SIde trip to Germany

Koblenz is a city of some size - NOT a small village. St. Goar is though, and it's a good one for a short stay. It's in the prettiest part of the river valley, with 3 castles you can see from town, one of which you can tour, Rheinfels, looming above: http://www.st-goar.de/17-1-.html St. Goar is on the rail line that follows the west bank of the Rhine between Mainz and Koblenz. This is the side where most of the interesting villages lie - St. Goar itself, Boppard, Oberwesel, and Bacharach. St. Goar is the geographic middle point of this area, so you can be in any of the other villages in just a few minutes by train. There are no bridges across the Rhine (yet) between Koblenz and Mainz, so the fact that St. Goar has a ferry connection with St. Goarshausen - and thus is connected to the east bank rail line connecting St. Goarshausen to Braubach (Marksburg Castle) and villages to the south like Kaub and Rüdesheim - make St. Goar an even more attractive base town. http://www.marksburg.de I stayed at "Appartement Geissler" last March - great basic location right in town and close to all, inexpensive, clean, great for a single traveler, for 3 nights: http://www.st-goar.de/586-1-fewos.html?objekt_id=181article_id=586&clang=1

Russ, Thank you, I have emailed Annemarie, so will see if she has a room. I would be staying 2-3 nights. Any suggestions for travelling from Amsterdam? I expect to have a railpass that encompasses Benelux and Germany. I appreciate the help since I have not been to that region before and have limited time.
Jane

You'll find more housing options here: http://www.st-goar.de/612-1-host-directory.html Elsewhere in the region: http://www.bensbauernhof.com/accommodationsrhinemosel.html Not sure what you're doing besides Brugge and A'dam, but a railpass is often not justified. You can find adv. sale tix 92 days out between A'dam and St. Goar for around 40€: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en Bruges to A'dam costs about 50€: http://www.b-europe.com/Travel

"Would like to get off the beaten tourist track, any suggestions?" There is plenty to see on the Rhein and/or Rhein. It's kind of the tourist track, but worth seeing and could fill your time. As far as getting off the beaten track, although half the people in Germany speak some English, the farther off the track you go, the less likely they are to speak English. You'll probably find English spoken everywhere on the beaten track, and there is enough to see there to spend your time. Stay there.

Jane, The smaller places in the Düsseldorf/Cologne area...what about Neuß and Bonn? Presumably, you'll have a car to get out to the smaller towns in the lower Rhine area (Niederrheingebiet). By public transportation, take the S-Bahn from Düsseldorf Hbf. Interesting is the rebuilt architecture in these towns such as Wesel, Kaiserswerth, Viersen, Krefeld, Nettetal-Kaldenkirchen.

Russ, I looked at the Railpass for 5 days, flying into Brussels, on to Bruge, then A'dam, then Germany, and back to Brussels for the flight home. The railpass at $272 USD (there will be 2 of us travelling together) looked like a pretty good deal as I may want to take train transportation to Volendam, etc, and between German towns. Since the ticket is unlimited (except for the 5 days) it seems like a bargain?