In May 09 we took an 8 day trip to the Rhine (Rhein) River with two days in Trier. It was too short of course but schedules of my wife (still slaving away at work), my daughter (graduate student at Univ of Colorado) and my son (University of Utah). I am retired army and without a schedule to fit.

We flew into Frankfurt from Salt Lake City, via Cincinnati. All the bags arrived. We made the substantial walk - Skyline ride to the train station. Using a Schoenes Wochenende Ticket we traveled via Mainz to St Goar. Note: the train from Mainz to St Goar is labeled MRB32 rather than the designation shown on the Die Bahn website.

The St Goar train station is small, almost abandoned. You step out behind the local church and walk around it on cobblestones to the river and our hotel, Hotel am Markt. There is an immediate view of the Rhine. Surrounded by old buildings, looking at the Rhine, I certainly felt that I had returned to Germany and was thrilled.

We much enjoyed the Hotel am Markt as a hotel, restaurant and cafe.

The first day was sunny and we devoted it to exploring the town and walking along the River. St. Goar was a our favorite stop on this trip, probably because of the easy access to the river with views of two castles across the river.

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/gallery...42407899_SHWGU

Our second day in St. Goar was rainy. Luckily I remember how to ask about buying an umbrella in German. We walked up to Rheinfels ruins, the second reason that I really liked St. Goar. Only a small fraction of the castle is left and still it is enormous. Ruins more that preserved (or rebuilt) castles always appeal more to me. The bare bones of a place gives you a great sense of how it was built and what purpose it served.

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/gallery...42416640_5Ur8H

We returned from our trek from Rheinfels in the rain. We settled into a window booth in the hotel restaurant for a glass of wine (my case), cake and tee, etc. The "kids" played cards. My wife an I read a bit and watched the very active river traffic: working barges, tour boats and the ferry. It was hypnotic. I told my wife that they were going to have to go back without me.

Hello Gary_Mc

Good job. Love the pictures of the castle!

I'll be here waiting for Trier....

Interesting report, Gary_Mc - good idea using the Wochende ticket to get to St. Goar.

Looking back at my first entry, I see that my spelling and grammar are as terrible as ever. My proof reading is even worse.

On to Trier. There was an expression in the army, " That happened when Christ was still a corporal." Trier was founded even before then and competes for the title "Germany's oldest city".

We stayed at the Hotel Pieper quite near the train station. The room was a bit small but enough. Breakfast was above average. The folks were very nice. I would stay there again. We arrived at the hotel during a lunch hour in the associated restaurant. We ate from its limited menu. The menu was limited; the quantities were large. If you are in Trier, not having eaten in two days, try the Hotel Pieper for lunch; food was also good. The owner/manager/waitress brought us some dishes and warned my son that his plate was very hot (sehr heiß). She repeated herself to insure that we understood while blowing on her fingers. Then she brought my son a cola and assured him that it was "nicht heiß". Add comedian to her other titles.

We first visited the town square: old attractive buildings with Subway, jeans stores, etc. on the ground level. They can't make everything in Germany a museum piece.

The second day we visited St. Paulin's, the Dom and many Roman ruins.

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/gallery...42507911_nPyrJ

The Dom interior was a bit of disappointment; many of the side altars added over the centuries clashed with each other and the beauty of the building. I liked the exterior better.

Of the Roman ruins, I most enjoyed the thermal baths with their underground passages. Underground, where workmen toiled, was perhaps even more impressive that the above ground brick and stone work. I would guess that masons made a good living in Trier.

Porta Nigra is so massive and overwhelming that I almost took it for granted. It is like not seeing the elephant in the living room. The Romans built stuff to last and yet Porta Nigra is only small portion of what once was.

Thanks for sharing your great report Gary... you are really making me miss the Rhein and the Mosel. I know what your mean about the activities on the Rhein. I sat for hours on the balcany of my room at the Hotel Hauser on each of the three days I was in St. Goar last. I just watched the boat traffic and the ferry taking cars and people back and forth. Very peaceful. Love your pictures too. Can't wait to read more.

We returned to the Rhein at Bacharach. It was our most scenic stop. The small town is filled with cobble-stoned streets and half-timbered houses.

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/gallery...42339632_uJWFF

We stayed at the Pension Malerwinkel, one of those half-timbered houses. We had a large room with a large breakfast and a low price. I would highly recommend it. The house itself is a tourist sight, as is the small neighborhood - Malerwinkel (painter's corner).

We walked up to the Stahleck Castle, which is now a youth hostel. It is not listed as a tourist sight but we entered the courtyard and found it quite interesting. We walked back down along the old town wall. It was quite steep and I needed to hold on to a guide wire provided. The round trip was a bit of work but worth it for the views.

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/gallery...42358433_CnVcA

When I was on the Rhine the first time in the 1970's I took some black and white photos. My favorite was of the Pflaz Castle on an island in the Rhine. I walked about 3 km along the Rhine from Bacharach to take a new picture of it. I am still quite enchanted with the view.

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/photos/...21_ev4pp-M.jpg

The first evening, we went to the train station to check a schedule. We noticed that the only ticket machine was out of service (Ausser Betrieb). We went back early the next morning, still out of service. Luckily later that morning the machine was fixed. Bacharach was the only place that we stopped that did not have more than one ticket machine.

Gary, thank you for your report and excellent pics with clear captioning! We visited that area and "cruised" a good part of the Rhine last summer. There, as in other parts of Germany, one can expect overcast and rain. But what a fascinating region with so much history (and blood). Did you see the remains of the bridge at Remagen?

Thanks for sharing...

Latedaytraveler,

I have not seen the bridge at Remagen. The more time that I spend in Germany, the more that I realize how much I have missed.

Gary

Thanks for sharing. Your photos are great. We will be in that area in July for 6 days. We are staying in Boppard and plan to do Trier as a day trip. About how long did it take you to go from the middle Rhein to Trier? Did you find the trains reliable- the schedules look pretty good on-line. Did you get a pass or just pay for each ticket as you got it?

Isabel,

From Boppard to Trier is a little under 2 hours and yes German trains are reliable. I hope that you already know about the Rheinland Pfalz Ticket. Check schedules at:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Set "means of transport" to "only local transport" for the best fares. The 27 euro fare is the RP ticket good for 2-5 people.

We made a day trip to Boppard and my wife said she wanted to stay there on our next trip to the Rhein. It is a nice town with a bit more shopping than St. Goar or Bacharach.

Gary

We made our last stop this trip at Mainz. We have had good luck on previous trips when we stopped at towns that not major tourist destinations. These included Aschaffenburg, Ansbach, Freising and now Mainz. We much enjoyed Mainz, as we did the other less touristy cities that we visited. It is a different side of Germany than some Americans see.

Our first destination was the famous Mainz Cathedral. It was closed as they were shooting a film. Not a good start. We went on to St. Stephan's to see the Chagall stained glass windows. They were wonderful. In a good frame of mind we walked back towards the center of town and stumbled on two very enjoybable statues: one of three girls in the rain and one devoted to Fasching Fools. It turned out a good start to two pleasant days.

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/gallery...42480034_xZVme

We found two good restaurants: Specht and Augustiner Keller. We went to the Specht for a light lunch but their portions defied any concept of a light lunch. Everything was so good that we forgave them.

We walked along the Rhine on Sunday afternoon. It was sunny after days of cool and sometimes wet weather. Much of Mainz was at the river's edge sunbathing, biking or walking like us. I enjoy people watching and this was prime territory for it.

We stayed at the Hotel Königshof near the main train station. The hotel was nice with good sized rooms and a decent breakfast. Unfortunately, there was a lot of street noise all night long: young men shouting, singing, enjoying being drunk. Plus the hotel converted my bill into dollars at a rate about 5 cents per euro above the bank rate. It only cost m about $15 but left a bad taste in my mouth.

I would finish by saying that it was a great trip to Germany. I am not sure why I stayed away from the Rhine so long.

Very enjoyable, Gary_Mc. I'm in the middle of planning my itinerary there for this summer, so your comments are very helpful.

We enjoyed this trip so much that we have just bought fresh tickets for Stuttgart->Munich for the Weihnachtsmärkte (Nov-Dec time). That is the second time this has happened. I am becoming addicted. I may need an umpteen step withdraw program or bigger bank account.

Regards, Gary

Gary_Mc

I am planning a trip combining the romantic road and rhine valley/Mosell..

I plan to spend between 4-5 nights in the rhine/Mosell, could you recommend what cities would be good bases to travel from? We will have a car and hope to spend at least 1-2 nights in the Shonburg castle.. Unless recommended otherwise.

Thanks for your perspective.

Schönburg in Oberwesel is your Rhine base. A good choice if you have a car. You can easily reach Bacharach, Boppard, and with the ferry, Marksburg Castle in Braubach:

www.marksburg.de

On the Mosel, centrally-located Cochem provides easy access to other nearby towns and sights (Burg Eltz, Bernkastel, Trier, (Bad Bertrich spa town) and is delightful in and of itself. Don't miss the falconry show at Cochem's Reichsburg Castle.

Thanks Russ.

I can spend about 4-5 nights in this area. What time would you recommend in these locations?

I also plan to spend 5-6 nights in Munich/Romantic Road...

10 nights all together.. Is Heidelberg a stop worth making?

I just returned from the Rhine Valley a few hours ago actually. This is the first post I've read while I'm waiting for the coffee. I will be posting a trip report and some of the hundreds of photos I took but for now I'll say that if you don't want/need a castle hotel stay I can highly recommend the hotel we stayed at in Boppard. We did not go up to the Schonburg Castle but saw it from the river and the town. We went up to/and or toured four castles plus Rhinefels ruins and felt we got enough castles without staying in one. Taking a day cruise on the river you see a castle every five minutes. We really liked staying in Boppard as it was a little larger than some of the towns on the Rhine.

Hotel Weinhauspatt Steinstrasse 30 www.hotelweinhauspatt.de/[email protected],
What a find. This is a wonderful little hotel in the center of Boppard, run by great guy from England. It’s in an historic building on a picturesque little square with half timbered houses and fountain, less than a ten minute walk from the train station and riverfront. The room we had (#15) was very spacious with sofa, four poster bed, plenty of space, nice furniture. Fabulous breakfast was included. Free wi-fi. The hotel is run by John Durcan who also runs a small pub downstairs. We felt Boppard was the perfect place to stay for day trips up and down the Rhine and Mosel and this hotel made our stay even more enjoyable. We paid 55€ a night.

If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them. It will be a while before I do the report or photos.

Isabel,

Thanks for your reply.. How much time would you recommend for the Rhine/Mosel areas? Do you think it makes sense to pick a single stop and do all day trips or split times between the two?

Just trying to gage the area and headache of driving everywhere..

Thanks

We had five full days (6 nights) and that was about right. We traveled by train but if I had it to do over I'd rent a car. I usually like European trains and they do run in this area quite frequently and you can get a day pass for 27 euro for unlimited travel for up to five people. Even with only 2 it paid for itself each day. One day we did Bacarach, Oberwesel and St Goar/Rhinefels ruin. The next we did Trier and Cochem. The next we did Koblenz and Marksburg Castle (I would skip Koblenz, it was quite boring. Marksburg Castle was very nice and the little town below it, Braubach is very picturesque). The next we did a river cruise to Rudsheim and back to Boppard (21 euro round trip per person). And the last day we did Rheinstein and Reichenstein Castles. We wanted to do Burg Eltz but without a car the train schedule/hiking time means it takes an entire day.

It looks like driving and parking is very easy in the whole area. Biking looks great too and if we had known in advance and had been sure of good weather we would have rented bicyles and done a day of that.

tjs123, I would say that Trier would deserve the most time - probably two days. It's a very nice town to visit, but also has the added attractions of the Roman historical sites and a very nice cathedral (with a pretty important religious relic).

To me, the smaller towns along the Rhine & Mosel are very nice and certainly worth visiting (though you probably won't have time to visit them all), but they are so small that there is not much to do, particularly at night. If you like to go out in the evening, like my wife and I do, you could consider staying in Koblenz, which itself is a pretty nice town, but large, and it has a large number of restaurants that are open later in the evening. You can use the trains or boats to take trips up the Rhine or the Mosel (Koblenz is located where the two rivers join), stopping at whatever smaller towns you may be interested in. From Koblenz you could also take a trip north to Bonn or even Cologne, if you were interested.