6 day car hire on the Romantic road itinerary

Too much driving? It would be for me.

Too much Romantic Road? Same answer. It's a deceiving title as there's nothing all that Romantic or scenic about the drive, really. I find the Rhine and Mosel Valleys (just south of Bonn) far more romantic/scenic than the RR and would spend a few days there prior to (or instead of) Bonn.. Both valleys are dotted with castles, not late-19th century palaces with fake castle facades (like Neuschwanstein) but with genuine knights' castles from the Middle Ages where European history left its mark.

https://www.urlaub-ferien-und-meer.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/shutterstock_713474503.jpg
https://mostlytraveled.wordpress.com/2022/05/10/day-15-burg-eltz-castle/
https://img.fotocommunity.com/marksburg-braubach-bc203e81-d606-4f2f-bb8d-17e275e8ba88.jpg?height=1080

It's a fine area for river cruising, scenic walks, old-world villages, wine tasting, castle-snooping.

I might also want some time in the other cities nearby. Trier, Mainz, Cologne and Aachen have a lot to offer.

But it's you who is making this trip. What sort of interests/experiences do you have in mind?

Sounds like a very tiring 6 days. But my only caution would be to drop off the car in Germany and train to A'dam to avoid an exhorbitant out of country drop off fee.

We mainly like sceneries and old villages we aren't into cities.

We mainly like sceneries and old villages we aren't into cities.

Why are you staying in Bonn and Augsburg?

Lots of old-world towns and scenery in the Rhine/Mosel Valleys...

Boppard:
https://www.boppard-tourismus.de/media/was-ist-wo-broschu__re_en_190218.pdf
https://www.deutschlandgourmet.info/bilder/gross/5710-Restaurant-Weinhaus-Heilig-Grab-Boppard.jpg
Take Boppard's chairlift ride to the clifftops for some food and great scenery at Gedeonseck:
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-o/14/37/be/f9/dsc-0008-largejpg.jpg

Braubach
https://fotos.schloemp.eu/wp-content/gallery/braubach/002Braubach-Bauernschaenke-Eck-Fritz.JPG

Bacharach
https://img.fotocommunity.com/renaissance-fachwerk-bacharachmittelrhein-40a00d59-84f8-42d4-b8f8-13b4b184d56f.jpg?height=1080

Rüdesheim
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/da/78/1b/da781ba904b2a87a580cc9415420dc79.jpg

Oberwesel: view over the town from the Günderodehaus:
https://d2exd72xrrp1s7.cloudfront.net/www/000/1k2/19/19gwg16ki7la3xgjq2lnyd0eq2l9hfqhp-uhi2715023/0?width=768&height=576&crop=true

Cochem
https://unsortiertes.de/wp-content/uploads/mosel-citylights-nacht-cochem.jpg

Beilstein
https://img.fotocommunity.com/beilstein-an-der-mosel-271c065b-2100-4db9-98ef-90339e58e39d.jpg?height=1080

Bernkastel
https://resc.deskline.net/images/RPT/1/2197f13e-6e83-4470-b1c2-4a985fca07c8/99/image.jpg

Rothenburg is of course Germany's most famous old-world town. Arriving at MUC you could drive in that direction straight off and stop off at several other nice towns on your way to the Rhine/Mosel Valleys. Look into the towns below which you might visit or stay in on the way:

Pappenheim
Weissenburg
Bad Windsheim
Sommerhausen and Ochsenfurt (near Rothenburg)
Miltenberg
Michelstadt
Gelnhausen
Büdingen

Turn the car in at Bonn and take the train to Amsterdam.
or ….
Is there a reason you are going to Bonn? Perhaps you could stop somewhere on the middle Rhine for that night. I prefer Bacharach. You could turn the car in at Koblenz and take the train to Amsterdam

Is your cruise on the Rhine? If so then if you stay in the middle Rhine I suggested above, stay in a town that younwon’t be visiting on the cruise.

4 nights on the Romantic zroad would not be too much for me

Well since looking at the Rhine Valley I'm thinking differently. The cruise is leaving Amsterdam for 35 days up as far as Iceland and Greenland. Im now looking at flying from Paris to Dusseldorf or Cologne hiring a car and returning it after 6 days. Then catch a train to Amsterdam. Thank you for your input.

Im now looking at flying from Paris to Dusseldorf or Cologne

Flying to CGN will get you much closer to the Rhine/Mosel area than Munich. But if Cologne is your goal, using the direct train from Paris to Cologne can take less than 3.5 hours... 9:55 - 13:15, for example... and you don't have to arrive 2 hours early, go through security, wait at baggage, or transport yourselves to and from the airports... just enjoy the scenery and let the Eurostar take you directly into the heart of the city.** Details here from the Man in Seat 61

https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Paris.htm#Paris-Cologne

Alternatively... maybe you have no interest in bigger cities like Cologne... the direct TGV or ICE trains to the German border at Saarbruecken takes less than two hours from Paris. Leave Paris at 9:07, arrive Germany at 10:56.

https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/train/route/paris/saarbrucken

Once again, the world's foremost authority on train travel explains the trains and the ticketing on this route (which terminates in Frankfurt but stops in Saarbruecken.)

https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Paris.htm#Paris-Frankfurt

Why Saarbruecken? The map below shows how close Saarbruecken (at the bottom) is to the Mosel River Valley (winding river near Trier, just to the north.) That's where Bernkastel is located and where your scenic driving adventure on the Rhine and Mosel can begin. Just pick up a car in Saarbruecken and you'll be in Bernkastel in an hour's time. Drop the car in Bonn or Cologne when you are done and catch the train to A'dam as you have planned.

https://www.lak-rlp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/mdb_86344_verbundkarte_rheinl_pfalz_704x912-704x620.jpg