Rhine Valley, Christmas markets, First week in December

I have never left my car to thoroughly explore Boppard, but from driving by, it seems like a good base town. Merely eyeballing it from the car, it would appear to have the second most extensive collection of ruins in the Mittelrhein, behind only Oberwesel. As I wrote in your previous post, the towns along the Mittelrhein are not large enough to support month-long Christmas markets. It will be more a matter of which towns' a markets will coincide with your visit, rather than which is the best. And to be honest... most of the smaller town markets are about the same anyway. The boat line most popular with people on this website (KD) does not operate in the cooler months of the year, but they are not the only passenger boat service on the river. I don't have any other information, other than to add that while driving along the Mittelrhein yesterday on a cold, rainy day, there were still plenty of touring boats to be seen. Just not KD.

Burg Eltz is closed in the wintertime ... you won't be able to tour the interior.

A few years ago, I spent 3 days visiting Christmas markets on the Rhine and Mosel with my daughter. We didn't make it to Bonn. But since that and a castle sound like a must-do for you, I'll include it in my suggestions. Markets: The Mainz and Rüdesheim markets were both great. We saw Trier's as well, but it was smallish and probably not worth the long trip up the Mosel. Koblenz' market was kitschy. Koblenz is a train hub for the area, as Ralph says, and you could reach both Bonn in the north and Mainz in the south from there by train, but you'd need to stay somewhere near the station to make best advantage of its situation, and that's a mighty dull area to stay in. Koblenz itself isn't generally all that interesting either. If you wish to stay in one place, I think Boppard is an excellent choice. It's the largest of the Rhine villages - not much to do at night in winter, but then you probably want to use the evenings to experience the Christmas markets and return a little before bedtime. From Boppard: Bonn, Cochem and Mainz are both just over 1 hr. away by local train. Bacharach is about 25 min. south, St. Goar (Rheinfels Castle, Sa and Su, only about 10 min. Feasible daytrips from Boppard: 1. Boppard-Mainz-Rüdesheim-(ferry)-Bingen-Boppard 2. Boppard-Bacharach-Oberwesel-St. Goar (Rheinfels Castle, Sa/Su)- St. Goarshausen (use St. Goar ferry)-Boppard 3. Boppard-Bonn-Linz-gorgeous town w/market)-Boppard 4. Boppard-Braubach (Marksburg Castle)-Cochem-Boppard Markets: Mainz, Bonn, Rüdesheim & Cochem open daily Bacharach: 12/8,9 Linz: Sa & Su every week St. Goarshausen: 12/8 (after 3 pm)& 12/9 (after 1 pm)
Braubach: 12/1&2 (after 2 pm) Message me if you want train help.

We liked the middle Rhine but I have drive through it in the winter and it is very quiet. We day tripped to Boppard. Nice, small town but I wonder how enjoyable the long winter evenings would be. It gets dark very early in the winter in Germany, especially with inclement weather. The nice thing about Christmas Markets is that they give you sights to see and things to do during those long evenings. We visited Mainz and it would be my recommendation, but it is not that handy to Bonn. I have not visited the Christmas Market there but town is pretty lively. We liked the cathedral and St. Stephan's (sp?) church with the Chagall windows. It is handy by train to Bacharach, St. Goar, etc. along the middle Rhine.

Thanks all! Tom, thanks for all the help in both message threads.... Now to just find a hotel... Ralph, I was thinking about Burg Eltz, so maybe that will play into it. Thanks. Russ, Thanks for all the great info. Especially the Christmas Market dates. I know that it will be a hit or miss for those villages that only have them for a few days. Also, I figured that Trier was probably too far out, but wasn't sure. I will look at train schedules to see what might be possible along the Mosel. Gary, I will look into Mainz. I am not so worried about the weather, as Pittsburgh has similar weather (I think) and if I was not going on vacation, I would be putting up with it anyway, and not enjoying the sites that the Christmas season in Germany provides. I have decided to use train transportation primarily for that reason, as I do not really want to risk driving in bad weather on vacation. I am leaning toward at least most of the nights in Boppard, and finding a hotel or B&B close to the train station. I am not opposed to spending another night elsewhere and so I will be looking into all the advice. Thanks! Bob

"I am leaning toward at least most of the nights in Boppard, and finding a hotel or B&B close to the train station." Don't let that limit your choice. Except for perhaps Bingen and Koblenz, all of the Mittelrhein towns are small, and there aren't too many places that would be outside of walking distance to the train stations. I'm not sure why Koblenz gets so little love on this website. True, it's more of a small city than a town, it isn't the most immediately attractive settlement on the Rhine and the main shopping street is... well, ugly. But there are some beautiful neighborhoods, and the historic district around the Deutsches Eck seems to have escaped the bombs of WWII. Given a choice, I would personally pick one of the smaller towns up river for lodging, but I wouldn't ignore Koblenz either.