Itinerary rough draft! Needs to be tweaked, I'm sure.

I'm a little confused by your Day 3. Am I right in assuming that you want to take a cruise to a point, get off, then work your way back? How do you plan to do that? Day 4 you want to get to the Moselle River to see a castle/town - a particular one? Moselle River towns aren't really different from Rhine towns, unless there is a certain one you are referring to. Again, how do you want to do this traveling?

"I'm a little confused by your Day 3. Am I right in assuming that you want to take a cruise to a point, get off, then work your way back? How do you plan to do that? Day 4 you want to get to the Moselle River to see a castle/town - a particular one? Moselle River towns aren't really different from Rhine towns, unless there is a certain one you are referring to. Again, how do you want to do this traveling?"

Yes you are correct regarding day 3. I am thinking, get on the boat from where we are staying, cruise for a couple of hours, get off at whatever town, maybe have lunch, train back to hotel town or perhaps another town for dinner, then train back to hotel.

And as for day 4-- This is why I came here! Thought there would be something interesting to see/do for the day. Looking for suggestions, or maybe someone to pick apart my plans, and tell me WHY it won't work. I can always alter them, nothing is carved in stone yet. Thanks for your reply.

Hi,

Whether arriving in Vienna from Munich or Salzburg, you will have at least 4.5 days for visiting the city by staying 5 nights.

"...heavy on Vienna,..." Great, I would do likewise. If you do go to Vienna from Munich, or even from Salzburg, be sure you arrive at least by 1300. Don't waste time dilly-dallying. True, that's hard to do. When is this trip taking place? Where do you plan on staying in Vienna?

Hi Judy,

Only change I'd make is that on days 12 and 13 I'd stay in Salzburg, as it deserves more than just a day trip or just 1 overnight.

Paul

Hi Paul... thanks. I like that idea as well. I think I can certainly steal a day from Vienna. And to Fred, I have no idea yet where we'll be staying in Vienna, I am hoping for this trip in 2015. Have you been there? If so, where would you recommend we stay?

Days 2-5:

2) I'd take the train from FRA to Boppard, where you'll find a wide choice of accommodations and eateries, a fine old town, a nice river promenade, a cool chairlift ride, and good train connections to the Mosel.
Gedeonseck terrace near chairlift
Boppard old town

3) Best section to cruise starts in Bingen and ends in Boppard (or you can abbreviate the cruise and end it in St. Goar; use train to return to Boppard.) Cruising from south (Bingen) to north will save lots of boat time - it's painfully slow in the other direction because of the strong current. SO... from Boppard catch a southbound train and visit St. Goar, Oberwesel, and/or Bacharach on the way to Bingen. Board a northbound cruise boat in Bingen and cruise back to Boppard (or only to St. Goar and see Rheinfels Castle, the catch a train to Boppard.)

4) Cochem (Mosel) is an amazing old world wine town. It can be visited in connection with a tour of Burg Eltz castle (a few miles away) if you get an early start. Do see the falconry show at Reichsburg Castle, which is right in town.

Train daypasses make getting around easy and cheap.

VRM passes and Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket

5) Long trip to Rothenburg, but Regional Express and some IC trains leave Boppard early most mornings for points south. Some towns like St. Goar offer only the slower MRB milk run trains.

Maybe switch days in Munich and Füssen? Rothenburg-Munich-Füssen-Salzburg. Salzburg worth overnight stay. I just don't like backtracking to Munich, twice. Save precious time and keep moving forward.

Loving the suggestions!! This is what I'm talking about! Off to check out the links provided...... Thank you so much!!

OK Someone sent me a pm regarding Rudeshiem (spelling) and it sounds delightful. Is that do-able for Day 3??

Day 2: Boppard is a fine town to see the Rhein, although the best part is between St. Goar and Bacharach. Otherwise, go from Boppard to Bacharach for the Rhein cruise.

Day 4: Burg Eltz is a good castle to see, but hard to get to except on weekends. Reichsburg, in Cochem is not authentic, a re-creation, but fun. Might go to the Marksburg (authentic), in Braubach, instead.

Day 8: not sure what you want to see on a day tour from Füssen. Seeing the castles and the town would take an entire day. Do that first.

The best cruising is between Rüdesheim and Boppard or possibly St Goar, as this way you see about 40 castles in the space of 2 hours or so.

Many people enjoy Rüdesheim, though it can be very touristy. All of the cruise ships dock here for the night and day time sees lots of tour buses. The town has too many tacky souvenir stands that affect the charm of the place. Food is cheap there though, view from chair lift going up to Germania is great, and lots of people get a kick out of the music being played in the evening. Good wine is available, as it is all along the Rhine. If you do go here, make sure you visit Siegfrieds Musical Cabinet. Well, well worth your time.

That said, I prefer Eltiville for a quieter atmosphere and the beautiful promenade along the Rhine with no trains running past me as well as all of the half-timbered houses, and the fabulous, 1000 year old Eberbach Monastery right outside of town.

Cruise north, and train back, stop in St Goar to explore Burg Rhinefels and the 2 lovely old churches here, stop in Ober-Wesel and/or Bacharach for a stroll around town and visit their beautiful old churches too. Take the ferry back across the Rhine at either St Goar or Bingen. Costs about 1.50 €.

http://www.eltville.de/fileadmin/downloads/flyer/english_generalinformation.pdf

@ Judy....First, I would also recommend Rüdesheim, As suggested, take the chairlift up to the Niederwald Denkmal, one of the five big, ( montrosiites,) history monuments. The view is worth it. The walk down is ca half an hour.

On Vienna...The choice is usually in the center or somewhere else in the city. Both have their pros and cons, a trade off. As a rule hotels in Vienna from mid-July to the end of August charge their lowest rates, ie for the price of a 4 star hotel you might just be paying a two star price. I always stay in the Westbahnhof (west train station) area within a 2-4 mins walking distance. True, you don't see many American tourists there but hotels range from 2-4 stars, depending on your luxury demands, Pensionen and hostels are both in this immediate area, all within distance to Westbahnhof so that you don't have to rely on public transportation.

Vienna has plenty to keep one occupied so that you won't have to take any day trips, all depends on your priority list on places/sites to track down, culturally, historically, etc.

Rüdesheim is very touristy, but it makes up for all the trinket shops with one unique feature- the live Schlager music usually playing at multiple restaurants on any given night, especially during the summer. Some people can't stand Schlager, some people secretly love it but won't admit it, some people appreciate it's sometimes tackiness ironically, some people enjoy it for it's relative simplicity. Either way, it's definately one of the unique modern German cultural institutions that deserves a sampling. As the night goes on, you also usually see stag, bachelorette and post-wedding parties from Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, and Mainz trickle in. It adds to the fun atmosphere.

About spelling: "Ruedesheim" is the alternative spelling in German for "Rüdesheim" but English spelling is just "Rud..."

Whether you cruise from Ruedesheim or Bingen, you are starting from the same part of the river as the 2 towns are nearly opposite each other on the Rhine. Ruedesheim is a tour bus stop and can get quite overcrowded and tends to be overpriced and trinkety. I like the west/left bank towns more. And Boppard's chairlift ride provides a nicer panorama than R'heim's, IMO.

Lee says Burg Eltz is "hard" to get to on weekdays; I'd call the journey a very pleasant but time-consuming walk. On weekends the recently-inaugurated Burgenbus is available but keep in mind that the bus takes 25 minutes between Moselkern and the castle and that you may have some connection waiting time as well. The walk has been the traditional approach for many years and should be doable for most visitors; I recall my 74-year-old in-laws keeping up with us young'ns just fine. See this page for walking details:
Walk to Burg Eltz

Hi,

"Some people can't stand Schlager...." Unerhört! I agree with Tom's assessment on Schlager, very accurate. Admittedly, it can be "kitsch," still, regardless it is a popular cultural feature in Germany and Austria.. Some of the most popular music hits in the '60s, '70s and '80s were Schlager. I wouldn't let the likelihood of Rüdesheim being inundated with tourists deter you from visiting the town. But in summer it's going to be packed.

Had to you tube the Schlager music and I thought it was fun! When I go anywhere, even to Chicago, I DON'T want to see/do the same old, same old. That means NO chain restaurants, hotels, etc. I want to see and experience what makes THAT town or region special. I can stay home and have a Subway sandwich or an Applebees meal. And if that means seeing something touristy, or cheesy, well then so be it. It's what makes THAT area different or special. I think it would be fun to hear that while having a meal. A lot of it, for me, anyway, is attitude and frame of mind. Everything will be new to me, so I won't be jaded towards anything. Now if I lived there, and it was all around me every day, then I would probably grow tired of it in a big hurry. A prime example: I used to live in Florida... we had this huge warehouse-sized tourist trap called The Shell Factory. ugh... Every visitor we had, wanted to go there. And they LOVED it. You can't get that back home, they said. True, I said. But, it's so tacky, I said. But they all loved it. It's what made our region special. So I think maybe I would get a kick out of something that others would just yawn at. Hey look at me! I'm in Germany! On the Rhine River, eating a fabulous meal, listening to some native type live music! Life is Good!!

Hi,

I am a fan of Schlager. True, one can say it's "tacky" and can be "kitsch" as I mentioned above, but those characteristics make those songs unique.

More on Schlager. To paraphrase a famous comment about pornography, Schlager is difficult to define, but you know it when you hear it. It can be something like this. Or this. Or this. Probably the most popular singer in Germany right now, Helene Fischer claims to be a Schlager singer. No, you won't see her performing in Rüdesheim...

Thanks to all.