Amsterdam to Alsace
 

My husband and I are planning a trip for the end of September, beginning in Amsterdam and flying out of Basel. The itinerary could also be reversed. Our goal is to spend 3 days in Amsterdam, which has been suggested by many, then travel by train to the Rhine/Mosel area. We may stop in Cologne, store our luggage for a couple hours, to see the cathedral and Old Town. (It does make me a bit nervous to store our luggage at the beginning of our trip, though)
Next, we are planning 3-4 days in Cochem (on Mosel River) OR Braubach (on Rhine River) to see the Mosel/Rhine River area. My husband would prefer not to move hotels twice in this region.(I don't pack lightly, so I see his point.) We intend to take a train to Rudesheim and cruise back to Braubach or Koblenz depending whether we stay in Braubach or Cochem. In Braubach there is the advantage of less train travel time to get to Rudesheim and avoids the add'l train from Koblenz back to Cochem. Marksburg Castle is also right there in Braubach. But then Cochem seems to be a larger, livelier town and Burg Eltz Castle is not far away. Either way, we still plan to rent a car and visit some villages along the Mosel to as far as Bernkastel-Kues. Whether we visit the small Rhine River towns (including Bacharach) depends on our time.
We will then take a train and spend 3-4 more days in Colmar in the Alsace region. From Colmar we will take a day trip by train to Strasbourg , and also rent a car to visit a few Alsace wine villages. On our final day we will take a train to Basel, where we will depart for the US again.
If we stay in Cochem, the train takes us to Colmar through Koblenz or Trier, which we don't have a great interest in seeing because we've seen plenty of Roman ruins in our travels. Also, a day visit to Heidelberg and/or Baden-Baden interests us only because we have heard about them mostly from people who have been on Rhine River Cruises. I've heard different opinions about both towns, mostly that they're too touristy (and yes, I am a tourist.) It would mean leaving Cochem through Koblenz and probably another overnight in another town (location?). Any suggestions on this itinerary would be helpful.

cochem is as touristy as the come - swirls around tourism and yes for good reason. I loved Baden-Baden as a spa town - lush parklike setting - visit the ornated casiono that was a watering hole for the rich and famous in the last centuries and Heidelberg I love too - one of the few cities untouched by WW2 (as the saying goes because the Allies planned to make it their postwar HQs which they did and Americans still have a huge presence in the area.

But the town is neat - a nice walk up Philosopher's Hill opposite the old town - the castle of your dreams and unlike cochem's not Ersatz but the real deal. Heidelberg would make a neat overnight but Baden-Baden could be a visit en route to Strasbourg - a really really NEAT town often overlooked and just a short drive or train ride from Colmar - from Baden-Baden you go to Kehl and take a shuttle train cross the Rhine to Strasbourg - may be the quickest way by rail too from Koblenz/Cochem to Colmar.

Deja vu, all over again. :-)

Sorry my post was difficult to read through to the end. I didn't realize I'd lose my paragraph indents when I submitted it. :(

Thank you for the additional information. I can't complain too much about tourism. After all, we are tourists, though I like to think of ourselves more as "travelers". So, we'll keep Heidelberg and Baden-Baden in mind. Looking forward to Strasbourg.

for train info - schedcules www.bahn.de/en - German railways official site - can book discounted tickets on faster trains but you are taking mainly short trips so not a big deal and advance booking locks you into a certain train on a certain day at a certain time and can't be changed. For lots of good info on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

And look into Lander Cards - regional train passes for cheap use of regional trains in a large local area.

As a "traveler" who eschews all kinds of group tours and walks as much as possible and takes local transports some really neat places obviously attract loads of tourists - if you avoid all the places that are full of "tourists" you'll see few of the famous things and places that drew you to Europe in the first place.

You can also still be a traveler in a tourist envirnoment;