Germany trip upcoming in June

For Cologne: Päffgen is the #1, a must, downtown (and for food) there are Mühlen and Pfaffen (both at Heumarkt/hay market). Cologne is also a place to visit some bars off the beaten track, to get a feeling for real pub atmosphere. For example in the district of Nippes (Em Golde Kappes)

For Düsseldorf: Uerige first, then Schumacher, then Schlüssel. Füchschen, unfortunately is always overcrowded at night.

For your trip to Rust. You will never make it in four hours. On the route, Heidelberg and Strassburg are beautiful, but it will take pretty much time. Just for a quick beer, stop at Höpfner in Karlsruhe. Close to the autobahn, very impressive brewery building and beer garden.

For Munich: The best place for a beer off the beaten track, because it’s very touristy downtown.

For Bamberg: If you have a car, do not forget to visit a brew pub in the country side. Check opening hours. There are so many places within a 20 minute drive.

 

Got everything booked and am heading out in mid-August. Those direct Denver Lufthansa flights make that trek much, much more convenient. The up-front cost isn't much more than going to many US cities at the moment.

I think I investigated this last time, but is the new Crew Republic location convenient or worth a visit? Are there any other places in the area similar to Forchungsbrauerei, Giesinger, etc.

Finally, it seems like there are 2 Stiegl locations in Salzberg. Last time I was there we didn't really have the bandwidth to visit either of them. Are either (or both) worth hitting up?

 

I didn't run across much but Stiegl when I was there in 2015. If nothing else, I think the brewery location was worth it for the view.

 

Ah yes -- I know that view.

 

My wife and I had some Stiegl pours at a random food vendor on top of one of the hills in the neighboring forest. We were hiking around and stumbled upon his log cabin style snack stand. Since we were pressed for time, those were plenty for us until Augustiner opened. I'm thinking of adding an extra day this next time, so we should have more time to see and do more.

 

I should have said "I didn't run across much but Stiegl and Augustiner..."

 

I'm overdue for a return to Salzburg, but I've always enjoyed the beers at Die Weisse. We have a tradition of taking the S1 out to Bergheim to visit Isi-Bräu. It's a tiny brewpub in what was once a private house. And we'd bus out to Siezenheim to visit Allerbergerbräu (but that has been over 10 years since I was there). Oh, and S'Kloane Brauhaus on Schallmooser Hauptstr. was always with a stop for a beer.

 

I was recently at the Crew Republic brewery. It's located out in Oberschleissheim and is a fairly long (but doable) walk from the S-Bahn station. I think the tap room is only open on Weekends starting in the late afternoon on Friday. As a Munich resident, I love their beer and think they do a great job with American style crafts. As a tourist coming from the states, I wouldn't seek them out because the focus should be on enjoying the fresh German style beer you can't get at home! But, if you are here for a while and have a hop craving, this is the place to scratch the itch!

Stiegl in Salzburg is ubiquitous and it would be a shame if you missed it somehow. I love to take people up to the Stiegl Keller, because you get a fantastic view over Salzburg while enjoying the beer. They carry everything that the brewery makes, including the current season craft beer, so it's a great place to enjoy the beer. Afterwards, you can go out the back beer garden entrance and take a gut-busting, but short, climb up towards the fortress and then follow that ridge all the way to the best address in Salzburg - Augustiner zur Muelln.

Another tip - when you arrive in Salzburg, stop by the beer garden at the Sternbraeu. They have several uninteresting beers from Austria's BrauUnion, but they also carry Die Weisse, which is made in Salzburg - saves you a trek out to see them on the other side of the river. Plus, you can stop by the cult sausage stand, Balkan Grill, just across Getreidegasse, and bring your Bosna back to the beergarden.

Scott

 

Be sure to visit Munich's Fruehlingsfest!
https://www.festhalle-bayernland.de...t-muenchen-theresienwiese-wiesn/programm.html
https://en.hippodrom.de/

 

Is it still as quaint and cozy as it used to be?

 

Thanks for the advice With Crew Republic, I was mostly just curious. I had one of their IPA's (Drunken Sailor I believe) and felt it was actually pretty good. I figured it might be worth a stop if it was convenient. Giesinger really impressed me in spite of mixed reviews, so I was thinking maybe Crew would be similar. That's only if it's pretty easy to reach. I can't see trekking too far out of the way for an IPA in Germany. I do hope to try some of the stuff from NBG while I'm around, though. That's an old buddy of mine.

Definitely interested in spending more time in Salzburg this time around. The last time we were there, it was more of a fact finding trip and we only had something like 6-7 hours to see the town. This time, assuming we make the trek over, it'll be for at least 24 hours if not more.

 

It depends what night you go - Friday, Saturday or on April 30 (next day is a holiday) is jam packed and pretty crazy. Hippodrom is a little more classy, but Festhalle Bayernland has the better beer (Augustiner v Spaten). Either way, be sure to take a spin on the Bierkarussell!

 

One more question. This has always been one of those things that has puzzled me.
How exactly does booking via the DB work? I've done it via Rail Europe in the past, but both their site and their phone support have completely fallen off in the last few years. It's tough to actually reach a person who knows anything anymore. Their booking system is also totally missing the cheaper direct rail passes from Munich to Bamberg, too.

Anyway, on the final page of booking (Munich to Bamberg in this case) it shows several different options including Super Sparpreis (which is oddly cheaper), Sparpeis, and Flexpreis.
Which of those, if any, guarantees a specific seat or are all of those just open seating style passes? If they aren't reserved - how do I go about getting actual reserved seats, or can I via the DB? I don't actually care about first class or anything like that. I'm mainly concerned about being 100% certain that we have seats on this train. A few years ago we had open seating passes and there were literally only 5 seats that weren't reserved on the whole train. I'm trying to avoid that situation again.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

The Sparpreis tickets are restricted to the specific trains listed (except that you can take any RB/RE) while Flexpreis lets you take any trains that day (some exceptions but few). Neither of these assign you a specific seat. In order to do that you need to purchase a seat reservation. Sometimes a first class ticket will include a reservation.

When you get the step were you say you want a digital ticket (or one mailed to you) down at the bottom of the page should be check box that says "Reservation of X seats." Second class is usually €4.50 -- first class is more but I haven't purchased one separately in a while.

 

Have you looked at the Bayern pass?
It would be 32 Euro’s for 2 people and works for
Salzburg also.

 

Ah ha! The seat reservation is the final step. The DB site is way cheaper the RE's site. Looking at my notes from my last trip, both the train and the reservation were marked up about 25%. There were also no non-stop Munich to Bamberg rates which are both more convenient and cheaper.

Just looking into that now. Seems almost too good to be true when actual tickets are like 2x that much. Is the only catch that they're weekday only? Can you tack on seat reservations or are you at the mercy of what's available?

EDIT: Nevermind, I see how the reservation system works now. Are there any downsides to this other than the weekday requirement?

 

The Bayern Ticket (and its cousins) can be a great deal, especially if you want to make a lot of stops. But it is a trade-off between money and time//convenience and sometimes on a holiday you come down on one side or the other.

Going from Munich to Bamberg the RE trains take longer (3 hours vs 1:50) and you don't have option of a single train -- though the fewer ICEs stop at Bamberg than back in the day. Also no reserved seat which seemed to be important to the poster and can't start until 9am or later, which sometimes is an issue.

RE/RB excursions can be an adventure (and fun!) -- once did an 11 hour 4 (or 5) change trip from Rostock to Bamberg. We had bikes so we couldn't use IC/ICE (some ICs take bikes but you have to reserve and none were available). We did end up having to buy a local ticket to cover the first two stops because the best connection left at 8:30am. Our ticket didn't end up being checked before 9am but of course it was The Right Thing To Do (this was obviously not a Bayern Ticket but a Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket)

 

The Bayern Ticket is good on the weekends -- in fact it is better in that there is no 9am start restriction. The drawbacks as I said in another post, no seat reservation and more stops. And depending on when you travel you can get an direct ICE from Munich to Bamberg. You can buy a lot of beer in Bamberg with the price difference, though

If you purchase far enough in advance you can get a deal if you are restrict yourself to a specific train. I was pricing some Düsseldorf - Bamberg tickets for the fall and full fare is €128 but super saver fares were on the order of €30 (plus €4.50) and 1st class super savers were €50 including seat.

 

Thanks for the help. I think I'm going to go ahead and just book normal tickets/reserved seat this morning via the DB. The peace of mind of having everything locked down (with no risk of missing connections or full trains) is worth it. We seem to have bad luck with something on most of our trips over there so I'm minimizing possible issues. At the very least I'm saving a lot of money and headache by not using Rail Europe this time. The DB site has come a long way in the last few years, so that's a welcome change.

 

If you register at DB and then download and sign in with their app, you can load the ticket on your phone, which can be handy. I still carry a printed copy as backup, though (in case I lose my phone or run out of battery)