Day trips from Amsterdam to Germany

[Radbooks]

I know this is a different question but I'm hoping someone can help. We're arriving in Amsterdam next summer and will have 3 days for touring before our cruise. My mom would love to see something of Germany since her family came from there way, way back in the 1800s or so. I see that trains are available for travel between the countries, but I don't know where we should go for a long day of seeing a tiny bit of Germany. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Radbooks

[just_dont]

We did a river cruise that began in Amsterdam 3 years ago. For us, flying to Amsterdam was more expensive than flying to Frankfurt, and I had a bit of experience spending a week in Germany a couple years prior.
We flew into Frankfurt and spent a day adjusting to the time zone in a cute nearby town I'd been to. Then we took the train to Cologne and spent a day there, before taking the ICE train from Cologne to Amsterdam.

Cologne is a great city and the cathedral is amazing. And it's only a couple hour express train ride away from Amsterdam.

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[Dutch_Travelgirl]

If you only have 3 days in Amsterdam before your cruise I wouldn’t waste a full day on a rushed trip to Germany. You can easily spend these 3 days in Amsterdam with perhaps a day trip to a nearby place.
Another thing to consider is that even though Germany isn’t as big as the USA it’s still a huge country and a diverse country. The north is very different from the south and the eastern part can’t be compared to the western part. So unless you can visit the exact same area your family is from, I don’t really see the point. You might even get the wrong impression. What I mean is that if for instance my family came from San Diego generations ago and I would visit New York now, I would indeed get a glimpse of the USA but I still don’t have any idea about how my family might have lived a hundred of years ago.

[Radbooks]

Thanks for your input! We're actually going through Frankfurt on our way to Amsterdam and have a layover of a few hours. Probably not enough time to do anything though.

 

Thanks again!

[just_dont]

Thanks for your input! We're actually going through Frankfurt on our way to Amsterdam and have a layover of a few hours. Probably not enough time to do anything though.  

Thanks again!

 

Change your outbound flight to end in Frankfurt, and take the train from the airport to Cologne (under an hour, direct). Spend a night in Cologne, and then take the train to Amsterdam (under 3 hours, direct).  

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[dogs4fun]

I agree with Dutch_Travelgirl - spend your 3 days in Amsterdam (there is much to see and do). A rushed trip to Germany would be a waste IMHO and you would cheat yourself out of experiencing the delights that AMS has to offer.

If possible, I would change my flight home and spend some time in Germany post cruise. As already stated, Cologne is a great place - there are many interesting and lovely places to visit in Germany.

The trains in Germany are excellent and very easy to use.

Where does your cruise end? Is there a specific German area in which you are interested?

Edited October 11, 2020 by dogs4fun

[Radbooks]

51 minutes ago, just_dont said:

Change your outbound flight to end in Frankfurt, and take the train from the airport to Cologne (under an hour, direct). Spend a night in Cologne, and then take the train to Amsterdam (under 3 hours, direct).  

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We'll look into that... I used points so not sure it's possible but that's a good idea!

[Traveling Library]

Several years ago we had a long layover at Frankfurt. We took the train from the airport to the old town (restored/reconstructed) area. Walked around, enjoyed looking at the River Main and had a beer, and then hopped back on the train to the airport.  

[Radbooks]

30 minutes ago, Traveling Library said:

Several years ago we had a long layover at Frankfurt. We took the train from the airport to the old town (restored/reconstructed) area. Walked around, enjoyed looking at the River Main and had a beer, and then hopped back on the train to the airport.  

Oh, that's a good idea! Thank you!

[Radbooks]

2 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

I agree with Dutch_Travelgirl - spend your 3 days in Amsterdam (there is much to see and do). A rushed trip to Germany would be a waste IMHO and you would cheat yourself out of experiencing the delights that AMS has to offer.

If possible, I would change my flight home and spend some time in Germany post cruise. As already stated, Cologne is a great place - there are many interesting and lovely places to visit in Germany.

The trains in Germany are excellent and very easy to use.

Where does your cruise end? Is there a specific German area in which you are interested?

We're doing a 21 day cruise to Norway and Iceland and Scotland. I just hope to be able to go. I've never been to Europe and my mom is 83 and just would like to see some part of Germany, but I think maybe the layover time in Frankfurt will have to do. The cruise ends in Amsterdam and we have a day there after our first 7 days of our cruise (it's a 7 day and a 14 day cruise back-to-back)so we'll have a lot of time in Amsterdam and that area. I have to balance wanting to see everything we can in the short time we have and overtiring my mom. 🙂  We'll be excited to see whatever we can... it's all new to us. I just know it'll probably be my mom's only time and wanted to see a bit of Germany. Our cruise was originally supposed to do the Baltics with a stop in Germany but, like every cruise, it's gotten changed.

[dogs4fun]

3 minutes ago, Radbooks said:

We'll be excited to see whatever we can... it's all new to us

I understand. Whatever you choose, I am sure you will have an enjoyable time.

[markeb]

I'd generally agree with staying in the Netherlands versus a rushed trip to Germany, but do you know where in Germany her family is from?

 

German unification "officially" only occurred in 1871, although it was the result of political and military actions dating to around 1848. So, at the time the family emigrated there probably would have been multiple German speaking independent states, each of which was (and in some ways still is) very different geographically, politically, religiously, and even the language is different. And, unfortunately for what you're asking, Germany's long axis is North to South, so if, for instance, the family is from Southern Germany, such as Bavaria, that's as far from Amsterdam as you can go.

 

Cologne (Köln) is probably the the closest to Amsterdam. You can make the trip in under 3 hours on an ICE high speed (read expensive) train, from Centraal to the Köln Hauptbahnhof (main train station). The Hauptbahnhof is in the middle of the historic district, on the Rhein River, adjacent to the Köln Cathedral, and the Opera House. It's surrounded by Kölsch houses (local beer of the area). Someone's who taken the train will have to tell you if the ride is scenic or not. But unfortunately, that's probably the only place I'd seriously consider a day trip, and it would be a relatively short stay. For tomorrow, it looks like an 8:08 departure from Centraal and a 17:46 return, so you'd get to Cologne around 11:00 and back to Amsterdam around 20:30. Around 6 hours on the ground. You might have time for a couple of hour Rhein River cruise; I think that will get you down river through some of the castles (that's been about 25-26 years ago...), and give your mother a chance to sit and watch for a couple of hours. 

 

The only reason I'd even consider it is 26 years ago my wife's grandparents visited us when we were stationed in Bavaria. I'm not sure where in Germany grandpa was from (since the family was Baptist as long as anyone knows, probably not Bavaria), and they had about a week with us, but we drove from north of Regensburg to Berchtesgaden. He was probably 85 at the time, and  had never been back from childhood. We'll never forget him staring out the car windows the entire time we were on the road, just trying to soak it up. He passed four years later, and we still have the cheap Bavarian souvenir hat he bought on the trip...

[Radbooks]

Thanks, Markeb!

 

I don't know where the family immigrated from, it's just always been the story that they came from Germany because they wouldn't bow down to the Kaiser - who knows how true the family story is, but it's what I've heard my whole life from my mom. Maybe I'll do some research and see if I can find out anything. I do hope that our few hours in Frankfurt will help fulfill that dream of hers.

 

Thanks again,

 

Radbooks

[markeb]

Getting away from the Kaiser following unification is kind of a common theme. Probably means the family wasn't Prussian. Could be Hessian or Bavarian, for instance. Do you know if the family was Catholic or Lutheran? You can do some regionalization on religion, although most of the maps are current, not mid to late 1800's.

 

Do you know where they originally arrived in the US? There are also some patterns, some of which are actually more than a little funny in the 21st Century. For instance, a fairly large group migrated to Texas through Galveston in the mid 1840s from Hesse. At that point in time, the Hessians and Bavarians probably hated each other more than they hated the French (post Napoleon time period). They settled in a couple of areas north of San Antonio, in the Hill Country, and established New Braunfels and Fredericksburg.

 

In the 20th Century, New Braunfels became a tourist destination in Texas, hosting an annual festival called Wurstfest (pronounced worst, not vurst), with prominent Blau mit Weiss (blue and white) Bavarian flags...

 

Do some research on what you can do. In a bizarre way, the train trip, a little walking around, and maybe a short river cruise, on your middle day, could be more relaxing for your mother than the go-go-go that Amsterdam can become. And if I read correctly, you'll have another day on your return before flying home. It would be a long day, and I ordinarily wouldn't even suggest it, but it is something to think about. And I'd personally want to get out of Frankfurt towards Wiesbaden or Mainz where there's a little countryside, but that's a drive you almost certainly won't have time for. And the Frankfurt airport is just a (nicer than average) huge airport for a layover, inside.

[Radbooks]

The family was definitely Lutheran and were in Iowa, I think, before settling in Minnesota where my mom was born. I've seen various documents over the years but can't remember the details. I know the last name of my grandmother before her marriage was Hueller. I looked up that name just to see what I could find in a quick search and it suggests more of Bavaria or even a Swiss name. So, I'm guessing more of a southern area of Germany.

 

I do think that a train trip on our middle day may be a good 'break' from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam. Yes, we have 3 days at the beginning, a day in between cruises and then we're spending the night in Amsterdam before flying home after the trip. So, I think a trip to Germany might be fun and still give us plenty of time for Amsterdam.

 

Thanks again!

[Langoustine]

Frankfurt was heavily bombed during WW2 and is now known among the Germans as Mainhattan. Almost everything you will see is a reconstruction. Compared to it, Amsterdam is a little village.