4-5 nights in Rhineland
 

We have booked 4 nights in Bacharach in July (as part of a total 14 nights holiday - 5 nights Lake Constance and 5 nights Black Forest also).

I am now considering if it would be better to stay an extra night possibly in the Rhineland. This would of course require staying one night less in one of the other two destinations.

I would also now like to incorporate the Mosel Valley into our trip so am either considering staying in Koblenz or Bacharach and Cochem perhaps.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I spend an extra night here and if so where should I spend one night less?

Thank you.

I would split the Rhine and Mosel into two bases - assume you are traveling by car?

Cochem is a fairy-tale town with a fairy-tale castle in a fairy-tale setting but gets rather crowded in July as does the whole Mosel.

I'd do 2 days on the Rhine and 3 days on the Mosel as the Mosel has more territory to motor over - and is more scenic to many- the Rhine Gorge is not that big but it depends on what kind of experience you are after. I'd take a day away from Black Forest probably.

Koblenz is nice for a large city but lacks the romance of what smaller towns on Rhine and Mosel offer. Don't neglect Koblenz IMO - especially see Deutsches Eck- one of the most famous places in Germany for Germans - at the confluence of Rhine and Mosel rivers.

Try to stop by Baden-Baden when going south for a few hours - very unusual and neat place.

If going by train all would be changed. You are going by car, right?

Thanks for replying. We will be travelling by public transport.

I am considering Boppard instead of Koblenz.

I am planning a day trip from Baden-Baden from Gengenbach.

I'm thinking if I would be better off spending one day less at Lake Constance. Here's my rough day-by-day plan for Lake Constance and the Black Forest:

Day 1 - Fly into Zürich and travel to Meersburg

Day 2 - Day trip to Konstanz / Mainau Island

Day 3 - Day trip to Lindau

Day 4 - ?

Day 5 - ?

Day 6 - Train to Gengenbach

Day 7 - Visit Triberg & Black Forest Open Air Museum Gutach

Day 8 - Strasbourg

Day 9 - Baden-Baden

Day 10 - ?

I would definitely like to do all the things I have listed above. At the moment I have less planned for Lake Constance but I don't know where I should reduce my stay.

You will probably pass thru Freibourg and it is a nice university town - anyway for lots of train info check www.bahn.de/en for schedules and regional (Lander Tickets) that give up to several people unlimited travel on public transports for a whole day in a region - and for general info on trains www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

For an extra day from Strasbourg it is a short train ride to Colmar,a cute smaller town and a wine center for Alsace wines- the town itself makes a nice relaxed day out from Strasbourg.

Speyer and Worms are neat Rhineside towns en route north from Baden-Baden.

Or from Strasbourg you could take a train to Luxembopurg- a physical gorgeous city divided by a deep gorge and then via Trier down the Mosel by train to Cochem (though you see little of the river from the train until near Cochem)- then to Rhine.

Trier is a so-so nice city with a lot of neat things to see - a Roman Basilica now a Christian church - Roman theatre - Porta Negra - huge city gate one of the best intact Roman relics north of the Alps and a very pleasant city center.

You can also go by boat from Trier through the Mosel Valley to Koblenz, but only in 2 days (sleeep somewhere in the Traben-Trarbach - Bernkastel area).

Lake Constance:
may be you will visit
Celtic Lake Dwellings at Unteruhldingen
Zeppelin Museum at Friedrichshafen
View point Pfaender above Bregenz
St. Gallen and it's Unesco World Heritage cathedral and library
The cog wheel railways to Heiden and Walzenhausen in the Appenzellerland
Arenenberg Castle (where the French emperor Napoleon 3rd passed his childhood)
Stein am Rhein (tiny medieval Swiss city)
medieval city center of Schaffhausen with castle and Rhine Falls
typical Swiss half timbered house villages of Gottlieben and Ermatingen
the unesco World Heritage monastery and Island of Reichenau
etc. etc.

"I am considering Boppard instead of Koblenz."

Good choice. I don't understand WHEN this fits into your itinerary, or how many days you plan to be in the Rhine/Mosel are but yes, Boppard is great, and a good place to do outings from if you want to see the lower half of the Mosel: Traben-Trarbach - Cochem - Moselkern (Burg Eltz train stop) - Koblenz. However, it's a long outing from Boppard to Trier and back, so if you're doing Trier it would be better to base in Cochem for the Mosel and then somewhere else on the Rhine for the Rhine towns. You can only pull the wishbone so hard before it snaps...

What about the great Cathedral of Speyer? It is a World Heritage Site.

Thin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyer_Cathedral

Yes Speyer is a neat old town off the radar of most tourists for some reason.

I think I'll stick with Bacharach as it's only 20 mins further down the Rhine by train. A day trip to Cochem and Trier seems doable with 1 hr 20 mins to Cochem and 2 hours back from Trier.

Those sort of times are nothing compared to the 3 hour each way trip we did to Hallstatt last summer!

Also looking at hotels in Boppard any of the suitable hotels there would be a downgrade (apart from Bellevue Rheinhotel which is too expensive).

I'm still considering whether to add an extra day or not.

I would be interested in seeing Speyer, particularly the Technik Museum but the only way I can think of fitting it in is if we stop there on the way to Bacharach from Gengenbach.
Is there somewhere we can store our luugage in Speyer?

all German train station in sizable cities like Speyer have luggage lockers that I have been in so no problem.

It doesn't apparently: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...n-Germany.html

Wow - shocks me - sorry about that!

Speyer is I think very close to Worms - another neat Rhine town but larger - see if it has luggage storage if so take a train there and go back the few minutes to Speyer- if you really want to see it - or keep the car and drive there and return it at Frankfurt Airport which has trains going everywhere you want.

Speyer is linked by S-Bahn to Mannheim Hbf where you will have to pass anyway (25 min journey, 3 trains per hr). Mannheimn Hbf has luggage lockers and a lot of other facilities.
There are also lockers at Ludwigshafen Hbf, 5 min closer to Speyer (same railway line).

BTW: there are frequent citybuses (ticket in the bus) from Speyer railway staton via Cathedral (stunning Maya exhibition in the Historisches Museum der Pfalz) up to the Technikmuseum.
Excellent Greek Taverna (Domnapf) in front of the cathedral.