One Week, Four German Cities, One Rail Pass

Germany's train system is good enough that you can build an entire week around it without ever renting a car. Here's the exact split I'd use for a first trip — four cities, each with a completely different personality, connected by fast, reliable trains.

Days 1-2: Berlin. Split your time between the heavy history (the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie) and the neighborhoods that show you where the city's actually headed — Kreuzberg for food and nightlife, Prenzlauer Berg for a slower, café-lined afternoon. Two days is tight for Berlin honestly; if you can steal a third from somewhere else on this list, do it.

Day 3: Dresden. A two-hour train from Berlin and a genuinely different mood — the old town was painstakingly rebuilt after WWII and the result is stunning baroque architecture that most first-time visitors don't expect from Germany. One full day covers the Frauenkirche, the Zwinger Palace, and a walk along the Elbe.

Days 4-5: Munich. Another train south (around 4 hours from Dresden, or fly if you want to save the day) and you're in an entirely different Germany — closer to the Alps, beer garden culture that's actually a way of life rather than a tourist activity, and a good jumping-off point if you want a half-day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, which is worth the early start it requires.

Days 6-7: Cologne or Hamburg. Pick based on what you want to end on. Cologne gives you that famous cathedral looming over the train station the second you step outside, plus an easy Rhine river walk. Hamburg trades the cathedral for a working harbor, a grittier nightlife scene, and a completely different pace to close out the trip.

A seasonal note worth planning around: if your dates are flexible, late November through December turns several of these cities into full Christmas market season — Dresden's is one of the oldest in the country, and Cologne's markets cluster right around the cathedral. It's a genuinely different (and colder) version of the same itinerary.

Getting your rail pass right: book a German Rail Pass or individual Deutsche Bahn tickets a few weeks ahead for the best prices, and download the DB Navigator app before you go — platform changes happen more often than you'd expect, and it's the fastest way to catch them.

One more thing worth setting up before departure: a Travoyer eSIM. Germany plans start at US$1.90, activate the moment you land, and run alongside your existing SIM, so you can pull up train platform changes or a translated menu the second you're off the plane, no hunting for station wifi first. Coverage is excellent in all four of these cities — it only really thins out if you wander deep into the countryside between them.

Four cities, one train pass, seven days. That's the trip.