Cochem is a perpetual favorite for the Mosel and can be a base also for the nearby Rhine - you can use the train to get to Cochem and from it to places like Burg Eltz (castle of your dreams - a few miles from Moselkern train station, and train via Koblenz to Rudesheim to hop the K-D boats down the best part of the Rhine (railpasses valid on boats just like trains.)

Taylort771: If what you said is your actual itinerary...

"Fly into Frankfurt take train to Rhine Mosel region, from there take train to nurnberg, take train from there to Berlin"

Then German railpasses for 2 advocated by PalenQ, in the cheapest possible version, will cost $380 - the 3-day, 2nd class twinpass. For 4, you'll pay $760. The 1st-class versions PalenQ recommends would cost $560 for 2, $1120 for 4.

With the cheapest advance-sale tix, the price for these 3 legs for 2 would be 127 Euros, about $170. For 4people over age 15, the grand total is $310. Thus, if there are 4 of you, the railpasses are about 2.5 times more expensive than the comparable 2nd class adv. sale tickets.

And if your teens are under 15, your price for the adv. sale tickets will be even lower - they travel free with adults. A 13-yr-old, a 14-year-old, and two adults travel Koblenz to N'berg at the adult price for 2, 49 euros total, for example, and the whole trip costs $170.

That said, if you don't buy the advance-sale tix early enough, the cheapest ones go quickly, and the tickets will go up little by little in price as they sell. It is possible that at some point, the adv. sale tickets will cost as much as the railpasses if you dilly-dally.

One other caveat: If your plane to FRA is late and forces you to miss your train, you're out 29 Euros (for 2) with your adv. sale ticket, so this might be a ticket you don't want. But it's a simple matter to get regular tickets for this leg, or, depending on which town you're headed to and what day you arrive, a regional daypass, once you get to the airport train station. FRA to Oberwesel is 13.90 euros per head for a regular ticket (kids under 15 are free.)

Agree with PalenQ that Cochem makes for an ideal Mosel base for train travelers, especially if you're going to visit Trier, which is pretty far from the Rhine towns to visit on a daytrip. Cochem is one of my favorite towns in all of Germany.

But if you aren't going to Trier, you could stay on the Rhine in a town like Boppard and be somewhat more centrally located for both rivers than you would in Cochem. Boppard's quite nice as well, an old Roman settlement with a few ruins, several wineries, and a cool chairlift ride:

http://www.sesselbahn-boppard.de/

But I like Cochem a bit more.

Accommodations:

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/accommo...hinemosel.html

Boppard, Cochem you really cannot go wrong - either is more romantic than staying IMO in a large tourist city like Munich, Berlin, etc. Often the guesthouses are family owned and more intimate than hotels in big tourist cities.

a railpass efficacy is if you want total flexibility or not - if you do not and want to lock yourself into a certain train weeks in advance to guarantee and you know that will be fine then of course that is the way to go as as Russ says you can save considerable money - I am a person who thinks just being able to get up and hop to the station and get the next train is priceless but others may not.

and if arriving at airport then the pass does let you just hop the next train - if you do the advance 29 euro or whatever fare you have to build in some fudge factor time in case plane is late or else you lose your discounted train-specific ticket and then have to buy a full fare ticket at a high price.

railpass should not IMO be judged solely on price.

So stay in Cochem as a base, What are the best day trips to take from there? Sorry Im very slow! but thanks for the help!

Regarding places to stay, how many of you are there? How many rooms do you want? Is your budget $150/night per room?

Note that in Europe hotels often have single rooms at a cheaper rate.

Well, there are 4 of us and we prefer to be in 1 room

best day trips from Cochem - OK my foavorite ones are to Burg Eltz, castle of your dreams; Trier, one of Europe's oldest cities with some of the best-preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy, including the fantastic Porta Negra, once gateway to the eastern part of the Holy Roman Empire and an old Roman temple converted to a church in Charlemagne's days here I believe - and day trip on K-D boats along the Rhine for starters.

Okay sounds good! Is there anythign to see in Cochem? or is it just a city we need to stroll around?
Thanks for your help.

Quad rooms are rare in Europe. Look for family rooms. I don't know how available these bigger rooms are in Germany. Maybe somebody else can chime in. But 109 euros for a quad room doesn't seem like much. Have you tried the booking sites?

One of the best hotel resources are the German cities and towns themselves. I usually just google the town, e.g., for "Cochem city tourist guide", the following website came up:

http://www.cochem-tourist.de/office1.htm

Look under "zimmer frei" for rooms.

The Germans are super efficient in this respect and makes it easy to find something appropriate for your needs. The websites usually have English as a search tool and most times have at least three or four different languages, so you know that lots of Europeans use these websites.

I usually find a hotel, B&B and then go go back into google, type in the name and address, and run a search on that particular establishment. google will list hotel reviews from diverse sources.

If Cochem is too expensive, you can always try a neighboring small town with more reasonable prices.

Did you say you will have a car?

You'll find lots of family options in Cochem.

In May you can get a furnished apartment with 2 bedrooms in Cochem for 50-65 Euros/night here:

http://www.mosel-cochem.de/index.php...n/details.html

A 2-BR apt at Haus Flora just over the bridge from Cochem's old town runs 65-70 Euros:

http://www.fewo-haus-flora.de/index....&id=9&Itemid=9

This apt. is close in and runs 40 Euros/night:

http://www.accommodation.de/91032.htm

There is normally a small charge for short stays (less than 5-7) and sometimes a small cleaning fee for apartments.

Okay sounds good! Is there anythign to see in Cochem? or is it just a city we need to stroll around>

Well after literally having spend weeks in Cochem collectively for years I can say there is little in the town itself rather than yes a delightful place to stroll around - there is the Hieronimi Winery just across the Mosel bridge that does tours that come with samples.

But a neat hike up from Cochem goes to the ruins of a castle that sits high above the Mosel - can't remember the name but a hike up there could be a thrill for you all.

Cochem's stellar attraction is of course the castle of your dreams regally crowning a hill jutting out of the town center - you can tour the interior of course - more about the castle of your dreams and IMO the thing, along with the supremely gorgeous Mosel Valley, the thing that sets Cochem apart from other towns in romance.

History - Cochem Castle
www.burg-cochem.de/english/history.htm - It is generally assumed that Cochem Castle was built around the year 1000 by the ... an imperial castle in the time when the Staufer dynasty reigned in Germany. ... The castle remained in ruins until 1868, when a Berlin business- man, Mr. ...
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Cochem - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochem Cochem Imperial castle‎: The Reichsburg Cochem had its first documentary mention in 1130. ... (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of ... The castle complex long lay in ruins before in 1868 it was ...

Okay thanks so much for all your help!