travel to Cologne ( Koln)

There is an Ibis hotel right at the train station, part of it, actually. Its about as cheap as you will find in the city center area.

Cochem has a good number of nice hotels, but they aren't so cheap. I stayed recently at Hotel Zehnthof, liked it fine, the double rooms were surprisingly large and the location was convenient. I found it still a little pricey but the breakfast was top-notch for Germany, so I didn't feel too ripped off. Signfigantly cheaper than other hotels with better river views. Burg Eltz is a must see and it is open on a Monday, but you won't have a car, right? You'll either have to hike in and out from the Treis-Karden train station or get an expensive cab for one or both ways. The hike is beautiful, but if you do it both ways plus the castle tour and lunch you're looking at most of a day. Just so you know. Personally in your shoes I'd train to Treis-Karden, cab from there, then hike back to Treis-Karden and train back to Cochem. That's still going to be 4-5 hours r/t. You probably wont have time to do that and Beilstein on the same day. Trier has a lot of sights, do you have the RS Germany book? His walking tour for the area is great, even if his restaurant recs aren't. I'd skip the bishop's museum to see the archeological museum instead. I think you can see most of Trier in a single day unless you want to hit ALL the museums. I think Baden-Baden is overrated. Baths are everywhere in Germany if you want to do them (and they're fun! just no need to go out of your way to baden-baden for them). I would consider skipping it in favor of more time somewhere else. Have you been to Strasbourg? I haven't done Basel but Nigel here on the forum is a big fan. Have heard Zurich is boring. Salzburg is fantastic and highly recommended. If you don't have reservations already for Oktoberfest you won't really have a choice where to stay. Find a hotel ASAP.

Thanks so much for your insight and time spent responding. Yes, we plan to just utilize public transportation on this trip, my wife is a bit low on stamina so I'm trying to keep the strenuos walking (hiking) to a minimum. Skipping Baden Baden sounds fine to me, I don't she will let me go naked anyway ;). We are planning for at least a day in Salzburg, maybe more if Munichs hotels will be full, how about staying outside Munich? suggestions?
Thanks!

Agree on Baden-Baden, no reason to go out of your way to visit. If you really want the German bath experience, you can get it in Aachen.

Cologne certainly has much more than just the cathedral. There are lots of museums, many old, Romanesque churches, the alt stadt, and more. If you do a little research on the city's website, you will discover a city chock full of history. Baths and spas are everywhere you find a city with the word Bad in it. Wiesbaden, Bad Homburg, Bad Nauheim, etc. Some of them are very elegant, and traditional, having been built in the middle 1800's when going to "take the waters" was all the rage with the nobility of Europe. The casinos were also built during this same time period in Bad Homburg and Wiesbaden.

Jeff; Regarding Munich for Ocktoberfest. It will be hard to find reservations at this late date, but it is possible. Be prepared to pay much higher prices. You can find excellent B&B's in smaller towns along the S-Bahn. Take a look at the S-Bahn map and see which cities are on the various lines, then look for lodging in those cities. Salzburg is wonderful, so there for sure.

Thanks to all for your suggestions. Sarah you are correct about the hotels in Cochem $$$. Bookings.com is where I have been reserving hotels, is this a good one? With Burg Eltz taking a day, can we see Bielstein in a half day before heading to Trier? Does Trier deserve 2 days?
I get the senior part, do I get a discountat 59?

My wife and I just returned from our first trip to Cologne. We must have been there when no conventions were in town. The Hotel Excelsior Ernst had very nice rooms for under 200 Euro/night and is literally right across the street from the Cathedral and a two minute walk from the train station. While in Cologne don't miss the National Socialist Documentation Center. It isn't mentioned in the RS book, but it is a fascinating tour of an actual Gestapo prison and also has a nice history on what happened in Cologne during WWII. The audio guide is worth a couple extra Euro. It is only a few minutes walk from the Cathedral.

We always stay at Hotel Europaischer in Munich (www.heh.de). Its directly across from the train station, the staff are great, breakfast is excellent, rooms are very clean and we have always thought the prices were very reasonable. They even have a 20% early bird discount if you pay in full. I just looked on their website and it looks as if they might have some rooms available, although the price is a lot more and you can't book using the 20% discount. Good luck and have a great time!

Our favorite hotel is the Coellner Hof. I don't know if they have any rooms or not, but it is truly a lovely hotel in Cologne.

Great suggestions all on Cologne, unfortunately with Photokina in town that week hotel space and pricing was formidable. We opted to travel from Cologne airport to the city center and spend several hours touring then take the train to Aachen for the night, tour Aachen the next day then spend the greater part of the next day back in Cologne before heading on to Essen in the afternoon.
Munich is another story. We intended to spend a full three days in Munich but with prices for hotels approaching $350/ night we may have to stay out of town and come in for just one day. I hate the thought of spending valuable tourist time commuting into the city everyday! The room for rent idea, doesn't look too promising, the offerings are meager and the prices high.

"I thought you guys would like Baden Baden. They have special exercises in the pool for senior citizens." Umm, some of us are quite a bit younger than you presume...

You are fortunate that the most important sights in Cologne are steps from the Hauptbahnhof. There is so much to see that you should plan your days there ahead. In particular, the Käthe Kollwitz (special interest)-Ethnographic(new and flashy Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum)-Medieval Art(really superb Museum Schnütgen) excursion, or the cablecar(...tiny)/zoo/botanical garden excursions require a short subway trip. Smaller gems, Locks of Love on one walkway (South, I think) of the Hohenzollernbrücke, and the very old Mikveh, for which you sign out the key by leaving your passport at the ticket window for the Praetorium (which itself is missable.) The excellent Applied Arts (MAK) is walkable from the train, and very popular with those tired of paintings and mosaic floors. Kolumba is also worth a quick visit for the architecture and the Richard Serra sculpture, but not on the Museum Card and an odd closure day.

In Cologne, don't miss Papa Joes Bier Salon in the Alt Stadt. Amazing collection of old music player pianos, coin operated music machines. The best is a creation of Papa Joe himself, 2 mechanical manikens that play a real tuba and accordian. a 1 Euro coin in the slot on the post and pick a tune and watch "Tunis" and "Schael" go into action. "Muss i Denn" is my favorite. Hotel LysKirchen is very modern and reasonably priced, located on the riverfront near the HeuMarkt, easy walk to Alt Stadt and Cathedral. Mosel Kern is the station to get off if you hike to Burg Eltz. It is about 2 hours at a leisurly pace, fairly strenuous toward the end, but beautiful hike through the valley. In Munich, Pension Locarno is right across from the Central Station. It is a "bathroom & shower down the hall" type of establishment, but clean and friendly. Lots of Oktoberfest goers at the breakfast table. Loads of Aussies, who are ever present whenever there's a party with beer involved.

Great suggestions everyone. Now how about Ocktoberfest, tickets, best Beir? The BMW museum is a must for this Bimmer fan, can anyone get me into the fabled factory tour? Many thanks.

No tickets for Oktoberfest; just wander in! The best bier is the one in your glass ;-) I'm partial to Augustiner and Spaten for their Oktoberfest Marzenbier; some years Hacker and Hofbrau...I've yet to find a bad one! Check out the Oktoberfest website for lots of great info. The years we've attended Oktoberfest, we stayed in either Salzburg or Andechs (at the end of The S8 suburban rail line). While we had specific reasons for doing so, it's also a good strategy for paying less for accommodations. Just don't forget transportation costs to-and-from...

Jeff, If your wife isn't up for hiking, or not too much at least, i would definately do this: train from Cochem to Moselkern, get a taxi to Burg Eltz, hike back. It's a lesiurely hike and is either gentle downhill or flat the entire way (except for a few stairs down at the very beginning). The main issue might be the length (not quite 3 miles). There is an inviting restuarant/guest house at the halfway mark, but it may not be open on a Monday. You could pack a picnic lunch and enjoy it by the stream on the benches at the halfway mark as well. Or just cab it both ways, that would probably cost about 50 euro. Booking.com is what I usually use, it has good prices on the "bigger" hotels, i.e. actual hotels, B&Bs, and inns. If you really want to save money, you can look for a pension, or 'zimmerfrei' - often just a spare room or two in someone's house. Lee on the forum utilizes these a lot, they are cheaper, if you're OK with that more intimate form of travel. That time of year and on a Sunday/Monday rooms in Cochem will certainly be available, so if worse comes to worse you can train there without a room, go to the TI, where they have a 24 hour free phone to use that will connect to you one of the areas many hotels. You could certainly spend 2 days in Trier, but it probably isn't necessary unless you're a hardcore museum junkie. For this trip, I'd just stay 1 day. The problem with Beilstein is that it's not easily accessible without a car. There is no train station there. You can take a boat, but you need to time it right, which is why doing it and Burg Eltz in the same day would be tricky (as I found out when I tried to combine the two). There is a bus, but it takes nearly an hour. Maybe you could get there via boat on your first afternoon in Cochem if you hustle fast - check boat departure times online or in the RS book.

As far as Munich goes - yeah, this is why people plan usually at least 6 months in advance to visit Munich during the fest. I'm going to propose an alternative: skip Oktoberfest. Have you been to Munich before? If so, you can skip it entirely. Instead, consider Stuttgart's Canstatter Volksfest. It's VERY similar to Oktoberfest, nearly as old, just not as huge or crowded (still very large, still very crowded - it is the 2nd largest beer festival in the world!). It starts on the 28th of September, not sure what your dates are. And so you might miss the BMW-Welt, but both Porsche and Mercedes are headquartered in Stuttgart, and there are factory tours available at both, I believe, with advance booking. Both have fantastic museums. I'm just saying, given the high prices and late date, you might have a far less stressful time doing this instead. Stuttgart will be busy but affordable rooms on the public transit line to the fest will still be available. Stuttgart is also a mineral springs city, with 3 main mineral spas to take the waters, all of them are bathing-suit required in the pools (but bathing suits are forbidden in the saunas, as is true everywhere in Germany). We are convenient to the Black Forest, Basel, and Lake Constance, which are all areas worth seeing. You can even daytrip to Munich from here, we're just over 2 hours away via ICE. Normally I don't recommend Stuttgart to visitors as the city itself is nice but not particularly interesting for tourists, but for your situation I think it might actually make a lot of sense. If you need any more info, let me know.

Hotels in Munich are $$$ during Oktoberfest, even for normally budget places. Staying outside of town on the S Bahn line is an option, but there is something to be said for paying up and staying in town for all the hoopla. The best thing I like about Oktoberfest is that it is one of the few occasions where you have the license to chat up anyone you want. After the second mass (liter), everyone is in a pretty good mood, and there are people from all over the world there. You must be seated at a table to get served, and raise your mass and toast your tablemates when the band plays "Ein Prosit" every half hour. Seating can be problamatic in the evening, so you drink the beer of the sponsor of the beer tent where you can find seats. All the big Munich outfits (BMW, Siemens) reserve lots of tables in the evening for customers, suppliers, employees; so you can sit there in the afternoon but you will have to clear out when the reservation comes due. Augustiner says beer price will be 9.30eu per mass this year and thats a bargain! Loewenbrau want 9.50. If you take a guided tour of Munich, it is impossible NOT to go to the BMW museum. Not a motorhead, I spent the time in the pleasant mezzanine floor cafe. In short there is no charge to enter what is essentially a giant BMW show room. Sit in the drivers seat of a $100,000 sports car and listen to the sales pitch. Free trip to Germany if you put your order in today!