Itinerary Thoughts

A couple of thoughts:

Stuttgart city centre is not especially rewarding if you are looking for "sights" but not museums. Most of it was reconstructed after WWII in a not very aesthetic style. I would try having a wander in some of the green bits close to the city. The tram route 15 or any of the lines towards Degerloch will take you into affluent hillside suburbia with some very nice views. Or go to Schloss Solitude if you aren't fed up with stately homes after Ludwigsburg.

I don't know Freiburg, but it's spelled like that and does not have an "l" in it. Sorry to seem anal, but you need to get spellings of placenames right because, in particular, transport websites will not solve spelling errors for you and you may end up hundreds of miles from where you wanted to be. (A while back we had someone on hear who nearly confused the French city of Strasbourg with Strausberg, a former Red Army garrison town near Berlin.)

Trier is nice if you like Roman ruins. I would not bother with making a special trip to Luxembourg.

Like Stuttgart, Duesseldorf (either use the umlaut or spell it "ue", a German person once explained here that "Dusseldorf" means something quite rude in German) has some architectural horrors in the city centre. There's some nice art nouveau architecture on the banks of the river but I think the Altstadt is overrated.

I haven't done it, but general opinion here is that it's not worth the time and money to take the boat for a long way along the Rhine. Do the really scenic bit between Bingen and Boppard and make the rest of the journey by train.

"Love walking around the towns, seeing sights, but aren't that much into museums."

Most of your destinations are major cities, but most of Germany's charm is found in smaller places than even your smallest base town (Trier.) Freiburg was devastated in WW II. Same with Cologne, D'dorf and Stuttgart. Even Trier was severely damaged. Reconstruction in these cities, most of which now house hundreds of thousands of residents, varied in terms of visual appeal; what you see today is sometimes nice, sometimes a mess. Why do people visit these cities? Mostly for the museums, I would say.

I suggest you reconsider your base towns. If the major cities have sights you want to see, day trip into those places. But spend the bulk of your time instead in some smaller, more charming places where you will likely enjoy the walking/sightseeing more. Some suggestions:

Tübingen is a university town near Stuttgart and the Canstatter Volksfest and not too far from some nice Black Forest towns (including Calw.) Some sights nearby: Bebenhausen, Hohenzollern Castle, Glatt Castle

Boppard is right in the heart of the scenic Rhine Valley. It has a fine riverfront and a nice old town zone and serves as a great spot for doing a scenic river cruise. There are several similarly attractive old-world towns within a 30-minute drive, including Braubach, Bacharach, and Oberwesel; you could easily day trip into Cologne if it interests you. An auto/passenger ferry connects you to the east bank towns. The Mosel River towns of Cochem and Winningen are within day trip range as well. The Boppard chairlift ride plus a short walk equals a nice place to check out the view. BTW, on the day you arrive (9/24) Boppard is in the middle of its annual wine festival, which you might enjoy (fireworks that evening) and the party continues there on the following weekend as well (9/30-10/2.)

" general opinion here is that it's not worth the time and money to take the boat for a long way along the Rhine."

Not to mention that you can't get from Cologne to Boppard, let along Bacharach, in a day (at least not on K-D). The only boat from Cologne leaves at 9:30 and gets to Bad Hönningen at 3:25 PM, but the only boat from there to Koblenz left Bad Hönningen at 9:30 that morning.

Thank you to everyone. I'll start looking at some of the towns suggested in lieu of the major cities.

A couple questions on the two festivals...

I read the description of the wine festival on the Boppard, which sounds wonderful, but aside from the fireworks, I cannot find that many pictures of previous ones. Are the stands spread out some, or are they next to each other?

Regarding Tubingen, I know it is about 40 minutes from the Volkfest. Would it be too far away to "qualify" for the drive-me-home service?

"Regarding Tubingen, I know it is about 40 minutes from the Volkfest. Would it be too far away to "qualify" for the drive-me-home service?"

I have no clue about this "service" but it's very easy to get to Tübingen by direct train (takes under on hour.)

Boppard's Weinfest:
www.boppard-tourismus.de/files/001bopp_wf_piel.jpg
http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000m0w_qlBog3s/fit=1000x750/D5-5-1719-DE-RP-Mittelrhein.jpg

Boppard's fest isn't that big, but the town is small, and rooms fill up well in advance in Boppard and neighboring towns, so book early.

Rhine cruise: easiest way to see the very best part is to catch a train to Bingen, board the boat there, and cruise back to Boppard (2.3-hour cruise.) It is possible to continue the cruise (on some boats) to Braubach (nearly 3 hours) for the purpose of visiting Marksburg Castle and to return by train (or by train + river ferry) to Boppard.