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Welcome to the Kaiserslautern USO web site. We hope that your visit will be fruitful and welcome you back any time—either to our web site or to any of our offices.
Please note that we post our tours and orientations on this web site for planning purposes only. To sign up for a tour, you must go to one of our offices. Tour sign-ups begin as soon as the tour appears in our monthly magazine, Kaiserslautern Kabel.
Inclement weather may cancel tours. If road conditions are red in the Vogelweh or KMC area, USO-conducted tours will be cancelled. The USO will try to call customers in advance, but we cannot predict the weather. If you awaken on the morning of your tour and the roads are condition red, please do not attempt to drive to the pick-up point. On the next workday, visit or call the nearest USO center for a credit memo or refund check. Tune in to AFN Radio or call 480-COLD or 06371-47-2653 for the latest road conditions. |
Kaiserslautern Kabel Online
Click here to read the latest edition of the Kaiserslautern Kabel
Because of space limitations, we cannot post all of our tours at once. Follow the links below to find more information on USO tours. Click Back to return to this page.
May 2012 Tours, Orientations, and Classes
June 2012 Tours, Orientations, and Classes
Upcoming Kaiserslautern USO Overnight Tours
Auschwitz Concentration Camp
Thursday-Monday, May 17-21
Krakow, Poland’s former capital and a city many herald as “The New Prague,” continues to be one of our most popular overnight tours. Krakow is Poland’s second largest city and a major year-round tourist destination. In 1978, UNESCO distinguished Krakow by placing the town on its list of the 12 most precious cultural heritage centers in the world. We’ll leave Thursday evening and drive through the night with a breakfast stop (not included) en route. Friday morning, we’ll meet our local guide at our downtown hotel for a city tour of Krakow’s old town and tour of St. Mary’s Cathedral. After checking into the hotel, you’ll have free time to explore the city on your own, visit the castle, shop, or relax at one of the many cafés and restaurants. On Saturday, we’ll visit Auschwitz-Birkenau for a tour of the complex. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest German Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex, consisting of three main camps: Auschwitz I, the administrative center; Auschwitz II (Birkenau), an extermination camp; and Auschwitz III (Monowitz), a work camp. The first two have been on the World Heritage List since 1979. There were also around 40 satellite camps, with prisoner populations ranging from several dozen to several thousand. After a day at the camps, we will drive back to our hotel where you can prepare for an evening with a traditional Polish dinner and entertainment. Sunday, you’ll have free time to visit the castle, tour the Kazimierz area (Jewish section of town), or drive to the Salt Mines at Wieliczka and take the tour there. Your tour guide can give suggestions on things of interest in the area. We’ll leave Krakow in the afternoon and make a dinner stop en route to Kaiserslautern. Passports are required for US citizens and military members. It is the responsibility of non-US citizens to take care of visa requirements. Tour price includes transportation, two overnights with breakfast in a downtown hotel, Krakow city tour with local guide, entrance to St. Mary’s Cathedral, traditional Polish dinner with local entertainment, entrance and tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and a USO tour guide.
Transportation: German bus
Depart: Vogelweh Bowling Center 2200 (THU)
Return: Approximately 0330 (MON)
Cost: $479 (based on double occupancy)
Single Supplement: $120
Battle of Normandy
Three Overnights
Thursday-Monday, May 24-28
Join us for a memorable three-overnight tour to the Normandy D-Day coast. We'll visit places that featured prominently in the historical accounts of the battle, and many of the museums and memorials dedicated to the valiant men and women of the Allied Expeditionary Force. Walk the landing beaches of Utah and Omaha; visit Ste Mere-Eglise, Pointe du Hoc, Arromanches Museum, Bayeux World War II Museum, and the American Military Cemetery as well as other sites. This tour is not recommended for children 11 and under due to the long trip and the ambitious itinerary. We will not have time to stop for lunch so please bring a bag lunch for the first day. Tour price includes transportation, three overnights in the historic city of Caen, that took the British two months to capture, with breakfast, all entrance fees, and the services of an experienced USO military history tour guide.
Transportation: German bus
Depart: Vogelweh Bowling Center 2230 (THU)
Return: Approximately 2000 (MON)
Cost: $589 (based on double occupancy)
Single Supplement: $180 (Must be paid at time of booking and will be refunded if share basis is possible)
Fourth of July Weekend Special—
Berlin, Capital of Germany
Dresden, Florence of the Elbe
Thursday-Sunday, July 5-8
Come with the USO on this special trip to Berlin, former divided city, and beautifully refurbished capital of Germany. Throughout the centuries, Berlin has frequently been a focal point of historic events. During our stay in Berlin, you’ll have guided tours to the most popular sights that you have heard about in the media and read about in history books: the Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, Unter den Linden, the Memorial Church, the Berlin Cathedral, the Olympic Stadium, Tempelhof Airport, and the Kurfürstendamm shopping street, and much, much more. We’ll depart Kaiserslautern late Thursday evening and arrive in Berlin early Friday morning. After breakfast en route, we’ll begin our sightseeing tour of this extraordinary city. We’ll visit the House on Check Point Charlie Museum and the Topography of Terror, and one of the remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall, with as many photo opportunities we can squeeze in along the way. Friday afternoon, we’ll check into our centrally located four-star hotel. We will be within walking distance of center the former West Side of the city, where the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is located, as well as the Zoological Gardens. You will have time to spend some time and money in Germany’s largest department store, the KaDeWe, or have dinner in the Hard Rock Café or one of the many other eateries in the area. Saturday morning we’ll begin our action packed day focusing on the former East Side of Berlin, from the Brandenburg Gate to the Alexander Platz. We’ll also visit the Olympic Stadium and Saturday afternoon you will have free time to visit some of the best museums in the world, on Berlin’s Museum Island, or visit some of the charming neighborhoods like Berlin’s Old Town, the Nikolai Quarter, or the new, trendy Hackesche Höfe area of Berlin before returning to our hotel for the evening. Sunday morning, we’ll leave Berlin for Dresden, “the Florence of the Elbe.” Called the “City of Art” and a “Baroque Treasure,” Dresden is truly one of Europe’s most beautiful cities; a phoenix that has emerged from the ashes of the World War II firestorm. In the heart of the German state of Saxony, it has regained its Old World atmosphere from the days of August the Strong in the early 17th century. Stroll along the Elbe River, or view it from the Bruhlsche Terrace, known as the “Balcony of Europe.” Wonder at the Parade of Princes, a timeline of Saxon nobility made of 25,000 Meissen porcelain tiles. The impressive Frauenkirche, meticulously renovated and reopened 60 years after its destruction, is just a stone’s throw away from the Semper Opera House and the Zwinger, two more of Dresden’s monumental treasures. We’ll have a guided tour of the city’s major sites, and during your free time, you can visit one or more of the centrally located museums: the Old Masters Gallery, home to Raphael’s Sistine Madonna (with the two world famous angels) and the most extensive collection of European painting of the 15th-18th centuries; the Porcelain Museum, which houses the largest porcelain collection in the world featuring Meissen, Japanese, and Chinese porcelain; the Rustkammer or Armor Museum; and the Salon of Math and Physics. You can have lunch in one of Dresden’s famous vaulted cellars typical of Saxony. Late afternoon, we’ll depart Dresden for our return trip to Kaiserslautern. Tour price includes transportation, two overnights in a four-star hotel in Berlin, breakfast en route and in hotel, city tours of Berlin and Dresden, Checkpoint Charlie Museum entrance, Berlin Cathedral entrance, Olympic Stadium Tower, and two USO tour guides.
Transportation: German bus
Depart: Vogelweh Bowling Center 2300 (THU)
Return: Approximately midnight (SUN)
Cost: $359 Adults, $349 Children
Single Supplement: $120 (must be paid at time of booking and will be refunded if share basis is possible)
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