Cochem, Germany then to Colmar, France then to Rothenburg Germany

Enjoyed both areas, Rothenburg, night watchman tour, evening with the English speaking club (see RS book, Rothenburg section) and Herman the German. We went from RothenBurg to Colmar a couple of years ago, stayed a night in Baden Baden, spent sometime at Ludwigsburg (castle or Palace?) interesting grounds and buildings
Enjoy

John, I'll give you my biased suggestion: stay in the Alsace-Lorraine area. Metz is worth about 3 days max if you spend time in the museum, what's interesting and captivating is the outskirts of Metz...those villages west of Metz. Since you're motorised, go up to Thionville (Didenhofen) from Metz. Spend the rest of the time in Colmar and Strasbourg. Skip Rothenburg this time,... went there once, didn't do anything for me as towns/villages in Alsace and Lorraine.

My personal opinion is there's enough to see and do in 6 days in the Mosel and Alsace region, as well as other regions that are closer to those two areas than Rothenburg obT, that I wouldn't bother with Rothenburg. Where are you flying in, Frankfurt? Have you done the Romantic Rhine before? If not, spending a day driving up and hitting a few castles and towns on the way to Cochem is not a bad idea. Burg Eltz is a must-see. With a car it would be fun to explore the smaller towns on the Mosel. I was just in this area and wrote a trip report in that section of the helpline. Trier is also a must in my book for this region, you're so close there's no reason not to go. Between the Roman ruins, the Dom, the Imperial throne room, the baths, and the archelogical musem you could easily spend a full day there, or skip the museum and baths and make a half-day out of it. That takes you very close to Saarbrucken, Luxembourg, and Belgium, as well as Metz in Lorraine, France. Haven't explored any of these areas yet but I loved Nancy, which isn't too much further from Metz, and that would make a natural route for heading down to Alsace, where I personally really love Strasbourg and would alot at LEAST a half-day there before going onto Colmar. In my book, spending 6 days hitting some of those areas would make more sense than going all the way over to Rothenburg. You'll be able to find plenty of half-timbered houses and city walls in the Mosel Valley and Alsace.

We really enjoyed Strausburg (sp?). Also you should try to go to the Lorraine Cemetery in St. Avold. It is not far from German border and has the largest number of WWII dead in Europe, not to be missed.

Hi, One more reflection on Alsace-Lorraine: the food and drink. French beer is pretty mediocre, up north (northern France) they drink various beers from Belgium, in lieu of it. Alsacian beer is another story, one I do recommend. I like the wine too, but that depends on your taste for sweet wine.

Ralph, how would one do Burg Eltz, spend some time on the river via boat, check out a small town, hit a vineyard, and see Cochem as a day trip?

But you said the Mosel was fine just as a day trip, but then just admitted you missed some of the most interesting things to see/do on the Mosel.

Hi John, We stayed 4 nights based just across from Cochem in Oct. '07. We felt 4 nights was just about right to visit Burg Eltz, Cochem, Beilstein, Zell, Bernkastel, Trier, etc. I'd suggest allowing at least 2 or 3 nights in Cochem. I would rate Burg Eltz as the #1 "must see" while in the area. Don't know if I'd go out of my way for a night in Rothenburg, but we loved it despite the mass tourism. We stayed 2 nights, which was again, just about right, at least for us. In the evening it was very quiet. That was in mid October though. Still, the old town itself, walking part of the wall, seeing the Tilman Riemsanschneider alter in St. Jacob's church and taking the Nightwatchman Tour made for a perfect visit. Paul

I agree with Paul 100% though about the Mosel area which is why I don't advocate just a day trip in the area. 3 days at least will be ideal. Less so about the Rothenburg stuff but everyone wants to do it, don't think you'd need more than 1 night if you did.

There are plenty of towns in Germany that are just like Rothenburg, but you don't have to wait until 16:00 for the tour buses to go away to experience the awesomeness of them. Continually though, people will go out of their way to see Rothenburg, cause it is supposed to be original, authentic and the best. It is none of the above. It was burned down by the Swedes, bombed by the Allies, and it may be perfectly lovely, but that doesn't mean it is the best.