I am planning a trip to Bavaria and up thru the Rhine and Mosel areas. Can anyone suggest small towns (not touristy) to visit and transportation suggestions. I don't want to keeping going back and forth thru Munich unless necessary. Also any places to stay or sites to see would be great. I will have about a week to ten days.
Posted by
Paradise
6647 posts
When is your trip?
Solo?
What airport(s)?
If you want to avoid tourist hordes, tour buses, and an excess of trinkets and gift shops, avoid Rothenburg and Füssen.
However, you can expect some level of tourism in the areas you are visiting. People like you want to see them.
Boppard on the Rhine has tourists of course but it has a nice German vibe and seems less touristy than Bacharach and St. Goar (although I certainly like all three places.) It's a good base town for the area.
Mosel: Bullay is very pleasant, if a bit sleepy. Not touristy at all, and close to all the towns you'd want to visit on the Mosel and with excellent train connections. A good place for hikes as well. Loved this private B&B; the 2 balcony rooms you see here have a partial view of the river:
Between the German Alps and the Rhine/Mosel, you might want a night or two in Franconia (northern Bavaria.) Neustadt-an-der-Aisch is a very Franconian/German sort of place with very few tourists - and nearly all are German. Neustadt is a handsome town with old wall remnants and towers, ideally situated for train outings around Franconia to Nuremberg, Würzburg, Bad Windsheim, and the lovely little wine town of Iphofen (maybe you'd like it there too.)
Neustadt-an-der-Aisch
Iphofen photos
I stayed recently at this well-located studio in Neustadt - just right for one.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"Can anyone suggest small towns (not touristy)"
Well, Huttenfeld, where I live, doesn't see any tourists at all, but that's probably not what you had in mind.
I can make plenty of recommendations in the region where I live, which is between Bavaria and the Mittelrhein, if you're interested...
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
In Bavaria, Nördlingen, on the Romantic Road, is a nice place to stay. Like Rothenburg, it has a wall with a Wehrgang you can walk on. The wall is intact except for one small segment. It's a lot less touristy than Rothenburg. It lacks a Crime and Punishment Museum and a Christmas Shop, but those things I can live without. From Nördlingen, it's a very short trip by train down to Harburg and its authentic castle and about an hours bus trip to Dinkelsbühl.
Another interesting, and not so touristy town, also in Bavaria, is Burghausen, on the Salzach River (border with Austria). It has "the longest castle" in Europe.
On the Mosel, except for Cochem and Beilstein, I found the towns to be pretty non-touristy (but I didn't get as far up the Mosel as Trier).
On the Rhein, I stayed in Boppard because is was a good base between St. Goar/Bacharach and Koblenz/Marksburg, all of which I wanted to visit.
And I've been to some places in the northern Black Forest (Bad Herrenalb, Bad Wildbad, Calw, Freudenstadt, Alpirsbach) that were popular with German tourist, but are almost unknown to American tourists.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8150 posts
I've flown into Amsterdam a couple of times and gone up the Rhine River to Cologne, Koblenz and stopping at Bacharach for the night.
Then we went on into Munich the second day.
If I wanted to see more of the region, I would suggest flying into Cologne/Bonn and flying home from Munich.
The roads are great if you're interested in a car rental. Trains are also available.
When I'm looking for information in the Rhine and Mosel River Valley, I go to Bavaria Ben's website.
http://www.bensbauernhof.com
http://www.bensbauernhof.com/accommodationsrhinemosel.html