Romantic Road and Rhine River Trip

Most of the castles are along the Rhine. In a several hour time period, you can see about 40 of them. The Romantic Road is just a route connecting smaller towns for the convenience of tourists. You can find equally old, medieval and beautiful towns all over Germany. I would drop the Romantic Road, and work out your route connecting the cities you already have on your list. Why Geneva and why Luxembourg? You don't really say what your interests are, so it is difficult to rate the stops you have included.

The Rhine River, particularly the section between Wiesbaden and Bonn, is one of the most justly celebrated regions of Germany. The Mosel and Neckar rivers might offer similar scenery, but nothing beats the spectacle of the Rhine. The Romantic Road, on the other hand, is only one of about 100 themed tourist routes in Germany, and to rank it against the others, I would probably place it in the middle of the pack. The scenery along the road itself is nothing special. It could be any rural route in Germany. Some of the towns are worth a visit, but you can find substitutes in almost any region of Germany. A week seems like barely enough time to go for your route from Toulouse to Geneva to the Rhine to Paris. I don't think you have anywhere near enough time to contemplate anything else. After re-reading your post, can you clarify what your original intentions (sans Romantic Road) were? Toulouse to Geneva looks like it would take a full day or more of driving. And what did you plan on doing or seeing in Geneva? You mention both driving and cruising the Rhine. Did you mean to ride one of the hop-on, hop-off tour boats or take a set cruise? If the second option, where would you pick it up? And how would you get back to your car? Please clarify.

Also, is there a particular reason your daughter wants to see Luxembourg (I'm assuming Luxembourg City)? If she just wants to visit to check it off a list, it's probably not worth the time to visit. It's a nice enough town, but there's nothing particularly special about it.

Susan, were you planning to take a Rhine boat cruise just to see the castles, but not to get off and tour any of them? If so, then there is a train that runs along the Rhine that would accomplish the same thing but much faster. Just a thought...

You've gotten good advice. Skip the RR. Cruise the Rhine from Bingen in the south to Boppard or Braubach in the north and you'll see the best part. And because the current is so strong, do it in that direction (south to north) to save time (2.5 - 3 hours vs. 4-5 hours the other way.) Rhine Castles: Besides being a good place to end your cruise, Braubach is a cute town and home to Marksburg Castle Marksburg tour information is HERE. In St. Goar, tour Rheinfels Castle on your own. Mosel Castles (near the Rhine and on the way to Luxembourg): Burg Eltz near Cochem Directions to Burg Eltz are HERE. Reicshburg Castle in Cochem Falconry show on grounds of Reichsburg castle.

Susan, the first thing to do is to download the season schedule for the Rhine boats. Your options are limited, and "cruise" makes it sound more spur-of-the moment than it really is. I learned on this board that you want to ride "downstream" to save time. Even an older, library copy of Rick's book will show you what you want to do on the Rhine Your original plan is too ambitious, even for a Rick Steves disciple who goes to three sites before lunch. If you enjoy more leisurely travel, eliminate at least half of your plan. Do you have any idea how long it takes to drive from, say, Cologne (worth a full day alone) to CDG airport? That's like saying you want to take a boat ride on the Columbia River and hit Disneyland before flying home from LAX! Honestly, there's more than a week of sights between Toulouse and Paris, even if you don't like, say, wine, cheese, or cider. Have to been to any chateaux? If you want to visit another country because the daughter has seen lots of France, you shouldn't be flying home from Paris. If you want to visit Paris and didn't mention that, you shouldn't be going to any other countries.

I agree with the other posters, the Romantic Route is probably too much to fit in. By itself it takes a minimum of 5 days so you would be rushing. Wurzburg at the very northern end has an absolute world class palace the Wurzburg Residenz which could feasably be visited. There is also a fortress in the City Festung Mareinburg, both of these could tick the castles and beautiful sites box.

Too much to see in that time period. To think that riding the train along the Rhine compares to taking the boat is beyond belief.

I agree that seeing the Rhine Valley castles, especially from Bacharach to St Goar or Marksburg, from the top deck of a gently moving (downstream) boat is much easier than from the fast moving window of even a slow train. Also, on the train you can only easily see out one side, usually the river side if you are lucky, but castles on your side above you will be out of sight. Once you've enjoyed the ride on the river then peeking out from the train and seeing them again from a different angle is fun.

Spend as little time on the Rhine as possible. Sure, do the boat tour. You could do the same by looking out the window of the train up from Frankfurt with Rick's guide in hand. Instead, go to Cochem on the Mosel and tour from there. Rent bikes and see the castles on the river up close. I agree with Rick, when people think of a Rhine River experience what they really are looking for is a Mosel experience. You will love it.

"Spend as little time on the Rhine as possible... Instead, go to Cochem on the Mosel and tour from there." The Mosel is lovely. Cochem is maybe my favorite spot in Germany. But there are good reasons that so many visit the Rhine, including more dramatic scenery, more castles, and more towns with interesting things to see and do. Do both if you can. But if you only do the Rhine, you'll still have a fine experience.

Ha! Just found out most of the castles are closed in February, when I'll be visiting! We're looking at other options, now, as well. No lack of beautiful towns, amazing caves, incredible castles, fantastic history and majestic scenery in that part of the world! Thanks for all your thoughts. Got the Germany and France Rick Steves 2013 guides for Christmas and Michelin map, so I'm set!

Marksburg Castle in Braubach is open daily in Feb., and Rheinfels in St. Goar on weekends.