Cochem and one other city??

Riverfront Koblenz has a castle and a lot of other points of interest. Koblenz is about 45 minutes by car or train from Cochem.

I like Boppard along the Rhine. Cute town with lots of shops and restaurants. The train tracks are set back a little, unlike some other towns where the train seems to run right through your hotel. There is a beautiful promenade along the river, with lots of restaurants offering outdoor seating. You can take the somewhat sketchy chair lift up to have some wonderful views.

We stayed in Bacharach in July 2023 and it was too small. And the train track is RIGHT in town. Many shops were closed, surprisingly since it was summer. Our hotel was right on the Main Street, and cars driving on those cobblestones are LOUD. So we had loud cars on one side and the train on the other. We had a car and drove to Braubach to visit Marksburg castle, which we thoroughly enjoyed. But I would not base in Braubach. It was pretty dead also.

Frankfurt is not worth your time. It is a busy, modern city with very little charm. If your flight is not too early, it’s not a bad drive or train ride from Boppard.

Loreley isn't a town where you can book a room. It refers to the cliffside just south of St. Goarshausen where boat captains once had trouble negotiating the river because of the current and the rocky outcroppings below that lie below the surface there. The legend goes that it was a fair maiden atop the cliffs that distracted them and wrecked their ships... visitors often stop at the clifftop visitor center to view the gorge and the statue which explains the sailors' distraction.

I am glad you were able to work out some nights on both the Mosel and Rhine rivers. Your choice of Rhine town should depend heavily on your flight time and on the availability of a DIRECT train ride that gets you to the airport at the proper time. (Do not take a trip that requires connecting trains if you wish to be there when you need to be there.)

What time is your flight? The west-bank towns (from north to south, Boppard, Oberwesel, and Bingen) have the greatest numbers of direct morning trains to FRA and can get you there as early as 6:30 am. Subsequent direct trains from these towns arrive at around 7:30, 8:00, and 8:20

All three of these towns are within the scenic Rhine Gorge. I would recommend Boppard (the longest ride to the airport, but a superior choice for several reasons)... then Bingen (which would mean the shortest train ride) or Oberwesel as second choices. Each town has its own vibe, but Boppard and Oberwesel each have some good old-world charm.

The east-bank towns would all require changing trains to reach FRA. I would avoid them for this reason.

Look at a town on the Lahn River. I like Limburg

Spend a couple of days in Eltville, a charming waterfront village. Kloster Eberbach is up the hill and has a good restaurant.

Close by is Rudesheim (you can walk on a nice day). Up the hill from there is St Hildegard Abbey.

Eltville is about an hour's train ride from the airport.

Re Cochem. You might have enough time to combine Zell with Beilstein. Most people appear to pop in and out of Beilstein quickly.

I much prefer Bernkastel-Kues to Trier.

Bernkastle-Kues is nice, but becomes overcrowded with tourists off the boats, much like Cochem. Trier is much more interesting, and not to be missed if you're interested in the history of Germany when it was Roman. I'd seriously consider making Trier an overnight (instead of just a day trip), and from there moving from the Mosel over to the Rhine Wine Road region which in April/May is very pretty with lots of flowers and trees and many attractive towns that are somewhat different than those along the Mosel. Consider Bad Kreuznach, another good town to explore, easy to reach by train, and at the Bad Munster/Kreuznach exit a very nice castle up on the hill. It's also a straight shot by train to Frankfurt.

Other small places to consider are Idar Oberstein, which was the center of the gem trade 1500-1800, Saarburg, which has a nice castle and a large waterfall in the middle of the old town, or Homberg, which has a huge cave under it's castle.

You want a scenic town for 2 nights, with FRA airport as your destination on your last morning... right? The east-bank towns of Rüdesheim and Eltville are nice towns, but you will have to change trains on the way to FRA airport from either town. If your first train happens to be late (a frequent occurence these days in Germany,) and you miss the second train, then you will be left waiting at that mid-point train station for an additional 10, 20, or 30-minute delay for the next train to come along. Fly-home day is no day for that kind of problem, IMO. I would only recommend staying in a town where you can get to FRA directly. Mainz of course makes that trip very easy and quick, but it's not the kind of town you are now asking about, and it is not within the scenic Rhine Gorge (neither is Eltville, by the way.) Within the Rhine Gorge, I would select from those west-bank towns I previously mentioned.

Limburg is also nice, but it shares the same change-of-train problem, and it is a 1-hour train ride from the Rhine Gorge.

Your Mosel stay: your stated outings were...

Burg Eltz Castle (1h30m), Beilstein village (14m), and Trier (1h).

Cochem will indeed permit you to do these outings very easily. You might want to cruise to Beilstein one way (1 hr) and use the bus to return to Cochem.

You have overestimated the time to Burg Eltz. It's only about 55 minutes for most journeys.

A Trier base would be problematic for these outings. From there you would probably need at least 2 separate day trips to the Cochem/Beilstein/Burg Eltz area of the Mosel, and as you already know, it's an hour one way just to Cochem, which is 4 additional hours of backtracking for the two outings.

Koblenz
offers

• Festung Ehrenbreitstein (Fortress Ehrenbreitstein) to reach with a nice cable car ride from
• Deutschen Eck ( german corner where River Rhine and Mosel flow together)
• Schloß Stolzenfels (Castle Stolzenfels)
• Fort Konstantin
• short River Cruises 1-2 hours or
• River Rhine Cruise with Raddampfer (Paddle steamer) from Koblenz to Rüdesheim (half day and this year was beginning this tours 09.00 am) BUT I don‘t know, if possible in april 2025.
• Nice Oldtown

https://www.visit-koblenz.de/en/region/river-cruises

Thank you all for your information and recommendations!

Russ - I appreciate the idea of staying somewhere that we can get a direct train to FRA on May 6th, so we don't need to stay in FRA - our flight leaves at 10:45 am, so that sounds doable per Russ's info. I'm leaning towards Boppard as it sounds lovely and has a direct train in the early morning.

Thanks everyone!

Tracy

This area is best seen with a car. I don't know what makes a castle "good" in your book. I recently visited Burg Landshut, a mostly ruined castle across the river from Bernkastel-Kues. Incredible views, not crowded and free (unless you want to go to the very top, which we didn't bother to do). There are LOTS of other castles in the Mosel Valley. We stayed in Enkirch, where the only other visitors appeared to be German and most people we encountered didn't speak English. Gorgeous half-timbered village, very quiet and restful. We were in an AirBnB, but we did see a small hotel there. Zell would also be a great option, as it's very central and has all the services. We had an early flight to Ireland and drove out the "back way" to FRA, about 90 minutes. Another gorgeous drive with the sun coming up.
We showed up there with basically no plans. We saw Burg Landshut on Google Maps and went there. We found a great restaurant way up the hill close to Enkirch and had a great meal. Our main activity was driving and enjoying the views along the river--village after gorgeous village. Don't limit yourself to Cochem. Add the two "extra" nights to the Mosel Valley. You won't be disappointed.

Of course, check the schedule for direct trains from Boppard for the exact date of your transit to FRA.

Also, Boppard offers the free VRM Guest ticket for free local outings by regional train (which you might need since the 1-month Deutschland Ticket won't cover all your travel days, which I think number 35???)

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data_vrminfo/PDF/Gaesteticket/Infoflyer_Gaesteticket_englisch_2022.pdf

These are the awesome historic towns in Germany folks should see!

Cochem and Boppard are very close to each other, and very similar. After 4 days in Cochem, if you want to see something different, I highly recommend you consider traveling a bit further, which is why I suggested making your day trip to Trier an overnight, and then going back to FRA via the wine road. The trains from that area also go direct into FRA and the area is quite different from either the Rhine or Mosel River valleys. Neustadt is more like Napa Valley with castles, where Boppard is like going down the Columbia Gorge with castles. Boppard will be considerably more crowded with international tourists.

Here's an excellent castle: https://hambacher-schloss.de/

And these are major fests in your timeframe:
Wein am Dom 2025 - https://www.pfalz.de/de/veranstaltung/wein-am-dom-2025
Maimarkt mit Weindorf - https://www.pfalz.de/de/veranstaltung/maimarkt-mit-weindorf
Bad Dürkheimer Stadtfest - https://www.pfalz.de/de/veranstaltung/bad-duerkheimer-stadtfest

"We’re not interested in wine or wineries, but like castles (if they are good ones) and historical sites."

• Rheinfels Castle (ruins and museum) in St Goar (about 10 minutes by direct train from Boppard) is a good bet.

• Marksburg Castle (completely intact medieval castle... quite different from Burg Eltz) is just across the Rhine and a few miles north of Boppard in the very handsome old-world town of Braubach:

https://www.marksburg.de/en/circuit/#/

Getting to Marksburg from Boppard:

• By direct K-D cruise boat: 30 minutes. This year and most years there's a convenient 10:15 boat, which gives you time to visit Braubach on foot and have lunch before heading up to the castle.

• By train to Koblenz (15 minutes) + train to Braubach (10 minutes)

• By ferry crossing + train: The Boppard ferry boat operates all day long. Cross to the east bank, walk 15 minutes into the town of Filsen and catch the next train to Braubach. Time your crossing thoughtfully to catch the hourly train from Filsen to Braubach.

Places of historical interest in Boppard: see this flyer:
https://www.boppard-tourismus.de/media/was-ist-wo-broschu__re_en_190218.pdf

Thanks to all for all your great info & suggestions! I really appreciate all the good information.

Tracy