, ordering his squadrons into a left wheel or a right wheel.

So much for the military and political backdrop to Heidelberg. When you see the University, remember (1) it is the oldest in Germany (several others in Europe are older); (2) it is the probable backdrop to light opera like the Student Prince.

Aw, what the heck. Go there and fall in love with the place yourself. What a pity you don't drink Riesling.

 

[Hyde]

The University, the castle (it was a seat of the Rhine Wittelsbachs, Electors Palatine, and the cousins of the Bavarian Wittelsbachs, Kings of Bavaria), lovely eateries, the wonderful Philosophers' Way, across from the castle, and, sadly, wineries and beer gardens which you will pass with a disdainful glance <sigh>.

Heidelberg Tourism: Best of Heidelberg, Germany - TripAdvisor

Health warning: serious dose of history follows. Ignore the blue to avoid learning something new.

The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was actually not a hereditary position but an elected one: he was elected by the Electors, the Kurfuersten, the Electoral Princes. These were the three spiritual electors, the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Koeln, and the four secular electors, the King of Bohemia (today the Czech Republic), the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Saxony, the head of the House of Wettin, and the Markgraf (Margrave) of Brandenburg, head of the House of Hohenzollern. Heidelberg was the seat of the second of these, the Count Palatine, the Count of the Palace, the Major Domo, so to speak, of the Emperor, his central source of authority and power. His cousins, of the same family Wittelsbach, were the pretty nasty Kings of Bavaria, ruling out of Muenchen (Munich), not very far away, you might notice.

The Margrave of Brandenburg, of the House of Hohenzollern, later became King in Prussia (not King of Prussia), and finally, thanks to Bismarck, Emperor of Germany (the other Kings retained their titles but were subordinate to him). These three were known as the Elector Palatine, the Elector of Saxony and the Elector of Brandenburg. Together, these Electors occupied the highest positions in the Empire, next only to the ruling Emperor himself.

If you know that Germany originally consisted of four Stem Duchies, Franconia, Swabia, Saxony and Bavaria, you will find it easy to understand this arrangement: Franconia had vanished, and was represented by the Count Palatine, and Swabia, also vanished, was represented by the Elector of Brandenburg. Saxony and Bavaria remained in original though diminished form.

For those following military history and political history, Friedrich (Frederick) the son-in-law of James I, the first King of England and King of Scotland (James VI of Scotland), sought to gain the imperial throne. He lasted only three years, between 1618 and 1621, and was replaced as Elector by his conniving cousin of Bavaria. This was the Thirty Years' War, which ended in 1648, with the Treaty of Westphalia, which more or less marks the beginnings of the modern nation-state.

The War was one of the bloodiest, and the Sack of Magdeburg is still one of the spine-chilling massacres of history. It generated great generals - Spinola, Thurn, Ernest von Mansfeld, Duke Christian of Brunswick, Tilly, Wallenstein, Piccolomini, Baner, Tortensson, Wrangel, Mercy, Turenne and the two towering figures of The Great Conde and Gustav Adolfus.

Meanwhile, James' nephews had taken refuge in England, where one, Rupert, fought for his cousin, Charles I, during the English Civil War, and soon became known as a dashing cavalry commander. Rupert of the Rhine became one of the most romantic characters of the times, a sharp contrast to the figure of his elder brother, Mauritz, who succeeded as Count Palatine. Rupert ended his military career as an Admiral, after the restoration, ordering his squadrons into a left wheel or a right wheel.

So much for the military and political backdrop to Heidelberg. When you see the University, remember (1) it is the oldest in Germany (several others in Europe are older); (2) it is the probable backdrop to light opera like the Student Prince.

Aw, what the heck. Go there and fall in love with the place yourself. What a pity you don't drink Riesling.

Thank you for this useful post

The only problem is I have very limited time, but I will try my best to adjust few hours for Heidelberg. It seems like it will only be possible if I leave Stuttgart and go to Hannover for 2 hours or something and stay overnight at Heidelberg instead of Stuttgart for second night, let me try

I haven't booked the hotels yet, everything else is well planned

 

[Audio]

uncontrolled German Autonahn.

Fyi, not all of it is "no limits", sections only.

 

[Hyde]

Fyi, not all of it is "no limits", sections only.

So do we get clear signs of where no limit applies?

Thanks