Germany - Frankfurt/Aachen/Heidelberg October 2021

Aachen is very close to both Belgium and the Netherlands. I have travelled around Germany fairly extensively but have not visitedAachen. But it is relatively close to Cologne by train. Brussels is about an hour away by train. Bruges is a very nice small town but the fact you don't like longer train trips means it may be too far. I have not been to Maastricht in the Netherlands but it is reputed to be an interesting town with a famous bookshop. It is Andre Rieu's hometown so there are videos of his concerts there
Visit the Rome to Rio website and play around with different destinations. Happy travelling!

You are making a good choice to keep your trip to a small area. I know that it's partly due to your back, but still sensible.

I don't see why vertigo would preclude a Rhine trip. The boats are stable as rocks. We went on the St Goar trip about 2016, and I detected no motion whatsoever.

Frankfurt is a great town. The old town (rebuilt after WWII) is picteuresqe. We hit a pop-up wine fest in the old town. Note that they give you a wine glass and charge you a fee. You get the fee back when you return the glass at the end. We enjoyed the archeology museum.

Heidelberg is a short trip, either train or bus, from Frankfurt.

We haven't been to Aachen.

Thanks so much for the replies, especially the one about the famous bookshop!

Should also probably add that I am a 1940s history buff, librarian, and classical pianist -- I am hoping to catch at least one concert while I am there (hopefully the music is playing again by October!)

My friends want to do a Rhine Cruise while we are there, so I will leave open the possibility of it, and it's good to hear it might not be so bad for my vertigo.

A Rhine cruise is a nice - do it if you can.

In your case, a visit to the Middle Rhine Valley (where the best scenery and the cruises are) could be made on the day when you travel from Heidelberg to Aachen; a day trip from either town and back would mean a lot of backtracking.

Or you can do the MRV on your last sightseeing day if you are flying home out of Frankfurt (assuming you will overnight there before your flight.) Just stop there on your way from Aachen to Frankfurt.

Your best cruise segment: start in Bingen, cruise north to St. Goar (about 1.5 hours.) After the cruise, use the train from St. Goar to return to Bingen (if traveling by car) or just move on by train to your final destination (Aachen or Frankfurt.)

St. Goar has the most attractive setting in the valley IMHO. (View across the Rhine from St. Goar.)

It has a smallish but walkable waterfront area and a smallish old town zone for pedestrians with a few shops and cafes. You can cross the river here by ferry (it runs all day) to St. Goarshausen if you want to get views from the other side.

(View of St. Goar on right and St. Goarshausen on the opposite bank.)

Altogether, St. Goar is a pretty good place to linger before or after a cruise.

Is Bingen a good place to linger? The waterfront is a great place for a longer walk and views - it's peppered with cafes as well, and scenery is nice there as well:

https://www0.f1online.de/preW/003918000/3918582.jpg
https://www.vielweib.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/bingen_rhein-9122.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Bingen_above.jpg

If you choose not to cruise, you or your cruising companions can use the trains to catch up with each other later. All the Rhine towns are well connected by hourly (or better) train service.

Aachen is a picturesque small city on the far west of the country. It was the home of Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor, so his cathedral is the prime attraction, with an attached museum. It also is host to some university-level schools which add variety to the eating and drinking possibilities. It is within easy access of the medieval walled Dutch city of Maastricht.

If you tell us a bit more about your interests, we can give you more ideas about what to see while you are here.
Frankfurt is full of historic and interesting sites to visit and has dozens of museums of all kinds.

Aachen is not that far away from Frankfurt or Heidelberg, and if you want to break up your trip there are lots of small towns to visit on the way. Along the Rhine, recommended towns and cities would be Mainz, Eltville, St. Goar, and Ober-Wesel.

With vertigo, not sure if you are aware that the ships on the Rhine are not the huge cruise ships but low, 2 story, flat ships. If you sit inside and admire the view from the window, you might be ok.

In October, there are usually a lot of harvest and wine festivals.

Ms Jo--- I am a librarian and a trained classical pianist. I'm also a lover of history. So anything like that. I'm not so much an outdoorsy person, but appreciate a bookshop, orchestra performance, and any museum.

I have a handful of various ailments stemming from a heart condition that-- while they didn't inhibit me in my 20s backpacking through Australia and staying in hostels, seem to have finally caught up to me. I manage them quite well and I think I'm probably just being extra cautious. I'll look into the Rhine cruises! It is something my friend mentioned she hadn't done in awhile.

Aachen is about an hour from Cologne and probably a little further from Brussels. I prefer Cologne over Brussels. My son used to live in Brunssum, NL and he enjoyed Maastricht. If you like castles, there’s a nice one worth visiting in Hoensbroek.

I would suggest trying to book as soon as possible as hotels are already filling up for fall travel (at least from what I noticed about a month ago on hotels.com)