Oops, I meant the 11 mile ride from Offenburg to Strasbourg and pick up a French rental there.

We had a very enjoyable stay in Cochem at the Alte Thorschenke, located right in the middle of town. The hotel building is built right into the old town gate. At check in they showed us two different rooms so we could choose. We passed on the wooden carved sleigh bed for the wooden canopy bed. The view looking out the window was not the best, but the view laying in bed, looking up at the carved canopy was great! And, they served an excellent breakfast in the morning.

http://www.castle-thorschenke.com/

If you're visiting Burg Eltz and have a car, you can easily drive to the castle. However, the best way to approach the castle is an easy half hour hike through the woods, just as the folks did 800 years ago. I know you can't ride a bike, but maybe you could handle a hike? Caution: There are several steps at the end to enter the castle. Here's a link to directions.

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/burgeltzfrommoselkern.html

Your travel plans look good - you'll probably need a vignette (sp?) for the rental car if you are driving into Switzerland.

Robyn :)>-

Ruined castles appeal to me and there is one high above ?Cochem that very few tourists ferret out - it's called Burg something - there is a mile or so trail that winds up there and then you are in this old ruined castle with sweeping views over the sinuous Mosel twisting snake-like in its gorge far far below. You can also drive a car up there.

PalenQ what is a vignette or whatever it is I will need to drive though Switzerland? Artstuff, I'm emailing this hotel as well, dank.

Here's a link to information about the Swiss vignette, which is requred for the "national" highways.

http://www.autobahnen.ch/index.php?lg=001&page=014

You don't want to be caught without one on your car's windshield.

Robyn :)>-

vignettes I believe are only needed on autoroutes - freeways and not other roads, am I correct in that artstuff - or is it required for all national roads - freeways and others?

In any case I found driving on side roads very tedious in Switzerland due to their sinuous nature and a surprising amount of truck traffic, etc. so the autobahns are often needed to really get anywhere quickly.

You can buy the vignette at the border I believe without any problem.

We tour Cologne the next morning and rent a car and drive down to Cochem, making stops.>

One nice stop is Remagen and its famous bridge from WW 2 - just foundations on each side today but a very historical place, the Remagen Bridge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remagen

I love that PalenQ... "it's called ' BURG ' SOMETHING" ha ha ha!!