My home between 2011 and 2021. Germany surprises with its diverse landscapes, multicultural cities, wonderful coastline in the north, castles, Unesco sites and wine regions. Over the years we spent lots of weekends exploring the outdoors, camping or city hopping. Still many places to discover for the future.
Last October, we were in Germany twice again, on the first visit we spent the night in Munich, and on the second we finally got to explore the famous city of Regensburg for the very first time. I have lived in Germany for almost 11 years, but I have never been able to visit it, so I was especially looking …
The German East Frisian Islands consist of seven inhabited and five uninhabited islands and stretch in the North Sea all the way from the border with the Netherlands towards the east, in the German province of Ostrfriesland, in the federal state of Lower Saxony. The islands lie in the UNESCO-protected Wadden Sea National Park, which stretches between the mainland of …
The approximately 1000km long German Baltic coast is one of my favorite parts of Germany and although it remains relatively unknown in international tourist circles, it is extremely popular among domestic guests. In the last ten years of living in this part of Europe, I have had the chance to visit it many times, mostly for an extended weekend, and …
Bremerhaven is located in Northern Germany, at the sea and river Weser between the cities of Bremen and Cuxhaven. Its name in translation basically means the port of the Free Hanseatic city of Bremen and this was also this town´s main purpose once it was established back in the early 19th century. Bremerhaven was one of Germany´s most important trade …
Cuxhaven, the northernmost point of Lower Saxony in Germany, is located right at the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe river and it is one of the most popular German seaside places for day trips from Hamburg, Bremen and around, as well as one of the larger climate resorts for longer summer holidays. Besides relaxing at the beach …
Celle is a quaint historic town just north from Hanover in Lower Saxony and despite its rather smaller size it is simply one of the most beautiful cities in terms of traditional architecture in Germany and therefore definitely deserves its own blog post. Besides its incredible old town with over 400 timber-framed houses, there is also a castle, a couple …
On the way to the largest German island, Rügen, a few years ago we also stopped in a picturesque small town on the German Baltic coast, Stralsund. If you would like to visit Rügen you will have to pass here anyway, the island is connected to Stralsund by a bridge, but otherwise these are still quite remote places for the …
A couple of years ago Lu and I visited Erfurt, an interesting capital and at the same time the largest city in the German state of Thuringia during a short camping road trip through this part of former East Germany. Charming streets and squares surrounded by typical multi-apartment houses built in the “Fachwerk” style, many cafes, restaurants, museums, churches, over …
Another important and interesting northern German town, only about 70km from Hamburg towards the east coast, which makes a wonderful weekend trip in you live around here or a stop during a longer road trip through Germany. Not only is the city known as the city of seven spires, it is also listed on UNESCO´s World Heritage list and there …
Bremen, together with a smaller nearby town called Bremerhaven forms its own German state, which means they also have their own parliament and certain laws. This privilege was given to the cities due to their strong bonds with the Hanseatic League, in which many German cities were involved as well. Besides rich history, Bremen has so much more to offer …
Sylt. The island of the rich and the famous. Also the northernmost German and the largest of the North Frisian islands group in Wadden sea. An island which, if we look at its geographical position, is almost in Denmark. An island with a very distinguished shape, which is often seen as a sticker on German cars. An island which people …
After our recent, now already my third, visit to the largest national park in the German state Mecklenburg Vorpommern, it is really about time to post somehting about these beautiful places on the Baltic coast. For most of you these are probably less-known spots with names you can´t pronounce out loud, but trust me, these enchanting forests, wild lonely beaches, …
Visiting the second largest German island was a big wish of mine since a long time, but there was somehow never the right opportunity. All up to this summer when all other plans fell apart and we decided to do a longer road trip on the German Baltic and northern coast. The point was really to visit all of those …
Into this recent road trip through northern Germany we have included many of those parts of the country that we wanted to visit while we are still living around here. One of these places were also the lakes on Mecklenburg lake plateau in on of the lesser developed German states called Mecklenburg – Vorpommern. I know, I know, again lots …
All of you have probably heard of Berlin, right, and possibly many of you ho live in Europe have also visited the city as well. But did you know that there is another awesome city just a little over 30km from Berlin, where you can see lots of castles and palaces, gardens and charming neighbourhoods, lakes and water channels? It …
Where can we even travel to this year? After weeks, or shall I better say months, of guessing and debating what, where, how and for how long we can even go in the summer, we ended up with this scenario – we´re going on a road trip through northern Germany. I´m not exactly jumping to the ceiling and beyond, but …
Hanseatic town of Lüneburg is only about 50km south-east from Hamburg which makes it a perfect choice as well as for a day trip or a stop on the way towards the north of the country. Since it is also not so far from our current home south of Hanover, I´ve been here on two different occasions too. Both times …
Besides Berlin, Hamburg is definitely my favourite German city. Maybe I´ve chosen these two because we live relatively close to both of the cities and I have visited them oh so many times. I´m not counting but I´ve probbaly been to Hamburg 15-20 times on different occasions and in different seasons. So I can say I know it quite well, …
Moving abroad is a big thing. I don`t mean short-term moves as in student exchanges for a year, job contracts for 2 years on the other side of the world and similar. Those can be quite awesome actually. You have just enough time to emerge yourself into new cultures, embrace the unknown, soak up everything and return home with unforgettable …
Harz National Park is a wonderful nature reserve stretching over 2 German federal states, Lower Saxony (where we live) and Saxony-Anhalt. Over 90% of this area is covered with lush forests, including bogs, creeks, lakes, rivers, ice age granite rocks. The park is also part of the Natura 2000 network and is well known as the perfect place for hiking, …
Holidays in Germany? No way! So I thought 10 years ago when I didn´t know much about Germany beyond Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt and I genuinly had no clue here are so many interesting things to see and wonderful places to explore. But then, life happened and I moved to Germany. In the flat, for me slightly boring, northern part. …
Looking for somewhere to spend a weekend with our dear friends from Frankfurt, the Kellerwald-Edersee national park, not too far from the city of Kassel, caught our eye. It is geographically conveniently situated between our homes and it turned out to be a great place for a longer Spring weekend camping trip. It is also one of the last beech …
A couple of years ago we did this short road trip in the northen Germany and visited the beautiful town of Schwerin, famous for its castle, then drove up to the Baltic coast and stopped at Kühlungsborn and Heiligendamm beach towns. On the way back home from Schwerin we also took a look around in Ludwigslust, a smaller town , …
Skiing in Germany? Is that even possible? Hell yes. With Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria probably being the most famous ski area in Germany, it definitely doesn´t mean it is the only place you can do winter sports. We even have small ski places not to far from where we live in northern Germany but a couple of years ago we discovered …
2019 already waved goodbye and with this post we are remembering our adventures of the past year one more time. It was definitely not a boring one in terms of travel – we ended up visiting 18 countries on 3 different continents! Some of them with Lu and some of them just the two of us. Besides these really awesome …
While planing our trip from Slovenia back to our northern German home, an idea of a road trip crossed our mind. Unlike usually we had a bit more time, so we decided to do a proper winter road trip with our LR Defender. In 1 week we drove about 1200km, through the Italian Dolomites (where we skied a bit), over …
Bamberg, a lovely picturesque town, situated somewhere between Nürnberg and Würzburg is a great place to visit for a weekend or for a stop while travelling around Germany. The city is also on the list of UNESCO´s World Heritage, for good reasons. You can visit in all months of the year – this time, we spent a nice Autumn sunny …
These amazing 40 meters high rock formations, halfway between Dortmund and Hanover, close to the smaller cities Bielefeld and Paderborn, are really worth visiting if you are driving in the area. The sight is quite well known amongst the Germans, but it seems like the international tourists have not yet really discovered it. We stopped here on our way back …
Rüdesheim am Rhein is just about 60km from Frankfurt and it is one of the most picture perfect romantic smaller German towns you can imagine. Surrounded by vineyards, it has an important role in the German wine making industry and for a wine lover like myself it was really one of the best spots to visit in the whole country.
Have you ever been to the German Baltic coast? Probably not, right? Well, we´ve been quite a few times and I have to say it is pretty nice even though the sea is much too cold for my spoiled Mediterranean soul. It was the first September weekend and the weather was still looking good so Lu and me packed up …
Not so long ago, it was still kind of planned that we pack up our “summer clothes” and drive off to SYLT – a German island I´ve been really eager to visit ever since I moved over here. But then, well, as we by now probably all know, plans changed. It would have been a long drive by myself and …
The second weekend in May was approaching and it was still rather cold and rainy in Germany. Despite that, we took our chances and booked one of the last remaining free hotel rooms in Bad Pyrmont, a SPA TOWN just about 2hrs drive from where we live in Germany. My mom was visiting and this short trip felt like a …
In the beginning of May Lu and me decided to visit this park together with my parents who were just visiting from Slovenia. Getting out of the house, exploring something new and catching some fresh air was wonderful. After STOPPING IN DRESDEN FOR A DAY on the way to the park, we spent 2 nights in an apartment in a …
This year´s 1st of May came conveniently on a Monday, which meant we had a longer weekend without taking a day off work. Already a couple of months ago we decided to head to the wonderful SACHSEN SWITZERLAND NATIONAL PARK and possibly make a stop in Dresden on the way, as I´ve never been there yet. Due to our separation …
December in Germany is all about Christmas markets! Smell the sweet cinnamon waffles, mulled wine, gingerbread and grilled sausages while strolling around in the labyrinths with food & hand made products stands – BIG TOWNS set up several Christmas markets on larger town´s squares, SMALLER CITIES have one Christmas market and even the smallest VILLAGES usually organise a 1-day Christmas …
Leipzig is just a bit under 2 hours driving from our home and makes a great WEEKEND GETAWAY spot for us! We made this short trip in Autumn and the city really surprised me with its MODERN fancy shops, nice architecture and overall atmosphere – I must confess I expected something much less up to date. It really looked like …
Eating at a Michelin star restaurant has to be one of those things many people who love exquisite food have on their “do at least once in a lifetime list”. And it is not just about good food. Surely, one can eat a delicious meal in a simple street food stand somewhere in Asia as well. Here it is also …
I have to admit I had no clue this beautiful nature park with fields of blooming heath even existed before I moved to Germany. It is located quite close to the busy higway between Hanover and Hamburg but if you don´t know it´s there you will not see it from the road. Up until now we´ve visited Lüneburger Heide two …
On our weekend away, visiting the LÜNEBURGER HEIDE heath area, we woke up to a rainy Sunday morning and decided to start the day with a visit to this FUNNY HOUSE where everything is UPSIDE DOWN. You can visit similar houses also in Leipzig, Usedom, Rügen, Wertheim, Edersee, Thale,..
Last weekend we spent a couple of days in Bonn, the FORMER CAPITAL OF WEST GERMANY which is situated in the largest German metropolitan area, close to Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund and others. It was perhaps the last really warm sunny weekend of this summer and we´re happy we used it for this short trip.
Since we have the awesome opportunity to enjoy a 3-day weekend every weekend for the next couple of weeks, we tend to make the best of it. And since summer is (or at least should be) coming, we thought of visiting the GERMAN NORTH COAST again. I was never in CUXHAVEN and so, we had our goal. And as I …
After the Easter holidays here in Germany, a whole series of holiday days start. 1st of May, then the “Christi Himmelfahrt”, followed by “Pfingsten” – so if you are smart and take some additional days off, you can have quite a few longer weekends. The past weekend was one of those, we had 4 days. And so we booked a …
Between continental Europe and the North Sea´s FRISIAN ISLANDS, located in Netherlands, Germany and Denmark lies the so-called “WATTENMEER” (Wadden Sea). This intertidal zone is on the UNESCO´s World Heritage List and it´s a favourite spot for a unique experience – walking to an island! Yes, you heard it right – when the tide is low, one can walk several …
Moving to Germany gave me the opportunity to use some of the weekends (especially those few longer ones) for short trips to different parts of the country where I have never been before. Especially the NORTHERN COASTAL PART is so different to anything I knew before and that´s why I always love to go there. Last year in the early …
Our FIRST TIME ever in Nürnberg was short but sweet. We stayed in a nice cosy hotel just about 50 metres from the famous Christmas market in the old town, so we were able to walk around and up to all the major tourist attractions and sights. The CHRISTIKINDELSMARKT being one of the most famous Christmas markets in the world …
Either a weekend, 3 days, 4 days or a week! Berlin is worth the visit. Better a couple of hours than nothing at all. We usually go for the weekend and we´ve experienced the summer, autumn and the Christmas time. Berlin is big, so you probably won´t be able to see it all in just 2 days, but with a …
