Have an itinerary all set and have decided to change the early part of my trip. Main thing driving this change is attendance of a concert in Dusseldorf a couple of days after our arrival. I understand that I am trying to cover a lot of ground and miss some sights along the way but looking for some guideance.
We fly into DUS on a Sunday am and hopefully get into hotel early, get a little rest and sightsee in DUS and Cologne. We would like to leave Dusseldorf on Monday am and see the Rhine area. A couple of new ideas I have are:
1) Train from DUS to Bacharach early Mon am, catch the 10:15 boat in Bacharach, stay on to St Goar, visit Rheinfels Castle and then head further up river either by train or boat for Vierseenblick and Braubach/Marksburg Castle.
I would also like to stop in Koblenz just to see some of the area and have a dinner. Then head back to DUS for the night. Not sure what I would do during the day on Tuesday (day of concert in Dusseldorf).
2) Rent a car in DUS on Monday morning and drive to Bacharach. Catch the 10:15 or 11:15 boat and mostly same as above, maybe not making it to Koblenz. Instead of heading back to Dusseldorf we would train back to Bacharach for the night. I have looked at a map and it looks like we could head NW out of Bacharach on Tues am and catch some of the Mosel on our drive back to Dusseldorf for the concert that night.
In my mind option #2 makes a lot more sense but I am a little concerned about any traffic I may run into headed to Bacharach Mon am or back into Dusseldorf late Tues afternoon/early evening.
Beyond these two days, when we leave Dusseldorf on Weds am my plan is to head to Wurzburg. Again I have some concerns with traffic congestion. Could I head east of the Cologne/Frankfurt areas using A43/A45/A3 to get there or am I going too far out of the way. I don%26#39;t mind driving futher if it takes extra time but avoids congestion, plus we would see a different area of the country. I have also considered taking a train to either Stuttgart or Wurzburg to cover that part of the trip and avoid the drive altogether. I don%26#39;t mind driving at all, I just don%26#39;t want to waste hours in slow/stopped traffic.
I have spent a lot of time on ViaMichelin %26amp; the D Bahn website, actually have come to understand it quite a bit but I need some real world advice.
Thanks!
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Hi there, I%26#39;d do it completely different:
SUN: arrival in Düsseldorf, check-into hotel, relax and freshen up for an hour or two then go to Düsseldorf%26#39;s media harbour, stroll around the harbour with it%26#39;s unique buildings that are art in themselves, take elevator up the Rhine Tower for a breathtaking view of the entire city and how the Rhine river meanders thru it. Have dinner at one of the many restaurants in the harbour.
MON: Pick-Up rental car and drive to Bergisch Gladbach for a mid-morning coffee/snack at Schlosshotel Bensberg (http://www.schlossbensberg.com/en/home). You%26#39;re going there for the spectacular view of Cologne and the rhine valley - and for the ambience. Then drive into Cologne, park car at Neuer Markt underground parking and walk thru the old town, visit the cathedral etc. Walk across the Hohenzollern bridge to the Hyatt hotel where the view back to Cologne is magnificent. Then back to your car and drive down to Bonn. If you want visit the old town and Beethoven%26#39;s birth place. Or visit the old West-German parliament and the chancellery where Helmut Kohl, G. Bush Sr. and Gorbatchev arranged the country%26#39;s reunification. Kohl and Gorbatchev did many walks on the rhine embankment there. Then have dinner across the river at Rohmühle (www.rohlmuehle-bonn.de), ideally on the patio right by the river. You will be able to experience the beauty of the rhine river while having dinner. It%26#39;s about a 2 hrs drive back to Düsseldorf then.
TUE: Start the day with shopping Königsalle, one of the most famous shopping miles in Europe. Düsseldorf is Germany%26#39;s No.1 destination for visitors from Korea and Japan for that reason. Later drive to Schloss Dyck, one the most romantic water chateaus in Europe with their breathtaking gardens and surroundings. The admission covers both interour and exterieur so feel free to feel like a king. Drive back to Düsseldorf for your concert.
WED: I%26#39;d check out of the hotel before driving to Bacharach. Do the rhine valley as you listed above. I%26#39;d stay overnight in Koblenz and do some parts of the Mosel river the next day.
How long are you going to stay in total? From Koblenz it would be a 1hr drive to Frankfurt and another hour to Würzburg. What else would you like to experience?
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Thanks for your reply. We are in Germany a total of 10 night. The last five night of the trip I really don%26#39;t have any flexibitly as I will definately be in Berlin the last three and I will be in Munich the two before that. (We have an early flight from Munich to Berlin).
We are not much for shopping and we don%26#39;t drink either. We like to have long busy days and take advantage of the late sunsets. I realize that by trying to cover as much ground as I am we will miss some things we shouldn%26#39;t. But I also realise that we will see some things that we wouldn%26#39;t otherwise. Hope that makes some sense.
If I wait until Weds to see the Rhine that cuts into time I was hoping to use getting to Wurzburg and Rothenburg with a possible 1/2 day trip to Stuttgart to see the MB Museum.
Where I am really struggling is what to expect traffic/highway wise on the strech from DUS to Bacharach, back into DUS and from DUS to Wurzburg.
Here is a glimpse of what my trip looks like with the lodging plans in ( ):
Sunday: Ralex/Visit DUS %26amp; Cologne (DUS)
Monday: Drive to Bacharach/See Rhine/Boat/Train (Bacharach)
Tuesday: Possible revisit of Rhine areas and Mosel/Concert in DUS at night (DUS)
Weds: Drive to Wurzburg spend 1/2 day and head to Roth (Roth)
Thurs: Early drive to Stut for MB Museum return to Roth (Roth)
Fri: Tour Rothenburg in am, head to Munich by noon (Munich)
Sat: Tour Munich (Munich)
Sun: Fly to Berlin Tour Berlin (Berlin)
Mon: Day trip to Potsdam/eve in Berlin (Berlin)
Tues: Tour Berlin/Another concert at Night (Berlin)
Weds: Fly home
Any other advice you can provide is appreciated.
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A short look at a map wills how you that driving back from Bacharach to Düsseldorf doesn´t make any sense.
Staying in the Rhine valley will save you a lot of travel time. And the major highways are not that interesting to stay several additional hours on.
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I am driving back to DUS for a concert that I bought tickets for that I have tried to sell but have not been able to as of yet and I don%26#39;t think it%26#39;s likely I will. Rather than waste a couple of hundred Euro and eat the tickets I am adjusting my plans.
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Cologne and Bonn are on the Rhine as well. Trips back and forth between DUS and Bacharach just don%26#39;t make sense. There%26#39;s only one Autobahn serving the area and if it gets jammed it pretty much closes completely.
How about: WED drive down to Bacharach and do the Rhine. Stay over in Koblenz.
THU continue drive towards Bingen and Rüdesheim, You can end that day with a Würzburg arrival.
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My gut feeling is that we would be better off trying to get to the Rhine on Monday. By adding this driving I am only adding a couple hundred miles and I think I can see part of the Mosel that I otherwise wouldn%26#39;t get to. Plus we get to Wurzburg late am on Weds. I have looked at the train down and back but I think that limits me a bit sight wise. I think my biggest risk is not being able to get back into DUS Tues evening. Just a randon though but could I park the car some where and take a train back to Dusseldorf, my first thought would be the Cologne airport and use a Lander Ticket for the three of us to travel on. It looks like the location of the airport would save me driving through Cologne and into Dusseldorf . Any thoughts?
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