Help planning 3 days in Rhineland
 

I read many very helpful postings on this site that have helped me get started. I want to cruise section between Bingen and Koblenz, visit st goar, stay in Bacharach, tour
Marksburg Castle & Burg Eltz castles, then train back to amsterdam on day 3 to catch flite home.

I am not sure how to best sequence this. Should I stay in different hotels to tour the area, or do 2 nites in bacharach and then stay further north the last nite, or is everything close enough to stay in Bacharach 3 nites and day trip?

I would stay in Bacharach for two nights, then proceed to the Mosel area to tour Burg Eltz, perhaps staying in Cochem.

We did the opposite last year, staying two nights in Cochem first, spending the day hiking to, and exploring, Burg Eltz. Then we travelled on to St. Goar, where we spent a day exploring Burg Rheinfels, St. Goarhausen, Bacharach and Oberwesel. Here's a link to my trip report. Maybe there's some informatin in it that might help you. Our adventures on the Mosel & Rhine are on days 3 and 5.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35116484

Robyn :)>-

You can stay 3 nights in Bacharach, but if you're going to Burg Eltz, Cochem is a logical and very worthwhile place to visit and stay over, and I agree with Robyn's suggestion.

The only trick is luggage. There are no lockers at Moselkern, the trailhead for Eltz, so it would be good to go first to Cochem and drop your bags, then return to Moselkern for the hike to Burg Eltz.

www.bensbauernhof.com/burgeltzfrommoselkern.html

I'd also suggest that you keep the cruise short. Bacharach to Braubach, the home of Marksburg, is just about right - a little over 2 hours of the best section of the Rhine.

Thanks for suggestions. The trip plan is really helpful. Just wondering if I might be better off staying in Moselkern than Cochen to avoid backtracking. We are not going on to Trier. There is a hotel mentioned in the link to Burg Eltz (Hotel Ringelsteiner Mühle). Not sure if that is a nice town/hotel. Any thoughts on this plan?

Moselkern is very small (a working vineyard town), and doesn't have much to offer other than the cemetery and the train station.

The Hotel Ringelsteiner Mühle, which is a 15-20 minute walk out of town, is at the trailhead on the path leading to Burg Eltz, so it is very convenient for hiking up to the castle. They do have a restaurant on sight.

Other than that, there's really nothing to do in Moselkern, so I would definately recommend the 20 minute train ride into Cochem to stay.

Robyn :)>-

Agree with Robyn - Cochem is supremely attractive and a much more interesting overnight spot. The Ringersteiner Mühle is out in the woods, very isolated - OK if that's what you seek but not what most are looking for.

Checking in and out of hotels to visit a place a half-hour from the Rhine seems wasteful to me.

I'd stay over at the east end of the Mosel (in Koblenz, <i>z.b.</i>), and make day trips up and down the Rhine and Mosel.

The best part of the Rhine Gorge is between Ruedesheim and St. Goar.

It is something that comes up fairly often in travel boards: whether to use day trips or move to see an area. Day trips save changing hotels but moving to a new location often saves backtracking.

My wife and I have found that it is a bit more pleasant for us if we move from a place after two days in any case. We just get the urge to walk a different town in the evening and search out new restaurants.

Regards, Gary

Thanks, I definitely will not waste a nite in Moselkern. Did some reading on Cochem last nite and it does sound like it would be a nice town to visit. Maybe that would be a good home base for the 3 nites, and skip overnite in Bacharach.

I second the motion (or, rather, lack of motion).