Switzerland to Burg-Eltz, end in Bruges

Since both the Switzerland-Burg Eltz and Burg Eltz-Bruges trips are quite long, I would recommend staying for two nights and a full day in the Mosel valley area. I'm not an expert on where the best town to stay for Burg Eltz is.

If you go to bahn.com and look for tickets from Moselkern (nearest station to Burg Eltz) to Bruges, they initially recommend that you travel via Koblenz, Koeln and Brussels. This may be the fastest route due to using the high-speed lines, but I would personally use the slower but more scenic route via Trier, Luxembourg and Brussels - book in advance at bahn.com and put in Luxembourg as a via point. Cheap advance tickets will limit you to specific trains, but if you book it as one journey you will be covered if you miss a connection due to a train delay - however, if you want to stop off to explore along the way (I wouldn't, as the trip will take most of the day) you will have to either buy separate tickets or add a pre-planned break in the journey (which is also possible at bahn.com).

Phillip - Thanks for the ideas. I may try to take an extra night in the valley. I didn't realize how long the trip would be. I appreciate the info.

"I have never traveled by train so this is all new to me."

To find train schedules, use the Bahn (German Rail) website http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/online-schedules

Note that this will only have prices, and bookable tickets, for trips that start or end in Germany (which yours do).

Whether or not you can get on and off a train on one ticket, or need separate tickets for each segment, depends on the kind of ticket you have. If you know you are making a stopover, note that you can put this in the Bahn website; getting a single ticket with a stopover can be cheaper than getting two separate tickets (again, this depends on the route).

For more train information, you can't beat The Man In Seat 61. However, he almost has too much information for a beginner. Start with his introductory page, and progress from there: https://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm

When someone's first post is about covering the entire width of Europe in one trip, it can be helpful to look at some of the free travel advice on our host (Rick Steves) website. His menu at top left leads to pages on railroad travel in Europe. Some of his maps show rail routes by country, in HOURS instead of kilometers. But because you are traversing multiple countries, it's surprising that you didn't use Google Maps to get their (rather imprecise, to be honest) general idea of TIME between cities.

You didn't say how many days your whole trip is, and whether you are flying in and out of (wisely) different cities. It does seem like you have selected the three places that sound the nicest to you, and neglected how much unproductive travel time it would take to see them all in one trip. Have you learned how expensive Switzerland is, compared to the rest of Europe?

I don't mean to sound snooty when I wrote "three places that sound the nicest." I'm just hoping you have really done enough research. It's odd that someone would prioritize Burg Eltz and not mention a dayboat ride on the Rhine river - especially since you like castles:

One of the pages on Rick Steves site:
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/three-rhineland-castles

Here's a search of this board:
https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&filter=Travel+Forum&query=middle+rhine+castles&utf8=%E2%9C%93

It is more practical to get to Bruges from (for example) Cologne than it is from Switzerland. I hope you are flying out of Brussels.