Copenhagen to Germany?

We are wondering if it would be feasible to spend a couple of days in Germany following a cruise that ends in Copenhagen? I wonder which Germany location would be most easily reached? We would prefer to spent some time in a historic or quaint village a opposed to Berlin. Is it better to travel by train, plane or should we drive (would be able to with a Canadian license?). I am concerned that if we drive we would get lost!

I think the Baltic coast is nice with historic areas such as Hamburg )al, Rügen, Stralsund, Wismar.

Basically Hamburg + the coast of the state that today is called Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

https://www.google.se/maps/dir/K%C3%B6penhamn,+Danmark/Hamburg,+Tyskland/54.0356699,14.0386763/@53.9155002,11.0282397,8z/data=!4m25!4m24!1m5!1m1!1s0x4652533c5c803d23:0x4dd7edde69467b8!2m2!1d12.5683371!2d55.6760968!1m15!1m1!1s0x47b161837e1813b9:0x1263df27bd878f0!2m2!1d9.9945216!2d53.5363318!3m4!1m2!1d12.0908132!2d54.0929361!3s0x47ac572c4a18590f:0x95f19cf0809f3acf!3m4!1m2!1d13.4695838!2d54.4705224!3s0x47ab43f7036f5d27:0xb0fd7f14f923e5a8!1m0!3e0

What a great idea! While distances from Copenhagen to Germany are not as great as, say, travelling across Canada, it would still take a fair amount of time to travel by land. I would suggest flying from Copenhagen to somewhere in Germany and starting from there. There are fairly inexpensive flights within Europe...I picked a random date in July and found a nonstop flight from CPH to Munich on SAS for 64 Euros one way. From Munich you could easily train or drive to Ludwig's castles, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, or any number of other interesting places. Alternatively, you could fly from CPH to Frankfurt for the Rhine and Moselle rivers. I would start by checking a Germany travel guide out from the library and deciding which area of Germany is most appealing to you, and go from there. It might be possible to arrange your return flight to Canada from the gateway city in Germany, so there would be no need to return to Copenhagen. Happy planning! :)

We are wondering if it would be feasible to spend a couple of days in Germany following a cruise that ends in Copenhagen? I wonder which Germany location would be most easily reached? We would prefer to spent some time in a historic or quaint village a opposed to Berlin. Is it better to travel by train, plane or should we drive (would be able to with a Canadian license?). I am concerned that if we drive we would get lost!

Hi, just another alternative.

There is an excellent 2 hourly train service between Copenhagen Hbf and Hamburg Hbf. The travel time is 4hrs 45mins and the train, which is specially designed to do so, actually goes on the ferry between Rodby in Denmark and Puttgarten in Germany. The passengers board the ferry on the train and then leave the train for the crossing, just as you would with a car. I believe that it is one of the last, if not the very last, place in Europe where this happens.

It is then easy to explore NE Germany, both Baltic and North Sea coasts and even have a day in Berlin by train using Hamburg as a base.

Several Airlines fly direct from Hamburg to Canada.

Happy cruising :)

Anni

http://www.travelanni.webs.com

Hi, just another alternative.

There is an excellent 2 hourly train service between Copenhagen Hbf and Hamburg Hbf. The travel time is 4hrs 45mins and the train, which is specially designed to do so, actually goes on the ferry between Rodby in Denmark and Puttgarten in Germany. The passengers board the ferry on the train and then leave the train for the crossing, just as you would with a car. I believe that it is one of the last, if not the very last, place in Europe where this happens.

 

Happy cruising :)

Anni

www.travelanni.webs.com

That ferry train is great, we have done it a few times. Had planned on it again this year, but found out that train does not run every day of the week, so we are taking the train connection traveling on land in July.

I like both ideas-the plane is certainly economical and fast and the Ferry sounds like it would be a fun experience. Is the drive from Copenhagen to the ferry and the ferry to Hamburg straightforward? DH would love to drive the autoban but we don't speak or read German (except I can say hello, good bye and "Ja Ja Ja"). The plane would be less of an adventure but probably easier. Thanks for the ideas I'm so happy that this is a do-able plan!

That ferry train is great, we have done it a few times. Had planned on it again this year, but found out that train does not run every day of the week, so we are taking the train connection traveling on land in July.

It does run several times every day.

But they are upgrading the railwayline in preperation of the Fehmarn belt tunnel that will open sometime between 2021 and 2024 so there has been and will be some track closures but they mostly happens in the weekends and public holidays.

The work can be seperated in 3 stages.

Upgrade the railway line from Ringsted to Vordingborg from 160 to 200 km/h and electrification.

New Bridge over Storstrømmen with 2 tracks, 200 km/h and electrification, the old one is single tracked with a top speed of 120 km/h.

The last bit to the tunnel will be upgraded from 120 to 200 km/h, double tracked and electrification.

On the german side they have decided to mostly build a new 160 km/h double track railway on a new alignment from Fehmarn to Lübeck so hopefully there wont be many track closures on the german side.

I like both ideas-the plane is certainly economical and fast and the Ferry sounds like it would be a fun experience. Is the drive from Copenhagen to the ferry and the ferry to Hamburg straightforward? DH would love to drive the autoban but we don't speak or read German (except I can say hello, good bye and "Ja Ja Ja"). The plane would be less of an adventure but probably easier. Thanks for the ideas I'm so happy that this is a do-able plan!

If you take the car you just have to follow the E47 motorway all the way to Rødby, very simple.

Just be aware that there is many road constructions on the Køge Bugt motorway all the way from Greve down to Køge because its being widened from 3 lanes in each direction to 4.

And just north of Køge all the traffic is moved to the eastern side of the motorway because they are building a railwaytunnel under the motorway.

https://www.google.dk/maps/dir/K%C3%B8benhavn/R%C3%B8dbyhavn/@55.1646364,10.7835465,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4652533c5c803d23:0x4dd7edde69467b8!2m2!1d12.5683371!2d55.6760968!1m5!1m1!1s0x47ad5cc53a951c57:0x468683cd4e64447a!2m2!1d11.356621!2d54.662743!3e0

Anni would know best, but if I were wanting to see Germany, I would opt for Bavaria and Munich. During my 3 years in Germany, this was our favorite area and Bavaria is just gorgeous. So many options from here. Rent a car and drive to Mad Ludwig's castles, visit Oberammergau (sp) the host of the 10 year Passion Play, head to Burchestgarden (again sp) where Hitler had his retreat, visit a concentration camp or just stay around Munich, my favorite city in Germany.

Cheers

Len

Sounds good, Len. Munich is on our list of possibilities too, with so much traditional culture there, it may be just the ticket for us! Thanks!

Sounds good, Len. Munich is on our list of possibilities too, with so much traditional culture there, it may be just the ticket for us! Thanks!

Still have my Hofbrauhaus stein that I have had for over 40 years and still use it to this day.

http://theopensuitcase.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_0332.jpg

Cheers

Len

I like both ideas-the plane is certainly economical and fast and the Ferry sounds like it would be a fun experience. Is the drive from Copenhagen to the ferry and the ferry to Hamburg straightforward? DH would love to drive the autoban but we don't speak or read German (except I can say hello, good bye and "Ja Ja Ja"). The plane would be less of an adventure but probably easier. Thanks for the ideas I'm so happy that this is a do-able plan!

Depending on your interests I'd also suggest either the Northern coast of Germany for example from Hamburg to Rostock or Bavaria starting from Munich. Both cities are easily reachable by plane and it's also easy to fly back to Toronto from either Frankfurt (which is the hub ) , Munich or Hamburg.

It's easy to drive the German autobahnen - the worst thing for a lot of American or Canadian tourists is the fact that some people drive much faster and less agreeably than in your country. But it's easy to get by and find your way if you book a sat nav with your rental car. It's especially advisable in the Munich or Hamburg city areas or if you want to drive along country roads. This is what I would suggest anyway - take your time to use the smaller country roads or highways and use the autobahn to get as quickly as you can to your starting-point.