How about Mosel vs. Rhine?

Maybe split it to save a bit of driving. Use Cochem for a couple of days and then either Boppard or St Goar. Trier's a long hike from the middle of the gorge and and it's a long ways from Bingen to much of anywhere on the Mosel. If you try it from one place, you can't get to the other end and back in one day and have much time to see anything. The only other option might be Koblenz, but I sure as heck can't champion it.

Los Angeles. You need a car there. You don't need one in Germany. I've spent 9 nights in that area in two trips (I guess that means 11 days) without a car and never felt I needed one. My first trip, 2004, I spent 5 nights on the Rhein, in Boppard, because I felt it was centrally located between what I wanted to see, St Goar/Bacharach and Koblenz/Braubach, and I found a room in a German speaking home for €25 (single). There are rail lines up both sides of the Rhein and ferries across at Boppard and St. Goar. As for whether to stay in Bacharach vs. St. Goar, most places in Bacharach are, IMO, too close to the rail line (noisy). Burg Stahleck is a steep walk from town. I think Im Malerwinkl is the only good compromise in Bacharach. On the other hand, there are a lot of good places to stay down the hill from the tracks in St. Goar. I'd stay in Im Malerwinkl or in St. Goar.

We will already have a car for other parts of our 4 week trip, so we can easily stay anywhere we want. Just not sure what location is best. I suppose we really can't go wrong with any choice. Thanks for the help!

I would stay a night or two at each rather than make them one stop. I like Cochem for the Mosel area. There are some sights there, plenty of lodging. Anywhere will be pretty convenient to get around (although I prefer the local trains to driving).

I would do some of both. The two rivers are very different. The Rhine has a very fast current and lots of traffic on the river as well as the rail lines and highways on both side of it and is on the spectacular side scenery wise. The Mosel is like the Rhine on Vallium, soft and quiet and beautiful, a great place to relax. Bielstein would be a nice point to stay on the Mosel. You can drive up river to Trier, Zell and Bernkastle and down river to Cochem and Berg Eltz etc. On the Rhine, Boppard would be a good spot to stay but, if you can pop for a little bit of luxury, a night or two at the Schloss Schoenberg at Oberwesel is a truly great experience that should not be missed. It is a real restored castle high up above the river just south of the Lorelei. A short trip on a Rhine steamer is time well spent. You can easily take the steamer one way and return to your starting point by train. The trip from Boppeard to Oberwesel is a good one both in terms of time and scenery.

If you're in Cochem on the Mosel, (a place well worth a visit in its own right), don't miss out on a visit to Burg Elz which is nearby. It is one of the few castles in the Rhine/Mosel area not destroyed by Napoleon and I loved it. Certainly prefered it to Neuschwannstein. You can drive to the castle carpark and then go either on foot or in a horse drawn carriage (cart?) to the castle. They say the castle remained intact because the invading French army did not find it due to the fact that it is not on the river but set some miles inland. What about Rudesheim on the Rhine as a place to base yourselves? I love it but have only ever been out of season. I imagine it could get pretty overrun in Summer. From Rudesheim you could not only do day trips to the Upper Mosel but also along the river Nahe and the picturesque towns of Bad Kreuznach and Bad Munster. The latter has one of the most romantic Christmas markets I have been to and the most alcoholic Gluhwein!

I really enjoyed St Goar on the Rhine. We stayed there for 3 nights and had a really good time. We didn't use the car everyday, but were really glad to have one.

We split the two. Bacharch our base for Rhine and Beilstein our base for Mosel. It was perfect.

I second the thoughts of the poster who commented upon the noise along the Rhine. The Rhine has railroad tracks, heavily travelled, all along the St. Goar area. While we were there, trains went through every 30 minutes. They were very LOUD. Lovely inns, with delightful views of the Rhine, are just a few train track widths and the width of a small country road away from the river...and the noise of the train. I cannot imagine how people sleep as the trains go all through the night. If you look on travel sites such as TripAdvisor.com you will see many comments like this. We stayed just 1/2 mile in from the Rhine in Rudesheim at Rudesheimer Hoff. It has a parking lot, nice rooms, internet in the lobby, with a restaurant, and avoided the noise. No view of the Rhine, but we went there, walking 15 minutes through the village, no problem. It was a lovely walk back from the restaurants that are the banks of the Rhine. If you are going I strongly encourage you to go to the Niederwald Monument. Look on TripAdvisor for details of how to take a chairlift up to the Monument (startling vista), then walk a flat path perhaps 2 miles through lovely woods, then take a chairlift down to Assmanhaushen, right on the Rhine. You can stroll through the village admiring the architecture, stroll along the Rhine, have lunch and then take a 15 minute river boat down the Rhine back to Rudesheim. It's called a circle ticket, amazing, fun experience, looking down at the vinyards, seeing the Rhine from the chairlift, discerning the castles in the hills. Unforgettable, very inexpensive, and great to be outdoors.

We were there 4 years ago in Fall, during the "Rhein in Flames". We couldn't get a room on the Rhein, so we stayed in Beilstein on the Mosel. It was a wonderful location, very picturesque, with a view out the front window to the lazy Mosel. It was wonderful and made an easy drive through small villages to the Rhein, St Goar, Lorely, etc. When we head back, we'll seek out the same place. I just have to remember the name of the hotel, but it was in Rick's book.
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