A bahn-storming adventure
Deutsche Bahn’s new bargain monthly railpass is the perfect excuse to visit Germany’s hidden gems,
I do love a good train journey, and in Germany they’re pretty darn good. Super-efficient Deutsche Bahn stretches its tentacles from stadt to strand – and now it’s about to be dirt cheap, too, with a €49-a-month (£43) ticket on the horizon, slated to launch some time early next year.
Having tried the experimental €9-a-month ticket this summer, I would readily go back for the €49er to revisit some favourite corners that are otherwise hard to reach. Personally, I’m not bothered that this unlimited monthly pass will only include regional trains, not intercity expresses, because it’s the regions I’m interested in. And I want to savour passing landscapes at a gentle trot, not have them whizz past in a blur.
With that in mind, I’ve worked out what would be the ideal German train circuit, to be completed in around a week.
I’d start from Cologne (the entry hub for Eurostar-connected trains from Brussels) and dip south to Koblenz, where you can change to the rambling Moselle line and end up in TrabenTrarbach (three hours, two changes). The Moselle is like the Rhine, complete with castles on hilltops and steep banks quilted with vineyards, but on a far more intimate scale.
The railway criss-crosses the river, threading together winemaking villages such as Traben-Trarbach, where I’d stay in the art nouveau Hotel Bellevue by the river (doubles from £125; bellevue-hotel.de). If the weather was kind, I’d cycle along the riverbank and walk the vineyard trails.
From here, I’d retrace my steps to Koblenz, then wind through the Unesco-recognised Rhine gorge south to Mainz, before
transitting Frankfurt and heading cross-country to Eisenach (seven hours, three changes) in the former East Germany.
This handsome town is set in a bucolic, forested river valley where wild boar roam, and is the location of the Wartburg, a spectacular, part-Romanesque castle that rises on a hilltop out of the Thuringian Forest. Protestant reformer Martin Luther hid from his enemies here in a wood-panelled room, and you too can stay up above the forest in the Romantik Hotel auf der Wartburg, which clings to the castle walls (doubles from £234; wartburghotel.de).
In the old days – when it was trains, not planes, that took people on beach holidays – the Baltic shore was the favoured retreat, initially of the aristocracy, then of the communist elite
From Eisenach it’s a straightforward journey eastwards to Dresden (4.5 hours, one change), nicknamed the Florence of the Elbe thanks in part to paintings of the riverside city by Canaletto. It’s a place of immense culture, with a fabulous old town, painstakingly rebuilt following obliteration by Allied bombs in the Second World War.
The teapot-shaped Frauenkirche hosts regular concerts, there are galleries of pictures by masters old and new, and stately ancient paddle steamers flap-flap up and down the River Elbe. Stay opposite the Frauenkirche in the Dresden Townhouse (doubles from £114; vagabondclub.com).
From Dresden, there’s one further step east I would make, cross-country to where Gorlitz straddles the Polish border (1.5 hours, direct). Preserved partly by virtue of its remoteness, this immaculate little town is a film director’s paradise. The likes of The Book Thief and The Grand Budapest Hotel were made here, and such is the constant throughput of film and television crews that the town has been nicknamed Gorlywood. Stay the night in this unexpectedly cinematic bolthole by booking a stay at the Hotel Borse (doubles from £108; boerse-goerlitz.de).
Having gone as far east as possible, it’s time to head north. A long day on the train (10 hours, six changes, or with a halfway break and an overnight stay in good old Berlin) would take me up to Germany’s Baltic coast.
In the old days – when it was trains, not planes, that took people on beach holidays – the Baltic shore was the favoured retreat, initially of the aristocracy, then of the communist elite. In particular, they liked the (causeway-connected) island of Rugen, where the traditional resort of Binz still looks as it did in the 1920s.
There are villas of distinctive Bader architecture, a mix of Art Nouveau and Long Island clapperboard with ornate wooden balconies and rooftop octagons, plus spa hotel the Kurhaus Binz,
which has a proper ballroom (doubles from £133; travelcharme.com). The beach here is magnificent, boasting six miles of immaculate sand, and if it’s a bit chilly for swimming then there’s always the Raging Roland, a period steam railway that runs along from resort to resort, weaving through patches of forest (fare also included in the €49 ticket).
From Binz, I’m starting back to Cologne – but first with an overnight in Hamburg (4.5 hours, one change) to visit Miniatur Wunderland, a model railway housed in an old spice warehouse in the port, which has become phenomenally successful. And before you demur that model railways are not your thing, this one really is something special: the layout is divided into whole miniaturised nations, and it has an airport with real-life departures, special lighting for different times of day, and surreal touches of quite un-Germanic humour.
Stay near the Hauptbahnhof at Hotel Wedina (doubles from £137; hotelwedina.de).
The return to Cologne crosses the heathery Luneberg Heath and eventually winds through the Ruhr, the nation’s industrial powerhouse, a fascinating place of smokestacks and slag heaps. If the journey seems too long (seven hours, three changes) there’s a delightful half-timbered town, Celle, halfway across,
with a lovely hotel, the Furstenhof – very well priced given that it has five stars (doubles from £133; althoffcollection.com).
Travel essentials
For international train travel, go to trainline.com, and for domestic travel within Germany, see bahn.com.
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