Would it be crazy to try to do the following:

Dusseldorf, Cologne, Amsterdam, Belgium ?? undecided which city(s) and Luxembourg in a week?

Unless you especially want to see Amsterdam, I would stick to Germany. There are so many wonderful places in that country to visit. Maybe head to Koblenz from Koln, then on to Trier, Karlsruhe, and Heidelberg before returning to Frankfurt. Or, perhaps from Koblenz head down into the Rhine River Valley where you can explore all the small towns and castles along the way.

thanks for the advice, however, I don't think the husband is interested in seeing too many towns and castles and this is a shared vacation!

His and several of his co-worker's opinions are that -Once you have seen one old town and one castle in Germany you can move on!

NOW, I have never been and this is just 3 guys opinions that have spent several weeks doing business travel to Germany--they work for Bayer.

I definitely WANT to see Amsterdam.

I would recommend Cochem and Trier. Beautiful scenery going there (the Eifel is wonderful!), and if I had to see only one castle in that area of Germany, I would want it to be Cochem. You walk DOWN to it (instead of up to it) and it is wonderfully preserved. Then, Trier to see the Roman artifacts. The Dom there is said to house Christ's robe (so perhaps your husband will consent to seeing two churches, Cologne and Trier's Dom?), and the Roman Baths, the Ampitheater, the Porta Nigera etc. The Roman Museum there is interesting also. And everything is fairly close togehter so easy walking distance....

As a side note, it has been a long time since I was in Amsterdam, but it seems to me that you should have at least two days there - it is a neat city and there are a lot of things to see (esp if you are into art...).

I wouldn't want anissa's statement about the castle at Cochem to remain unchallenged, because that castle is definitely on the TOP of a hill. There is no way to walk DOWN to the castle from the village of Cochem. Maybe anissa is thinking of another place or another way to get to the castle.

I don't see Cochem or Trier on my Germany map (only shows major cities) and all of my searches are coming up in German!

Can anyone give me a general direction of where I might find these places and how far they are from Dusseldorf or Cologne?

I can probably talk him into 2 cathedrals...when he visited Cologne last time he raved about the cathedral there and sent me to see pictures on the internet. IT is definitely AWESOME! Can't wait to take my own pictures in person.

Shannon, Trier is a little over a 2 hour drive south of Dusseldorf near the German border with Luxembourg. Cochem is on the Mosel River southwest of Koblenz.

OOOPPPS... my fault, I was thinking of somewhere else - blonde moment! I was thinking of Burg Eltz, correct me if I'm wrong (working with old memories here) but Cochem is more of a "fortress" than a "castle" right? Anyway, both are cool, but I was thinking of Burg Eltz - surrounded by forests and nestled down in a valley, which is why it has survived for so long. Web site for Burg Eltz is http://www.burg-eltz.de/, and there is an English version. website for Cochem is: http://www.cochem.de/ website for Trier is: http://www.trier.de. Sorry for the confusion!

Shannon: The Mosel and Rhine River valleys would make for a great loop tour in September - that's when the wine fests and fireworks displays are on, just about every weekend. I'd suggest arranging your visit on one of the weekends in question:

www.firework.rhine-river.com

It's more than a couple hours from Duesseldorf to either Cochem or Trier, but the drive through the Eifel mountains, the area to the west of the Rhine along the border with Belgium, is very attractive - you might want to head south that way, stopping in Aachen and picture-perfect Monschau, just to the south. Cochem is a beautiful town, more "gemuetlich" than Trier; you might daytrip over to Trier from your base in Cochem if you have an interest in Roman history, but if not, you will find the area around Cochem wonderful to explore. Bernkastel, Traben-Trarbach, Beilstein and dozens of other small, picturesque river towns will captivate you. You can ride bikes along the paved river path, hike through the vineyards, or just take a boat cruise fromt he docks in Cochem as well. Burg Eltz Castle, near Moselkern, is just a short drive from there too.

The Rhine towns between Koblenz and Bingen are great too - Boppard, St. Goar, Oberwesel, and Bacharach are all very charming. You could stay in Cochem for the 3 nights and daytrip over to these towns, or spend two in Cochem and a night in, say, Oberwesel at the Auf Schoenberg Castle Hotel (not any more expensive than a night at the Marriott, I imagnine) with its commanding view of the Rhine Gorge. Then, take the river route "home" to Duesseldorf.

Shannon: The Mosel and Rhine River valleys would make for a great loop tour in September - that's when the wine fests and fireworks displays are on, just about every weekend. I'd suggest arranging your visit on one of the weekends in question:

www.firework.rhine-river.com

It's more than a couple hours from Duesseldorf to either Cochem or Trier, but the drive through the Eifel mountains, the area to the west of the Rhine along the border with Belgium, is very attractive - you might want to head south that way, stopping in Aachen and picture-perfect Monschau, just to the south. Cochem is a beautiful town, more "gemuetlich" than Trier; you might daytrip over to Trier from your base in Cochem if you have an interest in Roman history, but if not, you will find the area around Cochem wonderful to explore. Bernkastel, Traben-Trarbach, Beilstein and dozens of other small, picturesque river towns will captivate you. You can ride bikes along the paved river path, hike through the vineyards, or just take a boat cruise fromt he docks in Cochem as well. Burg Eltz Castle, near Moselkern, is just a short drive from there too.

The Rhine towns between Koblenz and Bingen are great too - Boppard, St. Goar, Oberwesel, and Bacharach are all very charming. You could stay in Cochem for the 3 nights and daytrip over to these towns, or spend two in Cochem and a night in, say, Oberwesel at the Auf Schoenburg Castle Hotel (not any more expensive than a night at the Marriott, I imagnine) with its commanding view of the Rhine Gorge. Then, take the river route "home" to Duesseldorf.

Cochem is up, Burg Eltz down, bring good walking shoes! I live a couple of hours from the area. Love Trier, lots of Roman ruins. Cochem is a beautiful old town on the banks of the Mosel river..and in Sep, lots of wine fests! The grape vines are awesome! But then I love Amsterdam too!