Kmarie

We will be in the Mosel and Rhein River area for 5 days. We will be using public transportation. We are interested in staying in one place and taking daytrips. Would Koblenz be a good place to stay?

Brutforce

Koblenz would be fine but you can easily find inexpensive places to stay up & down both rivers. In this case I would say to wing it & take your chances. Nothing worse than stumbling across a little wine festival & then having to drive back. & there is a lot of wine the length of the Mosel.

Brutforce

Let me add, a car is probably the way to go for either of these trips. The trains will miss a lot. This is one of the few places that I don't use the train for transport.

Russ

Koblenz is fine, but city-like. A smaller place like, Boppard or St. Goar on the Rhine, would be close to Koblenz for access to the Mosel and would give you a better feel for the region, I believe. <BR><BR>Depending on your dates, reservations can be a very good idea. There are several summer events along the rivers that will make it tough to find a place if you're there when it's busy.<BR><BR>The Rhine and Mosel are extremely well served by the German train system. The train stops in nearly every town on both sides of the river along the Rhine between Koblenz and Mainz/Wiesbaden. Coverage along the Mosel is less because the river is so windy. Some great towns to get to by train: Cochem, Bullay, Traben-Trarbach, and of course, Trier. Burg Eltz can be visited with a pretty one-hour hike (each way) from Moselkern station on the Mosel. Beilstein is accessible by boat ride from Cochem (1 hr each way), and Bernkastel can be reached by boat from Traben-Trarbach (you can also hike or catch a bus from Wittlich.) Biking is great along the flat Mosel bike path - I enjoyed the ride between Bullay and P&uuml;nderich, which passes through Zell.<BR><BR>The Rhine/Mosel region is an area of Germany I have done by car but will always do by train; I'll be there this July with my family again, as a matter of fact. I would only suggest a car if you are semi-ambulatory, or if you must see Burg Eltz but can't do a 1-hour (fairly easy) hike to the castle.

CharlieB

Kmarie- Koblenz is probably the best site for exploring both the Rhine and Mosel. Sites along the Rhine are easily visited by train as the rail lines follow the river. Touring the Mosel by train is much more difficult except for Trier, Cochem, Bullay, Moselkern (Burg Eltz), and Traben-Trabach (via connection). Enjoy!

Little_Man

Just wanted to add my 2 cents...the only regret i have re. a German trip 3 years ago was not spending a little more time on the mosel. We stayed in Boppard, a very touristy town with little character, and I wish we'd stayed on the Mosel that night after visiting Burg Eltz. The castle Burg Eltz is tremendous, not to be missed, and the Mosel area is quite different from the Rhine. On the Rhine,The castle at St. Goar is fun, and so are the beer gardens in Rudesheim, which is completely touristy, but fun! Have a great time.

Russ

Boppard is indeed heavily visited in the high season, mostly by German tourists. It's not a &quot;little village&quot;, exactly; there's usually something going on in town - a wine festival or a fireworks show, maybe. I thought the old town center was quite charming and that the river promenade has a certain appeal as well - lots of busy outdoor cafes and people enjoying themselves. But it's not &quot;K&auml;the Wohlfahrt&quot; touristy in the way that Rothenburg is. There's a very cool chairlift ride you can take to a nearby peak to overlook the river, and in town, a dig site of Roman ruins; some of the old town's fortifications remain as well. You can see a photo of the town on the homepage of www.boppard.de . If you end up there, Ive heard a couple of good reports on Haus Weller:<BR><BR>www.loreleytal.com/boppard/hotel/haus-weller/e/index.htm<BR><BR>I prefer St. Goar myself for its incredibly scenic setting in the Rhine Gorge, where it's surrounded by castles and vineyards. It's much smaller than Boppard. It does actually have a cuckoo clock shop and a beer stein shop and many daytrippers, so it qualifies as touristy. But a beautiful place it is, and well situated in the middle of the Gorge, just a curve or two from the Loreley and a ferry ride across from St. Goarshausen, another town over the river. There are plenty of great trails for walks along the cliffs in both directions (views! views!) Been there maybe 10 times and can't wait to go back this summer.<BR><BR>I agree with frankie that the Mosel is a wonderful place to stay too, and it might be especially good to stay there if you intend to daytrip to Trier, which from the Rhine takes a bit more train time. Cochem is the largest of the villages, would have the most to &quot;do&quot; and a little evening fun, perhaps, and it's the most convenient for coming and going by train (Bullay is convenient too and has a terrific location on the river but much smaller and somewhat less charming - you'd probably feel a bit limited there.) But the other towns along the Mosel are terrific too.

RufusTFirefly

The train is fine for the Rhein, but you do miss a lot on the Mosel. So this is for those interested in driving.<BR><BR>We like smaller, quieter places, so we stayed in Beilstein on the Mosel. Had a great time. But a car is needed as there is no rail service--which also makes it quieter and less trampled. Mosel towns are not noted for a wild night life. In Beilstein, when we returned from daily sightseeing, we would have dinner, and then go for a walk (nice, old castle ruins above the town), or sit and drink wine while chatting with other guests and/or the hotel owners. We stayed at Hotel Haus Lipmann. http://www.hotel-haus-lipmann.de/english/index.htm

Brutforce

I'm w/Rufus, you really need a car to do the Mosel properly or you will miss a lot. &amp; the Burg Eltz hike may or may not be easy depending on which way you come in (though they do have the little shuttles if you don't want to hike it). I've never had any trouble finding a place to stay in that area so it is a matter of how comfortable you are &amp; if you want to spend a little time looking for a place to sleep.

Bob1

ALTE THORNEDECKE is a nice place to stay in COCHEM. Built into the old city walls. Good service on our last stay in 1997.<BR><BR>See the area by car. Gives you more flexibility. If no car as you state, do the boat trips each day. The KRONE in ASSMANNHAUSEN is on the end of the Rhine closer to Mainz but the boat stop in right in front of the hotel.<BR><BR>

Russ

Bob1: You need to get that name right!<BR>It's &quot;ALTE THORSCHENKE&quot;.

Russ

Information is power. Here's an exact list of towns that can be reached by train between Koblenz and Traben-Trarbach, the stretch that most closely follows the river. (Other towns by bus transfer or boat.)<BR><BR>Koblenz Hbf <BR>Koblenz-Moselwei&szlig; <BR>G&uuml;ls(Kr Koblenz) <BR>Winningen(Mosel) <BR>Kobern-Gondorf <BR>Lehmen <BR>Kattenes <BR>L&ouml;f <BR>Hatzenport <BR>Moselkern <BR>M&uuml;den(Mosel) <BR>Treis-Karden <BR>Pommern(Mosel) <BR>Klotten <BR>Cochem(Mosel) <BR>Ediger-Eller <BR>Neef <BR>Bullay <BR>Reil <BR>K&ouml;venig <BR>Traben-Trarbach <BR>

Kmarie

Thanks for all the good information. Our plans are to take the boat and train. If we decided to rent a car after we get there for 1-2 days will we have a problem finding one (19-24 May)?I understand the car rental will probably be more expensive if we rent it there but for a day or two I could handle the extra cost. We have reservations at Hotel Hohlmann in Koblenz right now but can shorten the time there for no fee. We really don't know much about Hohlmann but it seems to be in a good location for the train and boat in Koblenz and the price was good.

Brutforce

Actually our last trip it was cheaper in Germany. We flew into Brussels, trained to Cologne &amp; picked up a car there. The rental place was not the easiest place to find but we had no trouble getting a car &amp; that was in June.

Russ

The Hohmann will be very convenient for your train outings. The station in Koblenz was undergoing major renovation last time I was there - pretty torn up - but as long as you're using the Hohmann as mostly just a place to sleep rather than as a place to linger, the surroundings shouldn't be too unpleasant. I would ask about getting a quiet room, as the area out front of the hotel is a pretty busy most hours of the day, perhaps even more so if construction is ongoing.<BR><BR>Actually, the train should be cheaper. The whole area you're travelling, west to Trier, south to Manheim, and north to Bonn, is accessible by regional daypass - the Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket lets up to 5 people on the regional (RE, RB) trains for just 21 Euros/day total (unlimited travel weekdays after 9 am.) If you start before 9, buy a regular ticket for the portion of your travel that takes place prior to 9:00. On Sat or Sun, you can use the same trains at any hour of the day anywhere in the country by getting a &quot;Schoenes Wochenende&quot;, or Happy Weekend, Ticket. - same type of daypass for 28 Euros. You can't drive a car for this. To get to most of the smaller villages, you need to take the RE and RB trains anyway - no sense in paying more. <BR><BR>At the Koblenz station, go to the DB information counter and request a &quot;Taschenfahrplan&quot; - a pocket schedule of trains for each of the routes: Koblenz - Trier, Koblenz-Mainz, and Koblenz-Bonn. This will allow you to make decisions as you go without having to return to the station at a specific, predetermined time. They can also print you out an itinerary for your outing that shows specific trains at specific times, complete with platform indications.<BR><BR>Have a great trip.<BR>Russ <BR>

Kmarie

Russ: Thanks for the info on Hotel Hohlmann and the train passes. I still had to look into the train passes now I don't have to!! Have you ever taken any of the boat trips on the Rhine or Mosel? Is there more then one company? If so, which is the best to take? I understand we should take the train up stream then take the boat down stream. Do the boats dock and allow you to get off and catch a later boat down stream or do you just get on them and continue? I have searched the KD web site with out much luck. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place!!!

Russ

Kmarie:<BR><BR>The boats running between Bingen and Koblenz pass through very scenic territory. I like the area south of St. Goar best. I don't think the upstream route has any particular advantages - it's noticeably slower - but I don't think I'd allot more than 2-3 hours for the boat ride. It can get really tedious. It's hot if the weather is warm, and the cabins are pretty smoke filled if you try to escape the sun.<BR><BR>You can look at schedules at:<BR>www.k-d.com/engl/schiffstouren/schiffstouren.html<BR><BR>Scroll down to &quot;Rhein and Moselle in one day&quot; for links to the schedules.<BR><BR>K-D is the most frequent line on the Rhine. I think K-D only runs the Mosel between Koblenz and Cochem. The big line out of Cochem for the curvy area upstream - the prettiest part - is Gerbrueder Kolb. There are one-hour trips to Beilstein (Tagesfahrt nach Beilstein) with regular returns (maybe 5-6 per day, as I recall.) There's also an evening trip with dancing and maybe food - 3 days/week? You can check for info on all the options in Cochem right at the docks or at the TI office. I don't have a website for them myself.<BR><BR>I think the boats only stop to load and unload. to proceed by boat, make sure you have a schedule handy. Otherwise, the train will shuttle you wherever you want to go.<BR><BR>Russ