Please help me fine-tune my Mosel/Lux/Rhine itinerary

"Drive around Frankfurt" seems like saying "drive around any major US city"...ie. not much point. Very good local train lines to use instead.

It seems you want a Rhine trip on day 3 and need somewhere to stay on the night of day 3 . Cochem is about an hour by car to Koblenz at the north end of the Rhine Gorge. Maybe see if you can return the car there. (if you rented it in Germany that shouldn't be too hard). Catch the train or a river cruise (KD Rhine for example) for the Rhine Gorge stopping overnight in a town there - RS likes St. Goar, I like Bacharach. It is an hour back to Frankfurt by train, look around and get to the airport, depending on your flight time. Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main station) and Frankfurt Flughafen (airport) are on the same train line so you could hop off at the Hbf and hop back on to get tot he airport.

H, Nick B., I know I'm very vague with the Frankfurt part, I just haven't had time to research what we want to see there. ;) I like your suggestion of turning the car in a day early since we most likely won't need it much on day 3. Thank you! :)

The main train station in Frankfurt has storage lockers. You could arrive there early, store your bags, and do a walking tour. I recommend Frankfurt on Foot. Rick Steves also recommends them.

https://www.frankfurtonfoot.com/

Day 1 sounds really impossible. We spent almost 2 days sightseeing in Trier and no idea how long you were planning to be there. You have yourself going to 4 different places! What were you planning to see in each town? How long does it take to drive to each place?

Day 2 sounds almost impossible too. Touring, walking around Limburg takes several hours at least. You want to walk around Butzbach as well as tour Burg Elz and add in the driving time to each spot.

Keep in mind that no matter what town you are in, the sightseeing options end about 17:00 unless you are just walking around. So, if you want to go in a church, a castle or museum, you have to do this before 17:00.

Consider staying in Frankfurt instead of looking for a town in between Bingen and the airport. Driving around Frankfurt isn't much fun. Get rid of the car. The city is best seen on foot, going inside the churches, the markets, the alt stadt.

@Andrea- Thanks for the link - that looks great! :)

@Jo I didn't plan on spending much time in any of the towns of my ancestors. I mainly want to drive through, see the land, maybe old buildings - I just want to see where my "roots" are. I'd like to pull over and take a pictures of signs or water towers of those cities'/towns' names. I know I will miss a lot, but we just don't have the time. If the town looks really interesting, and has some history, we will probably have a meal or cup of coffee there- maybe look aroud - like Trier and Bernakastel. Kyllburg doesn't seem like it has too much to offer, so that'll be a quick stop.

Day One

Leave at 8 am - arrive in Luxembourg 10am (eat lunch)

Leave at 1230

Arrive in Trier 1345

Leave Trier 1500

Arrive Kyllburg 1545

Leave Kyllburg 1600

Arrive Bernkastel-Kues 1640 (look around, eat dinner) - this place looks really interesting to me, so we may spend less time in Luxembourg or Trier to be able to get there earlier.

Leave 1900

Arrive hotel 2000

Day 2

Leave hotel 800

Arrive Munstermaifeld 830 (have coffee, look around)

Leave 915

Arrive Burg Eltz 930

Take tour

Leave 1130

Arrive Limburg an der Lahn 1230 (lunch)

Leave 1430

Arrive Butzbach 1530

Leave 1730

Arrive Hotel 1930

2 votes for staying in Frankfurt - that's probably what we'll do. :)

Trier and Limburg are amazing towns. I think when you see them you may want to spend more time in them.

Don't count on seeing water towers in Germany with town names on them. I can't recall ever seeing one.