Rudesheim, Burg Eltz, Trier & Kaiserslautern, Germany
 

Next September we're traveling 21 days by car from Frankfurt to Salzburg via Rhine area, Rothenburg, Munich and Chiemsee. We then reverse westerly to Lake Plansee, Bodensee, Zurich and spend final week in Lauterbrunnen, S. The first 5-6 days in the Rhine area we plan on staying at or seeing Rudesheim, Burg Eltz, Trier & Kaiserslautern. Any suggestions for overnights (2 & 3 star)or things to do?

I did a home exchange in the Black Forest and saw a lot of these places. Unfortunately, I did not stay in many hotels, so I cannot help you with those. <BR> <BR>I did do a side trip to the Rhine and saw Burg Eltz, but cannot remember where we stayed (It was awful anyway, so I would just warn you off). <BR> <BR>I would be happy to answer questions about the Black Forest, Lauterbrunnen and the Bodensee. <BR> <BR>Make sure you take a boat trip on the Rhine past the Lorelei, take a car ferry across the Bodensee, and remember that if you get suckered into taking the early train to the Jungfrauhoch to save money, it may be totally clouded up when you get there. I got so suckered and did not see anything but Japanese tourists taking photos of themselves under a sign that said "Top of the World".

When you're at Lake Constance, you will of course go to the Island of Mainau. It is just beautiful. Stein am Rhine is an adorable town, probably on your way out, that has a lovely toy museum and the Rhine Falls are nearby. <BR>If there are "shoppers" in your group, allow a little extra time in Rothenberg. It's is phenomenal! <BR>Look for little local wine festivals in the Rhine area, and try to visit a small family-run winery. If you plan to buy some wine to take home, bring your own bread and cheese to the winery, and the owner will most likely host a "wine-tasting" for you to make your choices! <BR>

A hotel you may want to check on is the Krone on the banks of the Rhine in Assmannhausen. We stayed there in a room overlooking the river, walked across the street and got on the boat for a day cruise. Goethe stayed there once....a few years back. <BR> <BR>All the towns on the Rhine are easily accessed by car, ferry across the river or boat so you really do not need to move from hotel to hotel that much. Rudesheim is up the road from Assmannhausen. The fun place there is the Drogglegasse with all the restaurants and German music playing. <BR> <BR>The Mosel River is another area worth seeing. We enjoy it as much as the Rhine and it is very close to the Rhine. We stayed at the Alte Thornedecke in Cochem on the Mosel and really enjoyed it. Old, quaint and squeaky stairs. Built into the old town wall. Again, this area can be explored easily by car while staying in one hotel. <BR> <BR>Rothenburg: Reichs Kutchenmeister is a nice place to stay. Ask for the old building. Great location inside the wall near the twon square and next to St Jacob's church and good restaurant. Do night watchman's tour when there. Plus visit main store for Kathe Wohlfardt. <BR> <BR>Salzburg: We stay in neighboring town of Berchtesgaden at the Watzmann hotel as we enjoy Berch more than Salz. Both are great areas to visit and close to each other. Salt mines, Lake Koingsee tour, Eagles nest in Berchtesgaden. Tour of the castle and even "Sound of Music" tour in Salzburg. The "Sound" tour is corny, but fun and you see some great scenery. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps some.

When we visited Burg Eltz we stayed in Moselkern at the Gästezimmer of Hedwig Pauly at Oberstrasse 53. From Moselkern it's a pleasant walk through the woods to Burg Eltz. In Trier we stayed at the Hotel-Cafe-Astoria, very nice and I think a 2-star. We found it through the Tourist Board.

Here is what I can contribute: <BR>Rothenburg: We stayed at the Gerberhaus and would recommend it. That said, the already-recommended Kutchenmeister is better located (though it doesn't matter that much in such a small area). The Kutchenmeister's restaurant is quite good. <BR>Burg Eltz: It is a beautiful walk through the woods from Moselkern, but it is a pretty long walk. I'm thinking 45 minutes to an hour (we did it with our luggage, b/c Moselkern's train station did not have lockers, but you can drive almost right up to the castle). I would also recommend Rhinefels, which is a mammoth ruined castle near St. Goar on the Rhine, and we enjoyed the castle above Cochem, although it is not as "authentic" as Eltz. In Cochem there is a little restaurant off the main square called Cristophers or St. Cristophers, or something like that. Nice for lunch. <BR>Trier is underrated. It doesn't take too long to see most of the sights, though. The square and gate are impressive, but the Kaisertherman (sp?) are really neat. Most of the sights are within walking distance. We stayed at the Haus Runne, a quirky place that we enjoyed, but it is probably a little more budget than you are looking for.

We did a trip on the Rhine river last September. We stayed in The Hotel Burg Reichenstein. A real castle from the 1100's. It was not a luxury hotel, but very comfortable. It was around $80 dollars including breakfast.There is a beautiful view of the river from the terrace. There are many castle hotels in the area and pensions. We did a short crusise from Bingen to St. Goar-the Lorelei is a highlight. Stop in Rudesheim and Bacharach was my favorite town. Ditto on the Kathe Wohlfahrt store in Rottenburgh.Are y ou driving along the Romantishestrasse? Many little neat towns and Gastehause along the route. Chiemsee is a beautiful area and King Ludwigs Herrenchiemsee is great. And of course Munich is terriffic. We did the "Mike's Bike Tour" there and really enjoyed riding through the city and seeing all the sites. Part of the tour is a stop in the Englisher Garten-sampling bier, wurst or kuchen. <BR>Make sure you buy the Mozart Kugeln in Salzburg. Pistachio, marzipan chocolates; and catch one of the many concerts. This is a great trip with tons to see!!

We are planning to stay in Oberwessel at Castle Schonburg Hotel which is located on a cliff above the Rhine River. Have seen good comments about it on this board. I have stayed at the Roter Hahn Hotel in Rothenburg. Very nice and very reasonable, just a block or so from the town square. Understand that Lindau on Bodensee is a nice little town to visit also.

Just got back a few months ago from several of your intended destinations. I would HIGHLY recommend the following hotels: <BR> <BR>TRIER: <BR> <BR>Hotel Eurener Hof - INCREDIBLE bargain for a beautiful, HUGE room and the best breakfast buffet we had on our entire 3-1/2 week long trip. You are greeted with a bottle of complimentary wine too. We were treated like royalty. Hotel has a pool and spa -- a great plus. Be sure to see the Roman ruins. However, we thought the Karl Marx house was disappointing. <BR> <BR>Eurenerstrasse 171 <BR>54294 Trier <BR>011 49 651 82400 <BR>Fax: 011 49 651 800 900 <BR>[email protected] <BR>www.eurener-hof.de <BR> <BR>ROTHENBURG: <BR> <BR>Hotel Reichs-Kuchenmeister -- Ditto to others who have said it is in a good location. Their restaurant was quite nice too. We really liked this hotel a lot for its old world charm (I guess the whole town has that though!). Night Watchman tour was the highlight for our 15-year-old -- very informative and funny. Also the criminal museum - YIKES! <BR> <BR>Kirchplatz 8D-91541 <BR>Rothenburg ob der Tauber <BR>011-49-9861-9700 <BR>Fax: 011-49-9861-86965 <BR>[email protected] <BR> <BR>LINDAU (BODENSEE): <BR> <BR>Hotel Garni-Brugger - Lindau was absolutely gorgeous. We spent our last 2 nights in Europe there and it was perfect. This hotel was very reasonably priced, spacious, etc. I'd highly recommend it as well <BR> <BR>Bei der Heidenmauer 11 <BR>Schmiedgasse 14 <BR>88131 Lindau/Bodensee <BR>011 49 83 82 93 410 <BR>Fax: 011 49 83 82 4133 <BR>www.hotel-garni-brugger.de <BR> <BR>All of the 3 hotels I mentioned above have websites for you to check out. Have fun! <BR> <BR>Laura

I'm so envious! I used to live in Trier, (actually Bitburg, right outside Trier), Kaiserslautern, and went to the Uni in Konstanz am Bodensee. Unfortuately I can't recommend any particular places to stay, but will put my two cents in for places to see... <BR> <BR>Trier is one of my favorite cities. The other poster is right, one of the most underrated cities in Europe, but can be seen quickly. The Roman Baths are interesting, as is the Porta Nigera. The Konzil is neat from the outside, but very barren on the inside. The Dom is impressive - the crypts are Roman, and the "newest" part of the church I think is from the 16 or 1700's. There is a LARGE rock outside the door, that according to local legend fell off the roof during the later building trapping the Devil underneath. Supposidly if it is moved the Devil will escape thereby starting the end of the world....The Dom is also the home of what is reputed to be Christ's robe. The Roman museum in Trier is also quite nice. Oh, and the Karl Marx museum is interesting. He was born there. His old house is the museum, you ring a bell to be admitted and then once you are in you have free rein in the place - when we went we weren't real sure which were public and which were private rooms as there weren't very many signs up. <BR> <BR>To be honest, I'm racking my brains on sights to see in K'town, but honestly can't. It is a fairly good sized city, with pretty little villages around the city, but I don't remember going to a single "tourist" attraction while we were there - not even field trips with the high school (I graduated from there). <BR> <BR>Konstanz: Insel Mainau, Meersburg (don't bother going into the castle though, much nicer from the outside), the Muenster in Konstanz (hopefully by now it is completly renovated), even the Bahnhof is a work of art in the city architecturally. The Konzil is intersesting, as is the Rathaus. Stein am Rhein is a beautiful little town, and is close to the Rheinfalls which is worth the trip. <BR> <BR>As for the other places - Rothenburg is best seen at night with the Nightwatchman. Burg Eltz I think is a lovely little castle - it is the only one completly spared during the war (all of them) - most likely because it is DOWN in the valley - for once walk down hill to the castle!! The vineyards are interesting, esp if you imbibe, but I prefer the Mosel wines to the Rhine wines. The Salt Mines are cool - esp for kids. The Eagles Nest is very cool - the views are awesome and the history is frightning. <BR> <BR>I'm sure that I'm missing all kinds of places, but am just touching on a few of my favorites.. <BR> <BR>Have fun!!

When we saw Burg Eltz this past May we stayed in the nearby town of Beilstein at the Winzerschenke an der Klostertreppe (our two night stay was 180 DM). We ate our late dinner meal at the Hotel Gute Quelle outdoors on the Market Square which is full of half-timbered houses and wine bars. Our pleasant meal with wine was 50 DM (under $25). After our meal we walked around the tiny town but really there is only about 20 minutes at most you can take to stroll slowly down all the streets in Beilstein! <BR> <BR>In Trier we stayed at the Hotel Petrisburg (at Sickingenstrasse 11; telephone (0651) 464-0) high in the hills over the city of Trier. I would recommend getting written driving directions in advance if you book at this hotel. The hotel itself was very nice and I would certainly recommend staying there to others. Every room has a private balcony and ours looked down on a wonderful view of the city and the hills beyond. There is a nice somewhat steep forested path that leads down from the hotel grounds to the city below. Once we got to the hotel we didn’t move our car again until we left Trier. The hotel owner (Herr Pantenburg) speaks many languages and is a helpful, efficient person. He does much of the work of running this medium sized hotel himself as he told us that way he is assured that things will be done in the correct manner. Our room was very pleasant and you get a good value for your money with this hotel. <BR> <BR>WE've also been to Munich 3 times, Bodensee, Chiemsee, Saltzburg twice, Rothenburg twice, and Zurich (zzzzzzzzz) <BR>but these trips were more than 2 years ago so hotel recommendations may not be good ones anymore.....I could tell you more sightseeing suggestions if you wish.

Okay, I will take exception with my daughter Anissa and tell you that the old castle at Meersburg is well worth a tour. In fact, it is one of my most memorable experiences because the interior was so authentic and thought-provoking. Having said that, however, the rest of her ideas are all good! For lodging in Kaiserslautern, I'd check on the Seehotel Gelterswoog, which sits on a pretty little lake just south of the town of Kaiserslautern. When I was there in July, the place was being renovated... it has one of the best restaurants in the area and should be especially nice in September (as I'm sure you know, the BEST month to visit Germany!). For Trier, I always like the Berghotel Kockelsberg for it's spectacular overlook view of the city at night, and would recommend you pick up a walking tour handout from the tourist office. Reichs Kuchenmeister is perfect for Rothenburg; we like Room number 115 or 116 (a large corner room at the back of the house) but all are nice. For staying close to Burg Eltz, the Hotel Sewenig in Mueden is good, again with an excellent restaurant (do you think my travels are being influenced by my stomach???). Although at other times you could wander and pick out a nice little pension, if you plan to stay on the Mosel or Rhine during September, it is imperative that you make reservations NOW!! You will find most things booked by the first of the year, due to the winefests going on in the fall and the high repeat, German travelers booking accommodations. If you need other ideas, let me know. Have a great trip!

Don't miss Burg Eltz. We did the walk from Moselkern station in about 45 min. each way with a nine-year-old - absolutely beautiful. Incredible furnishings and artifacts in that place. <BR> <BR>The Reichsburg Castle in Cochem was rebuilt after French troops turned it into rubble, but it was reconstructed according to original plans, so it may be the most "authentic" place around, and its tour is quite good. It has the most magical setting of any castle I've seen with the possible exception of Neuschwanstein. <BR> <BR>Meersburg is a huge disappointment if you've seen these other castles first. It's a shrine to Annette von Droste Hülshoff, a prominent German literary figure, so if you're into her, better go. <BR> <BR>The rugged, authentic, and popular Marksburg Castle in Braubach on the Rhine south of Koblenz offers the best tour in that area and is open year-round; it's never been destroyed! If you're driving that side of the river, the town of Linz north of Koblenz makes for a lovely stop, and just across the river and to the north is Remagen, where a moving war museum is housed in the supports of the old Remagen bridge of WWII fame.