Bruges to a nice town on the rhine

We stayed in Mainz and really enjoyed it. There are some great sights in Mainz - St. Stephens with the Chagall stained glass, the Roman Temple under the mall, the Dom... It is also a great place to start a Rhine River cruise to Koblenz which includes the "best" of the river. The train back from Koblenz is about an hour.

You didn't say whether it's car or train. Because Brussels-Cologne is such a good train connection, I'd do an urban day in Cologne first. You choose between day trips from Cologne or stay in a picturesque old town that Rick likes. I'd rather have unlimited historic sites, museums, and restaurants (Cologne) than castles and half-timbered villages surrounded by reinforced concrete new-towns. Rick's "Germany" makes it clear that Bingen-Boppard (i.e. downstream) is all you need to boat. We even took the train back (to Andernach) from Boppard because it's so much faster. I'm not flogging Andernach, it's no nicer than any other medieval town centers. We wanted to be near Koblenz but not in it, that trip. If you don't want to buy Rick's book, use the search tool here (upper right.) Yours is an FAQ on this board.

If Tim is suggesting that you spend 2 train hours or so each way from a Cologne base to start your Rhine cruise in Bingen, I'd probably disagree with that strategy. Staying in the Middle Rhine Valley itself makes it much easier and more atmospheric. Mainz is a nice place, as Christi says, but it's a fairly large city, not a town, and it's not a great place to start a Rhine cruise in most cases. It's a LOONNGG walk between train station and KD dock, and starting there means nearly 2 hours of very dull cruising to Bingen, the real gateway to the scenic part of the river. Cruising all the way to Koblenz is similarly useless - again a long walk to the station from the dock (or a bus ride) and deteriorating scenery south of Koblenz. If you cruise Mainz-Koblenz, you spend 5.5 hours on the boat when you could do the scenic part in 2 hrs., 20 min. (Bingen-Boppard.) If you plan to tour Marksburg castle in Braubach, you may wish to stay on the boat beyond Boppard and continue to Braubach (30 minutes longer) since it would require more time to reach Braubach by train from there. Where to stay? Probably not Bingen. Boppard is a great town. Lots of accommodations choices and eateries, several wineries, many half-timbered buildings, a nice market square with outdoor dining, a river promenade, and a cool chairlift ride to a peak overlooking the river and town (Gedeonseck terrace-cafe is up there too, a good spot to enjoy the view.) Then when you do your cruise, take the train to Bingen (9.40€ one way by direct RE or MRB train) and cruise back "home." Present your train ticket at the KD dock for a 20% fare discount on the cruise. Boppard is only a few minutes north of St. Goar (Rheinfels Castle), Oberwesel, and Bacharach by train, all good towns to visit during your stay, or alternative base towns.