Don't underestimate Southern Germany and hit these three places!

Germany is a beautiful country with so much to offer when it comes to your travel dreams. If you’re looking for a unique and less traveled experience in Germany then I have three places you won’t want to miss.

Weiden, Germany

We traveled from Vienna, Austria to Weiden, Germany by train, and let me tell you, it was one of the easiest travel experiences I’ve ever had. This trip by train made me want to only travel by train because it was that easy. We had one stop in another small town in Germany and then BAM, we were in Weiden. And using this city as a ‘home base’ while we explored a couple of other places around the area was perfect!

This town is small, not the smallest on this list, but still small. There are tons of outlying neighborhoods, but the ‘downtown’ village area is a must-see.

The people are kind, the village area holds so much history (as does most of Germany), and the options for food, beer, and ice cream were pretty broad for such a small town.

Our first night there we sat down for dinner at a Greek restaurant right smack dab in the middle of the village. The food was great and so was the wine!

We followed up dinner with a quick stop at an ice cream shop where I had two scoops of watermelon ice cream that stole my heart. My overall piece of advice for ice cream in Germany and Austria is simple: get ice cream every day and try the mango and watermelon flavors ALWAYS!

After grabbing some delicious watermelon ice cream we walked the streets and took hundreds of photos of walls. Yes, you read that right, walls. This town is full of color. Almost every building is a shade of blue, red, or yellow and combined with beautiful details of architecture and plants growing in every direction. I couldn’t stop looking at doorways and I didn’t want to!

Nuremberg, Germany

I thought the train ride from Vienna to Weiden was seamless and easy, but then I took the train from Weiden to Nuremberg and I was in love. Easy and painless with views of lush green landscapes.

Now, Nuremberg itself is an old village with loads of history both dark and up-lifting. The biggest monument to mark this history is the castle that sits atop a large hill overlooking the entire city. Making your way up to explore the grounds of this castle and potentially check out the museum inside is absolutely worth it and the view makes it even better.

Don’t get me wrong, it's a trek, especially with the cobblestone streets, but winding through the village and admiring everything on your way to the castle gives you the energy and gusto you need to make it to the top.

We also found our way around the castle to the garden and enjoyed our packed lunch under the trees overlooking the city. Later we wandered on to find an old guards bridge that looked over beautiful cobblestone streets with timber-lined buildings that absolutely come straight from a movie.

If there is any tip that I can give you about Nuremberg it's to simply walk. Take your time and don’t pick a direction, just go and I promise you will stumble into magic.

As far as food goes, we ate dinner at a restaurant with a second-floor outdoor patio that had views of the main village square where they hold Nuremberg’s notorious Christmas market. This reminds me, if you’re going anywhere near Germany during the Christmas season this market is a MUST. I haven’t been but I promise you I will go back to Germany for Christmas one year just for this.

Anyway, food. We only ate this one meal in Nuremberg and it was absolutely delicious and from what I could see and smell as we passed loads of other restaurants, it would be hard to go wrong when picking where to fuel up. Also, if you want tap water that is free instead of paying for sparkling water or a bottle of tap water that comes in a champagne bottle then make sure to educate yourself on all of the ways to order water from the tap in German. This isn’t just a Nuremberg thing, it goes for all of Germany and Austria.

Oh, and did I mention that church bells ring regularly through the village square, that can be heard for miles I’m sure, and it's absolutely magical! Can you imagine the bells ringing while walking through the Christmas Market on a snowy evening? That is what Christmas dreams are made of!

If you don’t plan on being in Nuremberg around Christmas or if you like a cold treat all year round then grab yourself some ice cream at one of the loads of ice cream shops scattered throughout the village. Again, try that watermelon flavor.

Flossenburg, Germany

No need for a dreamy train ride to get to this next location, just a quick (and dreamy) 20-minute drive from Weiden.

This is the smallest town on this list. It is the smallest, but honestly had the most impact on me as this is the town where I visited a concentration camp for the first time.

I don’t think many people know what to expect when visiting a concentration camp for the first time, which is absolutely understandable. Honestly, the only thing I want to say about visiting a location like this is that it is so important to be respectful and take the opportunity to understand history in the most firsthand way possible.

After taking the time to understand this concentration camp we decide to venture around the rest of the town of Flossenburg and we immediately noticed… a castle!!

This castle is way up on a hill standing out like a sore thumb and we couldn’t resist finding our way to the top. If you don’t want to visit the concentration camp this castle is absolutely worth the trip.

Now you must understand, I have never seen castles so these two were my first and they did not let me down.

This castle was built in 1100 A.D. and has its own pizza oven!

Okay okay it's not a pizza oven it's a fireplace/oven of sorts, but I would totally make pizza in it.

This castle was unique compared to the rest that I have seen solely because we were able to enter the castle and climb to the very top and look out over the surrounding area and actually imagine what it would have been like to live here.

Nothing about this castle has been updated or preserved aside from putting steps in and adding an information plaque, which in my opinion makes it a pretty unique experience as far as castles go.

Oh and if you get the chance watch the sunrise or sunset from the top.

A quick and unique trip that explores some less-traveled areas of Germany and can be done in a few days? You’ve found it!

If you want to see more visuals and details of this trip and locations then check out the video below that includes all of the places listed here!

To see more images from these three places, click here.