More itinerary questions and coin exchange inquiry

Buy a 2 EUR cup of coffee and pay with a 10 EUR note and ask for change in coins.

Now I have not been in Germany in a while, but I did notice that in Switzerland this year most stations now have credit card operated lockers. Not only are these more convenient for traveler, they generate more revenue for the owner, as now the rental period may only be 6 hours, and then you have to pay more to reopen the locker. So see if this is the case in Germany.

Note that Marksburg may not have English speaking tours in the off season. We had that experience one May, and they give you an English page, but it's not the same. You can't tour the castle on your own.
It's a very steep 30 minute walk all uphill ( and afterwards downhill) to the castle. We had read that the locals taxi folks up, but the town was dead when we were there, and couldn't find any local transportation up. So we walked.

You have done significant research and planning. Still, your days seem very busy, and no time to slow down and rest a bit, nurse a cold , do laundry, adjust for poor weather. Sometimes you don't sleep as well on the road. Have you toured at this pace before? We have found that after about five days of day trips, we need to just stay around town and slow down a bit. Are you moving thru the Middle Rhine area on trains or boats?
I really like Rothenburg, and would advise two nights. You have the Night Watchman's Tour, walking the town walls, and Castle Gardens.
Have you researched check in times at your lodgings? Many small places don't encourage arriving too late.
I wish you wonderful weather and a great trip. Safe travels.

I think you will find most of the Rhein towns to be empty and dead in Nov. Even Rüdesheim will be quiet as they take a break and then get ready for their Christmas market that opens on the 21st. St. Goar will be pretty dead. If it is raining or snowing, the walk up to the Marksburg is not fun. It is slippery and steep. I know this cause I did it once. Thought I was going to slide all the way down the mountain, going up and going back down.
Eltville is not so much of a tourist town and will still have all their businesses open. Eltville Monastery which is a bus ride from Eltville is stunning. This is high on my list of places to visit on the Rhein, especially in Nov.

Sam,
I hope they will take credit card but buying a cup of coffee to get changes sounds a great idea. Thank you!

Pat,
Thank you. I am looking forward a great trip too!
Yes you were right about the English tours: I contacted Marksburg and they said there will be no English tours but English handouts. I thought that’d be ok.
Yes I am used to and like fast-paced tours because I feel restless when I don’t have plans or things to do, but your advice is sound and well-noted.
There will be no more Rhine cruises (at least not from the two major companies including KD) starting from mid-October so we will have to rely on trains to move from place to place. That was a huge disappointment to me and the reason I originally scratched off the area from our itinerary, but I just thought visiting the area would add a little variety to the trip.
I did check the hotels that I booked if they allow late check in and the hotel in Rothenburg doesn’t allow check in after 20:00. Although I don’t plan to arrive after 20:00 (I do plan to leave for the destination in the PM), you never know what will happen with the trains. So I will either have to change our plan on the arrival date or find a different hotel.
I am not sure how we will fill in the time in Rothenburg: Do a walk-tour, walk the city wall, visit St. Jackob’s Church and convent garden don’t seem to take long…Yes we do plan to do the Night Watchman’s tour. (Do those hotels that don’t allow late check in let you back in late after checked in?)

Hi Ms. Jo,
Thank you.
Dead towns and slippery hills are problems that we cannot ignore. Thank you for the information.
And thank you for recommending Eltville. I will check it out.

I would NOT discourage you from touring the Rhine Gorge in the off-season. If you are like the Rothenburg-fans who rave about R'burg's quiet streets in the late evenings and early mornings, when the day-tripping tourists are absent, you will probably like Rüdesheim in November, a time of year when this handsome town is pretty much tour-horde free at any time of the day.

You should probably make some seasonal sightseeing adjustments, however. In November, average daytime temps are in the mid-to-high 40's. BRISK, and not comfy if you were sitting idly on the open deck of a cruise boat (which is a remote possibility but not advisable!) But the mid-40's are just right if you are walking around old-world towns well attired. And in recent years the late fall months have been seeing fewer cold weather days as the climate undergoes change. Some of my best walks here (and elsewhere in Germany) have been from October - December.

Average rainfall in November is less than 2 inches - not much at all compared with summer rainfall - but what matters is the weather during YOUR visit, which is simply not foreseeable. Walking up to Marksburg takes about 25 minutes, but you might not be a happy hiker if it's wet/slippery, so as your visit approaches, the thing to do is to keep your day-to-day sightseeing from Rüdesheim flexible; you should be able to learn, when you wake up on the 11th in R'heim (your latest plan,) what the weather will be like over the next few days. Also, because hiking the famous Rheinsteig trail is one of the main reasons for staying in Rüdesheim and the other east-bank towns, the R'heim tourist office, which will be open that Monday morning, should be able to inform you on trail conditions:
https://ruedesheim.de/en/contact-tourist-info/

Braubach (Marksburg) also has a TI office you can contact or visit for advice of all kinds; page is in German but English is spoken:
https://braubach.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/stadtpolitik/ihre-ansprechpartner

That said... there's no reason you have to walk up to Marksburg, no matter what the weather is like. The TI office can surely give you advice on taxi services. Here's a contact page for a Braubach-based taxi service I am aware of:

http://funktaxi-braubach.de/kontaktzuuns/index.html

There probably will NOT be an English-language tour of Braubach. But honestly, a tour in incomprehensible English is probably no worse than tour in incomprehensible German. I do not know the Marksburg guides - but I can say that poor pronunciation, intonation, etc. on the part of English-speaking German tour conductors has been a serious problem on about half my tour experiences. The handout can be huge asset no matter which tour you get. Many thousands of French, Dutch, Asian and other tourists with no German use it too :

https://www.marksburg.de/assets/uploads/Marksburg__Guided_Tour_in_Englisch_2021_.pdf

Braubach's old town is a delight:
https://fotos.schloemp.eu/wp-content/gallery/braubach/002Braubach-Bauernschaenke-Eck-Fritz.JPG
https://fotos.schloemp.eu/wp-content/gallery/braubach/020bBraubach-Marktplatz.JPG

I like the traditional German food at Braubach's zum Goldenen Schlüssel (closed Wed & Thu.) It serves locals as well as tourists and does not close down when tourism slows. Open mid-day hours for lunch and evening hours :

https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=1070x10000:format=jpg/path/sc484ea64eed53c8f/image/i82e0948970fa8d90/version/1550765364/image.jpg

It is true that some small towns close down almost entirely. St Goar comes to mind... The St. Goar ferry is handy for train travelers crossing the river, but St. Goar would not be on my list for a November visit, only for crossing perhaps and then hopping on a west-bank train to somewhere else. Bacharach is not on your list, but I would definitely recommend a stopover for at least 1 hour just to check out all the handsome half-timbered buildings.

As for your itinerary... I do question the value of your scheduled day trip to Heidelberg at the end. That time could be just as well spent in Frankfurt, I think.

For additional time on the Rhine... whether that's to add in Eltville, or whatever... I would first consider dropping Heidelberg.

I see no problem with one night in Rothenburg if you have most of that same day there before turning in, but the time you save by doing this, IMO, would be well spent in Nuremberg, where there are many, many things you might see/do, or perhaps just enjoy a little "down time", as Pat was suggesting.

Ok, I'm going to upset the apple cart here. Can you do the trip a month later, when so many areas come alive with the Xmas markets? Or a month earlier? Please don't throw anything at the screen. Just mumbling on my part, and a thousand pardons if that's impossible. Safe travels!

Hi Russ,
Thank you for the detailed replies and recommendations.
Sounds like I have to choose between giving Nurnberg or the Frankfurt/Rhine area more time. Ideally, if we leave Nurnberg for Rothenburg; and Rothenburg for Rüdesheim both in the PM we would have a little extra time (half day) for both Nurnberg and Frankfurt/Rhine area, but since we want to do the night watchman tour in Rothenburg (as cliché as it is, it’s something unique about the town and we want to experience it), and the day to Rüdesheim includes visiting Wurtzburg so we can’t start the day too late, this plan won’t work. So we have to either leave Nurnberg in the AM and stay in Rothenburg for one night (one extra day for Frankfurt/Rhine), or leave Nurnburg in the PM and stay Rothenburg for two nights.

If we decide to have extra time for Frank/Rhine, would you recommend we stay in Rüdesheim for two nights and explore the area such as Koblenz, St Goar and even Bacarach, or stay in Rüdesheim for one night and do a day trip from Frankfurt?

For Marksburg, yes we will be watching the weather. And if it’s rainy then we won’t go there. Good thing is that we don’t need to prebook the tour. We have no problem hiking uphill and have done a lot of that in the States, but I agree with you and Ms. Jo it’s not a good idea to hike if the hill is wet and slippery.

Hi Pat,
If we could do this in September or October, we would but our work won't allow it. I thought about going in December but don't like that it will be even more cold than November.

Yes, but in December the Xmas markets cheer will warm you! Maybe in the future. Thanks for responding back , and yes, real world constraints like work schedules are very important. I do wish you a great trip!

Hi Ms. Jo,

Did you know that the east wing of the Electoral Castel in Eltville is under extensive renovation? "The building is scaffolded and the castle courtyard is partially cordoned off as a construction site area" but access to the building is possible.

Good to know. It isn't my favorite castle, but I do like the dry moat, the wooden walkway on the wall, the church next door and some of the great restaraunts that overlook the Rhein. (Gelbe Haus) It is really pretty along here with the promenade. The high point is the monastery though. Used for filming Name of the Rose, it is just magnificent. They do a nice wine tasting there too.

Thanks for the info about the construction work. I haven't been up there for a few months.

Re-work of your itinerary: This would suit me fine except I'd drop Heidelberg on the 13th and just see Frankfut. But I provided details for the trains to and back from Heidelberg...

I have changed Würzburg to a day trip from Nuremberg. No bags to store for this visit.

4 nights in Nuremberg 11/6, 7, 8 (as planned) plus 11/9

• 11/9: morning hours in N'berg; partial day (6.5 - 7.5 hours) in Würzburg (direct train from N'berg, 12:05 - 13:16) for Residenz + Hofkirche and whatever else, then dinner; return to Nuremberg (direct train, 19:41 or 20:41)

1 night in Rothenburg 11/10
- Check out, leave Nuremberg 8:37 - 9:51 in Rothenburg for rest of day & night

2 nights in Rüdesheim 11/11 & 12

• 11/11: Leave Rothenburg 9:05 am; lunch + afternoon sightseeing in R'heim
• 11/12: Outing by train to Rhine towns, possible Marksburg tour

1 night in Frankfurt 11/13

• Check out, direct train to Frankfurt(Main)Hbf 8:23 - 9:34 or 8:53 - 10:04. Drop bags in locker. Catch direct 10:34 train to Heidelberg. 6+ hours available in Heidelberg... Return by direct train to Frankfurt (Main) Hbf at 18:07, 19:07 or 20:07.

Thank for the recommendation.

Is the reason that you recommended to do a day trip from Nurnberg to visit Wurtzburg to avoid a long day on the day to Rüdesheim? I have to look up if I can find a good hotel with a reasonable price. I cannot extend my current reservation for one more day. The type of room I want is not available.

I am concerned about the trip from Nurnberg to RodT: Assume we take the trains departing at 8:37am, the two transfers at Ansbach and Steinach are 4 mins and 5 mins, respectively. That doesn’t seem to be enough time. And if we miss a connection, the next train won’t come until over an hour later. If we miss both connections, the whole journey which was supposed to be a little over an hour, is going to be over 3 hours. Maybe it's better to take the S bahn and bus combo which will take a little under two hours.

I read people saying train trip from Nurnberg to RodT was easy. What am I missing?

Hi Russ-Never mind about my question re. adding one more day to Nurnberg-it will also give us an extra morning in Nurnberg.

Thank you!

Reaching R'heim earlier (without the W'burg stopover) adds some Rhine time to your trip.

If your room search fails and you only have one night in R'heim, then to preserve that Rhine time, on the morning of 11/12, you could...

• leave bags at R'heim hotel front desk
• do your train-tour of the Rhein
• end your train tour in R'heim to have dinner and fetch your bags in the late afternoon.
• catch an early-evening train to Frankfurt (Main) Hbf to begin a stay there (nights 11/12 & 13.)

Hi Russ,
Thanks again.
Just some thoughts: Considering most sites are not open until 10:00am, an extra morning doesn't seem to mean much. And going from Rothenburg directly to Rüdesheim takes more than 5 hours of precious day time. I perhaps will stick to your original suggestion.