I have been kicking around the idea of traveling to Germany for a vacation (Never been there). What cities or region do you recommend to a tourist who is traveling in September has about 10-15 days to spend in country, is not fluent in German, enjoys historical and cultural sites and is traveling with a companion who has mobility impairment (she can walk but somewhat limited. No more than a kilometer or so at a time without a break and highly levels of actively like skiing would not be possible.

Thanks!

Because of the mobility impairment, I will mostly concentrate on cities (please check if she needs technical help, some historic quarters are blocked for cars). This is a clockwise trip through Germany starting and ending in Munich, you can also start it at other big international airports (e.g. Frankfurt, Berlin)

Southern Germany: Bodensee (biggest lake) and Alpes, here you have to check what you are interested in (can you still see old cities etc.)
Upper Rhine: Basel (Swiss), Freiburg, Black Mountains (in general the popular mountains have an aerial tramway to the top, or a train or something like that), Strassbourg (France)
Cologne: Big city, big dome, media center, on the Rhine. Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, France are near (going to London is faster than to the Eastern German border)
Lower Rhine valley: Trier, Aachen, Bonn (former capital), Koblenz, Mainz, Frankfurt (financial center), some historic centers, wine cultivation and opportunities to test it.
: One of the four cities with more than 1 million inhabitants, important port and economic center, a nice center, you will find some cultural events here. If you go north, there are the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Frisian_Islands]North Frisian Islands: You can do bird watching there, stalk semi-prominent people (on a German level) on (German Hamptons ;)) or visit the lone island [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helgoland]Helgoland (tourist destination and if you go by ship on deck, gulls with shit on you). The danish border is near, but Kopenhagen isn't near the border.
If you want to see the Baltic Sea (whether can be from 25°C to 10°C), try a port city with beach and historic quarters, preferably which was part of the trade cartel "Hanse", e.g. Lübeck, Stralsund; Stralsund has also the advantage that the biggest island Rügen is next to it.
Berlin: captial, many cultural activites, many hipsters, many alternative people. Check the event calendar for things you could be interested in
(state capital with reconstructed center) and [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxon_Switzerland]Saxon Switzerland (you can walk around the river and rocks or go by steam ship)

Fork:
Choice 1:
Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Regensburg: Beautiful cities with historic center
Choice 2:
Visit Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, and Salzburg (Mozart, classical music), then back to Munich.

If you come in the second half of September, be a stereotype tourist, visit the Oktoberfest (Wikipedia says: Sep 21 – Oct 6 ) and tell everybody at home that whole Germany is like this ;) Accommodation in and near Munich will be expensive at that time.

Edit: Added Salzburg.

Thanks for all the info! Its funny I had not even thought of Oktoberfest. Would it be better to travel another time of the year when it is less crowded (and maybe cheaper?) or is it something I should not miss?

You're probably not going to have much trouble speaking English, but I would suggest trying to pick up a little bit before you go. That being said, when I was there, I only met one person that really didn't know any English.

And these days, a decent smartphone will do wonders for translating things for you as needed. I'm amazed at how well my aged Nexus One does translating things via camera. You can presumably find a pay as you go SIM card without too much luck in pretty much any part of Europe.

But, I wouldn't know how to do that, the last time I was in Germany was effectively pre-cell phone. I think that's largely a matter of personal preference. But, if you have mobility issues, being there when it's quite busy might make things more complicated than it would be the rest of the year.

And I agree with the other poster, Munich is great.

Munich is crazy during Oktoberfest. The city is overrun with tourists from all over the world, and it's hard to find a reasonably priced hotel during that time. Oktoberfest is like a huge state fair, with rollercoasters and other amusement rides, loud music, expensive food and thousands of people getting drunk in big beer tents. It's definitely not for everyone, but many people obviously enjoy it.

Come to Aachen and enjoy a Printe or two.

Come to Slovenia. German architecture, without the Germans. Win-win.

No, but seriously, the only time I went to Deutschland was on a high school trip to the Deutsches Museum in Munich. According to my brain, it was one of the best field trips I can remember. The next day, on the return trip, we stopped in Salzburg. A-must detour if you intend to visit the south of the Reich (well, technically, the lower middle if you also count Osterreich...).

Most people had English in school, in the Eastern part, some people 60+ had only Russian. Lack of training/use of the language is a more likely issue (TV shows are translated to German etc.) Best advice here is to ask the youngest person.
We have 4 mobile networks (T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom, vodafone, e-plus, and O2 by Telefonica). e-plus is said to be the worst when you want to use mobile data, followed by O2. They are also said to have worse network coverage. There are shops which sell SIM cards at airports and bigger train stations, but you can also get it at discounter chains (nearly everyone has a brand for one of the networks). By law, people are obliged to be identified when purchasing a SIM card.

Visit the Oktoberfest if like huge crowds, music which you don't understand, like talking to strangers and you don't regret to pay much on everything. If you arrive from another city by bus (cheaper) or train, you can also leave the same day (except you drank too much, than flying out sounds not so well).

OP is downrated... WTF? I don't actually have anything to contribute, just clicked on the thread because I saw it was downrated for some reason.

I think I've seen that happen in several cases lately where there was no obvious reason for it. Maybe internet trolls have gone lazy and prefer just pressing buttons now in order to cause confusion and piss people off? :/ (At least I'd like to think that it's not regular community members who are responsible for this nonsense.)

I think someone may be targeting Zookie because another one of his thread he was downvoted - the only thing I can think of his because he asks a lot survey threads and whoever is downvoting him doesn't like that? I dunno seems kind of a strange reason and I am sure it is wrong, but that's all I could come up with. :/

Hamburg and Berlin. Cologne too because you have to see that Cathedral.

My experience with US perception of Germany is, that a lot of known things belong to Bavaria (the southern-east part of Germany). So if you got the idea to come, go there. Plenty of history, art and culture and furthermore Munich (the Bavarian capital) is in Oktoberfest fever. Of course, there are many other nice places, but Bavaria won't let you down. I had a beer with a guy from NY a couple of weeks ago, who loves visiting Munich time and again.

Bremen in Germany is a really nice place lots to see

Yeah I noticed this too. I like getting opinions from people on GOG, because they tend to be an insightful fun bunch from all over the world. I had no idea it was bothering people. I ask a lot of questions in person as well, I suppose it bothers some people in non-cyberspace too :) . I just thought if people did not like my treads they would just ignore them.