Questions Advisors Ask Us
The questions that come up in almost every enquiry, answered short, with links to the detail.
Most enquiries we receive circle around the same dozen questions — seasons, distances, guides, castles, ships. This page answers them in short. Where a topic deserves more than a paragraph, the answer links to the page that gives it the space it needs.
Planning a first German itinerary
Germany rewards a different kind of planning than France or Italy: the distances are shorter, the seasons are more distinct, and the scarce resources are not hotel rooms but timed castle entries and licensed guides. A first itinerary usually starts with two questions — which of the fifteen destinations fit the party, and which season the trip should lean into. The answers below cover the rest: how long a route needs, how rail and car divide the work, and where the queues are avoidable. The commercial mechanics — net rates, white-label documents, client ownership — live on our page for travel advisors.
While your clients travel
Every programme runs with a licensed guide or chauffeur we know personally, timings built around your clients rather than a coach schedule, and one planner who stays reachable from the first enquiry to the flight home. What that means in detail is explained on the guides and transfers pages — the short version is in the answers below.
What we operate
The services behind every programme
The short answers
Frequently asked, honestly answered
When is the best time to visit Germany?
There is no closed season, only a different country in each one: Advent turns the historic cities into markets and books out months ahead, summer belongs to the Alps and the lakes, autumn is the wine harvest, and spring is the quietest and best for garden and architecture clients. The full case is on Why Germany.
How many days does a first Germany itinerary need?
Seven days carries the two capitals with a third base in between; ten days makes a relaxed route without turning the trip into a transfer schedule. Use no more than three bases and let day excursions do the rest.
What is the difference between a guide and a chauffeur?
A licence. Germany licenses guides city by city — Munich, Berlin, Dresden and Nuremberg each run their own examinations — so commentary there has to come from a licensed guide. Our chauffeurs know the roads and answer questions, but a chauffeur is never sold to you as a guide; where a day needs both, we price both.
Can my clients see Neuschwanstein without the crowds?
Yes — the difference is timing and access, not luck. An early timed entry, a private car that waits, and the rest of the day at Linderhof or on the lakes instead of in a queue. Background on the Neuschwanstein page.
How do pre- and post-cruise programmes work?
Built backwards from the ship: embarkation time and port decide the routing, not breakfast. We run dedicated packages for Munich, Heidelberg and the Black Forest, and full shore days from the northern cruise ports.
Do you work with travellers directly?
No. We work exclusively through travel advisors: you keep the client and the relationship, we run the ground programme and quote it net. The mechanics are on the page for travel advisors.
Rail or car between cities?
Both, deliberately. First-class rail is genuinely comfortable for clients who dislike long car days; a chauffeured car wins where the route itself is the point — the Romantic Road, the Black Forest ridge. Most itineraries combine the two without either becoming a compromise.
Which airports work as gateways?
Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and Duesseldorf. A transatlantic client can usually fly into one end of the itinerary and out of the other, with VIP airport assistance at arrival and departure.
Can a published programme be changed?
Every programme is a starting point. Days can be swapped, shortened, extended or rebuilt around a single interest — the tours exist so you do not have to start from a blank page, not to limit the trip.
How far ahead should Advent or Oktoberfest trips be booked?
Months ahead — these are the weeks when Germany is fullest, and hotels, guides and market tours are contested. The earlier the scarce pieces are held, the more freedom the rest of the itinerary keeps.
A question this page does not answer?
Ask it with the dates and the party attached — you get the answer and, if you want it, an itinerary priced net.
Ask us directly