Friends, I’ve never been and will be a first time tourist. Focusing mainly on small towns but wanting to spend 2ish days in a bigger city. What is the best for touring and for eating among these 4. If you had to choose one. Frankfurt. Bonn. Stuttgart. Cologne.
Stuttgart and Koeln will offer the most authentic ‘cultural/regional’ dishes.
really big cities have been diluted with external influences.
Would they be equally your top two for non eating tourism?
No Berlin or Munich?
Cologne has a lot of historical sights, and its close to the Rhine Valley if you are already heading there.
Frankfurt is a major financial hub. Whether you like it depends on whether you like attributes of financial hubs.
So ultimately, it depends on what you are looking for.
Germany has a lot of Turkish immigrants, so make sure you grab some Turkish food while you are in one of the cities.
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Of the four cities I would pick Cologne (especially if you have a (rental) car as it is in an area where a lot of other cities and interesting day-trips, e.g. along the Rhine etc
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Cologne.
Stuttgart is in a nice area but the city itself is fugly and $$$.
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Thanks friends. The 4 I chose are nearest to the rest of our itinerary. It looks like cologne is a favorite. Just looking for a nice mix of culture, walking areas, people watching, good European vibes. If by financial ie Frankfurt you mean more glass and steel skyscrapers built in the last 50 yrs Wall Street modern style all business etc then that is not the vibe I’m seeking.
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It has a “cute” downtown but is overrun with tourists.
That’s almost a universal fact at this point. Anywhere nice. 
It all depends on what you want…Start in Frankfurt, then go Würtzburg - drive south along the “Romantische route” - with castles along the way…stop in Rotenburg am Tauber, Dinkelsbühl, stop in the little towns and eat amazing meals in family restaurants. Unfortunately, I cant recall the name of the town that was really tiny with such good food, it wasn’t a fully walled city, but there were remnants of the old wall. Germany has amazing food - it’s the country with the most Michelin Starred restaurants after France.
We crossed messages. What I’m looking for is just above. So you’d pick Frankfurt of the 4 cities listed as the most tourist picturesque? I’ve got the rest of the trip planned out already and just looking for that single larger town to explore. Thanks!
Adding a second question. How prevalent are nuts in German cuisine? Mostly desserts? We have one in our group with an allergy and I’m wondering how hard that will be to navigate.
Where are you flying into and out of? FRA?
Most menus in restaurants have “footnotes” with ingredients which might be allergenes etc. You see it less in bakeries and “Konditoreien” and it will be used quite extensively. You will get the information when asked but how severe is the allergic reaction because most places won’t be careful with cross contamination even if the ingredient might be not in the ingredient list ?
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Haven’t gotten there yet. Still in early planning. Will depend on the cities we visit and the flight prices.
Serious but mostly re a few kinds and not all of them. Peanuts and walnuts are the worst. I feel like they’re not a big part of savory cuisine? I could be wrong.
Another vote for Cologne.
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Nuts tend to be not a significant part of savory German cuisine but are extensively used in desserts, cakes etc… In addition, Germany has restaurant/cooking culture which is often heavily influenced by the millions of immigrants who live in Germany, coming from Turkey, Italy, Croatia etc. These cuisines are using nuts quite more heavily and so it might be necessary to still discuss it when you go the restaurants (which you definitely should do as you would otherwise miss great cuisines which are often better represented than in the US (including Italy (not talking about US-Italian cuisine which has not much to do with what you would get in Italy)
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Frankfurt was heavily damaged in WWII, so it’s charming/old sections are not large - and is why I suggested the “romantische route”. I’d stick to something like that or follow the Rhein or the Mosel, if you want small towns. (But maybe you already have that).
I’d suggest Hamburg - but I know that’s adding another wrench into the mix. I’ve not been to Koln, but just saw this…
Sorry I’m not more helpful.
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As somebody who has lived 25+ years in Hamburg I can fully support the suggestion of Hamburg (and the distances in Germany are not too bad either by train or Autobahn - there is a reason why Hamburg is often called the Venice of the North (it has more canals/channels and bridges than Venice)
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