Ah, Germany. A country famous for its beer, meat, and wearing funny outfits at the Oktoberfest. But deep down, there’s a lot more to Deutschland than food and drink. Stunning nature, fascinating history, and a populace willing to move on and progress from its dark past all make up this amazing country.
So while it’s clear that there are many great reasons to visit Germany, what you might what to know is how you should get there and how you can travel once arrived, beyond simply an EasyJet flight and a few trains. There are actually many interesting travel options when it comes to Germany, so let’s look at a few of them.
Having a group tour
If you’ve never been on a Contiki tour, then you’re in for one wild ride. Contiki tours occur all over the world, but this London to Berlin tour might interest you if your heart is set on seeing Germany in an interesting way. You’ll travel by bus with stopovers in Paris and Amsterdam, and this 12-night tour will sort out all the accommodation, food, and sightseeing that you can handle. Plus, you get to hang out with other like-minded travellers and have an epic time you won’t forget.
Taking the private route
Understandably, not everyone likes to travel in a big group or by conventional means. The time spent queueing and waiting for hours and hours on commercial flights is highly exhausting, not to mention the oft-inebriated passengers you’re stuck with. Having enough of this, some are choosing to take a private jet to Germany and many other destinations. Considering the vast amount of airports one can fly to, including major cities like Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne, and Dusseldorf, it’s really not hard to see why the idea of flying privately is so appealing. Sure beats security checks and all those queues!
A chance to meet locals
It appears that carsharing is all the rage, nowadays. Think of it like Uber, but for long distances across the country. Essentially, if someone is driving from Berlin to Hamburg, they may well wish to share the cost and offer up their passenger seat to someone doing the same trip. Carsharing is big in Germany, and although there are numerous websites with which you can register and find out who is driving where on a certain date, BlaBlaCar is perhaps the favourite at the moment. The hope is that you’ll find someone you can at least chat to for a few hours, or if they want silence, then hey, just listen to a podcast or music on your headphones. In any case, it’s cheap and simple to sort out.
Be open to spontaneous plans
Sometimes, the best way to see a country like Germany is to have no plan at all. This is especially true of you hitchhike and couch surf your way around, as someone else may know an awesome place you have to see, which could totally derail your original schedule (but in a good way). Perhaps they know of a secret festival, or a friend’s party, or an amazing forest not in the guidebooks. Whatever it is, be open to going with the flow, as this is travelling at its best.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter how you get to a place or even how you travel around it, the point is to keep pushing your comfort zone and be open to new things. Travelling really does broaden the mind, so it doesn’t make much sense if you go to the same places as you would back home. Be wild, be fun, and above all, challenge yourself.
