Sorry for the long question. We%26#39;ll be based in Stuttgart for several days next week, and have Thursday free for exploring afar (we must return to Stuttgart for sleep, however late). We%26#39;ll have other days for taking it easy, so on this day we want to see and do as much as we can. We enjoy those crazy travel days when we start early, end late, and pack in more than it seems possible. Also, we have no idea if we%26#39;ll ever make it back, so we don%26#39;t mind a bit of a mad dash. (We%26#39;re in good shape.)
We won%26#39;t rent a car, which will limit us a bit, but we have a German Rail Pass so we%26#39;re covered for the train and KD boats.
Based on all we%26#39;ve read in books and here so far, these are the things we think we%26#39;re most interested in (but obviously can%26#39;t do it all):
- Visit Heidelburg
- KD boat on part of the Rhine - perhaps just from Bacharach to St. Goar (downstream)
- Rheinfels Castle (in St. Goar)
- Marksburg Castle (in Braubach)
- Burg Eltz (on the Mosel)
- Any other villages or castles worth a stop?
Questions for those of you who%26#39;ve been there:
1. Of those, which do you feel are most worth a visit within one long day? (By the way, we%26#39;re mainly interested in architecture, history and lovely scenery. We don%26#39;t shop.)
2. Here are 2 possible itineraries we cooked up that sound crazy, but may be doable:
a) Morning (7:51am) train from Stuttgart to Bacharach (2.5 hrs). 11:15am KD boat from there to St. Goar (~40 min). Visit Rheinfels Castle. Afternoon (1:32pm) train from there to Moselkern (90 min). Hike to Burg Eltz %26amp; tour it. Night (6:43pm) train back to Stuttgart (3+ hrs). Is this stupid? Worth a shot? Any thoughts?
b) Morning (7:14am) train from Stuttgart to Heidelburg (40 min). Wander Heidelburg (incl. castle) a couple hours. Late morning (10:47am) train from there to Bacharach (2.5 hrs). 3:15pm KD boat from there to St. Goar (~40 min). Visit Rheinfels Castle. EITHER: late afternoon train back to Stuttgart, OR maybe rent bikes in St. Goar, ferry across Rhine and bike an hour or two, then take late night train back to Stuttgart... OR maybe hop on the 5:55pm Goethe for a bit then take late train back from somewhere?
3. Any better itineraries come to mind? Other places we should visit or other experiences we may want to try instead?
THANK YOU for your help!!!
~G
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Both your itineraries sound like horror rat races to me... Even reading them makes me dizzy.
I%26#39;d rather combine Heidelberg (sp) with a river cruise on the Neckar. Cruise boats depart right from old town Heidelberg so you lose no time travelling. The Neckar valley is at least as romantic as the Rhine gorge. Go to Hirschhorn and/or Neckarsteinach - Hirschhorn has one castle, Neckarsteinach has four castles. You%26#39;ll find everything you look for on the Neckar, too, with far less crowds and without wasting five or six hours of your precious day on trains.
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Ha, Blandine! Thanks. That sounds like a nice possible alternative. (And to keep you from falling over I won%26#39;t show you some of the whirlwind itineraries we%26#39;ve done elsewhere in the past!)
~G
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As long as you don%26#39;t force me to come with you on those trips;-)))
I admit I%26#39;m a rather slow traveller!
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Ah, yeah, we%26#39;re fast! We do enjoy taking it easy some days, just photographing or painting scenery, but most of the time we find that what others say you could never pack into one day, we find easy, fun and immensely rewarding.
E.g., here%26#39;s one fairly recent day of travel: Starting in Tofino (on the western coast of Vancouver Island): long walk on the beach at sunrise (amazing as clouds broke). Early breakfast overlooking the sea. Drove to town nearby, wandered a bit, got some chocolates at a little chocolatier we passed, picked up lunch for later at a highly recommended cafe. Stunning 90 minute hike in protected dense forestland, lots of incredible photography. Lunch on the road during beautiful long drive through snowy hills, across the island to the east coast. Car ferry to Vancouver, drove to the city and checked in. Walked around a little, then off to a late dinner at an incredible restaurant near Granville Island where we met a fun group of people who%26#39;d just finished shooting some film (invited us to their table for drinks after dinner), then we walked around a bit more before bed. Up next morning for more. One of the best days we%26#39;ve ever had (of many!). :)
Back to the topic: We just found out we might have to get back to Stuttgart by 6pm. In which case, your Heidelberg/Neckar idea sounds even better.
Another idea would be an early train to Bacharach, ride the KD boat on the Rhine to St. Goar (I hear that%26#39;s one of the most beautiful brief stretches), visit Rheinfels Castle, and train back to Stuttgart.
But still open to any and all thoughts.
Thanks again.
~G
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I agree, Heidelberg and a Neckar cruise is a good destination, and gives the flavor of River/Castles as well as Heidleberg environment. Maybe branching off of Heidlelberg, such as Schwetzingen or Speyer (catherdal) could be %26quot;more.%26quot;
If you really want to pack-it-in, I%26#39;d skip the Rhine and go thru Pfalz area on to Wissembourg/Strasbourg in Alsace for a bit of France, a nice French Alsatian meal. It%26#39;s still a stretch but more variety, and can be done by train (Offenburg in German, cross Rhine a few short minutes to Strasbourg).
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I guess that your two suggested trips are possible, do them if you really want to, but there are many other excellent places to visit that are much closer where you can spend more time and enjoy.
Esslingen ( www.esslingen.de ) is 15 minutes away from Stuttgart by S-bahn, and cheap as you can use a VVS three zone group day pass ( www.vvs.de ). It has the best preserved medieval center of any larger city in Baden-Wuerttemberg. There are also vineyards in and around the city, and Germany%26#39;s oldest Sekt (German champagne) cellar, Kessler ( www.kessler-sektkellerei.de ), for which you can have a guided tour by pre-arrangement.
Ludwigsburg ( www.ludwigsburg.de ) for the %26quot;Swabian Versailles%26quot;, Germany%26#39;s largest perfectly preserved (all original, not a 1950s rebuild like so many others) Baroque Palace (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ), with its tourable royal chambers (longest and best palace tour that I%26#39;ve been on in Europe), four excellent museums (the fashion museum has lots of clothes from the 1700s; the chambers of the duke who founded the porcellan manufacture are part of the ceramics museum), extensive gardens including a fairytale one, porcellan sales and manufacture (Ludwigsburg Porcellan celebrated their 250th anniversary last year), and two smaller associated palaces set near a deer park. Several days to see it all, but an enjoyable tiring one day. There is also a free crime and punishment museum in town. Ludwigsburg is likewide 15 minutes away from Stuttgart by S-bahn.
My favorite excursion would be the about 45 minute train trip to Tuebingen ( www.tuebingen.de ), our favorite place in Germany to repeatedly visit as it is so pleasant with its hilly cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, castle, interesting nontourist shops, and one of Europe%26#39;s oldest universities. (We like it much better than Heidelberg, and you won%26#39;t be seeing all those foreign tourist hordes, even though it is an excellent place to visit.) You can also take a boat ride in a punt on the Neckar River like at Oxford or Cambridge. This could be also combined with the well preserved medieval Bebenhausen Monastery (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ) just to the north, a visit to Metzingen ( www.metzingen.de ) which has Germany%26#39;s most factory discount outlets and is along the direct train route, and at Metzingen, you could also transfer trains and go to the lovely mountain valley town Bad Urach ( www.badurach.de ).
If you were to rent a car for a day, I could come up with visits to many other interesting excellent places around Stuttgart. Click on my name and look at my many posts for this area.
Back to your original plans, the Neckar River between Stuttgart and Heidelberg has many castles, terraced vineyards, and pleasant interesting small towns. That boat ride ( www.rnf-schifffahrt.de )upstream from Heidelberg is excellent for no other reason than seeing Heidelberg and its palace from the water (excellent photo opportunities), but there%26#39;s more with the upstream towns and castles. Pleasant towns along the Neckar include Bad Wimpfen, Lauffen (www.lauffen.de ), and Besigheim ( www.besigheim.de ), the latter two being pretty close to Stuttgart.
Oh, and for some pleasant outdoor activities you could wander through the vineyards ( www.stuttgarter-weinwanderweg.de ) in Stuttgart ( www.stuttgart-tourist.de ), enjoy the nice panoramic views, and stop at the wineries, Weinstube%26#39;s and Besenwirtschaft%26#39;s along the way (perhaps visit the wine museum in Uhlbach and the hilltop kings%26#39; and queens%26#39; burial chapel); spend a pleasant day at Wilhelma ( www.wilhelma.de ), Europe%26#39;s largest combined-zoo botanical gardens set amidst the nice Moorish architecture of this former palace; stroll through the woods that surround Stuttgart on three sides and stop for lunch in one of the many forest restaurants and beer gardens; or just wander around the enjoyable hillsides of Stuttgart with their many Staeffele (stairways which in former times were used to access the vineyards on the steep hillsides, now to connect the streets), pleasant small parks, small fountains, and nice panoramic views.
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Oh, I see that the Lauffen website didn%26#39;t become a hotlink, here it is again- www.lauffen.de . It%26#39;s a interesting small town with a small completely walled medieval part. Unfortunately, being in a Protestant area, the two lovely churches will be locked except for services.
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Thank you, NYNM! And thanks marcopolko - having read many of your posts, I was hoping you%26#39;d reply!
The good thing is it sounds like we can%26#39;t go wrong wherever we go. We only wish we were going to be there for months and months now!
We will have a few days in town and will enjoy local sites (in between talks at an animation festival), before heading to Munich and some other nearby areas.
On our excursion day from Stuttgart, if we do choose to ride a boat on the Neckar a bit, any suggestion on which stretch we should do for the best views, and about how long the journey might take? I had trouble with that boating website as I unfortunately can%26#39;t speak/read German.
Still thinking, though. So many tempting options.
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I also had trouble with that website because it wouldn%26#39;t load properly on my computer. I believe we took the several hour return trip to Neckarsteinach which has 4 castles. Others got off the boat to visit, we just returned to Heidelberg on it. IF it has a train station, you might take it in either direction without having to do the return trip by boat (perhaps check the www.bahn.de website).
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Neckarsteinach does have a train station going into Heidelberg. It is the S-Bahn (commuter line) and stops near old town Heidelberg (stop: Heidelberg Karlstor) rather than the inconvenient main station. The trip is about 20 min. and trains run frequently. It%26#39;s a good idea boat one way, train the other.
europeforvisitors.com/germany/heidelberg/hei…
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