The route is bent around three things: Autostadt on the Tuesday, the thermal baths at Baden-Baden on the Wednesday, and the opening Saturday of the 191st Oktoberfest. Everything else is the drive between them.
€21 a head.
Volkswagen's car city, built beside the plant that makes them. The ZeitHaus is the real draw — a marque-agnostic automotive museum with the cars that actually mattered, not just VWs. Outside it, the two 48-metre glass delivery towers hold 400 finished cars and hand them to their owners by robot. Brand pavilions for Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Audi. Book online ahead for a party of seven. Directions
A7 → A39 out of Hamburg, about 2h20. One sober DD per wagon. Arrive Wolfsburg late morning.
Three to four hours covers the ZeitHaus, the car towers, the pavilions and lunch on site. €21 adult, €11 under 18.
A2 → A44/A1, about 3h50. Into the Cologne Altstadt around 19:00 — a real evening, unlike the old midnight arrival.
The tower opens at 09:00 and that is the slot to take — it is the quietest hour of the day, and the cathedral interior does not open to tourists until 10:00 anyway. 533 steps to the 97-metre platform, €8 a head, 30 to 45 minutes up and down depending on how long you linger at the top. Large bags are not allowed on the staircase; there are free lockers at the tower entrance. Out by 10:00 and straight onto the A3 south.
Sachsenhausen was a Nazi concentration camp 1936–1945 and a Soviet special camp 1945–1950. It's now a memorial and history museum 35 km north of Berlin. Free entry, plan for ~3 hours on-site. Heavy visit — decide as a group.
Doesn't fit Sunday 13 Sep. That day is a full Berlin walking loop ending at the 17:37 train. Sachsenhausen sits 35 km north — ~3h on-site plus ~50 min each way on the S1 — no room in the Sunday plan.
| Detail | Note |
|---|---|
| Address | Straße der Nationen 22, 16515 Oranienburg |
| Getting there | S1 from Berlin Hbf → Oranienburg (50 min) · 20-min walk to the memorial (or bus 804) |
| Hours | Mar–Oct 08:30–18:00 daily · Nov–Feb 08:30–16:30 |
| Cost | Free entry · audio guide €3 · English guided tour €16 (mornings only, book ahead) |
| Time needed | 3 hours minimum · audio guide covers Appellplatz, prisoner barracks, infirmary, Station Z, Pathology |
| Confirm | stiftung-bg.de |
No photography in the Pathology building. Quiet voices throughout. Don't shop the camp gift area — leave the trip souvenirs for Cologne.
UNESCO red-brick warehouse district on the water. Walk it from the Elbphilharmonie south through the canals. Free, ~90 min loop.
Public deck on level 8, harbour views in every direction. Free entry with a Plaza ticket — reserve online ahead, walk-up sometimes works off-peak.
SUPPER CLUB Bootsverleih, Isekai 13 — canoes (up to 10), pedal boats (4–5), SUPs and kayaks on the canal north of the Alster. €14–26 per boat per hour, one-hour minimum then 15-minute blocks, no licence needed. They only take reservations for groups of 20+, so this is walk-up — go straight after brunch. Directions
Jochen Schweizer — roughly 50 m off a 250-tonne harbour crane, straight down over the Elbe. About 1h30 start to finish. Runs May–October on selected dates only, so confirm 14 Sep is one of them and book ahead. 16+, 50–118 kg including clothes and shoes. It goes ahead in rain — only strong wind or thunderstorms stop it, and that is the operator's call.
Indra Club (Beatles basement, 1960) · Mojo Club (jazz/funk, book table) · Molotow (indie/rock) · Hamburger Berg street pub crawl · 4 AM Davidwache curry sausage to close.
Wednesday: climb the Dom at 09:00, then one clean run south — ~340 km on the A3/A5, no detour — into Baden-Baden by early afternoon for lunch, the thermal baths and the old town, with the night out at the Rebstock in Neuweier. From here the run to Munich via Neuschwanstein is ~430 km, so Thursday — the castle day — stays short.
Schlossackerweg 3, Neuweier. The Upper Castle's old estate building and wine cellar, rebuilt in 2015 as a country-house hotel with 20 rooms. Vineyards on every side. Directions
The Rebland slopes start at the door — Riesling and Spätburgunder terraces running up from the Rhine plain, with the Black Forest behind. Schloss Neuweier, the castle the hotel once belonged to, is next door.
Regional and international cooking in the house restaurant, poured with local Rebland wines, and a 500-year-old vaulted cellar downstairs. Nobody drives. Reserve the table for 7 when you confirm the rooms.
The historic Roman-Irish bathing circuit, 8 km from the hotel — seventeen stations, about three hours, €39 including towels, slippers and toiletries. Open 09:00–22:00 with last admission at 19:00; ages 14+. Wednesday is a swimwear day (Wed and Sat are textile; the rest of the week is nude). Walk-in — no booking; prepaid Carasana vouchers exist but hold no slot, so just pay at the desk. The soap & brush massage (+€19) is same-day only, asked for on arrival.
The big modern one next door — 5,000 m² of indoor and outdoor pools, swimsuits throughout. Open 08:00–22:00, last admission 20:30. €21 for two hours, €25 for three, €35 all day, plus €5 for the sauna level. Also walk-in.
The oldest casino in Germany, open to 02:00. Poker cash game runs Sunday–Thursday from 19:00, subject to availability — seats are same-day only, called in from 15:00 on +49 7221 3024-230. €5 into the classic rooms, 21+ and photo ID checked at the door. Gentlemen need a jacket; reception rents one for €10. Taxi both ways from Neuweier — 8 km, and nobody should be driving.
No timed ticket needed — the interior tour is skipped. Depart Baden-Baden 09:00, reach Hohenschwangau ~12:00. Shuttle (or walk 30 min) up to the castle, cross to the Marienbrücke for the classic exterior photo, see the courtyard, then back to the cars by ~14:30. Munich by ~17:00. Alex lands MUC 14:10 and simply waits ~3h for the crew — he's not on the castle stop.
| Detail | Note |
|---|---|
| Where | Hohenschwangau village (the parking lot at the base) — shuttle bus or 30-min uphill walk to the castle |
| Cost | Exterior only — no interior tour, no ticket. Shuttle up if you skip the walk (—). |
| Photo | Marienbrücke footbridge for the iconic exterior — 5-min walk past the castle |
| Info | hohenschwangau.de — shuttle + walking times, no booking needed |
KZ Dachau opened March 1933, weeks after Hitler took power — the first Nazi concentration camp and the SS training template for every camp that followed. 200,000 prisoners registered, at least 41,500 murdered. The site is now a memorial and history museum 25 minutes northwest of Munich. Free entry. Plan a 3.5-hour visit including the 11:00 English guided tour.
| Detail | Note |
|---|---|
| Getting there | S2 from München Hbf → Dachau station (~25 min, €10 pp round-trip) · Bus 726 or 15-min walk from station to the memorial |
| Hours | Daily 09:00–17:00 · Documentation Center + intro film + audioguides at the entrance |
| Cost | Free entry · audio guides €3 · English guided tour €4, 2.5h — better than self-guided, 11:00 daily |
| Time on-site | Plan 3.5 h · Documentation Center → Jourhaus gate ("Arbeit macht frei") → Appellplatz → reconstructed barracks → crematorium |
| Confirm | kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de |
No photography inside the barracks or crematorium. Quiet voices. Site is not a museum in the tourist sense — treat it as a memorial. Back at München Hbf by ~14:20 for Viktualienmarkt lunch and the Munich afternoon.
Welt is free (showroom + M Hall); the Museum next door is the real 250-car collection. Optional add-on for the Friday Munich day or Sunday morning before the airport. Directions
6 million litres.
The mayor taps the first keg at the Schottenhamel tent at noon. We won't be in that tent — pick one at 07:00 and hold the table all day. A party of 8 with no reservation is never guaranteed a table at any hour. Theresienwiese directions
Direct tent reservations for opening Saturday are effectively gone by April; resale runs 2–3× face. Default plan: queue at 07:00 for Hofbräu / Hacker / Augustiner free seating, then hold the table. Warning: a party of 8 with no reservation is not guaranteed a table at any hour.
| Tent | Brewery | Vibe | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hofbräu | Hofbräu | Tourist · English-speaking · loudest | 10,000 |
| Hacker | Hacker-Pschorr | Ceiling clouds · best ambience | 9,300 |
| Augustiner | Augustiner | Last wood-keg tent · locals' pick | 8,500 |
| Schottenhamel | Spaten | Mayor's tap · younger crowd | 10,000 |
~€15.30–17, up ~6% on 2025. Cash and card both work.
To Theresienwiese. Enter the Bavaria-Statue side; the Hofbräu side gets crushed.
Bavarian Outfitters, pickup near Hbf. Book online before you fly.
Built into the v5 itinerary — Thu 17 Sep · exterior only. See the dedicated section above.
Germany's highest peak. Cable car from Eibsee. Clear days only — check forecast morning of. Go
Cross to Austria for Mozart + Festung. Easy half-day if no one's caught the Wiesn flu. Vignette required (€9.90). Go