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Germany and Alsace

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My husband and I will be arriving in Amsterdam early (6 a.m.) Thursday, June 16. We'll enjoy 3 full days and 3 nights in Amsterdam. We will then take a train on Sunday, June 16, for Cologne. Since it's a Sunday, a car rental, which was suggested, may be an issue. Using the baggage storage, we'll spend 1/2 day in Cologne, then continue to take the train to Boppard. Any problems we should be aware of with the baggage storage?

We hope to book a hotel in Boppard and stay 4 nights, with 3 days to enjoy the Rhine and Mosel area. Any Boppard hotel suggestions? Is it even possible to rent a car in Boppard, or do we need to rent it in Koblenz?

One day we will take a day cruise from Bingen (or Rudesheim) down the Rhine, hopping (?) off to visit some of the towns, including Bacharach. We intend to make our last stop at Braubach, visit the castle, and train back to Boppard. Timing or enjoyable village suggestions are welcome. We may use the local trains to visit other villages another day.

We'd like to visit a few towns along the Mosel including Cochem and maybe cruise to Beilstein. Bernkastel-Kues sounds lovely, too, though we'd probably need a car. Burg Eltz is still an option, but we've seen many castles in our travels and the ways of getting there may be limited (ankle thing!) I've read several mixed opinions about renting a car or using the efficient train and bus system. We're quite confused, though, if we don't rent a car, which pass would be best for us for the trains/buses/river cruise. There are so many options and we're not very savvy using a train system.

When leaving from Boppard on Thursday, June 23, we will be driving to Colmar with an afternoon stop in Baden-Baden. Because we will be renting the car in Germany, keeping it to tour the Alsace area, do we have to return it to a German city to avoid additional one-way, two country fees? As an option, we'll be visiting Strasbourg from Colmar, we could perhaps drive to return the car in nearby Kehl, Germany, from there take the train to visit Strasbourg, then take the train again back to Colmar.

We have 4 days and 4 nights to enjoy Colmar and visit the wine villages, with one day to spend in Strasbourg. Eguisheim, Riquewihr, Ribeauvillé are on our list of villages to see. We'd like to to stay in Colmar. Any suggestions for a hotel?

We left an open day before we leave from Basel Airport on June 28. Our flight is at 10:45 a.m., so we could take the train that morning from Colmar. That last day could be spent visiting Breisach, Germany. Or we could possibly spend the night near the airport & use our last day to visit Basel. I'm concerned that we might be a little tired of "small villages." We haven't researched the Basel, yet, and know it only as a larger, departing city for many river cruises.

Posted by
194 posts

You'll definitely want to return car to the same country you rented it in, to avoid insanely high extra fees. In Colmar last summer, we stayed at Hostellerie Le Marechal. It's right next to the canal in the "little Venice" section of town, and across the street from public parking. Parking was free overnight, but we had to feed the meter in the morning while we enjoyed walking around a bit before leaving for a drive in the wine country.

That hotel isn't the cheapest in town, but it's quite lovely and met all of our needs. It was 105 degrees fahrenheit when we arrived that afternoon, so we were certainly happy we had a room with A/C! One other town to see along your route is Hunaweir. If you blink, you'll miss it, but it is magical with its church steeple rising amidst the surrounding vineyards. Hope to return one day to spend more time there. We only were able to stay overnight in the area, so we really didn't do it justice. You're smart to give yourself a few days to explore!

Posted by
8889 posts

June, Sounds like a lovely plan,
Yes, dropping of a German hire car in France will almost certainly result in a large surcharge.
Yes, Basel is definitely worth a day (or two). Check out the city website here: https://www.basel.com/en/Basel-is-an-inspiration/Experience-Basel-in-24-hours
A suggestion, see if you can drop off the car in Lörrach, That is a suburb of Basel, but in Germany. It is close enough to Basel airport that you could take a (German) taxi to Basel airport, or a suburban train into Basel (2xper hour) and spend the last night in Basel.

P.S. Do not take a Swiss taxi to the airport, That is very expensive (~CHF 40.00). There is a regular bus (CHF 4.40) and if you stay in a hotel in Basel you get free transport.

Posted by
15791 posts

Do check your rental options. You may find that there's only one company that has offices in the two cities you are thinking about. Or maybe there aren't any. And check the prices for drop-off in France. When you add up additional train fares, etc., it may not be that much. Also check the prices for renting in Germany and returning in Switzerland. I looked at that a few months ago (though not the cities you are) and the rates for Germany-Germany and Germany-Switzerland were almost the same.

I spent about 10 days in small towns and villages in Eastern France and would have been happy to spend another 20 seeing more, either there or in other parts of the country. Strasbourg is a major city and Colmar is hardly a village.

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