Best sights to see in Germany and nearby in March 2017

What are you interested in? Museums, countryside, "quaint" small towns, drinking?

Countryside, landscape, history (WWII)

I do not believe that Germany has a handful of must sees. There are worthwhile things to see in every area, including where you are going. Given Vallendar as your destination, I would focus on the Mosel and Rhine River Valleys. Michelin Green Guide and the ADAC Road Atlas are my preferences for a driving vacation. Check them or some similar guides for good stops along the way. Gary

Hi,

You basically have a week. There are "must sees" in Germany as regards to the specific interest. With a week you could stay in the general Frankfurt, south and north, ie from Frankfurt to Heidelberg or Frankfurt to Gießen. Since this is the first time in Germany, I would suggest going to Berlin, but you have that engagement on Tues which cuts into the time you would have had for a week's stay. Given that time constraint, better to stay in the Frankfurt area and see the Rhine too at Koblenz.

If you do go to Koblenz, there is the "Wehrtechnisches Museum" which displays aslo ordinance from WW2...guns, artillery, tanks, etc...lots of it.

Vallendar is right on the Rhine, just up and downstream from the most scenic sections of the river. There's enough scenery to occupy two or three days. Through in the adjacent Mosel river, and you easily have enough for a week.

"WWII sites" means different things to different people on this website, some take it to mean anything associated with the Third Reich, some want to see direct evidence of the war. The former is slightly more common than the latter, but surprisingly little of either remain. Just downriver at Remagen, however, you can see the remains of the Ludendorf bridge, famously captured intact by the US army. The remants contain a small museum. Doesn't take too long to see. Also, the nearby town of Andernach is worth a brief stop too, mainly to see the "cold geyser".

The former Nazi leadership camp of Ordensberg Vogelsang isn't too far away, near the town of Gmünd. I have never seen it, but supposedly, it remains open to visitors. The federal government had considered using it to house refugees, so access to the general public may have changed.

Vallendar is a very attractive little place! I think you'll like it.

March isn't typically a warm month, and spring will not yet have arrived. You'll probably be indoors a lot in towns and cities rather than hiking/biking through the bucolic countryside.

Tom writes, "Just downriver at Remagen, however, you can see the remains of the Ludendorf bridge, famously captured intact by the US army. The remants contain a small museum." This is a great suggestion - Remagen and the bridge museum make are very worthwhile - there are numerous English-language displays that tell the story.

The Bridge, 1945
The museum
The town of Remagen (virtual tour)
The David Wolper Film

To reach Remagen you can travel north from Vallendar to Linz and use the ferry there. It runs all day long every day.
This ferry drops you in the suburb of Kripp, somewhat south of Remagen and the museum.

The other way to get there is by train from Vallendar to Erpel (just north of Linz) + passenger ferry from Erpel - Remagen. It operates daily in the afternoon (13:30 - 18:00.)

Linz and Remagen together make for a really nice outing. See Linz brochure.

COLOGNE isn't far and should probably be in your crosshairs for a short visit. The area of interest is pretty compact and easy to negotiate on foot. See the Cologne Cathedral and a museum or two. With your interests, you should visit the former Gestapo headquarters and prison, now the Nazi Documentation Center.

South of Vallendar and Koblenz you can tour MARKSBURG CASTLE, an intact medieval castle. And south of there lies the roughly 40-mile-long Middle Rhine Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with some 40 castles and castle ruins, altogether, and some very charming villages.

COCHEM on the Mosel River is one of the most charming towns in the area. The Castle is open for tours beginning March 11.

BTW, The Mosel and the Rhine rivers are both excellent places for a scenic train ride. Day passes for a family of 5 to explore this area (see the light green VRM zone on this map) cost about €22/day, and you can travel at will on the local/regional trains and buses. All the places mentioned above except Cologne can be reached on one of these passes (buy from ticket machine at the Vallendar station.)

Beyond Cochem is TRIER, Germany's oldest city.

Month of the year?? We slept in Andernach, so I will say that the geyser excursion takes a little more time than it is worth! I was interested in the history ? of the big old boarding-house resorts we saw across the river. There was a plaque in Andernach about a minor, obscure WW II event there.

Understand that Koblenz is NOT on the most scenic part of the Rhine, running from Bingen to Boppard, with boats only in season. We took the train from Andernach to Bingen, and home from Boppard. Do not waste time riding the boat back to Koblenz. The train is faster. No human ticket seller in Andernach, for instance.

I would think you'd also visit Cochem and Burg Eltz. We liked Traben-Trarbach on foot. Please use tge search box on the desktop version of this site to read past posts about the Koblenz area. Rick's "Germany" covers this area well, and is advisable for first time travelers to Europe.

Edit: Referring to Tom's second post, Andernach has a small "old town", and a excellent, if small fragment of their city wall. However, the town is not really worth a stop if you're not staying there. Frankly, one reason we chose our hotel was the free, off-street (if very cramped) parking. We were going to the BUGA in Koblenz and took the train each time.

Edit 2: I did not imagine that you meant to include all of western Europe in "nearby." Notwithstanding the 3:20 estimate on Google Maps for Vallendar-Amsterdam, I think it would take 5 hours door to door. I have driven from Cologne to Amsterdam, but we spent a week seeing The Netherlands before our fourth stay in Amsterdam. It would be a shame to spend all that time on a modern highway instead of the many, closer sights. Surely your daughter will be saving her pennies for weekend bargain-air weekends during her studies! Just for example, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Utrecht, Amersfoort are all directly on that route, each worth a full day or more, for the two big cities. This is not your teenagers' last time in Europe.

Based on your expressed interests of "Countryside, landscape, history (WWII)" I would say you cannot go wrong with driving alongside the Rhine and Mosel rivers. They are the best choices in the Frankfurt to Vallendar area for natural beauty.

For "history and WWII" I would suggest places somewhat out of your way but well worth considering. Specifically I would recommend Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Nuremberg.

Rothenburg is a beautiful old town. So beautiful that it was spared demolition by the Allies towards the end of WWII. Its parish church of St. Jakob has an altar piece by Tilman Riemenschneider - one of the most famous German sculptors. But perhaps Rothenburg is best known in the US for its Night Watchman Tour. You can see some of the tour on one of Rick's videos.

Nuremberg has many Nazi connections. The Nazi annual rallies before the war were held near Nuremberg. One of these rallies was captured in the movie Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl - it can be viewed on Youtube. The Documentation Center is adjacent to the rally grounds. It is a museum with good coverage of WWII.

Nuremberg old town and castle are worth a short walk. Near the location of the castle is a tunnel where some of Hitler's looted art objects (of Monuments Men fame) were stored. Between the rally grounds and the storage tunnel is the court house where the senior living Nazis were tried after the end of WWII.

Rothenburg is attractive, but not unique enough to justify driving halfway across the country to visit unless you're headed in that general direction anyway (or unless you want to see the town in Germany with the highest per capita ratio of trinket shops and tour buses). If you want to see an old preserved town complete with an encircling defensive wall much closer to your region of operations, try Ahrweiler. The town sits in a valley surrounded by terraced vineyards and has much of what people travel to Rothenburg to see, minus all the tourist infrastructure. The modern half of the municipality, Bad Neuenahr, has a very nice mineral spa (as indicated by the moniker "Bad").

Thank you for the fast replies. I will be reading each one and looking at the suggestions carefully as soon as time allows... Wanted to throw out there that we have 3 teenagers traveling with us who insist that they are interested in seeing the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and perhaps visiting and paying respects at a concentration camp. They also would like to see the Alps. More later...thank you!

With Frankfurt as your entry and exit point (and Tuesday already spoken for) one week gives you enough time to see Amsterdam or the Alps (plus Dachau), but not both. Someone is going to have to choose...