Germany by Train

Fourteen Towns in a Loop from Frankfurt

This is a train journey through central and eastern Germany on a loop that begins and ends in Frankfurt, taking in 14 base towns over 39 days, with several day trips along the way. It is a large itinerary, and the route can be shortened, slowed down, or reduced to fewer towns to suit the time available. The pages that follow describe each place in detail, with photographs, maps and links, so the plan can be adapted for individual interests.

• Nuremberg, 2 nights; DT (day trip) Regensburg
• Bamberg, 3 nights; DT Coburg
• Leipzig, 2 nights
• Dresden, 2 nights; DT Meissen
• Görlitz, 2 nights
• Berlin, 5 nights; DT Potsdam, Brandenburg
• Hamburg, 4 nights; DT Lübeck, Lüneburg, Stade
• Bremen, 2 nights
• Hannover, 2 nights; DT Celle
• Goslar, 2 nights; Wernigerode en route
• Quedlinburg, 2 nights
• Erfurt, 3 nights; DT Mühlhausen
• Würzburg, 2 nights; DT Rothenburg ob der Tauber
• Frankfurt, 1 night; airport hotel before departure

The trip is planned around Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail network, with most connections direct and under two hours. The focus is on smaller towns with well-preserved historic centres and pedestrian zones, together with several larger cities. The whole loop covers about 35 hours of train travel over the 39 days, an average of under one hour per day.

You can enlarge this map in its own page by clicking the square symbol in the upper-right corner.

The Google My Map above outlines the route with locator pins. There are similar maps for each destination on the following pages, marked with sights and hotels, with links to hotel websites. These can be used on a mobile device while travelling, as described here.

The journey, town by town

The loop begins with a same-day transfer from Frankfurt Airport to Nuremberg, about an hour away by direct train. Nuremberg has a reconstructed medieval old town below the Imperial Castle, along with museums and the documentation centre at the former Nazi party rally grounds. From here a day trip runs to Regensburg, about 50 minutes away, a UNESCO-listed town on the Danube with a largely intact medieval centre, a 12th-century stone bridge, and a Gothic cathedral.

The route continues north to Bamberg, a UNESCO World Heritage town built across seven hills and the Regnitz river, known for its Old Town Hall standing on a bridge, the row of former fishermen's houses along the water, and its smoked beer. Three nights here allow time for a day trip to Coburg, about 45 minutes north, where the large Veste Coburg fortress stands above a ducal town of grand squares and gabled houses.

From Bamberg the line runs north through the Saale valley to Leipzig, with an optional break at Jena on the way. Leipzig is a large city associated with Bach and the Thomanerchor, with a history of trade fairs, a role in the peaceful revolution of 1989, and an active arts and music scene centred on its old commercial arcades and courtyards.

Next is Dresden, the baroque capital of Saxony, rebuilt after wartime destruction, with the Frauenkirche, the Zwinger and the Semper Opera along the Elbe. A day trip runs down the river to Meissen, about 40 minutes away by S-Bahn, the birthplace of European porcelain, a town of steep cobbled lanes below the Albrechtsburg castle and its Gothic cathedral.

The route then turns east to Görlitz, Germany's easternmost town, on the Polish border. It came through the Second World War with little damage and has an unusually complete old town, with several thousand listed buildings spanning Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Gründerzeit styles. The preserved townscape has made it a frequent film location.

From Görlitz the line runs via Cottbus to Berlin, the capital, with five nights to cover its government quarter, museums, and sites connected to its divided past. A day trip reaches Potsdam, the former Prussian royal seat, where the palaces and landscaped parks of Sanssouci and the New Palace lie a short train ride from the city.

The route moves north to Hamburg, a port city on the Elbe, with its harbour, canals, and the red-brick warehouse district of the Speicherstadt. Four nights allow several day trips. The first is to Lübeck, about 45 minutes away, whose island old town of brick-Gothic churches, gabled houses and the Holstentor recalls its role as a leading Hanseatic city.

Two more day trips run from Hamburg. Stade, reached by the S3 S-Bahn, is a small former Hanseatic town with a preserved old harbour lined by 17th-century facades and half-timbered houses. Lüneburg, once wealthy from salt, has a townscape of stepped gables and brick facades, several visibly leaning from centuries of subsidence.

The route turns west to Bremen, a former free city and Hanseatic centre. Its UNESCO market square holds the Town Hall, the Roland statue and the bronze Town Musicians, and the nearby Schnoor quarter and Böttcherstrasse have lanes of small houses and craft workshops.

Next is Hannover, the regional capital, known for the baroque Herrenhausen Gardens and the New Town Hall. A day trip runs to Celle, about 25 minutes away, whose old town has several hundred half-timbered houses gathered around a ducal palace.

The route enters the Harz mountains at Goslar, a former mining town with a UNESCO-listed Imperial Palace and a market square ringed by slate-hung and half-timbered houses. On the way south, Wernigerode makes a stop en route, with its timber-framed Town Hall, lanes of leaning houses, and a turreted castle above the town.

The Harz base is Quedlinburg, a UNESCO World Heritage town with over 1,300 half-timbered houses spread across several centuries of building beneath its castle hill and collegiate church. The route then continues into Thuringia to Erfurt, the regional capital, whose medieval centre includes the Krämerbrücke, a bridge lined with houses, and rises to the cathedral and St Severus church above the market square. A day trip runs to Mühlhausen, a walled medieval town with a ring of towers and gates and several Gothic churches.

The loop turns back toward Franconia and Würzburg, on the Erfurt–Frankfurt line, known for its baroque Residenz, a UNESCO palace with a large Tiepolo ceiling fresco, and the Marienberg fortress above the vineyards and the old bridge over the Main. From Würzburg a day trip reaches Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a walled medieval town on the Romantic Road, reached in about an hour and a half via Steinach.

From Würzburg the line runs about an hour to Frankfurt, where the trip ends with a single night at an airport hotel before departure. The full loop returns to its starting point, having covered Franconia, Saxony, the eastern border, the capital, the northern Hanseatic cities, the Harz and Thuringia in sequence, moving between larger cities and smaller historic towns.

Personal note from Dennis: I designed this trip to visit as many places as possible by train in order to shoot video for this website and my YouTube channel. Many videos from it will be edited and uploaded here.

After leading about 80 group tours in Europe by train, a trip at this pace is manageable for me, though some travellers would prefer to slow it down. The information on these pages is organized by city to help in planning an individual itinerary, with photos, text, maps and links.

A detailed outline of this itinerary with train distances can be found here. Each place is described in full on a separate page. The official Germany tourist information website has further material on sights, accommodation, scenic routes and city links.

The route was planned using the website of the national railway, Deutsche Bahn, which has information on ticketing, rail passes and timetables. Germany's rail network is among the most extensive in Europe, connecting more than 1,000 towns and cities. High-speed Intercity Express (ICE) trains link the major cities, while regional trains reach the smaller towns. Because of the speed of the network, the whole 39-day route can be covered with only about 35 hours of train travel.

Stations are generally modern and accessible, with frequent departures and connections to local transport. Trains have seating, and most long-distance services have Wi-Fi and a bistro or dining car. Rail travel allows flexible planning and day excursions without the need to drive.

For details of the routing, journey times and the list of towns with day trips, see this page.

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