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Couple travel in 2025 to Germany and Belgium

Spouse and I are looking to travel to Germany, then Belgium in August-September 2025 for three weeks celebrating one spouse's retirement as a pre-school teacher. We are flying United due to miles and thinking of flying into Munich and out of Brussels. General itinerary so far:
Germany:
Munich - 3 nights
Fussen - 2 nights
Rothenberg - 2 nights
Bacharach - 2 nights
Cologne - 2 nights
Belgium:
Antwerp - 2 nights
Bruge - two nights
Brussels - 2 nights and third day depart back to Chicago.

We do want do a boat ride on the Rhine, Visit Mosel Valley, Frankfurt, Wurzburg, and Ghent.
Question: Should we stick to transportation by train only or do a combo train/car - first part of trip use train, rent car in Frankfurt, drop off in Cologne and train only in Belgium. Thank you all for any replies. This forum is the best!

Posted by
5604 posts

Have you traveled internationally before? What are your interests? Are you planning on attending Octoberfest activities?
Two nights is one full day. I would find this absolutely exhausting for two-three weeks. You need to slow down, have a "vacation from the vacation" day, do laundry, maybe nurse a cold. I'd recommend a minimum of three nights per stop, maybe four nights after the first week.
Just some initial ideas-
If you can , get away from August and the summer travelers . Fall should be cooler and not quite as busy.
If you're in Munich, perhaps consider also going to Salzburg for a few nights. It's a 1.5 hr train ride. I actually find Salzburg much more charming.
IMHO, Fussen is a tourist trap. But I love Rothenburg.
Stay in Boppard, not Bacharach. Bacharach is charming, but is tiny and sleepy. Boppard has a nice river city buzz, lots of restaurants, has good transportation connections, and easier to catch a KD river cruise.
Brugge definitely needs at least three if not four nights. Taste some chocolate, bike ride, canal cruise, do a brewery tour, day trip to Ghent....
I'll attach my recent NL and Belgium Trip Report which may have some helpful info.
Have a wonderful trip. Safe travels.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/the-netherlands-belgium-april-2024-brought-the-rain-pants-needed-the-rain-pants

Posted by
90 posts

My husband and I did a similar itinerary to what you are proposing in 2013 after our retirement. We did stay in Ghent for our time in Belgium and did day trips to the other cities and we really enjoying having a base to return to each night. But remember this is your time so do what you want to do. We still enjoy Bacharach even though it is not necessarily a "happening" place. Have a great time. You can always return to see what you want if you fine a place you really enjoy.

Posted by
7884 posts

Newsboards are often matters of opinion, not simply facts. I also prefer three nights in a big city, but many, younger (?) posters love one-night stays. Maybe they think they'll never visit Europe a second time?

However, I don't think Brugge needs more than a two nights. I have never slept there, but have daytripped there from Antwerp twice. Although it is not essential for everyone, you can sleep four nights in Antwerp and not see everything. I do not think Brugge is the most beautiful and romantic medieval center buried in postwar sprawl, on the face of the earth. Others disagree with me.

The itinerary you listed does not require a car. But you have not made your travel style or needs clear. Do you want to visit three or four smaller places a day? Do you have family sites or war monuments in the countryside you need to see? Have you researched each city in detail? Because of train lines, it is possible to see Lier and Turnhout from Antwerp in one day (if they are on your list), but that's not as easy from Brugge, for example. Gent is an important daytrip, but this area has five unreserved trains an hour to the places you most want to go.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/couple-travel-in-2025-to-germany-and-belgium/replies/new

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/belgium/day-trips-from-brussels-besides-bruges-and-ghent

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/can-i-see-enough-of-cologne

Posted by
4602 posts

I would never have gone to Fussen if my daughter hadn't wanted to go to Neuschweinstein Castle. I loved Fussen but not the castle. Fussen is easily walkable and has an interesting small museum. I would only spend 1 night in Brussels. When it comes to enjoyable and interesting places to visit, it does not even belong in the same conversation as your other choices. Think about one of its most well-known sights and you will see why I think this.

Posted by
2042 posts

Your stays in Germany are too short. DB-The German railway is having problems on almost all long distance trains. Out of 4 train trips in 2023-only one was more or less on-time. One was cancelled an hour before, and two arrived at least an hour late. I always tell folks traveling to Germany not to plan a lot on the day they are taking the trains.

Just from my point of view you may want to fine tune your itinerary to stay in less towns for a bit longer.

And if you are retired-there will be more trips! I will also say running from town to town gets exhausting. I went on an organized tour that did this and by the fourth city I was sick of always having to pack and move to another town. JMO.

Posted by
8050 posts

I tend to let people do as they wish, and I have done trips like this earlier in my travels, so if the pace works for you great. But, through experience, I have found that you need to have realistic expectations as to what you can accomplish in the time you allow. If you are satisfied seeing only a portion of what an area offers, or passing through and getting an overview, or just to see that one thing you wanted to see, then you are on the right track. In regards to that, I can though make a few suggestions.

Travel from Rothenberg and two nights in Bacharach does not allow enough time for a boat ride (easily half day activity) a visit to the Mosel valley (another half day minimum from Bacharach, more like a full day), and both Wurzburg and Frankfurt, I presume as stops between as you travel. You can certainly get off the train and take a look around, but you might want to lay out what you want to see in each place, and figure out some timing. Many love Frankfurt, but getting off at the main station and wandering the surrounding streets is a bit dreary, likely you will be taking public transport to what you want to see. Wurzburg, you could certainly stash your bags, wander through the old town, maybe have a glass of local wine, but visiting the Residenz palace and cathedrals starts to consume hours on what is a 4-5 hour travel day already.

Having a car after Frankfurt until Cologne might make it more efficient to explore. Again, not sure what all you want to see, but the high points in Cologne can be done in an afternoon (the Cathedral and wandering old town), giving you a bit more time to drive the Mosel.

For Belgium, you might reconsider the order. From Cologne Brussels is a good first stop, then Bruges, then Antwerp. Many do not realize that the Brussels airport is almost as close to Antwerp in travel time as is where you will stay in Brussels. In Antwerp there are great hotels near the train station, not so much in Brussels. For that matter (again, depending what you want to see) you could stay your two nights in Ghent, and day trip to Brussels, or spend mid-Day in Brussels enroute Cologne-Ghent.

Posted by
7060 posts

"We do want do a boat ride on the Rhine, Visit Mosel Valley, Frankfurt, Wurzburg, and Ghent."

I assume you have singled out these specific destinations as the most essential for whatever reason... correct?

I suggest that you heed the pacing advice you have already received and rebuild your itinerary by allocating at least 3 nights to each of the selections you singled out. (Combine Mosel and Rhine for at least 4 nights.) That's 4 stays across 13 nights.

Then choose your airports accordingly (Looks like Frankfurt and Brussels to me.)

Then think about adding nights to some of your choices to do side trips to the secondary places you named...

  • a round-trip outing from Würzburg to Rothenburg (and/or Bamberg?)

  • a round-trip outing from Ghent to Bruges (and/or Antwerp?)

(Cologne could be a similar round-trip outing from a Rhine-Valley base town like Boppard or Bacharach, but to me it makes more sense as a stopover on the way to Belgium.)

Structuring a trip this way means fewer hotel bookings, more bag-free train travel, fewer packing/unpacking/checking-in/out procedures.

I would not choose to rent a car for the Rhine/Mosel stay for only a few days, as you are contemplating. The area is well-served by trains - and these are well-known as the most scenic railway journeys in Germany anyway.

Map of Rhine/Mosel area train lines

Koblenz > Trier train stops
Koblenz > Trier railway schedule

Cologne > Koblenz > Bingen train line
Koblenz > Rüdesheim > Frankfurt train line

Posted by
8242 posts

Your visit to Bavaria is too short. Nuremberg, Regensburg, Berchtesgaden (and neighboring Salzburg) would be much better than Cologne.
Fussen is good, but Garmisch and the Zugspitze are not to be missed.
Cologne has the famous cathedral, but the rest of the city was bombed out in the war.

What Antwerp, better Ghent or Amsterdam. Brussels has the Grand Plaza, but pales compared to Amsterdam.