Germany. The well known destination for Euro trips. It can be more known among people around the world for many other things, like education and life opportunities. But for backpackers and people going around Europe, you know it’s a must and it is usually difficult to exclude from your itinerary. Well you can maybe once if you’re visiting further places (happened to me once. One of my Euro trips was more focus on East Europe), but for a person who admired the continent and decided to discover it more, you will surely have to pass by one of the biggest countries in Europe.
For a country that big with so much history, you will find a lot of travel-related content on the internet mentioning things to do there. I have checked a lot of this content before going there in order to plan for my trip. But the one thing I found in common was that each video or article would explain only one city and even sometimes a part of a city. To be honest, I have noticed this point after I had already been there so it was too late. And by that time I had already planned an intense Euro trip (6 countries in 10 days). But we’ll get to that later.
I arrived in Berlin with a bus from Brussels. I was planning 3 days in Berlin before taking another bus to go to Budapest. I had planned to visit a couple of famous places and go around the city and meet a couple of friends there. And yes, you can spend a lot more than 3 days there and not get bored. I will have another article soon that talks about all the details of Berlin, as it is a place that you can’t just stick a couple of sentences about here. It needs a separate topic.
But what I am sure of now is that I made a huge mistake in Germany. What mistake? You guessed it right. The answer is in the title of this article.
I was always in a rush during this Euro trip. As I said earlier, it was a really intense plan for so many places to visit. My vacations days were limited (you know, my 9-5 job back home) so i tried to visit as much countries as possible during that time. So I thought the capital city of the country would just give me enough of it and that I would get to know the culture of all Germany just by staying in Berlin for a couple of days. I was completely wrong.
The thing about Germany that might distinguish it from some other countries in Europe is that every city there can be completely different from other surrounding cities. It can have its own identity and its own vibes. In every city in Germany, when you travel from one city to another you feel like you have traveled to a different country in Europe. This was said to be by locals there and I got the point later.
I mean, think about it. So many cities there are famous on their own. That is not the usual case in some other European countries. You can go witness the modernization in Frankfurt, or experience the authenticity of the historic German culture in Munich while attending Oktober fest, or enjoy the mixture of peacefulness and and living the modern life in Hamburg. Or maybe you can enjoy some hiking and mountains in the south near the Swiss border… and many more. That is what I realized and thought people should know. Next time, I think it is on my list that would dedicate a whole trip just for Germany. To explore every city on its own and enjoy the vibes there. Even Berlin, I would go again to explore it more, cause 3 days were definitely not enough. You can spend months in Germany and still don’t get to see it all. That maybe was the mistake. I underestimated the time to spend there. I wanted to see different countries and did not realize that different cities in Germany can give you the same vibes of experiencing different cultures. Cities can differ in touristic places, architecture, food, and even prices. That is exactly what you can experience in visiting different European countries close to each other.
If you are a frequent visitor to Europe and do many Euro trips, then consider one of them to be dedicated only for Germany. You will not regret it. People who have done this have had a great experience. Even my local German friend, they do this. A person living in a city in Germany would go to other cities to experience around as they have different vibes. The same advice goes for me as well. I should do this as soon as I can.
But if you rarely travel and you are going soon to Europe and you are not sure when are going for a second time after that trip, then my advise is you try to give Germany more time. Especially if you travel around Europe by bus. Because Germany is huge. It would not be much of a waste of time if you just visit one city in Germany if you are traveling around the continent by plan. But in the case of buses, you would already spend a lot of time driving inside Germany to get to your destination and more time to leave Germany to go to other countries. So why not hop off the bus and experience 2 or 3 more cities there? It would not feel like a waste of time in this situation as you would be benefiting from the route you are taking already. So as a person who did that mistake and went to only 1 city there by bus, I think visiting many cities there is definitely a better option. So think about it. And enjoy your trip.
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