europe2011jc

I'm traveling to Western Germany in July 2011 and wondered where a food lover would stop and/or stay in the area?
We're probably staying in Koblenz, but we're still open to suggestions.
Thank you.

Aramis

Personally, I like anything that ends in "Keller", so if you are thinking more upscale, "I canna help you no more, captain!"

DAX

I am not a fan of Koblenz (and I don't think you'll find many here) however I have this excellent feinschmecker(=gourmet)website which provides all the restaurant menus in various german cities.
http://www.gourmetclassic.de/html/indexspeise.html

I realize you speak a little German, but in case you don't understand some of the menu items, just use a good online dictionary like http://dict.leo.org/ende?lang=de&lp=ende

And if you follow Aramis' advice, you'll end up at:
http://www.weinkeller-koblenz.de/restaurant.html
Not a bad place at all! Have a great trip.

LSky

Why Kolbenz? I agree with DAX, it's a nice place to drive through but there are so many other wonderful towns in that area.

My absolute favorite food along the Rhein was in Boppard the Cafe Am Market, I will never forget their apricot bavarian cake. Scrumptious. Other than that, I'm happy with a brat and a beer Happy travels.

europe2011jc

LSky or Dax, would you recommend Boppard as a better home base?

We're leaning towards Koblenz because of its central rail location, but we're still weighing our options. I have read many of the knocks against it. We're traveling with a group of about 10 people so I'm hoping to find a place that can accomodate a variety of intertests. A central spot like Koblenz allows people to venture where they want is my logic at the moment.

I'm happy with a brat and a beer too, but a variety of good options for the broader group is what I'm wondering about. We're not looking for upscale (a word rarely used to describe me), but rather authentic and delicious, and variety if possible.

To all three of you I ask, where would you make your home base with a group of about 10 adults in their 30s?

Mainhattengirl

Frankfurt, Mainz or Wiesbaden. Lots of lodging oportunities, lots of farmers markets (especially in Frankfurt) and ease of transportation, plus activity wise, there are museums, theater, events or fests on almost a weekly basis in all 3 cities.

Frankfurt has about 3000 restaurants, so you can pick what you want. Many people love visiting the Klein Markt Halle, an indoor produce hall but so much more. A lot of the produce and meat is grown locally. Cheeses, breads, chocolates, poultry, wild meats, seafood, spices, and all kinds of fruit and veg from around the world. Gourmet cooks and chefs have a blast here. The food sections at the Karstadt and Kaufhof dept. stores also have large gourmet sections that are fun to peruse.

There is a lot going on in the city, it has dozens of museums, some beautiful medieval churches and if you want to venture to some smaller towns, like Kronberg, Idstein, Bad Homburg, Seligenstadt or Büdingen, they are close by.

DAX

Cologne is a youthful lively city offering endless shopping and nightlife not to mention great beers and food (low prices). There is a lot of touristy brew pubs as well as local hangout bars/clubs to go out for fun in groups. The old town is more for tourists, but if you walk toward the Barbarosaplatz ring area near the university you'll run into the local hangouts. Like Koblenz, the city architecture in general is nothing exciting but at least Cologne does have the impressive tallest cathedral (tour the towers if you can), roman museum and old town alleys. You can always combine it with a two day stay in Boppard or even Mainz.

I like Cochem for its half timber buildings but not for the atmosphere. Both times I was there, it was invaded by german senior citizen tour groups by the busloads. They literally took over the whole town, wall to wall, it felt like a retirement tourist trap, maybe I was there at the wrong time. Half the stores catered to senior citizens.

I don't think the Mosel is necessarily more beautiful than the Rhein. Topographically the Rhein seems to have more drama and contrast. Either way, I feel that staying in small towns along the Rhein/Mosel is too sleepy/boring for a 4 night stay, so I prefer staying in a city for evening outings. I've done a Rhein trip with 13 people, we stayed in Mainz for 3 nights and traveled up and down along the Rhein from St Goar in the north to Heidelberg in the south by train. Staying in cities allows easy access to the faster trains. We did the Rhine river cruise on our first day but it was way too slow and too boring so we only took the trains after that (cheaper too with the group ticket for 5 people on weekends).