Actually i think the nearby Mosel Valley is far far more gorgeous than the tiny Rhine Gorge.

Thanks again everyone,
Been looking at available hotels in St. Goar, but very little available for the 3 nights i need 7th, 8th and 9th Sept. Are you familiar with Hotel Rheinfels. I saw it on hotel.de It's shown as a 2.5 star rating, but seems very central, very close to the train station and accross from the ferry. I think I may have to book it anyway, as there was only one other hotel in St. Goar itself available on those days and this seemed the better of the two.

Why limit your search to St Goar - there are lots of towns just as cute IMO - can't go wrong with any Rhine Gorge town IMO

The Rheinfels is high on a clifftop adjacent to Rheinfels Castle. It's a hefty uphill walk from the train station.

Have you tried this?

www.st-goar.de/612-1-host-directory.html

Try the "holiday flats" option - we enjoyed our stay at Walter Huppertz' apartments; the "Rheinblick" has a nice view of the river and is very close to the station. Any of the properties on the Heerstrasse, a pedestrians-only street filled with cafes, bakeries, etc., have easy access to trains and river boats.

Oberwesel or Boppard or St. Goarshausen are all close by and may work for you too.

In general, I'd start West down the Rhine on local trains. Stop in Bacharach or St. Goar. Take the KD line boat ride from one to the other. Cross the ferry to Marksburg Castle. Explore Reinfels Castle ruin and stay in Burg Stahleck hostel overlooking the Rhine.

Continue down Rhine, then South at Koblenz on local trains through Mosel Valley to Trier and maybe Luxembourg. Stop in Cochem, see Cochem Castle. See Burg Eltz, hike to the Castle.

Back up to Bonn and Koln. If you are lucky, you can visit Bonnfest - like Octoberfest only better (less touristy, goes all night). After Koln, you will be close to Dusseldorf to catch your flight.

This looks like a Castle tour but it's really a cleverly disguised wine tasting tour. Both the Rhine and Mosel valleys have great wines (I prefer the dry whites,"troken" or "halb-troken") and this is the best time of year to be there.

This is also a festival time of year. If you have a chance to visit one, do. Only Octoberfest is a tourist zoo, most are well attended by generations of locals and very fun.

For nice accomodations that are affordable try pensions. In my opinion they are more comfortable than most hotels although you may have to use the bathroom down the hall.

Bonnfest was in early September when I went. I know it was before September 11th because I was in Germany on THE Sept. 11th and had already been.

Yeh for the castle of your dreams head to Burg Eltz perched high above the Mosel above Moselkern (train station and K-D boat dock from Koblenz or Cochem)

the rare area castle not destroyed thru the ages or by Napoleon i guess, along with Marksburg on the Rhine.

the 'Mother' Mosel is a very different river than the 'Father' Rhine - a lazy damned up river vs the roaring fast-flowing Rhine. To me the Mosel is way cuter than the cute enough Rhine Gorge and Cochem would be the perfect fairy-tale wine town to domicile in - it also has a castle of your dreams poking above a vineyard-carpeted hill from the town center (but Ersatz, only being built in the form of a medieval castle in the later 1800s i guess.

Hello everyone again and "Thank You". Well, I've booked the Rheinfels hotel for the first 3 nights. It seems there are two hotels with similar names in St. Goar. The other Rheinfels is Schloss?(spelling) and is near the castle. How far would Cochem be from either St. Goar or Koblenz. It would probably be possible to take it in on one of our day trips. Sounds like its somewhere not to be missed!

Cochem is about an hour by train i would think from St Goar and just about 30 mins from Koblenz. You can also stop at Moselkern en route and hike thru the woods up to Burg Eltz (or take a mini-bus or taxi from the station up there) - an easy day trip and at Cochem you see the fantastic Mosel valley at its finest.

We were just in the rhine/ mosel area. We stayed 2 nights in Oberwesal (near st. goar), and one night in Cochem. You could definately do a day trip to Cochem. Like the previous poster said, you could also visit Burg Eltz. Google maps said 30 minutes to Cochem by car, I think it was more like 45.

We prefered the towns along the Rhine. For some reason when we went, the Rhine was a little quiet, and Cochem was full of tourists.

You can also take a boat to Burg Eltz, or rather Moselkern and then hike or bus or taxi up the few miles to the castle - so famous in Germany that it once graced the old 500 mark banknotes in pre-euro days

but K-D boats leave but once a day May-oct or so from koblenz around 9am, put in at Moselkern a few hours later - you can return by train from Moselkern or hop the boat as it makes it way back from Cochem to koblenz.

Unlike Rhine K-D boats this is a tiny boat so is a much different type craft - but shortly after leaving Koblenz and passing under the autobahn bridge high above the wondrous and deep vineyard-carpeted Mosel Valley begins in all its glory.

We visited a place called the Wine Institute in Bernkastle, where for a few euros we were encouraged to taste some 150 different wines. It was a fantastic experience! Of course, most of the wines in this Rhine-Mosel region are white, and although I much prefer red, there were some awfully good whites. And, the ones we liked best weren't the most expensive. See if this link to Bernkastle works for you.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/139238...astel_germany/ - 70k

In Assmannshausan, we enjoyed a very good red!

Enjoy your trip!

I would second Russ's suggestion of the Rhine in Flames. My wife and I were there for it last September, and it was great! Best fireworks I've ever seen, illuminating the castle over St. Goarhausen (not sure if it's being held in the same place this year). All enhanced by liberal consumption of great wine. I didn't realize it beforehand, but later that night, around midnight, they staged a reprise of the show in Koblenz where the Rhine & Mosel join, and the view must have been great from the Deutches Eck.

I'd also second PalenQ's recommendations about the Mosel valley & Cochem. If you can't find lodging in the smaller river towns, I can recommend Koblenz. I know others aren't fond of it since it's larger and not quaint like Cochem, St. Goar, etc. But - it has great water or rail connections up either the Rhine or the Mosel, and it also has more to do at night since the sidewalks don't get rolled up at 8pm. It's also one of the few towns in the area with a brewery (Konigsbacher, I think).

For years on bike trips i once conducted we would stay two nights in Koblenz and i got to know this town and like it a lot

There is a neat restored Altstadt and the river fronts, on the Mosel and the Rhine are neat - full of strollers like previous poster said

and at the confluence of the Mother Mosel and Father Rhine is an old statue in honor of German Unity

before the waning days of WWII it had an equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm sitting on top of it and, as the owner of the campground where we stayed right at the confluence but across the river from the statue said, an American GI for fun blew it to smithereens - a new statue now graces this very famous spot for Germans.

Across the Rhine from the confluence is an old fort (Ehrenbreitsen ??sp??) that sits high on a cliff - a little pedestrian ferry goes over to its base and then there is a chairlift up to the top or a steep path - this is now one of Europe's most famous youth hostels in one wing and some kind of military or regional museum in the other part.

Don't neglect Koblenz IMO

Yes and Koblenz with its train and ship connections makes a fine base and a great one yes for folks not seeking quiet and solitude from sunset on

Thanks again to you all. Sorry I've been away for a few days but I have booked a hotel in Koln for the last 3 nights. It's Four Points Shearaton near the station and quite close to the Dom. It's seems nice anyway. Will do some excursions from there and will be able to sample some of the city life too. Looking forward to it now.

Though i consider Cologne to be a classic few-hour stop at most for the average tourist since the city to me is blahly modern due to extensive war damage if you look around you can ferret out some charms - especially the lively riverside walk ann taking a Rundfahrt boat cruise on the Rhine - basically a boat up and down - at night some have bands and meals on board. Watching the Rhine can be fun - the non-stop parade of both ocean-going ships and barges and passenger craft.

And there is a vestpocket rebuilt Altstadt with the usual beer gardens, restaurants, etc.

That's one of the problems with some of the larger cities in Germany, Austria, etc. Many were bombed heavily during WW2 and have been rebuilt.

ttt

Bonn (& Bad Godesburg and Drachenfels) is one fine day trip from Cologne - Bonn does have some romance, the Mozart House (i think it's Mozart) - a well riverfront and neat buildings from recent decades when it was West Germany's capital.

>Mozart House (i think it's Mozart)
Pal, that's bad, really bad.