My best friend for 50 years and I would like to visit the places where our families were born. We are both in our 70’s, are still ambulatory, but definitely not capable of “climbing every mountain”! My family is from Bonn, while my friend’s family is from Eislingen. While we definitely want to see these cities, we’d also love to see castles, gardens, everything beautiful to be seen in one trip. We have never been to Germany before, and are quite certain that we’ll never have the chance to go back.
Please advise us on the best possible tours to accomplish our goal. Thank you so very much!
Christy Romero
Posted by
San Francisco
15304 posts
If you are spending a few slow, relaxing days in Bonn, I heartily recommend going over to Bad Godesberg. You'll see why. My first trip to Germany in 1971 included an intentional trip to Bonn...worth it. See Beethoven's House if you're into the music.
Posted by
Schwerin
3599 posts
On the other Rhine side of Bonn you will find castle Schloss Drachenburg with some scenic walk-arounds.The good news that a classic train (Drachenfelsbahn) brings you up to the castle.
Tip: Drive up to max point with view platform and good restaurant, eat a Flammkuchen while enoying the view and walk back down to castle, and take return train from there.
Another tip is Upper Mid Rhine Valley: enjoy a day cruise on the Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen, e. g. with K-D (https://www.k-d.com/en/cruises/castles-tour).
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34687 posts
welcome aboard, christy
do you mean Esslingen, next to Stuttgart? Or Eislingen, a small town further east from Esslingen?
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
21691 posts
While she lives quite a distance away in Frankfurt, I think Ms. Jo is pretty well connected in the tourism business and might have some suggestions of who to contact. Go here and send her a private message and see if i am correct: https://community.ricksteves.com/users/12707
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
668 posts
I am a fan of this type of “heritage” travel and encourage both of you to find out as much as you can about your family’s German roots before your trip. Ancestry dot com or similar, talking to family members and reviewing any written records and photographs. I have experienced the powerful feeling you can get from seeing the house (or what might be or have been the house), reading the grave stones, walking the streets of the village, etc. Don’t expect to find out over there. Obviously, if there are still relatives there, contact them in advance and get their input on the family sites, as well as other local places of interest.
Stay as close as possible to your family sites, and definitely rent a car. I found it very affordable to rent a car in Germany, even with the extra driver. Both of us drive manual, which helped a lot! For accommodation, I generally use AirBnB, but GoogleMaps can help get you as close as possible.
I can only assume that you and your friend have watched A Real Pain.
Posted by
Paradise
7261 posts
...love to see castles, gardens, everything beautiful to be seen in one
trip.
How many days will you have?
Some of Germany's most beautiful castles, landscapes and towns lie to the south of Bonn in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, which MarkK has mentioned...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XElvTqJVWA
Most of the river cruises (K-D and Bingen-Rüdesheimer are the main day-cruise options) begin in BINGEN or RUEDESHEIM, the southern gateway towns to this valley, and proceeds north to ST GOAR or St GOARSHAUSEN (just across the river.) It is possible to cruise further north and end up in Koblenz with a connecting cruise ship, or to cruise this northern segment on a separate day.
While this area is not far from Bonn, there is quite a bit to see and do in addition to the river cruise, so a multi-day stay here is worth your time. ST GOAR could be a good choice for you. The town is quite small and lies mostly on a the flat, narrow spit of land beside the river. Riverfront hotels like the Rheinhotel St Goar and Hotel Rheinfels take advantage of the most scenic views and are literally right in front of the cruise boat docks and the ferry crossing (which you would use to visit towns on the opposite riverbank.)
Restaurants, a bakery or two, and shops are in the immediate vicinity as well.
A local bus eliminates the hike to Rheinfels Castle, one of the top Rhine castle destinations and takes just 5 minutes. The castle itself offers tours.
https://www.toptagungslocations.de/assets/hoteldaten/34/images/Schloss_Rheinfels_Tagungslocation.jpg
https://burg-rheinfels.com/en/visit/
https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data_vrminfo/News/2024/Fahrpl%C3%A4ne_OMT/681_2024-08-01.pdf
Both riverbanks have railways for accessing other nice old-world towns/villages along the river. The St Goar train station, like everything else in town, is just a few steps away, with hourly train service to the north and to the south on the "Left" side of the Rhine:
https://www.duesseldorf-blog.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/karte.gif
So getting to BINGEN for a cruise is a direct 30-minute train ride. The same trains stop in the old-world riverfront towns of Bacharach and Oberwesel on the way.
On the opposite riverbank, Rüdesheim and Braubach (home of Marksburg Castle, the only intact medieval Rhine castle, also offers tours) are solid destinations (taxi up to the castle from Braubach station.)
Rüdesheim (has a chairlift ride for nice views of the river valley.)
The St Goar ferry goes back and forth across the river all day long to St Goarshausen - use the train station there to get to these towns on the "right-side" railway:
https://rheingaulinie.de/files/rheingaulinie/files/Fahrplan/fahrplan.png
For non-mountain-goats, I hope it's clear that this area is extremely accommodating for getting around independently, and it's marvelously inexpensive to do so in comparison with any tours you might come across. You do not need a car here.
The nearby Mosel River Valley - some call it even more beautiful - is similarly accommodating and worthwhile.