We will finish our boat and bike tour in Bruges, Belgium. We are taking 4-5 days to travel to Basel to pick up river boat cruise. We would appreciate recommendations as to which small towns to stay in and visit along the way. This is our first trip to Europe so advice on method of transportation would also be appreciated. I know Rudesheim has come up as a quaint spot to see. Strausbourg? We are not big city people. We like small towns and beautiful country side.
Posted by
Paradise
6643 posts
Strasbourg: a big city compared with the smaller old-world Rhine and Mosel towns.
The Rhine and Mosel rivers meet up in Koblenz. I assume your bike/boat trip will be in warmer months than those just ahead of us...On the Rhine south of Koblenz I'd suggest staying in Boppard rather than Rüdesheim on several grounds. Reaching other towns of interest is pretty simple from Boppard (visit Rüdesheim on a train trip from Boppard if you want.) Southwest of Koblenz on the Mosel: Cochem, Bullay or Traben-Trarbach can make for good base towns for exploring, depending on what you're looking for. All these towns lie on the railways and offer easy access to other nice towns, to river cruises, to castle tours, to wineries, and to outdoor opportunities.
Here's a snip of the Rhine/Mosel rail lines in the area for which the VRM Guest ticket provides free rail transport. Stay at any place you like in Boppard, and you'll have this pass for free; in the other towns, certain participating establishments offer the Guest Ticket as enticement to stay with them.
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8446 posts
Are you doing a Rhine river cruise? If so, you'll likely visit some of those places the cruise. Our Viking cruise stopped at Rudesheim and Strasbourg, for example, and we saw many other boats stopped there as well..
I'd maybe hit a couple of places on the Mosel.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
We are doing the Rhine River Cruise through Scenic. We are opting to go somewhere other than Strausbourg the day we are in that area. Rudesheim was also not listed.
Posted by
Paradise
6643 posts
What stops will your cruise make, exactly, and for how long? It sounds like your trip to Basel might backtrack through the same areas that you cruised, and we don't necessarily want to suggest small places you might already have visited.