Germany 5 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)

Five days adds Neuschwanstein, Bavaria’s 19th-century fantasy castle, as a day trip from Munich, on top of Berlin, Dresden and the ICE Sprinter between them. That’s the two-region trip plus its best single sight, still without the Rhine or the Romantic Road. See the 4-day or 7-day versions.

Germany runs on the euro, and Deutsche Bahn’s ICE network carries the whole route; the Deutschland-Ticket does not. May to September is the easiest weather window; book Neuschwanstein before anything else once dates are set, since it is the one reservation on this trip that genuinely sells out.

Book these before you go

Germany in 5 days at a glance

Day Stop Travel Rough daily cost (EUR)
1 Berlin Arrival, FEX ~23 min from BER 100-150
2 Berlin - 90-140
3 Dresden (day trip) ICE ~2h each way 60-90
4 Munich ICE Sprinter ~3h53 110-160
5 Neuschwanstein (day trip) Train + bus ~2h each way 60-90

Day 1: Berlin (the free things everyone books wrong)

Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) has been the city’s only airport since Tegel closed for good in 2020. The FEX Airport Express reaches Hauptbahnhof in about 23 minutes on a single ABC-zone ticket, 5 euros as of January 2026. Berlin is Germany’s capital, not Frankfurt or Munich; Bonn only held that title for West Germany, 1949 to 1990.

Start at the Brandenburg Gate, free and unticketed. Then walk to the Reichstag. Its glass dome is free to climb but is not a walk-up sight: register at visite.bundestag.de , roughly three months ahead, because peak-season slots fill within the first week they open.

Day 2: Berlin (the Wall, minus the queue for a fake border post)

Checkpoint Charlie’s outdoor guardhouse and sign are free to photograph. The privately run Wall Museum next door is a separate ticket, about 18.50 euros, and skippable. Spend that time instead at the East Side Gallery, 1.3 kilometers of the actual Wall covered in murals since 1990, free and open around the clock, or the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, which tells the same history more completely and is also free.

Museum Island sells a day pass at 24 euros for five museums, but one of them isn’t available: the Pergamon Museum has been closed since October 2023 and its north wing won’t reopen until June 2027. Put the pass toward the Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie instead.

Day 3: Dresden (a day trip that earns its train fare)

ICE trains from Berlin Hauptbahnhof reach Dresden in about 2 hours, with several direct morning departures; check current times at bahn.de before booking a Sparpreis fare. Dresden’s Frauenkirche is free to enter at nave level; its dome, rebuilt using roughly 4,000 salvaged original stones after the 1945 firebombing destroyed the original, costs 12 euros for adults to climb. The Zwinger Palace courtyard is free; its museums are ticketed separately.

Day 4: Munich (the ICE Sprinter, and a ticket that won’t get you here)

The ICE Sprinter from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to München Hauptbahnhof takes about 3 hours 53 minutes on the fastest daily departures, one of 16 direct services a day; book a Sparpreis fare through bahn.de as soon as your dates are fixed, since walk-up Flexpreis tickets on this route commonly run 80 to 150 euros against a 20 to 50 euro advance fare. The Deutschland-Ticket, 63 euros a month as of 2026, does not cover this train; it’s a regional and local pass, not a long-distance one.

Marienplatz and its Glockenspiel are free; the chimes run at 11am and noon, plus 5pm from March to October. The English Garden is free and larger than Central Park. Landing between 19 September and 4 October 2026 means Oktoberfest: grounds and tent entry are free, the beer isn’t, around 15 euros a Mass.

Day 5: Neuschwanstein (a 19th-century film set, not a medieval castle)

Neuschwanstein looks medieval and isn’t. Ludwig II laid its foundation stone in 1869 and died in 1886 with roughly a third of it finished; the whole building is a 19th-century Romantic-era fantasy modeled on Wagner’s opera sets, not a surviving fortress. That doesn’t make it less worth seeing.

From Munich Hauptbahnhof, the trip is a train to Füssen, about 2 hours, plus a short bus to Hohenschwangau village. The timed entry ticket costs 21 euros for adults plus a 2.50 euro online booking fee, booked in advance through the official ticket center ; peak summer slots are gone by mid-morning. The 30 to 40 minute uphill walk from the village to the castle is unavoidable unless you pay for the horse-drawn carriage. Marienbrücke, the bridge above the castle, has the view every photo of Neuschwanstein is actually taken from; go the moment you arrive, before the railing fills up. For a Munich-based version that spends more time in Bavaria, see the Munich 5-day itinerary .

Is Neuschwanstein a real medieval castle?

No, and this is worth knowing before you queue for it. Ludwig II laid the foundation stone in 1869 and died in 1886 with roughly a third of the interior finished; the whole building is a 19th-century Romantic-era fantasy styled after medieval knights’ castles, not a surviving one. It’s still worth the trip.

How far ahead should you book Neuschwanstein tickets?

Weeks, not days. The timed entry ticket costs 21 euros for adults plus a 2.50 euro online booking fee through the official ticket center, and peak summer morning slots are typically gone by mid-morning on the day itself. Book as soon as your Munich dates are fixed, not after you land.

Book Neuschwanstein before you book anything else for this trip; it is the one reservation on this itinerary that actually runs out.