Hi friends! Please help my husband and I from the arguments and stress we are experiencing with a flight under a week away and itinerary not completed and rooms not booked! Here's how it looks:
Sun evening - Frankfurt, stay night as flight lands at 5:30pm (already booked)
Monday - stay a day in Frankfurt and one more night? Or, get on going towards the Rhine & Mosel valleys..then...
Mon-Thu - 3 nights in Mosel Valley (too many?)
Thu-Sat - 2 nights Luxembourg City (husband really wants to go here)
Sat-Mom - 2 nights Belgium (somewhere...Brugge? Antwerp? Brussels?)
*The proposed schedule has us for 5 nights in Mosel & Lux, Which only leaves us 2 nights in Belgium. Our final 3 nights are in Amsterdam (already booked). It's those middle 7 nights we are debating on. I think Belgium needs more than 2 nights. (Does it?)
I am welcoming any insight you have into our 7 Germany-Luxembourg-Belgium days. Thank you!
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11946 posts
Being this close to your trip and having only 4 of your 11 nights booked is stunning.
Having read your other posts it seems desperation is setting in
At this late date I would suggest you each right out your 'ideal' plan. Draw lots and if rooms are available for that itinerary that's what you do this trip.
Next trip, the loser of this round gets to choose the itinerary.
Anymore debate and delaying the decision further at this point makes finding lodging a real problem
Good luck
Posted by
IJzendijke, The Netherlands
2106 posts
This is the planning I am thinking about:
Staying the first night in Frankfurt after a long distance flight is a good idea.
Monday: take it easy, get used to the new environment, pick up rental car for the drive or take the train to Bacherach during the cause of the day.
Tuesday: Drive along the Rhine and Mosel to Cochem, visit Burg Eltz or the castle in Cochem.
Wednesday: Drive to Trier / Luxembourg
Thursday: Explore Luxembourg (the country > car to prefer)
Friday: Drive from Luxembourg to Aachen (+visit Monschau?), drop off car there and take highspeed train to Brussels, from there local train to Bruges or Ghent. As the rest of your trip is visiting/staying in cities use the train for that!
Saturday: Visit place you stay
Sunday: Depending where you stay, daytrip to Ghent or Bruges (+maybe visit/tour to Ypres)
Monday: Train to Amsterdam with a visit to Antwerp, store luggage at the railwaystation.
Arriving early September, high season is actually over and finding rooms will be less problematic. If you use a car for the German part of your trip and be prepaired driving around a bit I think it will be fairly easy finding a place to sleep on the fly. There are plenty of hotels and B&B’s (Zimmer Frei) along the Rhine and Mosel and in Luxembourg too. Bruges attracts people all year around, but a bit out of the historic centre I think there are enough rooms to find, but look for a place with good public transport or even bikes for moving around.
Renting a car in Germany (or any other country), drop it off there too to avoid hefty drop-off charges.
Good luck!
Posted by
1262 posts
You could do 3 nights in either the Mosel or Belgium. I would choose the Mosel. Regardless, make a decision and get your rooms booked!
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7936 posts
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6583 posts
Koblenz would be a nice, central location to base for visiting the Mosel and Rhine. I think 3 days would be lovely in that area. I hope you will do a trip report. A trip to Luxembourg and Belgium is on "my list".
Posted by
307 posts
Your itinerary is good.
Three days in the Mosel Valley affords you the opportunity to enjoy the scenery and small towns and relax and work on any time jet lag issues you may have.
Two days in Belgium is fine.
Would stay in Ghent for your two nights and go to Brugge for a day trip.
It is a 30 minutes train ride from Ghent to Brugge with trains leaving every 30 minutes.
Would recommend staying at the hotel Carlton in Ghent.
Great hotel with a fabulous breakfast. The proprietors are two brothers who are excellent guides and can arrange for the bus tickets for you in both Ghent and Brugge for sightseeing.
The hotel is very close to the train station in Ghent.
Going to Brugges and Ghent will afford you the opportunity to visit smaller towns and will be more relaxed than Antwerp or Brussels.
Comment:
Go and spend two days in Luxembourg City.
Get your train tickets and head to Belgium.
Try to relax.
You will be successful in finding accommodations.
Have fun!
If you don't have dinner reservations mapped out yet in Amsterdam, consider Martine's Table near the Red Light District and the Centraal Station. You won't be disappointed!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
Here's your mantra ... "This will make a really funny story later." Keep saying this when trains are late, hotel rooms have flaws, your dinner turns out different that what you thought you ordered. They really DO make good stories! And little glitches can so easily turn into msjor disagreements when you're tired, hungry, confused ... Just remember that you're in Europe! On vacation! Enjoy the moments.