October trip: Arriving by train from Paris for two nights in the Rhine/Mosel area. We'll rent a car when we get off the train -- possibly in Koblenz. I'm considering staying one night in Cochem to see the Mosel area, and then another night in St. Goar for the Rhineland. Both towns just look so appealing. When we leave the area, we will head down the Romantic Road to Rothenburg for a night then into more of Bavaria.

What are your thoughts? Does staying in two different places make any sense at all? If we do this, any suggestions on which place to stay the first night and/or possible "must sees?"

Thanks!

We went to St Goar and enjoyed the castle ruins at Rheinfels, just above the town. Also our view of 3 castles across the river from our hotel. We stayed at Hotel am Markt for 59€ incl. breakfast and can recommend it for clean, quiet sleep.

Boppard is a great town to explore for a day, has a good selection of hotels and has a K/D boat dock and train station, and a fabulous chair-lift.

http://www.hotelammarkt1.de/main.htm
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti.../rheinfels.htm
http://www.boppard.de/2001/html/pros...llung_engl.htm

We tried to stay in St Goar two years ago, but because of the Flames on the Rhein fireworks celebration we couldn't find any good rooms. Also, we wanted to stay ON the river, as opposed to across the train tracks and across the road from the river.

So, we stayed in Boppard at Hotel Gunther. It's RIGHT on the river with a small street between you and the river. What a view.........we spent our evenings, sitting on the balcony, sipping wine and watching the barges go by. Also, the hotel is owned and operated by a German/American couple, so our english wasn't a problem.

Do some research, it's hard to go wrong when selecting between the river towns along this portion of the Rhein.

Good luck,

Marla

Thanks travelnut and Marla, for your information on the Rhine area. Any tips on the Mosel?

We loved the Mosel. It's just so peaceful and beautiful. Though we were in Cochem on Saturday, market day, and it seemed a bit crowded and noisy. If your two days are on the weekend, maybe consider another town.

A must-see is the Burg Eltz, a continuously-inhabited castle between Koblenz and Cochem.

On the Rhine, we stayed in a castle, the Hotel Schoenburg in Oberwesel. This was a fun and very pleasant experience.

Obviously 2 days aren't much, but, yes, 2 stops to give you the flavor of the two rivers.

We stayed in Beilstein at the Haus Lippmann hotel right on the Mosel for three nights and took a daytrip to St Goar for a KD cruise on the Rhine to Baccarach. The drive from Beilstein to St Goar took about an hour and an half. We didn't want to have to change hotels so frequently so we did it this way. The Haus Lippmann is wonderful with lovely rooms and an excellent restaurant. The service is very gracious as well.

Great information -- I looked at all links and checked out websites of everything. It sounds like we could easily do two nights in different places if we wanted to. Did you all rent cars? If so, where did you pick them up, who did you rent from and did you arrange it before you left home?

We will be staying at the Haus Lipmann for 4 nights in early July. I will let you know what I think...Our daughter, son, and his wife will be meeting us there for a couple of days. We thought staying in one place would make more sense than packing up and moving to a new place.

jayne and wren,

I have a good little shortcut (stolen from Fodor's lightning rod Rick Steves) to Burg Eltz from Beilstein if need be. It saves a lot of walking to the castle. We loved the Haus Lippman and Mosel area (well, except for Zell - a little worn around the edges, but aren't we all). Bernkastel-Kues is really charming.

jayne, sounds like a great trip. If you're heading to Fussen and Ludwig's castles, be sure to detour to the Weiskirche. Beautiful!

Tom, I have printed out your trip report and the pressure is on...you better have these directions right...(Tracy told me to say that)!!

"I have printed out your trip report and the pressure is on...you better have these directions right...(Tracy told me to say that)!!"

Since the Happy Cheesehead came back last year after using my trip report directions, I am confident.

However, for a little while, it does seem like you are going in the completely opposite direction.

We also loved Beilstein and Hotel Haus Lipmann. The restaurant is very good as well.

Beilstein is very small, so there's not a lot of activity at night. But we didn't need a lot of nightlife as we were pretty much tuckered out from sightseeing, hiking, etc.

We were quite content sipping some cool wine or a few beers while chatting with other hotel guests and staff overlooking the river.

We stayed at Bacharach in Rhine Valley (at pension Lettie), and then at Cochem - pension Alberts.
We loved Mosel Valley more than Rhine Valley, and Cochem more than Bacharach, but we were happy that we planed to stayed in both of them.
From Cochem we made day trips to Koblenz, Trier, Luxembourg, Trier and Beilstein.
From Bacharach we took a K-D to St. Goar, and visit the town and the castle.

Pension Albers in Cochem was so nice - in the middle of the old town, we had a small apartament (45 euro), plus a good breackfast (5 euro/ person).

The pictures on the Haus Lippman website are fantastic...actually all the photos from places in this region are amazing. I can't wait to see this area!

Valtor, did you spend one night in each area? How long did you spend at the castle in St. Goar?

Again, did anyone have a car and if so where did you pick it up?

Thanks a million for all you great comments.

We stayed in Boppard but Bacharach was a little bigger and it was a fun town to explore.
You've gotten such good advice the only reason I'm chiming in is to mention that I had the best piece of cake in Boppard. It was in a cafe directly in front of the fountain on the square.
I think it was Cafe am Markt. I'm not a foodie but this was a "must eat".

Hi Jayne, Below is a link to my blog. The first report is from 2005 (all Italy), which you can scroll through to get to 2003 trip to Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy.

The first couple of days of 2003 trip were spent at Haus Lippman. I have plenty of pictures from the area. Hope you enjoy your trip (by the way, this report has the short-cut to Burg Eltz from Beilstein).

http://travelswithmaitaitom.typepad.com/travels/

You might have to wait about a minute for all the pictures to load. Have fun!

We stayed in Cochem for two nights and were glad we did (Alte Thorschenke -sp?? was a great character hotel with an excellent breakfast and very nice packed lunch you can order). Cochem is such a pleasant base, and place to return at the end of the day - lots of restaurant choices. After visiting St.Goar and Bacharach, we felt we had made the right choice.

While staying in Cochem, we actually spent most of our time on the Mosel and then left Cochem early the day we checked out and explored the Rhine on our way down to Rothenburg - arriving in the evening.

Someone recommended Burg Eltz. IMHO, this is a must-see! Beautiful, inhabited castle. Listen to what Maitaitom is saying about the Rick Steves driving directions. If you follow the signs going through various towns, you will be walking a rather lengthy distance to the castle.

However, if you follow Rick's directions, you'll park in the upper parking lot, walk downhill along a paved road and have BEAUFIFUL views of the castle along the way. For a few euro, you can "hire" a shuttle to get back uphill to the parking lot.

We rented a car through autoeurope. Another recommendation that saved my marriage.........rent a car with a GPS. Once we got the "car wench" to speak english, it was smooth sailing. We didn't miss a turn. (Well, there was that one turn down a one-way street outside of Burg Eltz! I thought the grandma pushing the stroller on the sidewalk was going to stroke out!)

With the GPS, we just entered the street address of your hotel. The only drawback with the GPS ... the cheaper cars don't have them. Consequently, we got a BMW 535! Yippeee.

Have fun,
Marla

WOW! L84SKY -- How did you know cake is my weakness? LOL

Tom -- great photos and your writing is quite entertaining. I will definitely take that shortcut to the castle. (I already have the Rick Steves book, but your and Marla's comments made me realize how important that tidbit is.)

Saltymuffin, how much time did you spend in Rothenberg?

Marla, my husband would love a GPS; depends on the price...we will have a car for at least 10 days. Where did you pick up your car?

We will be coming in from Paris by train and need to figure out the most convenient city to get off, rent a car, etc. We were thinking Koln. Any opinions on that?

Jayne, we stayed two nights in Bacharach and 5 in Cochem.
We had not a car, but traveled by train, and found this very confortable.
From Bacharach to St. Goar we made a cruise with K-D, and returned in the same way. It was a very nice trip. If I remember well, we took the boat at 10:00 in the morning (it arrived in St. Goar in one hour), and returned to Bacharach after 5 p.m. Had enough time to visit St. Goar and its castle.