Please sign in to post.

Eastern France / Western Germany

My wife & I are planning a trip in which we fly in & out of Amsterdam, and then do a driving loop consisting of Normandy, Alsace-Lorraine, and, Cologne, before returning to Amsterdam to fly home to the U.S. My question is, besides the aforementioned locales, is there anything noteworthy to visit that isn't far from this "loop", whether in eastern France, western Germany, and even Luxembourg & Belgium? We're not that much into museums - more into walking through charming towns with narrow streets, shops, restaurants, and such, and interesting natural sights.

Thank you.

Posted by
19654 posts

charming towns with narrow streets, shops, restaurants, and such, and interesting natural sights.

Mosel Valley in Germany. Has all of that in spades, wine too.

Rhine Valley between Mainz and Koblenz, more specifically between Bingen and St Goar.

Posted by
4025 posts

Alsace-Lorraine towns look Germanic; parts, after all, were held by Germany after various wars. Good places to drink beer are more common than in the south, for the same reason.

Posted by
8889 posts
  • Alsace: Colmar and the wine route towns (if this isn't on your list already)
  • Freiburg im Breisgau on the German side of the Rhine.
  • Trier (Roman gate etc.).
Posted by
334 posts

You can get a tour out of Colmar to the quaint and beautiful villages along the wine route. Or drive there yourselves. Do you need the names of any of the villages?