Heidelberg , Germany
 

I have 7 -8 nights to spend in Germany the first week of October. I will be arriving from London. so any airport is possible. I was thinking of flying into Frankfurt and on to Heidelberg for 4 nights . I would then like to take a ride on the Mosel between Cochem and Koblenz - 2 nights in Koblenz than river ride to Cologne to see the Dom. Fly out from Cologne. I have never been to Germany. I really don't want to be on the move the whole time and Heidelberg seems like a nice city from my research. All comments are welcome. Thanks.

CC

>I was thinking of flying into Frankfurt and on to Heidelberg for 4 nights . I would then like to take a ride on the Mosel between Cochem and Koblenz - 2 nights in Koblenz than river ride to Cologne to see the Dom. Fly out from Cologne.

I would rearrange that. Take Ryanair from Stansted to Hahn (they call it Frankfurt-Hahn but it is nowhere near Frankfurt - in fact it is very close to the Mosel valley). Make sure you read the small print of Ryanair before you book.
Then make your way from there via Koblenz and the Rhine valley south to Heidelberg, and possibly onwards. If you insist on flying out of Cologne, Heidelberg is less than 2 h to Cologne by ICE, or 3 h driving.

For trains and all other public transportation see www.bahn.de
For driving www.viamichelin.com

Thanks - sounds like a good plan - I am not really stuck on
flying out of Cologne - I just have to get back to Ireland and as for the arrival - I am landing in Gatwick and was trying not to change airports for a connection to Germany.
Thanks again.


CC

I would think that 4 days is a bit much for Heidelberg. It's a nice place for an overnight, though. Check out info on Bad Wimpfen (a beautiful little town) that's easily accessible by train from Heidelberg and good for a day trip.

If you fly home from Frankfurt, you may want to spend your last night in Heidelberg, as there are bus and train options to the Frankfurt airport from there. It's quite easy, only about an hour trip. Gute Reise!

Yeah, I think the conventional wisdom would tell you that 4 days is too much for Heidelberg, but you seem to know what you're getting into.

altamiro is on the right track in terms of enjoying the Mosel and Rhine Valley on the way towards Heidelberg. If you stay in Heidelberg for 4 days, you'd probably simply want to arrange a couple of day trips.

Do you need to stay in Heidleberg for 4 nights?

My plans are so not set in stone. I am looking for a town or small city to make a base - we may or may not do day trips, depending on how much fun we have in the selected base. Mainly, we just want to stay put for a nice 3-4 night stay before we venture on . Not crazy about a huge city scenario.
The only mandatory is the castle river ride, and I have heard that the most scenic is between Koblenz and Cochem. Can you have fun in Koblenz for 3 nights? HELP!

CC

I thought the castles between Rudesheim and St. Goar were very scenic. But, I haven't been on the Mosel.

If you want to stay in one spot, I'd stay in Cochem the whole time and take daytrips from there, including Trier.

With 7-8 nights, I'd consider flying into Frankfurt and out of Munich. Heidelberg is pretty, but in my opinion, only worth an overnight, if that. I'd do something completely different:

1 - Arrive Frankfurt, head for the Rhine. Spend night - maybe St. Goar.
2 - Explore, check out a castle; take a short Rhine cruise; same hotel as first night.
3 - Head to the Romantic Road; spend night in Rothenberg
4 - Rothenberg
5 - South to Fussen
6 - See castles, spend night in Fussen or Munich
7 - Munich
8- fly home from Munich

We did a similar itinerary (as part of a longer trip) several years ago, using Rick Steves' guidebook, and really enjoyed it. Heidelberg is pretty, but not worth more than an overnight, in my opinion. You'd probably want a car for this trip, although I'm guessing it's doable by train/bus.

Althom proposes a good alternative itinerary, although the poster has stated that they don't want to be on the move every day and wants to avoid the big cities.

The proposed itinerary (landing in Frankfurt, 4 days in Heidelberg, and then the Cochem - Koblenz - Cologne) is weak because Heidelberg takes you in the wrong direction if you are ending up doing a Mosel/Rhine cruise and flying out of Cologne. If I were you, based on your desire to settle in somewhere, I would focus on the Mosel/Rhine, perhaps making a base in Cochem or another town along the river. You could take day trips to castles via boat, bicycle, train, or car. After a few days in Cochem, you could start to move north, ending up, as you propose, in Koblenz and then Cologne/Bonn.

Or, if you want to start in Heidelberg for a few days and stay in scenic areas, continue south along the Neckar Valley (maybe Stuttgart and Tuebingen). Or through the Black Forest to Lake Constance (Bodensee). Are you flying back to London? There are several airports in the southwest that would take you there (Baden-Baden/Karlsruhe or Stuttgart to name a couple).

I agree that Heidelberg is worth an overnight but not much else. The castle is lovely, but I was disappointed the last time I was there after an absence of many years. It has become so touristy that it's lost much of its former charm.

The Rhine between Koblenz and Cologne is not the most interesting part. The best part is upriver from Koblenz

Thank you everyone for all of the suggestions! I have found a flight from Munich to Cork - so I will want to end up there if possible. So, I could fly into Cologne - see the Dom,head to Koblenz and make it our base until we have to head for Munich. Everyone keeps talking about Rothenburg - is it a must see or really tourist oriented? So far, I have rearranged this trip at least three times. For some reason this has been the most difficult trip plan yet. Oh, and should Koblenz be our base or Cochem? Is there much to do in Cochem? With all of the help I'll get there yet!

CC

Koblenz is in a good location, but there's not much to see in Koblenz itself. I'd pick Cochem over Koblenz. It's the smaller Rhine towns, though, that I think are more interesting (hence my recommendation for St. Goar, although if you're "city folk" you may not like it as well). As for Rothenburg, it is touristy, but with good reason. It's incredibly cute - a perfectly preserved medieval town.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...26tbs%3Disch:1

If you can work it in, one of the nicest little towns in the Heidelberg area is Bad Wimpfen. You can wander around the town in about an hour or two as it is very compact. However, we used it as a base a few years ago for making day trips to Dinkelsbuehl and Schwaebisch Hall.

www.badwimpfen.de

Altamiro's idea of Frankfurt-Hahn is excellent and will get you quickly to the Mosel. We just spent two days/one night in Trier and had a most excellent time!

I don't know why so many people are down on staying longer than an over-nighter in Heidelberg! I love living in the area and enjoy all it has to offer. Here is a thread
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...heidelberg.cfm
with lots of info. The neighboring towns of Ladenberg, Weinheim, Michelstadt, Bad Wimpfen and more are so adorable and fun to visit if you need to get out of Heidelberg.

Don't get me wrong on Heidelberg. It's a very cute town- I like it a lot. It's just that once you've walked around and gone up to the castle, there's not that much to do in Heidelberg itself. 4-5 hours and you've pretty much seen it. I haven't visited some of the other towns in the area, though, so maybe I'm selling it short.