Vacationing in Germany

[Valley of Plenty]

I'm looking for some insight from any German Mustachians on the forum, or anyone who has experience travelling / camping in Germany.

I will be spending about two weeks in north-western Germany with my girlfriend later this summer, from late July through early August. The last four days of our trip we will be attending the Wacken Open Air metal festival in Wacken, about an hour north of Hamburg. The week or so before the festival is entirely open at this point, I have yet to decide where to go and what to do to fill the time. I'd love to explore the German countryside, do some nice hikes, and see a castle or two. We may drive over to Berlin for a couple days, or possibly head up the coast into Denmark. There are so many awesome and interesting places within a few hours drive from the airport in Hamburg where we'll be landing, I'm having trouble deciding what to prioritize. I don't want to just spend time in tourist heavy areas either, I'd love to go off the beaten path and explore some of the hidden gems that I'm sure are all over the place if one knows where to look.

Another big question I'm considering is how best to handle camping gear. We will likely be spending some of our nights in Airbnbs, but we will definitely be camping out during the festival at minimum, and possibly more. The festival itself has tent rentals, but I'm wondering if there is anywhere I could go to rent a wide arrangement of camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, camp stove, etc) while we're there. Doing so would save me the trouble of having to transport my own gear the whole way there from home, which would likely require a whole extra suitcase at minimum. Are there any chain retailers in Germany that do camping gear rentals like this?

Any insights are greatly appreciated :)

[Moustachienne]

I don't have camping tips but this reply might bump your question up again to those who do. 

If you're in Hamburg, Miniature Wonderland looks like a fantastic experience. https://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/
I've visited a much, much smaller exhibit created by a local enthusiast (of German background. This miniature hobby seems like a really German thing.) and it was fabulous. The Hamburg set up is so much more!

Depending on how far you want to drive, Dresden is great. Castles, treasures, cafes, river cruises.  Lots of German tourists, less international tourists than Berlin, say, or Munich.

Gute Reise!

[Valley of Plenty]

I don't have camping tips but this reply might bump your question up again to those who do. 

If you're in Hamburg, Miniature Wonderland looks like a fantastic experience. https://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/
I've visited a much, much smaller exhibit created by a local enthusiast (of German background. This miniature hobby seems like a really German thing.) and it was fabulous. The Hamburg set up is so much more!

Depending on how far you want to drive, Dresden is great. Castles, treasures, cafes, river cruises.  Lots of German tourists, less international tourists than Berlin, say, or Munich.

Gute Reise!

Dresden sounds great, but it's 5 hours in the opposite direction of the festival venue, so I probably won't be making that trek. Thanks for the tips though!

[ChpBstrd]

It's been over a decade, but what I remember from Germany are the following:

1) Consistently nicest people you've ever met. Typical interaction: I would butcher their language with my phrasebook and they would smile and give me directions in English.
2) Everywhere I visited was clean and orderly except for Kaiserslautern, which seemed run down in an American city kind of way. I wondered if this was due to the influence of tens of thousands of American military personnel there.
3) An amazing system of walking/biking trails crisscross the countryside, at least in the Western side of the country where I visited. I had never heard of these, and was intrigued by the potential for bikepacking or hiking from town to town.
4) Castles and other historical sites are worth visiting, even if they are "touristy". I was intrigued by the Roman baths and other ruins at Trier.
5) Consider ditching the car and getting around by train. They're clean, reliable, and drop you off in the middle of walkable towns. This experience in itself will leave you with a strong impression from living a very different lifestyle.

I do not know much about where to buy camping gear, but you have a tool for your trip that I lacked with mine: a smartphone! Plus, it looks like the festival has tent rentals available! I'm sure it won't be cheap, but regardless of price it would save a lot of luggage space.

[AMandM]

Here's a company that rents camping equipment of all sorts:
https://rent.vaude.com/

No personal experience, but the Schleswig-Holstein National Park on the Wadden Sea (an inlet of the North Sea) is just west of Wacken. It has mudflats and wetlands. https://www.nationalpark-wattenmeer.de/sh/

I would consider visiting Luebeck, northeast of Hamburg, on the Baltic coast. It has a medieval city center and a port, it gives you access to the Baltic Sea, where I think you can catch a ferry to Copenhagen. And it has one of my favourite kind of tourist attractions, a museum dedicated to a local historical specialty (marzipan).

[chrisgermany]

@Valley of Plenty :
How are you doing? Do you still go to Wacken? I hope you are safe from the rain and mud.

[Valley of Plenty]

@Valley of Plenty :
How are you doing? Do you still go to Wacken? I hope you are safe from the rain and mud.

Sorry for the late update:

Yes, I did go to Wacken as planned. The mud was insane but did not prevent us from having a great time :)

We arrived in Hamburg on the 30th, and left for Wacken the morning of Tuesday the 1st. We spent about an hour in line and arrived at our campsite around noon. I was fortunate in that the plot I reserved was near the edge of the festival grounds, so I didn't have to wait in the ridiculously long line that most people did. Our campsite was damp but still dry enough to get our tent set up. One drawback was that trenches had been dug between each row of camping plots in our section to assist with drainage, which meant that once we parked we were totally boxed in until the end of the festival when our neighbors began packing up their tents, allowing room for us to get out.

The mud inside the festival itself was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. For the first couple days 80% of everywhere we walked was through mud, most of which was more than ankle deep (in a few spots I was almost up to my knees). It made getting from one place to another a very challenging affair, but as a Mustachian I had no issue with this, as I always relish a challenge and the opportunity for physical exertion :)

It was definitely a unique experience. From start to finish, I can honestly say that vacation was the best 10 days of my life. We already bought our tickets to go back next year, though we will probably not be going for quite as long, just a week for the festival and then flying back home.

[ChpBstrd]

@Valley of Plenty :
How are you doing? Do you still go to Wacken? I hope you are safe from the rain and mud.

Sorry for the late update:

Yes, I did go to Wacken as planned. The mud was insane but did not prevent us from having a great time :)

We arrived in Hamburg on the 30th, and left for Wacken the morning of Tuesday the 1st. We spent about an hour in line and arrived at our campsite around noon. I was fortunate in that the plot I reserved was near the edge of the festival grounds, so I didn't have to wait in the ridiculously long line that most people did. Our campsite was damp but still dry enough to get our tent set up. One drawback was that trenches had been dug between each row of camping plots in our section to assist with drainage, which meant that once we parked we were totally boxed in until the end of the festival when our neighbors began packing up their tents, allowing room for us to get out.

The mud inside the festival itself was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. For the first couple days 80% of everywhere we walked was through mud, most of which was more than ankle deep (in a few spots I was almost up to my knees). It made getting from one place to another a very challenging affair, but as a Mustachian I had no issue with this, as I always relish a challenge and the opportunity for physical exertion :)

It was definitely a unique experience. From start to finish, I can honestly say that vacation was the best 10 days of my life. We already bought our tickets to go back next year, though we will probably not be going for quite as long, just a week for the festival and then flying back home.

Maybe in 500 or 1000 years archeologists will dig up Wacken and be puzzled to find so many shoes, keys, phones, shirts, trash, etc buried in the mud, but none of the bodies that would suggest a great battle was fought there.

[Scandium]

@Valley of Plenty :
How are you doing? Do you still go to Wacken? I hope you are safe from the rain and mud.

Sorry for the late update:

Yes, I did go to Wacken as planned. The mud was insane but did not prevent us from having a great time :)

We arrived in Hamburg on the 30th, and left for Wacken the morning of Tuesday the 1st. We spent about an hour in line and arrived at our campsite around noon. I was fortunate in that the plot I reserved was near the edge of the festival grounds, so I didn't have to wait in the ridiculously long line that most people did. Our campsite was damp but still dry enough to get our tent set up. One drawback was that trenches had been dug between each row of camping plots in our section to assist with drainage, which meant that once we parked we were totally boxed in until the end of the festival when our neighbors began packing up their tents, allowing room for us to get out.

The mud inside the festival itself was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. For the first couple days 80% of everywhere we walked was through mud, most of which was more than ankle deep (in a few spots I was almost up to my knees). It made getting from one place to another a very challenging affair, but as a Mustachian I had no issue with this, as I always relish a challenge and the opportunity for physical exertion :)

It was definitely a unique experience. From start to finish, I can honestly say that vacation was the best 10 days of my life. We already bought our tickets to go back next year, though we will probably not be going for quite as long, just a week for the festival and then flying back home.

Sounds amazing! Wacken is on my dream-trip list! But doubt I could get my wife to go;)

Solid lineup. Any highlights? (lol Pennywise! high school flashbacks. Not exactly metal, but great band, so who cares:D). Catch local Baltimore heroes dying fetus? Saw them here last year, insane show!