🇩🇪 3-Day Trip Around Western Germany

I traveled entirely by Flixbus—these cities aren’t large, so there was plenty of time to explore each one. Photos are organized by city (4 per city), in the order of Cologne → Frankfurt → Nuremberg → Essen. 🌟 Overall Itinerary & Costs (Booked 3-4 days in advance; the whole plan took 1 hour to make, and the actual trip went smoothly!) Date Route Time Cost Accommodation Cost Oct 19 Rotterdam → Cologne 08:15-13:20 €26.5 Frankfurt Hotel €52 Cologne → Frankfurt 18:00-20:15 €16.5 Oct 20 Frankfurt → Nuremberg 11:15-14:45 €20 Nuremberg Youth Hostel €15 Oct 21 Nuremberg → Essen 04:55-12:25 €26 — — Essen → Rotterdam 16:30-20:25 €15.5 Total — — — — €171.5 📍 City Highlights 1️⃣ Cologne A traditional industrial city in western Germany, cut through by the Rhine River. The main highlight is the Cologne Cathedral; the Rhine River also offers a pleasant vibe, making the itinerary relaxed and unhurried. Pro tip: A section of the Rhine Valley (southwest of Cologne) is stunning—you’ll pass it by bus. Nature lovers shouldn’t miss it! 🌊🏰 2️⃣ Frankfurt Germany’s financial hub, home to the Stock Exchange, with the Main River running through it. I stayed near the central station, but the area is full of “adult entertainment” venues—messy and felt unsafe. I was approached by drunks and drug users multiple times while walking, and the chaos continued early the next morning. Stay alert here! ⚠️ Tried a dark rye bread: super hard and sour, but surprisingly delicious (in my opinion)! 🍞 3️⃣ Nuremberg Bavaria’s second-largest city and the birthplace of Siemens. Local beer is amazing—you’ll see almost everyone holding a bottle when leaving convenience stores. Grab a local beer brand trusted by Bavarians (as in the photo) 🍻. Bought a pork knuckle at the train station: fragrant, cheap, and only €7.9! 🥩 4️⃣ Essen The heart of the Ruhr region, once home to the world’s largest coal mine—the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (the factory in the photos; worth a visit, though there’s not much else to do…). The mine is now closed and repurposed; it’s also where ThyssenKrupp is based. Important transit tip: After buying a bus/train ticket in Germany, validate it! Use the yellow machine—insert your ticket, and it will print a mark and time on it. 🎫 Some people say my trips are too “whirlwind”—flitting through cities quickly and tiring myself out. Honestly, that’s true for me right now. Everyone has their own plans and ways of doing things, and my current priority is efficiency. I use my most efficient physical and mental state to absorb as much information as possible—like training myself to be “ChatGPT-like.” I want to build a “catalog” to shape my worldview and also have it to look back on in the future. Besides, if you have the time and chance to do something, do it now—don’t save it for later. #Germany #WesternGermany #Frankfurt #Cologne #Nuremberg #Essen #Travel #Europe #Beer