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 Join us on this special all-access gay tour of Germany, 'above and below', where we'll learn of ancient history, enter the castles of kings, explore the secrets of The Third Reich, and end with a stunning overlap into Oktoberfest. We leverage our relationship with Public Radio to bring you access to sites (and sights) only this group will experience. Highlights include Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Dachau Memorial Site, Von Trapp Residence (Sound of Music), multiple world-class museums and natural marvels, the underground Nazi bunker systems, and the stunning architecture of Munich/Bavaria’s kings and palaces. Consider joining our extension to celebrate Oktoberfest while already in Munich.
Germany is a country rife with history and culture. On this tour, we’ll dive in, starting with Berlin and stopping off at Brandenburg Gate, the remains of the Berlin Wall, and more historical sites. We’ll visit Museum Island, home of several museums housing ancient artifacts, as well as Schwules Museum, which is focused entirely on gay history.
Then we will move on to Munich and its surrounding areas, where we’ll get a taste of the different and lavish architectural styles of 19th-century palaces such as Neuschwanstein, a fairy tale castle. We’ll learn important history at the Dachau Memorial Site and visit picturesque Salzburg. We’ll also visit the largest science and technology museum in the world at Deutsches Museum and have the option to add an extension to Oktoberfest.
• Immerse yourself in history as you stand in front of Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall.
• Travel through time at Museum Island, which features artifacts from ancient human history through the 19th century.
• Learn about gay history at Schwules Museum, the world’s first museum dedicated to LGBTQ+ art, history and culture.
• Visit the historically rich city of Munich and experience its eclectic architectural styles.
• Relax and take in the stunning views at picturesque, Neuschwanstein Castle.
• Pause at Dachau Memorial Site as we learn about the lives of those who were imprisoned there.
• Tour the city of Salzburg and visit The Sound of Music filming locales.
• Join us on an extension to experience Oktoberfest.
Day 1 -
 Arrive in Berlin – one of the most open-minded and culturally exotic, even erotic cities in the world. On this anniversary of the uniting of both East and West Berlin, you’ll be greeted by a modern city that literally has it all -from the world’s finest museums to sleek state-of-the-art transportation. As Berlin’s mayor says: “We may not be as rich [as Bavaria], but we are sexy!”
After a brief orientation by our Public Radio and HE travel host, Cary Harrison, we will head off to a deluxe Welcome Dinner followed by some time to explore Berlin at night.
Day 2 -
 Today, we will enjoy touring through Berlin and see how this magnificent city (now joined) is put together. From the iconic Brandenburg gate (made more famous in Showtime’s “Homeland”) to the German parliament dome which offers an architectural experience and 360° views of this part of Germany.
Later, we take you to lunch at the dome “Reichstag” followed by the afternoon to explore the unfolding city. At night, you may prefer an Optional visit to gay Berlin’s famous Laboratory Club – open only on Friday nights for 2 hours.
Day 3 -
 Today, see the only-surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing, complete with intact graffiti of the time (on the Western side) opposed by a shocking counterpoint on the former East German side in a stunning outdoor museum setting.
We will have day passes to see visit all the top museums on Berlin’s famous “Museum Island”. (A significant, vast portion of ancient Greece’s actual Parthenon still sits in Berlin and cannot be found on the Acropolis.)
Days 4 -
 VIP Experience: Leveraging his Public Radio access and journalism credentials, we gain access to the devastated underground ruins of a WW2 Nazi Bunker fortress. Cary takes you under the nerve center of the Third Reich into one of the few remaining Nazi bunkers, as it was left intact after the war. Forgotten deep under the streets of East German communists, these (amount still unknown) bunker systems sat, untouched, and remains accessible under special educational license only. We get an unparalleled glimpse into “underground Berlin” during the air raids that destroyed 80% of the city center – traveling through the twisting passages and rooms, observing countless artifacts from the war that have remained buried there for decades. A still-functioning pneumatic post provides you with an insight into the 160-year-old underground history of Berlin.
Depending on limited permits, we may also see a dazzling underground landscape – complete with dizzying views seven stories underground where the Führer ordered a gigantic “Flak Tower” built, to fire enormous aerial weapons (some successfully) at Allied aircraft. Though bombed, 8,000 archaeological hours and 1,400 cubic meters of rubble have been removed, opening up an area not before thought to exist.
Later in the afternoon, you may choose to go on your own to Berlin’s famous Queer Museum (Schwulesmuseum) or pay homage at Marlene Dietrich’s elegant but hidden grave. Her headstone is covered in flowers and cigarette butts in holders (inside humor from fans).
This evening we will enjoy a spectacular dinner view at the very top of the Berlin TV Tower’s rotating restaurant.
Days 5 -
 We will take our journey to Munich via rail, giving us plenty of time to relax and enjoy the lush countryside. After we arrive and settle into our hotel, we will enjoy a walking tour of the old city of Munich, followed by a delicious dinner at a lakeside restaurant.
After dinner, some may wish (on their own) to visit the 3-story underground gay sauna which is the largest in all of Munich. It’s literally under Die Deutsche Eiche and is celebrated as the premier hangout for palliative steam, soak, or saunter.
Days 6 -
 Today is fit for a King (or a Queen) as we visit Bavarian Gay King Ludwig II’s Linderhof Palace. This is the famous palace where our gay king floated in grand, golden swans in his blue-lit water grotto. While King Ludwig was not known to take in visitors (the staff does talk!), he frequently visited the young stablehands below, for hours at a time, ensuring the horses were well-kept.
We next head up – literally up – to Castle Neuschwanstein, made famous by Walt Disney himself in a literal reproduction… the Magic Kingdom. Magic, indeed.
King Ludwig had only a single visitor to this castle, that being his mother. Lud also had the only working telephone in the world, at the time, which presumably rang to mummy or perhaps to...
Day 7 -
 Some will wish to walk around the vast area preparing for the upcoming Oktoberfest. While it won’t have officially started (until our Sunday “extension” day), the ramp-up can often be barely distinguishable from the real thing.
Some will wish to visit the Deutsche Eiche’s impeccably-clean gay saunas & cafes (at the sauna) as the saunas peak early, between 5-7 pm, as they are social meeting spots and have an entirely different vibe from what American versions are said to be.
You may wish to visit Nymphenburg Palace (another castle, right in town(ish) and to have sunset cocktails on Hotel Deutsche Eiche’s historic rooftop bar which offers the single best views of Bavaria at Sunset.
Some will wish to visit the English Gardens with lines of German boys literally surfing (on surfboards) on the gushing natural river currents.
You can also visit Munich’s Nazi Dokumention Museum which holds a comprehensive history of the Third Reich.
Day 8 -
 Today we enjoy a free morning and meet up in the afternoon for a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. Here we’ll learn about the lives of those who were imprisoned here through an exhibition that will take us through the “path of prisoners”. We will learn of firsthand accounts, biographies and more in their historical locations. We will also have the privilege of meeting up with a gay archivist.
The afternoon will be free and we will meet up for dinner this evening.
Day 9 -
 We’ll head to the picturesque city of Salzburg and enjoy a lively Sound of Music themed tour via e-bikes, where we’ll get to see some of the locations where the classic film was shot.
Then we’ll head to Berchtesgaden where we will visit the Eagle’s Nest. Located high atop the peak of Kehlstein in the Bavarian Alps, this location offers an incredible view of the surrounding countryside. Tonight we will enjoy a free evening.
Day 10 -
 We will meet up in the late morning to enjoy a Munich Third Reich City tour. Covering the Nazis’ beginnings in the Bavarian capital, though to their downfall at the end of WWII in 1945. We will view former Nazi buildings, hear about the German resistance movement and see memorials to the victims.
Then this afternoon we will have an optional visit to Nymphenburg. Later in the evening, we will enjoy our farewell dinner together at the authentic Bavarian Octoberfest with music.
Day 11 -
Enjoy breakfast and then transfer to the airport or your next hotel for Oktoberfest!
Day 11 -
 Sunday is the Offical Gay Oktoberfest Day! Enjoy Gay Sunday (Rosa Wiesn) in the Bräurosl tent, with thousands of gay guys. The event started in the 70s when gay leather/fetish Germans (the Munich Lions Club) crashed the Bräurosl beer tent and changed history.
The day continues with plenty of German beer and a live oompah band playing camped-up Oompah music. There’s also another venue on the green that’s an over-the-top drinking hall that seats over 8,000 LGBT+ revelers in rows of long tables. Yep. Game on!
Day 12 -
We hope you enjoyed your taste of Oktoberfest! Safe travels home.
Days 11 - 15 -
 Stay longer and enjoy a lovely stay in open-minded Amsterdam, where the first legal gay marriages were performed in 2001. Liberalism was invented here! Free trade and social tolerance are the hallmarks of Amsterdam, and the people here invented something called “Gedogen” which is a policy of “letting things happen” that has been shocking religious conservatives since the 17th century!
Many of us still remember the 1970s, when it was the ultimate city of free love and free drugs, and many aspects of that period are still alive, including a very active gay liberation movement. Indeed, it is a city that looks both backward and forward, with the beautifully preserved 17th-century architecture and art of its charming center and open-minded liberalism that could serve as a model for the future if we are smart!
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