Seeking Advice: Rhine River Cruise Itinerary and Pre-Post-Cruise Plans

Understood you will have 4 days to go from Frankfurt to Cologne where the cruise starts?
Guess you want to go by public transport?

Then I would stay one night in Frankfurt after a long flight and go to Cochem on the Mosel river via Koblenz the next day.
Stay there for 2 nights and to Cologne the next day via Koblenz again

Cochem from Frankfurt 2,5 hr by train 1 change in Koblenz

Cologne from Cochem 2hr by train 1 change in Koblenz

Explore Cochem and its Castle as well as a tour to Eltz Castle

Cochem
https://cochem.de/?lang=en

Burg Eltz
https://burg-eltz.de/en/homepage

Tour to Eltz Castle can be done by train and bus from Cochem 1hr
Train to Hatzenport then bus365 to Burg Eltz Wierschem

For the 7 days after your cruise Munich might be an option but its a long train ride from Cologne almost fills a day

But perhaps you visited towns and places on cruises where you said wish I had more time here
Then it might be an option to go there after the cruise from Cologne and stay one or two nights.

A place where I would spent more then just some hours is Rüdesheim and the surrounding area

Rüdesheim
https://ruedesheim.de/en/home-english/

Kloster Eberbach
https://kloster-eberbach.de/en

I like uwe04's suggestions. That said, it might be rewarding for you to follow up on your own interests in Germany. What is it about Germany that got your attention in the first place? Some people go there for its castles and palaces, others for the hiking/biking opportunities, some for the country's reputation for auto manufacturing, classical music, or beer. It's a very diverse place. Share what you'd like to see/do, then see if you get some good tips.

You mentioned going to Heidelberg. As long as you are that close, consider Wurzburg and Rothenberg. You'll not be disappointed.

I’d go to the Nuremberg area, visiting it, Bamberg, perhaps even farther north to Coburg or Kronach or Kulmbach, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, then on to Munich and maybe Salzburg. This is too much for your seven days but gives you lots of ideas to select from.

Thanks for the responses. What about going another direction, to the Netherlands, Amsterdam, spending days there, and then catching a local flight to Frankfurt? It's amazing how everything is close together. It took more time from Manhattan to JFK than between great cities in Europe.

What about going another direction, to the Netherlands, Amsterdam...

Maybe, if A'dam has what you are after. If you're asking for my opinion, I don't find it all that appealing... Good museums, certainly, but quite expensive now compared to Germany and to other places in the Netherlands.... also lots of human-being issues that create trash and other problems. It felt pretty low-life last time I was there.

For a nice town in the Netherlands look into Maastricht, Netherlands. It's only 2 train hours westward from Cologne, and Aachen, Germany is on the way... and only a few miles south of Aachen is Germany's most beautiful small old-world town, Monschau. DW fell in love with all these towns.

After that, you could make your way on the ground on your own power toward Frankfurt.

• Nürburgring raceway?
• The Mosel River towns and villages (including Cochem)??

There's a ton to see and do in this general area.

Eugene, you have not filled out your home-city in your profile so we can see about your air travel. But when we started a vacation in Cologne, we took a two-segment flight from the East Coast, changing in a Lufthansa hub city from United, and were in Cologne by 11 AM. It cost almost nothing extra.

My personal opinion is that Munich is overrated. There are plenty of other interesting places in Germany, like Berlin, good for a whole week! Brussels or Amsterdam are two other choices with plenty of flights to the USA..

Eugene, you have not filled out your home-city in your profile so we
can see about your air travel.

I am flying from JFK non-stop to Frankfurt. We went to Berlin a couple of years ago. I will explore going west to the Netherlands or Belgium and going back by train or fly.