Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Cologne -- castles nearby?

Hi , I am hoping someone who is familiar with this area could help. I am arriving into Cologne via train from Paris in the afternoon and leaving for home ut of Frankfurt 5 days later.





I am wondering with 5 days, if we should stay in cologne as a base and then take train (?) out to the local castles and get to Frankfurt on the last day. Or alternatively if we should stay in Cologne for 1 or 2 days and make our way down to Frankfurt during that 5 day period? I don%26#39;t think we will be renting a car, so it%26#39;ll have to be train transportation.





Any thoughts would be much appreciated, thanks!




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2nd plan is better: %26quot;stay in Cologne for 1 or 2 days and make our way down to Frankfurt during that 5 day period%26quot;.





A good concentration of castles around Koblenz: Marksburg in Braubach - www.marksburg.de , Rheinfels in St. Goar , and Burg Eltz near Moselkern. All these towns have train stations. Burg Eltz requires a 45-50 min walk from Moselkern station but is the best of the three. Marksburg gets the silver medal, best choice if you don%26#39;t want to walk; take the shuttle from the middle of Braubach. Rheinfels is in ruins but still interesting - take the shuttle from town.





Koblenz is a larger city - better to stay in a smaller village for atmosphere. St. Goar qualifies nicely - it has a wonderful setting in the prettiest part of the Rhine Gorge, and there%26#39;s a ferry across the river there and a train station on the other side you can use to get to Braubach and Marksburg Castle.





Or stay on the Mosel River in Cochem, a delightful town, and daytrip to Marksburg and Rheinfels. You could also daytrip from Cochem to Trier, Germany%26#39;s oldest city with Roman roots.





I%26#39;d spend 3 days in either of these towns. Frankfurt is a short train ride from there.




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I neglected to mention that Cochem has its own castle (Reichsburg, beautifully situated high above the town; also tourable, but not as interesting inside) and a very good falconry show at the castle. Good place to take a boat ride upriver to Beilstein or beyond.




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Russ, thanks for the very helpful info.





It sounds like Koblenz might be a good base to do day trips to the several castles you mentioned. So then 2 nights cologne, 1 night koblenz, and 1 night frankfurt. all connected by train network so wont have difficulties veering from the big cities. we won%26#39;t have a car, so train will have to be it.





many thanks!




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