natjgc

Hi,

We plan to drive from Frankfort airport along the Mosel valley (visit a vineyard) to Worms and later that day end up in Rothenberg before nightfall. Could anyone give suggestions for an exact itinerary?
natjgc

bettyk

What you want to do will take about 4-5 hours of just driving, not counting any stops you make on the way.

If you are arriving from an overnight international flight, this would be suicidal since you would be suffering from jet lag and sleep deprivation.

I suggest you rethink this itinerary and allow yourself to spend at least one night on the Mosel before continuing on to Worms and Rothenburg.

Here is a link to the viamichelin.com mapping of your proposed route:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/5zo59n

bettyk

Sorry, it looks like my link's not working.

I will try to send it directly to your email address.

twoflower

Seems an awfully roundabout way to be going. I assume you mean you'll end up at Rothenberg ob der Tauber?

So you drive NW of Frankfurt to the Mosel, visit a vinyard, come back down the Rhine to Worms, then across from W to E way to the S of Frankfurt, to R-o-d-T.

A big day's driving!

altamiro

>We plan to drive from Frankfort airport along the Mosel valley (visit a vineyard) to Worms and later that day end up in Rothenberg

(you probably mean Rothenburg, not Rothenberg)

Mosel valley is northwest of Frankfurt and is about 100 km long.
Worms is south of Frankfurt
Rothenburg o. d. T. is about 150 km southwest of Frankfurt.
Driving from any of these destinations to another will lead you back through Frankfurt again. Have fun at the Frankfurter Kreuz, also know as the longest parking lot in Germany

quokka

Are you planning to get out of your car at all or just drive through?
This is 4-5 hours of driving IF all roads are clear - which you can never be sure of. Doesn't sound much fun to me.

You'll bite your, erm, lower end of your back;-) when you see the Mosel valley and have no time to stay.
Besides, visiting a vineyard probably means wine-tasting - the driver cannot participate. I'd find that unfair.
Stay one night on the Mosel and then continue.

Rothenberg is a tiny village in the Odenwald, not far from Worms, with nice hiking opportunities but otherwise nothing to see. So I assume you are talking about RothenBURG, which means a much longer drive?

natjgc

We are going to be in Berlin the first 2 days of the trip and we are going to fly into Frankfort on the 3rd evening, spend the night at a hotel close to the airport and then do the driving.. What do you reccommend we do as far as driving a better route? We want to do all of these things in a mattter of
a full day and we thought it was
doable. Any suggestions would be appreciated,,, natjgc

ira

Hi N,

Are you picking up the car upon arrival in Frankfurt?

It is very dangerous to try to drive more than about 2 hrs when you are jetlagged.

Please rethink this.

natjgc

Ira,

Thanks for worrying but we will
have been in Europe a few days and I think our jet jag will be over by then. We will be in Berlin for the 1st 3 days. Anyone have any suggestions for us? natjgc

bettyk

natgc, as already stated, your proposed itinerary would be terribly rushed considering that you have AT LEAST 5 hrs driving depending on traffic conditions, not considering visiting a vineyard and stopping in Worms.

Maybe somebody else can provide you with what you need. I think you should reconsider.

quokka

A suggestion that would make your trip doable would be forgetting the Mosel and visiting a wine region that's closer to Worms to save you 150-200 kms of driving. There are five options that can be reached without such a huge detour, and all of them have good wines: Rheingau, Nahe, Rheinhessen, Bergstraße, or Pfalz.

Rheingau is lovely but close to Frankfurt, meaning you'd have to do the wine tasting first thing in the morning. Maybe not that good.

Personally, I'd choose the Pfalz. Go to Worms first, see Worms. Then hop over to one of the pretty wine villages at the foot of the Pfälzer Wald hills - Grünstadt, Bad Dürkheim, Deidesheim, Edenkoben or St. Martin. Have lunch there. Try the Pfalz wines, they are at least as good as those on the Mosel.
Then drive towards Rothenburg on the freeway/Autobahn via Ludwigshafen-Mannheim-Heidelberg. If you want to see a pretty valley landscape similar to the Mosel with castles, old towns and everything, leave the Autobahn at Heidelberg and continue East on the B 37 along the Neckar valley to Heilbronn, then back on the Autobahn and over to Rothenburg. This is still a lot of ground to cover but should work in one day.

TuckH

I think quokka's idea of the Pfalz is a good one. It's a mere stone's throw from the autobahn, thereby cutting down on your travel time. I particularly liked the town of Rhodt.

natjgc

I like these ideas. Today I thought that Betty was right and it would not be worth the time in the Mosel valley and we'd be too rushed.
It is disappointing though..
The Mosel valley is NW but doesn't the drive go south at any point..?
I thought it had and that's why
we were planning on doing this before Worms and Rothenburg( the Medival Town).

bettyk

natjgc, did you get the email I sent to you with the viamichelin map of your proposed route?

You can go to www.viamichelin.com yourself and plot the route. I used Cochem on the Mosel as your first stop from Frankfurt Airport. From Cochem to Worms and then to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Once you see the plotted route, you will be able to answer your own question.

natjgc

BettyK my email address is [email protected]. Cochem is NW though.
i quess it would put us a little out of the way. I don't really want to miss the Mosel Valley.

bettyk

natjgc, it looks like it might be a little shorter drive if you go from Frankfurt Airport to Bernkastel-Kues which is further south on the Mosel. We stayed there last September and loved the town. It's less than 2 hrs from Frankfurt Airport. It's another 1 to 1-1/2 hrs from BK to Worms and then about 2 hrs or so to Rothenburg.

That's still a lot of driving but if you get an early start then you could probably get to Rothenburg by late afternoon or early evening depending on the length of your stops.

http://www.bernkastel.de/new2008/cms...t.php?idcat=81

http://www.die-mosel.de/moselle.html

quokka

natjgc, it seems that you still aren't getting what locals who know the country, the traffic and the area are trying to tell you. Well, it's your trip.

natjgc

You are all right. I didn't do my homework and now I see that Cochem and the Mosel valley are too far west for us. We need to got to Worms first as Quokka suggested.
We are staying at an inn in Rothenburg( not Rothenberg). Thanks for making me double check to make sure we were going to the right town.

natjgc

Quokka,
I've looked on the map and the Pfalz region looks amazingly beautiful. Tt seems much more reasonable for us to see this wine route. Thanks

bettyk

The Pfalz is beautiful. Here is a website that has some info in English.

http://www.pfalztouristik.de/Tagestouren/Index.htm

Click on the different regions and you can see what info is available in English (pdf files).

Also:

http://www.pfalz.de/