Germany in March
 

Thinking of spending spring break exploring the section of the Rhine River in Germany w/ all of the castles in March. I know it is not warm. Has anyone been there then? We are travelling with our 2 kids ages 7 and 4. Any suggestions? How is the weather? Thank you!!!

Spent 40 Marches in Germany.
How are we supposed to know what the weather will be like eight months in advance? That's impossible to predict. From snowfalls to bright sunshine and +20°C, everything is possible. Prepare for a mix, and pack umbrellas, rain jackets, warm fleeces and waterproof shoes.

In March you'll meet winter schedules concerning the castles and the Rhine boats, i. e. limited opening times and a limited number of boats running, so a little planning is required.

The best website about the area: http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.d...id=318&L=3
The kids' section may be useful.

March isn't a bad time to go. No blossoms yet, so the gorge has a cold, stark look about it. I've been on the Rhine in March and had a good time hiking - sometimes I've seen a few snow flurries but have generally had decent weather. Weather stats show your chances of staying dry as relatively good - March and April are the driest months of the year for the Frankfurt area.

You'll be there too early for cruises - too chilly generally for that sort of thing - but that's not that big a deal. The cruise becomes a bit tedious after a couple of hours anyway. Much better to march up to a castle and have a look around. Marksburg castle (Braubach) is very well preserved and is open year-round for tours. Rheinfels (ruined castle in St. Goar with good museum) is open weekends until March 11, every day after that. Kids can climb around among the ruins here. Cochem's Reichsburg castle (on the Mosel but not that far) opens mid-march.

What about staying in a castle? (I can hear the kids cheering my idea.) There are two castle-hostels in the area that welcome families in rooms with private baths - Bacharach's Burg Stahleck (probably too many steps skyward for the kids though) and the newly renovated castle-hostel in Diez, just west of Koblenz on the Lahn River, actually, where I spent a few days with my family last January - aside from one other family, we had the whole castle to ourselves. It's extremely slick for a hostel with very good beds and a terrific dining room, and it's easy to reach from the middle of town on foot or by car. The hostels in this region offer family specials in the off season - 2 nights, one evening meal, 2 breakfast buffets - for 40-65 Euros total depending on the category of the facility. Most castle-hotels cater to couples and frown on kids - and cost 5-10 times as much.

If interested, have a look at the English pages at www.djh.de and contact the hostel directly for the family special - I'm not sure you can book it over the English pages online.

Wow- Thanks for all the info, sounds a little encouraging. We really want to travel on spring break- so I think we may gamble with March. I am glad to hear it is a drier month!!

I am very excited to see the castles, and am thinking of splurging on Castle Hotel auf Schoenberg (sp?) for a couple of nights.

We went this march on spring break. The weather was great mostly warm and sunny. We didn't need all the heavy coats and gloves we brought. But as we sat at the marenplatz in munich in our shirt sleeves having a Great Beer, the waiter told us that the year pior on that day we would have been sitting in 6 inches of bitter cold snow. We went south and the ski areas were pretty bare and we had our choice of very nice places to stay and eat without the crowds. All said it was a great trip and loved the time frame (march).
Got really cheap flights also during that time.

I would not call March a "drier month", but there is no such thing as drier or wetter months throughout the year in these parts of the world anyway. That's why these weather questions always make me grin sheepishly. All you can do is go for it and hope you'll be lucky.