Hanover as base

i love walking around beautiful villages...

You had Monschau (one of those, but hard to reach) in mind. But also Cochem (easy to reach using the MoselValley Railway, one of Germany's top scenic railways) which has a whole bunch of beautiful villages right nearby that are also easy to reach...

Beilstein
Winningen
Bernkastel
More Mosel towns: https://www.mosel-inside.de/en/travel-guide/mosel-villages.html

Also near Cochem:
Braubach: https://delveintoeurope.com/braubach-germany/

Aachen (pop.260,000) is not a village anyway.

Why not just drop Monschau and visit all these other places? Stay in Cochem, travel to the others. Very simple. FRA, LUX and CGN airports are nearby as well.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Karte_der_Bahnstrecke_Koblenz%E2%80%93Trier.png

Hanover: Some nice small towns there too... I very much enjoyed walking through these places...

Goslar
Hameln
Rinteln
Hildesheim
Celle
Hanoversch Münden
Einbeck

I would not stay in Hanover though. Hildesheim would be smart as a base town for easy day trips to these other places.

https://www.niedersachsentarif.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Karte_large.jpg

All the towns I've mentioned are accessible by public transport.

If you are in Hanover, you should at least visit Celle, if not stay there. Gorgeous, half-timbered town.
You could also visit Bergen-Belsen, which is near Hanover.

Hannover is a strange city. it was massively bombed in WWII and didn't go the same direction as a lot of other cities with the rebuild. Some of the old places were brought back, but there's a lot more "modern" architecture than you'd probably expect. The main train station is very big, and has a large underground mall associated with it. This was a major manufacturing hub, and still very industrial.

Don't miss the States Museum and the park around it. Do visit the Aegidienkirche. The indoor market is also very good.

I stayed in the old Pelikan pen factory, which is now a hotel. If you do that, make sure it's when they have the museum open.

The best thing to visit around there? The German Panzer Museum. https://daspanzermuseum.de/

Note: this is a long ways from the Black Forest

When you like walking go from Hannover Central Station to Schneverdingen with train RB 38 ( 1hour 25 min)

Its in the Luneburg Heath (Lüneburger Heide)

Walk through the Heidegarten (Heath Garden) and the heath ,do a horse carriage ride through the heath or rent a bike
Walk through Pietzmoor

Watch the award winning movie about the Lüneburg Heath

Hanover is the capital of Lower Saxony. Regional train map:
https://assets.static-bahn.de/dam/jcr:9d2742e2-18a3-4e0e-8f71-200159e12ee3/Liniennetz_Niedersachsen_Bremen_Stand_02_2024.pdf

Hanover has some nice places but more single located.

Besides some mentioned places Brunswick / Braunschweig is also a nice day trip, off the beaten tourist passes. Henry the Lion is a history anchor.

I would choose Hannover as a base, super convenient as a train junction point for both ICE and IC lines. to the west, east, north, and south.

Numerous places to be recommended departing from Hannover Hbf....Celle, as suggested above, Minden an der Weser, Bremen, Magdeburg, Lüneburg, Hildesheim, and, of course, Berlin, etc.

I'd check the hotel prices before you decide. Hanover often has busy trade shows where hotel demand pushes hotel rates up. For example, using Expedia and the Wyndham Hannover Atrium hotel, the average nightly rate for April 12-19 is $89/night & for the next week, April 19-26 is $502/night.

a big thank you, to each one of you for your detailed replies and recommendations- much appreciated and will be very helpful in my itinerary finalisation!
regards