You know how it is – sometimes a country keeps falling under your radar, and then all of a sudden, you just can’t stop visiting. This is what happened to me with Germany. It was always on my ‘maybe’ list, but during the last few years, we have visited several times due to different occasions. Be it weddings, visiting friends or just as a short get-away, we ended up visiting different areas in Germany over the years.

Visiting the country during different seasons also made it more beautiful and diverse, experiencing different versions of the countryside and weather. So here, I wanted to share the different areas according to the seasons that we visited, which made them more unique.

Spring/Summer – Munich & Lindau

Three years ago we were invited to a wedding in Lindau, which is at the south of Germany, on the border with Austria. Therefore we had to fly to Munich and then head down by train to Lindau. We were there during summer, so the open air cafes in Munich were buzzing with activity, people were renting paddle boats and swimming in Lindau, boat rides were full of tourists, ice cream was a daily treat and life was good 🙂

Being a city girl, I enjoyed strolling around the city of Munich, wandering through cobblestone streets and surrounded with beautiful buildings. One of the largest parks in Munich, the English garden, is an oasis of green, offering a peaceful and calm ambience compared to the hectic life in the city. In the middle of the park, there is a lake, a perfect place to have a breather while sipping beer and enjoying a bratwurst on a hot summer day.

Lindau on the other hand, is more of a summer destination, especially on the island. The city is right on the edge of Lake Constance, which is bordered by Switzerland and Austria, and the views are spectacular. You can also take a ferry to the other countries. For me, this felt like the perfect place for a summer holiday, where you can swim, eat and drink to your heart’s content, while surrounded by the mesmerising lake and beautiful houses.

Autumn – Eifel National Park

As I grow older, I’m leaning more into Autumn being one of the most beautiful seasons. Even though the weather starts getting worse after those sunny summer days and the days become shorter, but the changing of leave colours and the overall winding down of nature after the busy summer months, is something that I find peaceful and calming.

This is the main reason why we chose to visit the Eifel National park in Western Germany. We spent four days here, rented a small apartment and walked around the park. Covering an area of around 5,300 km², a car would make it easier to visit the different areas as well as cute villages within the park such as Monschau.

One of the highlights of this park, is Eltz Castle. The castle is still lived in by the family, which has been there since the 12th century. Therefore it is not open to the public. Just viewing the castle from the outside is enough to feel like you stepped into a Disney fairytale.

Winter – Cologne & Berlin

Christmas season, the season when every corner is turned into a magical place with twinkling lights. Coming from an island where the temperature doesn’t go lower than 7 degrees during the winter, visiting cities in the North is a bit of a struggle for me. But nothing that some gluhwein or kinderpunsch (warm cider drink for those who can’t stomach gluhwein like me 🙂 ) can’t fix!

Cologne is a city that I have visited several times during this season. Again, being a city girl, I fell in love with this city pretty quickly. And having multitude Christmas markets all over the city makes it all the more fun to visit. You don’t have to walk far to stumble on a square full of log cabins, the smell of sausages, waffles and gluhwein, and the laughter of tipsy people simply enjoying the season. The largest Christmas market is right underneath the gothic Cologne cathedral, giving it a jaw-dropping, epic background.

Berlin, on the other side of the country, is a much larger city and the Christmas markets are more spread out. So taking a metro is more feasible if you’re doing a Christmas tour 😉 However, when we were there, the city started frosting up and it was a whole different kind of magic seeing the lakes freezing over. For obvious reasons, we also had to see the grim side of Berlin, references to the Second World War and the devastation that it brought with it. Pieces of the Berlin wall can be found everywhere, with the longest piece still left upright and full of graffiti, making it ironically vibrant.

There are many more places that I could mention here, the list can go on and on. Visiting each place in Germany has made me fall head over heels for this country, and wouldn’t mind seeing more of it. Seasons play an important part when visiting a place, as unique characteristics come out pertaining to that season and it might feel like a totally different place. One thing is for certain though –

“The beauty of life lies in the little moments, enjoy each season as it comes.” – Anonymous