I like to avoid 1 night stays too for the most part. Arrival days can be tough though. Its really a trade off - based on how much you want to do the first day.

You do not need a car to see any of the places you mention on the Mosel and Rhine and I would do it all from one base - Cochem is a fairy-tale town with the castle of your dredams popping out of vineyards girdling it. It has great train links with frequent trains to Moselkern (Burg Eltz) and Koblenz from where you can take a train to Rudeshwim and take the K-D boats back towards Koblenz, getting off at Marksburg station dock if you want and then taking a train from there back to Cochem.

If you had a railpass it would cover the boats in full.

Mosel Valley tour: Where to stay for this portion?
Bacharach & Cochem Tues.
Moselkern and Berg Eltz Wednesday morning.

Well Bacharach would make a poor Mosel base since it is on the Rhine gorge - Cochem is very close to Moselkern - if into biking at all rent a bike at Cochem's train station and ride down the valley (often with the wind in my dozens of bike trips going up the valley and inevitably against the wind in this natural wind tunnel) and then do Burg Eltz (park bike at Moselkern train station and when ready to return to Cochem load you bike on a train and return it on arrival.

There is a lovely few-mile path that winds up thru woods to Burg Eltz, perched high above the Mosel and that is one reason this castle was rarely afffected by war and is in a pristine condition.

<<Antwerp: Train Monday early evening, see Middleheim, Fotomuseum, Cathedral of our Lady, St. Pauluskerk, and maybe one other museum if there's time. KMSKA or what's your suggestions for Tuesday?>>
Note that museums are closed on Mondays, also the open air museum Middelheim (which is not in the very centre).
The churches are open.
KMSKA is closed until 2017 (!) for major renovations. There is a brandnew museum, though, the MAS. http://www.mas.be/MAS-EN/Publicatiek...na-MAS-EN.html

I love the Netherlands but I would skip it for this trip. Brugges is a charming city and definitely worth a stop. I enjoyed Antwerp as well.

In Germany you could do the Romantic Road. Rothenberg is one of my favorite walled cities.

If going out to Middleheim - trams go right near it the tram line also passes by a street full of neat Art Nouveau buildings - cannot remember the name of the street but it is right by the Antwerpen-Berchem train station - hop off the tram and take a look at IMO one of Antwerp's neatest but often unknown sites.

Bacharach & Cochem Tues.
Moselkern and Berg Eltz Wednesday morning.

"Bacharach would make a poor Mosel base since it is on the Rhine gorge"
Oops, I think I meant either Beilstein or Bernkastel-Kues to visit on Tuesday with Cochem.
If we leave Aachen/Koln on Monday morning, how long do you think it will take us to get to Luxembourg City? Then if we hang around in Trier after that, should we go on into Cochem to stay there Monday night and keep that as our base for the Rhein areas as well? I don't know how much time to allow for each castel, village and train travel.

PalenQ, the name of the street is Cogels Osylei. It's one of the prettiest neighbourhoods in (well, around) Antwerp.

Myriam - thanks for that - I kind of remembered it because it is a weird-sounding name in English at least! And yes I have visited it several times and always found it fascinating - actually inside the city ring road so part of the city I would think. Easy to get to anyway by tram or even commuter train from Antwerpen Centraal Station to Antwerpen-Berchem station.

again thanks for the name!

@ PalenQ
A bit of background information on the name of the street: Baron Osy de Wichem used to be the owner of the neighbourhood Zurenborg in the 1800's. Together with his brother-in-law, Senator Cogels, he started to build the residential <i>Maisons Bourgeoises</i>. Hence the name of the main street: Cogels-Osylei (lei = avenue).
The neighbourhood Zurenborg is situated in Berchem, which is a suburb of Antwerp.

If you are using the trains I recommend reading the illustrated introduction to European trains at
http://tinyurl.com/eym5b. If you are driving for the first time see http://tinyurl.com/3bc2ax.

I think you are trying to do too much. You will need a vacation when you are finished with this trip.

Myrian - thank you for that detailed explanation and about Berchem being a suburb - I thought that the ring road - not the freeway but the divided highway that circles Antwerp on the south may have been the dividing line. I spent many many nights in the Camping Municipal not far from Berchem so know the area well - Middleheim park is very close to Cogels-Oslyei street and the neat neighborhood around it so makes a natural IMO to see each if doing Middleheim, which I think is a spectacular place for anyone interested in modern sculptures, set in a lush verdant park.

again thanks for the details.

We will add Cogels-Oslyei to our sites to see since I think the Fotomuseum is only by appointment on Mondays. Thanks for the history lesson too. spaarne_ I will check out the train site you gave, we're trying to train for the 1st time and it's very confusing to me. If I get a Eurail Global, with 15 consecutive days, which trains can we use with that?

<i>
castlesANDfalls on Aug 30, 11 at 5:47pm
If I get a Eurail Global, with 15 consecutive days, which trains can we use with that?
</i>
You can use it on virtually any train in Europe. For some trains, e.g. TGV, you need to buy a seat reservation, &euro;3.

Try this
Amsterdam, Brugges, Ghent, Luxembourg, Champagne, Mosel,Pfalz, Alsace, (Stuttgart) though I doubt if you will have the time to do all this and Stuttagart (Porsche and Mercedes have museums here)

I will check out the train site you gave, we're trying to train for the 1st time and it's very confusing to me. If I get a Eurail Global, with 15 consecutive days, which trains can we use with that?>

You are only going to Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and Germany, right? then just forget about the Global Eurailpass - the Germany Benelux railpass has the exact same conditions and covers the exact same trains in those countries as the Global Eurailpass does - but the Global pass costs a whole lot more - NO reason to buy that. Plus if you want to go 2nd class (not advisable for average tourist IMO) the Benelux-Germany Pass can also be bought in 2nd class - though for the minor IMO difference in price between the classes you should opt for the first class pass.

In addition to spaarne's fine sites I will repeat the three sites that will tell you more than you ever want to know about trains in those countries and railpasses and using railpasses - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com.

with the Germany-Benelux railpass you can hop virtually any train in those countries anytime - just show up - the only exceptions are Thalys trains which you are not taking and do not have to take anyway and ICE sprinter trains in Germany - again very few which the average tourist will never have to take - the rest with few exceptions you just hop on - all the trains (and K-d boats on the Rhine and Mosel rivers as well) you just hop on - the priceless of a railpass.

_ I will check out the train site you gave, we're trying to train for the 1st time and it's very confusing to me>

well the Germany-Benelux Pass would take any problems out of train travel in these countries as you just go to the station and hop on any of the zillions of trains you want. The best schedule site I have seen is the German Rail site - www.bahn.de - click on the British flag at the top and it will give you schedules and details for any trains you will use, as well as the fare in euros to compare to the pass. The more days you use a pass the cheaper per day it becomes.

PalenQ- looking at the bahn.de site, I cannot find any mention of a Germany-Benelux Pass, only the Germany Pass and Eurail Global Pass and one for travel in any one country.Thanks for all your help.
I would really like to see Rothenburg too, but I don't know what to drop to add that instead. We're pretty set on Belgium and The Netherlands, but maybe we could cut Cologne and Aachen and go straight from Amsterdam to Luxembourg and then to Mosel and Rhein areas. Would you trade Cologne & Aachen for Rothenburg?

Bahn site don't sell the Germany-Benelux Pass apparently but it is marketed in the U.S. - check these sites for current pridces - www.budgeteuropetravel.com (I have bought passes from Byron there for years - will answer any questions on phone even if not buying IME - and also www.ricksteves.com. Anyway it is the only railpass you should consider for your plans.

I would skip Cologne/ Aachen, also skip Luxembourg because it's not that interesting.

Rothenburg is a bit similar to Bruges, very beautiful. If you have time, Munich is great as well. But keep in mind the end of september is Oktoberfest time, so hotels are expensive (or booked out). The party is great though if you are into that kind of stuff.