Mosel And Rhine
 

Hi All - we are heading to Germany for 2 weeks in mid May. We are flying in and out of Munich - flights already booked. I have a few questions re: the route I have planned so far: (btw - I know flying into Frankfurt would work better given our route, but we've already got our flights booked so we have to work with what we've got).

We will pick up a rental car as we are leaving Munich.

Day 1-3 Munich Lodging probably at possibly Hotel Torbrau
Day 4 Rothenburg ob de Tauber - lodging at Historic Hotel Gotisches-Haus
Day 5 Oberwesel - lodging at BurgHotel Auf Schonburg (this is already confirmed)
Day 6 and 7 (and maybe 8) Mosel and Rhine - Hotel Haus Lipman in Beilstein
Day 8 and 9 Garmisch-Parten/Zugspitze ( or Fussen)
Day 10 - 12 Berchtesgaden/Konigsee - lodging Hotel Garni Zum Turken
Day 13 Salzburg - Boutiquehotel am Dom
Day 14 Back in Munich/Fly home

Here are are my questions:
1. What do you recommend for a good central place for lodging in Mosel and Rhine, I don't believe Beilstein is optimal but we were hoping to make it to Trien, however that's not a MUST if it doesn't work out time-wise. We love wine so we definitely want time to do some wineries/wine-tasting and would love to stay at a winery if there's one that is on our route and would be a unique experience ( we live near the NorCal wine country so have stayed at wineries several times and we thought it might be a nice experience in the Germeny wine country, though we really aren't sure so we are looking for advice). We don't want to stay at a winery just for the sake of staying at a winery, if that makes sense.
2. Day 8 and 9 - looking for recommendations of Top Must See's given our limited time and also recommendations on what would be a good base for lodging in this area. We prefer small villages to larger towns and really don't like super touristy things but having said that, we want to see the highlights. You will probably ask what our interests are - generically they are probably much like others visiting this area for the first time. We like castles, history, architecture, hiking ( fit enough to do most anything that's considered moderate/average - definitely not like a 20 year old but definately would be considered active). We love beautiful outdoor/scenery, husband loves beer. We aren't so much into shopping and care little about night life per se. We are happy with a bottle of wine with dinner and then calling it a night so we can get an early start the next day.
3. Does the overall itinerary look good - anything missing or anything that can be removed? Ideally I'd like more time in Salzburg but I'm not sure where to shave a day so we are left with only 1 day ��

Would welcome any feedback or answers to my questions.

Thank you,
Shelley

Zugspitze for sure. I have done it three times and would do it again. The Gorge is also a beautiful walk, just follow the trail and go above the gorge also. There is a little beer garden there. While there go to Ommeramergau, not that far and you will pass Ettal which is a good stop.

Boppard might be a good base.

Great hotel pick for Berchtesgaden. I do like Rothenburg ob de Tauber when the tour buses are there and better when they leave at night. The square has more than the night watchmen tour so keep an eye out for other entertainment.

I believe what you will find on the Mosel is slow travel if you follow the river route. I have stayed in Beilstein and the further you follow the river, the distance/time equation increases. It is quite a drive to Garmisch from there. Burg Eltz is very interesting if you do travel to the Mosel.

Have stayed at the Zum Turken. The hotel has its own entrance to the tunnels dug into the mountain. I also spent considerable time at the Documentation Center, which explains the rise of the Nazi party in great detail. If you have an interest in history, be sure to include this.

Huggy, have you been to the Documentation center since they enlarged it? You can also see some of the bunkers from there.

Not for about 5 years but plan to return in late November. I have been there twice and found it very worthwhile and thought provoking.

The Mosel is easily accessable from the motorway (that goes no where) from the south parallel to the Mosel. The final bit requires a simple drive through the woods.

If I also wanted to go to Trier, I would look at Colmar, which I dislike but has a bunch of hotels and restaurants in a small space under private castle. I prefer to stay in some of the quieter villages like Urzig or Traben-Trabach if you want a bit bigger.

Hi Macross, thanks for your for the advice on Zugspitze. That was high on our list so i'm happy you confirmed that as a MUST DO - we will be sure to keep it on our list.
Given our schedule, in your opinion, should we spend 2 nights in GP vs another town like Fussen? If GP, we are looking at the Orpee' Hotel in Regenburg or Hotel Waxenstein? I understand both are close to GP. Huggy mentioned it's a long drive to GP from Mosel/Rhine, with that in mind should we alter our itinerary in some way?

In terms of lodging for Mosel/Rhine, Are you suggesting not staying in Beinstein and instead staying in Boppard for 2 nights? Also, are you familiar with either of these 2 hotels/towns? KlosterHornbach in Sudwestpflaz or Weinhaus Henninger in Kallstadt? Would either location fit into our itinerary? If not, I'll go back and look into Boppard lodging options.

Regarding Rothenburg, do you think we should skip the Night Watchmen tour and find other things to do?

Thanks so much for your help. It's much appreciated.

Hi Huggy, The Salt Mines/tunnels are on our list and I'm happy to hear that the hotel has it's own entrance. That sounds pretty cool. And we'll try to find time to add the Doc Ctr, as well. Sounds very interesting.

We do plan to see Burg Eltz.

You mentioned that GP is a long drive from Mosel/Rhine, do you recommend some kind of adjustment to our itinerary? Either something we cut out or some other place we use as a hub in Mosel/Rhine or instead of GP? Perhaps we skip Trier? Anything else you think we can do to make this more appealing? We aren't opposed to longer drives if the scenery is beautiful and there are little villages to stop in, etc...

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

Shelley

Hi Bilboburgler, Do you think Trier is a MUST SEE or is it too far out of the way to add to our itinerary? If we do end up going to Trier, like you, we would prefer the smaller villages would look at Urzig or Traben-Traben. Would either make a good base for a 2 night stay to see the Mosel/Rhine and then head to Garmisch?

Shelley

I have a few other questions, as well.

1. Can anyone point me to a good Mosel/Rhine map that includes both as well as GP? i've searched all over and haven't come up with anything workable. I don't need it to be super detailed - I just need something I can look at to help plan a route of the things we want to do. ie: I'd like it to show towns/villages but it doesn't need to be as detailed as a driving map. We'll get one of those too but I know where to find that. I'm looking for something I can use to determine the route we'll take so i can map our a plan and then be making lodging reservations.

2. Our plans were to drive thru the Mosel/Rhine on our own in our rental car and stop along the way at the following sights (not in this order, of course -would help if someone could help me with the route for these ,actually):

1. Burg Eltz
2. Trier?
3. A few wineries (not sure which ones yet - Stephans Wine Paradise in St Goar may be one - please suggest others, we prefer reds but i know whites are what is in the area though I've read there are some good pinot noirs in the area which would be of interest to us)
4. Reichburg Castle and/or Marksburg Castle
5. Linz am Rhein? Or any other small quaint village that you recommend
6. I'd love to rent bikes in one of the little villages and just ride around at leisure to sightsee - perhaps Linz is a good place to do this?
7. Rhine Gorge?

3. Nuerengurging (Auto Race track) in Nuerenburg - my husband is a car enthusiast so i'm looking into adding this to our itinerary in between Munich and Rothenburg, just a few hours so he can do one of the drives. Has anyone done this? is it worthwhile for a experienced car enthusiast/driver? Mind you, it's not my thing, and I truly have no interest, however, I thought it looked like something my husband would really enjoy since he's done Bonderaunt, Formula 1, etc...and really likes that kind of thing.

Thanks Again,

Shelley

Before you decide on your list of visited places, you need to review a map to see if you can even think about accomplishing half your list. I use google maps which is very easy to manipulate. Many people have stated that drive times are seriously under defined. However it does list distances. For example, Trier to your next destination Garmisch is 571 km, a full days drive.

Before you get too far down the road with planning, you need to determine what is possible given your time constraints. You can order many type maps for Germany via the internet.

rome2rio.com check them out. I would just stay in Garmisch for two nights at least or three. You can use it as a base. The night watchmen tour is hokey but very fun.

Trier ancient buildings and Karl Marx are very interesting, only you can say if that is what draws you to Trier. I've been there 4 or 5 times for the buildings, the hiking and the wine. So, sorry up to you but yes probably too far.

I prefer bike down the Mosel, lots of day bike hire and you can take bikes on trains to come back at very little cost.

I'd choose Urzig because it is a great big bowl of vines set into a cliff, some top end restaurants etc. Follow my name back to Sept 2017 to see a wine tour of the area I did. We stayed in town for 4 nights this time, but we've been before. Little to do in the evening but eat and drink unless there is a festival on. I might look at town websites to see what is happening in each town.

Some hotels in Traben Trabach have pools etc but even here everything will be low key unless there is a festival

If you want bigger look at Bernkastel-Kues (there is a wine library in Kues ~E20 a glass and 120 open bottles enjoy).

Thanks Huggy. I have actually looked at maps many times and also googled distances and as a result have decided to take Trien off of our itinerary.

Swanner:

Just to be clear, the tunnel entrance at Zum Turken lead into the underground tunnel complex at Obersalzburg built by the Nazi's and not the salt mines.

Yes Trier is a neat city with stellar Roman relics but on your limited time I'd concentrate on leisurely driving along the Mosel - perhaps to Burg Eltz and back.

Thanks for clarifying 😊

You'll have about half a day in Salzburg and that's sad - I'd cut a day of Berchetsgaden and put into Salzburg.

Thanks Palen Q - I will try to adjust our schedule to have 2 nights in Salzburg, per your advice.