Germany routes: castles, lakes, weekends

Germany is the land of day-trip adventures. Weekend classics: Neuschwanstein (the Disney castle near Füssen — book months ahead!), Schwarzwald — the forest of cuckoo clocks and Black Forest cake, Sächsische Schweiz — the rocks where mountaineering was born, the Rhine valley with a castle on every hill (Linz → Rüdesheim). The D-Ticket covers all regional travel — a Berlin weekend costs ~€20–30 for food and a bed.

• ●Müritz and Bodensee are lakes instead of sea: summer beaches, winter fog
• ●The German Fairytale Route: Hannover → Bremen → Grimm towns — a family trip
• ●Timing: spring for Bonn’s cherry blossom, October for leaves, December for markets