German Trip part 2

OK, after much consideration, I have ultimately decided that the best route for my second German trip is to leave no stone unturned in Germany. So Salzburg may be in a future Austria trip! ;)
In any case, the final plan I'm considering is...

8-9: Flight Barcelona-Munich. Natural history museum and Tierpark Hellabrunn; night in Munich

9-9: Train Munich-Nuremberg. Nuremberg zoo; night in Nuremberg

10-9: Train Nuremberg-Tübingen; Palaeontological collection. Train Tübingen-Stuttgart; night in Stuttgart.

11-9: Wilhelma. Night in Stuttgart.

12-9: Natural History Musem Stuttgart. Train Stuttgart-Karlsruhe: Natural History Museum + Tierpark Oberwald. Night in Karlsruhe.

13-9: Karlsruhe zoo. Train Karlsruhe-Walsrode. Night in Walsrode.

14-9: Vogelpark Walsrode. Train Walsrode-Osnabrück

15-9: Zoo Osnabrück + ZOOM Erlebniswelt + Zoo Dortmund; night in Duisburg (may be over-ambitious)

16-9: Zoo Krefeld + Zoo Wuppertal (if there’s time, +Zoo Duisburg). Flight Dusseldorf-Barcelona.

Let me know what you think of this plan! :D
 
The route still seems not too logic to me. Personally i would recommend to skip Walsrode and do another zoo at the area around North Rhine Westphalia. The 15.9 is imo too much. Especially at Dortmund it takes quite a while to get to the zoo from the train station

14.9. Osnabrück + Dortmund
15.9. Zoom + Krefeld
16.9. Wuppertal and maybe Düsseldorf, if you are already there?
 
remar said:
The route still seems not too logic to me. Personally i would recommend to skip Walsrode and do another zoo at the area around North Rhine Westphalia. The 15.9 is imo too much. Especially at Dortmund it takes quite a while to get to the zoo from the train station

14.9. Osnabrück + Dortmund
15.9. Zoom + Krefeld
16.9. Wuppertal and maybe Düsseldorf, if you are already there?
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Ok, I'm not sure if I wholly agree, but if more people agree this is too tight, I could go with plan B; go to Salzburg and back from Munich, and then go straight to Duisburg from Karlsruhe.
But I don't know, what do y'all think out there? @Philipine eagle , @ralph , @Batto , @PossumRoach , @amur leopard ?
 
I'm sorry if I may not have caught everything as a newbie. But why the paleontological collection in Tübingen and a whole day including train at that?
As far as I know, it's a small and rather special (old-fashioned) collection, but I've never visited it personally.
Certainly not to be compared with the Löwentor Museum (part of Natural Museum Stuttgart), that you have planned. It's not quite as impressive as the Senckenberg Museum, but the paleontological exhibition of the Löwentor Museum is probably larger then in Senckenberg. But even for Löwentor Museum, one day certainly would be too long. Personally, I would estimate two hours for it if I were there for the first time. Four hours plus the walk if you also want to visit the Rosenstein Museum (Löwentor is paleontological, Rosenstein has recent species).
If you want a second museum in the area, I think Holzmaden (URWELT-MUSEUM HAUFF IN HOLZMADEN ¦ Englische Website) would be a better idea, but it's probably difficult to reach by train.
 
Cyathea said:
I'm sorry if I may not have caught everything as a newbie. But why the paleontological collection in Tübingen and a whole day including train at that?
As far as I know, it's a small and rather special (old-fashioned) collection, but I've never visited it personally.
Certainly not to be compared with the Löwentor Museum (part of Natural Museum Stuttgart), that you have planned. It's not quite as impressive as the Senckenberg Museum, but the paleontological exhibition of the Löwentor Museum is probably larger then in Senckenberg. But even for Löwentor Museum, one day certainly would be too long. Personally, I would estimate two hours for it if I were there for the first time. Four hours plus the walk if you also want to visit the Rosenstein Museum (Löwentor is paleontological, Rosenstein has recent species).
If you want a second museum in the area, I think Holzmaden (URWELT-MUSEUM HAUFF IN HOLZMADEN ¦ Englische Website) would be a better idea, but it's probably difficult to reach by train.
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Hm, so maybe I could do both Tübingen and Lowentor on the same day?
 
JigerofLemuria said:
Ok, I'm not sure if I wholly agree, but if more people agree this is too tight, I could go with plan B; go to Salzburg and back from Munich, and then go straight to Duisburg from Karlsruhe.
But I don't know, what do y'all think out there? @Philipine eagle , @ralph , @Batto , @PossumRoach , @amur leopard ?
Click to expand...

You can repeat my exercise which I did for your day 16:9 again for day 15:9, and judge for yourself if this is possible.

Philipine eagle said:
Your day Wuppertal - Krefeld - Duisburg: I guess all three zoos are a first for you, so that is a harsh day. Your time table will be something like this:

Wuppertal Zoo opens at 9:00 am
Walking Wuppertal Zoo – Wuppertal Zoologischer Garden Bahnhof 10 min
Train Wuppertal – Krefeld 1:15
Tram Krefeld Hauptbahnhof – Zoo Krefeld 30 min
Zoo Krefeld 9:00-5:00 (animal buildings close at 5:30 pm!)
Tram Zoo Krefeld - Krefeld Hauptbahnhof 30 min
Train Krefeld Hauptbahnhof – Duisburg Hauptbahnhof 30 min
Tram Duisburg Hauptbahnhof – Duisburg Zoo 30 min
Duisburg Zoo closes at 7:00 pm (animal buildings cloase at 6:30)

So that gives you roughly a time frame of

Wuppertal Zoo 9:00-11:30
Transport 11:30-13:30
Krefeld Zoo 13:30-15:30
Transport 15:30-17:00
Duisburg Zoo 17:00-19:00

I counted the time very generously as far as tram connections are concerned, but you always loose some time searching or miss one that leaves right in front of you.
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Osnabruck opens at 9 am, Dortmund closes at 18:30 pm (but buildings probably earlier).
So you have a time frame of 9:30 hours for 3 mid-sized zoos.
I'm on with @remar with this, it's to much.

I do like zoo trips with multiple visits on the same day but your day layout should be thoughtful enough, otherwise you risk an overly stressful day, which cannot be the intention. Moreover, I would never do it the way you plan it: far distances, by public transportation, and with all your luggage with you. That seems crazy to me.

The advantages of doing this by car then become immediately obvious: luggage can stay in the car, parking lots are usually close to the zoo entrance, and you are not dependent on fixed departure times of buses, trams and trains. Ofcourse there are disadvantages to this method, but you retain much more control.

But even then, I would only plan such a day with zoos that are close together. And always combine small with larger venues. Many Zoochatters have experience with these types of tours, and I think (judging from their trip reports) that few would do your approach.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but your visits will be greatly determined by the departure times of public transportation, you will have to take more of a margin than if your car is parked in the zoo parking lot, and you will thus be faced with having to abort your visit too early in some zoos. So, unless you want to do this by car, I would keep your daily schedule a little more realistic.
 
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If you stay another night at Munich Zoo Augsburg and bird park Olching could be an alternative for Salzburg. They aren't as awesome as Walsrode, but you would still see pretty nice bird species.
 
Hi everyone! So, after much thought, I have decided to take
PLAN B: Salzburg
  1. 8-9: Flight Barcelona-Munich. Natural history museum and Tierpark Hellabrunn; night in Munich
  2. 9-9: Train Munich-Salzburg. Salzburg Zoo + Welt der Gifte. Train Salzburg-Munich; night in Munich.
  3. 10-9: Train Munich-Nuremberg. Nuremberg zoo; night in Nuremberg
  4. 11-9: Train Nuremberg-Tübingen; Palaeontological collection. Train Tübingen-Stuttgart; night in Stuttgart.
  5. 12-9: Wilhelma. Night in Stuttgart.
  6. 13-9: Natural History Musem Stuttgart. Train Stuttgart-Karlsruhe: Natural History Museum + Tierpark Oberwald. Night in Karlsruhe.
  7. 14-9: Karlsruhe zoo. Train Karlsruhe-Duisburg. Night in Duisburg.
  8. 15-9: Zoo Krefeld + Zoo Wuppertal (if there’s time, +Zoo Duisburg). Night in Duisburg.
  9. 16-9: ZOOM Erlebniswelt + Zoo Dortmund. Flight Dusseldorf-Barcelona.
Hopefully sometime in the future I can give Weltvogelpark Walsrode a visit, but for now this is my plan!
 
JigerofLemuria said:
Hi everyone! So, after much thought, I have decided to take
PLAN B: Salzburg
  1. 8-9: Flight Barcelona-Munich. Natural history museum and Tierpark Hellabrunn; night in Munich
  2. 9-9: Train Munich-Salzburg. Salzburg Zoo + Welt der Gifte. Train Salzburg-Munich; night in Munich.
  3. 10-9: Train Munich-Nuremberg. Nuremberg zoo; night in Nuremberg
  4. 11-9: Train Nuremberg-Tübingen; Palaeontological collection. Train Tübingen-Stuttgart; night in Stuttgart.
  5. 12-9: Wilhelma. Night in Stuttgart.
  6. 13-9: Natural History Musem Stuttgart. Train Stuttgart-Karlsruhe: Natural History Museum + Tierpark Oberwald. Night in Karlsruhe.
  7. 14-9: Karlsruhe zoo. Train Karlsruhe-Duisburg. Night in Duisburg.
  8. 15-9: Zoo Krefeld + Zoo Wuppertal (if there’s time, +Zoo Duisburg). Night in Duisburg.
  9. 16-9: ZOOM Erlebniswelt + Zoo Dortmund. Flight Dusseldorf-Barcelona.
Hopefully sometime in the future I can give Weltvogelpark Walsrode a visit, but for now this is my plan!
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Hi everyone! So, my plan still stands, and now I have all my hostels booked.
So, might I ask, for people who have already been to these zoos, what would you recommend I do first in my visitis to Tierpark Hellabrunn, Zoo Salzburg, Tiergarten Nürnberg, Wilhelma, Zoo Karlsruhe, Zoo Krefeld, Zoo Wuppertal and Zoo Dortmund? I'm thinking that in each one I should start my tour wherever the big cats are, as they're more active just as the zoo opens, but I'll let y'all give me recommendations on how I should pace myself.
 
Do you like birds? If so, visit each tropical rainforest first: birds tend to be more active early in de morning and with less visitors: Wilhelma's Amazon rainforest, Nurnberg's Manatee House, Karlsruhe Rainforest
 
Batto said:
The NHM in Munich (Museum Mensch und Natur) isn't that great; so don't be too sad if you happen to miss it...
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Yyyyeah, so it seems. A couple of early Stegocephalian skulls won't tide me over that easily. I will ABSOLUTELY visit the Palaeontology museum though.
 
JigerofLemuria said:
Yyyyeah, so it seems. A couple of early Stegocephalian skulls won't tide me over that easily. I will ABSOLUTELY visit the Palaeontology museum though.
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Good luck; its opening hours are apparently chosen to make sure that working people can't visit it (closed on weekends, with only occasional, random Sunday openings).:rolleyes:;)
 
I would always begin with what you want to see the most. In case you have time left at the end of the visit, you can revisit those parts.

You could consider doing carnivores first, as they are usually less active in the afternoon.
Primates and hoofstock are usually active all day, so they would be a good afternoon stop.
Like Philippine Eagle suggested, Tropical Houses are usually worth a revisit, so plan a visit to those at the start of your day. However I did the tropical house in Karlsruhe in the afternoon and still saw most species active.

For Wilhelma, I would start with the Australian section as it's very popular and you might want to beat the crowds. This would also give you a chance for a revisit if some species are no-show (when I was there 2 years ago, I saw every single species active except the potoroo)
 
Guten Morgen! I'm in Germany now and... Sadly, I regret to inform you that the Deutschland Ticket isn't available for me to purchase, as I do not have a German bank account. I got a couple of German banking apps, but the system to buy it on the internet is appalling. I don't know what exactly will happen, but dealing with the DB website strongarming you into having a Verimi acount that never works is nerve-racking.
 
Hi!

As another non-German person, I had a lot of issues with buying the Deutschlandticket as well. Tried different apps, but ran into problems with a lot of them. Very frustrating.

I eventually managed to buy a ticket with the MVV-app (MVV = Munich transport association) . It worked perfectly and is easy to use!

Hope it works for you as well!!
 
ralph said:
Hi!

As another non-German person, I had a lot of issues with buying the Deutschlandticket as well. Tried different apps, but ran into problems with a lot of them. Very frustrating.

I eventually managed to buy a ticket with the MVV-app (MVV = Munich transport association) . It worked perfectly and is easy to use!

Hope it works for you as well!!
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@ralph , I am mailing you a medal or two; IT WORKED!!
Now I can go to Salzburg without further issue!
@Batto , I can make it tomorrow for sure! :D
 
ralph said:
@JigerofLemuria

Glad to hear it worked! This app saved both our trips I guess :)
I will be using it for my 2026 trip again :)

Enjoy Salzburg, it's a charming town with a good fun-sized zoo!
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That I have! I wasn't able to see the pumas, which was my top priority... But I've got great jaguar and snow leopard material from this trip, so worth it! :D
 
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