bettyk

My husband and I left Houston on 4 May and traveled to Frankfurt on American thru DFW. We opted to spend the extra $$ and miles to upgrade to Biz Class on the outbound flight from DFW. Rented a VW Golf Wagon thru gemut.com for $462 for 2 wks with pickup at Avis's Kelsterbach location (11 Euro taxi ride from airport). This saved us around $100 by avoiding the airport tax.

Arrived 5 May and headed directly for Bacharach after picking up our rental car. Made our way to the Rheinhotel which we really enjoyed. 84 Euro for a double with views overlooking Burg Stahleck and the ruins of the Werner Kapelle (lit up at night). Loved Bacharach. There was a festival going on over the weekend to celebrate the towns 650th anniversary. It was much like a renaissance type fest with all the medieval costumes, etc. Visited St. Goar and Boppard. Also took the chairlift in Boppard for great views of the Rhine River. Weather all 3 days was sunny and warm.

Next stop was Gengenbach in the Black Forest and the Hotel Sonne. This was the best value of our trip. Had a great modern room and bath with fabulous breakfast for only 56 Euro. Gengenbach is a very small but absolutely beautiful village with a well preserved old town. Several nice restaurants and hotels as well as a few shops. Not many "souvenir" shops though (thank goodness). Had the only bad weather of our trip here tho which interfered with our plans a little bit. Spent one day traveling the Schwarzwald Hochstrasse or High Street which was described as having some of the most beautiful scenery in Germany. I was very underwhelmed. Had lunch in Baden Baden and then returned to lovely little Gengenbach.

From the Black Forest we drove to Lauterbrunnen and the Oberland Hotel. Definitely one of the most beautiful views that we ever had from a hotel room. The Oberland cost 130 CHF. Rooms are a little rustic but the hotel has it's own parking lot across from the hotel and it's located in the center of Lauterbrunnen on the main street. Great restaurant with all of the local Swiss dishes. The owner is an Australian chef and his wife is Swiss. They are very friendly and hands on. Went up to Schilthorn. Absolutely gorgeous. The weather was fabulous. Had a bite of lunch at the Piz Gloria before heading down to Murren for a walk about. Also took a day trip around the Thunersee. Loved the little town of Spiez and the much larger town of Thun. Thunersee is a beautiful lake.

We proceeded to Stein am Rhein which we really enjoyed. We stayed at the Hotel Restaurant Rheingerbe right on the Rhein for 150 CHF. Nice room and very good restaurant. Owners also spoke good English and were very good hosts. Arrived on Mothers Day so it was very crowded but thinned out after all the daytrippers left. It was very peaceful on the river with lovely sunsets. The old part of Stein am Rhein has to be seen to be believed. There are more muralled buildings there than anywhere else in Europe.

Finally, our last stop on this trip before heading home was Wertheim near Wurzburg. Great little town on the Main and Tauber rivers. Again some beautiful half timbered buildings and cobbled stone streets. Spent one day driving along the Main and traveled down to Miltenberg. Lovely river promenade with several river boats at the dock. Also, a castle and beautiful old town.

Our last nite in Germany was spent at the Rheinischer Hof Hotel in Ginsheim. Normally, we would stay at the Holiday Inn close to the airport but due to a Chemical Engineering exhibition in Frankfurt, many rooms close in were going for 4 times their normal rate. Found the hotel in Ginshein thru www.hotels.de. It was really a nice little town and the hotel was right on the Rhein River. It was a 2-storey room with the bed in the loft upstairs along with a 2nd TV and sofa. Downstairs was another sofa, desk and TV along with a small kitchen area and bath. Great place for 90 Euro. They also had the best breakfast of the entire trip including scrambled eggs and bacon. It was just a 25 minute trip to the Frankfurt Airport where we returned our car and flew home.

All in all a great trip. Got all of our money from ATM's. All of these towns had several banks so if our card didn't work at one, it would at the other.

I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Viajero2

I really enjoyed your trip report and was pleasantly surprised of the good values/deals can still be found in that gorgeous area. Thanks for the tip on the airport taxes for rental cars. Any other websites, i.e. castles, hotels that you have available?

Again, thanks for posting great info!

P.S. Where to NEXT!?

bettyk

Thanks, Viajero2. I started out with a rough itinerary and then decided I was trying to do too much so I pared it down to the 5 cities/areas we ended up with.

We love small, off-the-beaten path towns so I always look for info here on Fodor's first for places others have recommended. Last year, we discovered the lovely towns of Bad Wimpfen and Iphofen in Germany from posters here at Fodors.

I find a lot of information and photos by just going to the town's own website. It's difficult to find hotel recommendations for many of these small towns so I just look at their website listings and make the best decision I can. So far, it has worked out well. All of our hotels on this trip were in great locations and reasonably priced.

Next? I really want to go back to Scotland and also visit Wales but there are so many places it's hard to say for sure...

katzen

Great trip report bettyk. Thank you for sharing. My husband and I also rented our car through Andrew at gemut.com and will be picking it up in Kelsterbach. We've been toying with the idea taking a taxi or train from Frankfurt airport. It may be worth it to take the taxi.

bettyk

Katzen, I didn't even realize there was a train to Kelsterbach. If so, I wonder how far it would be to the Avis location? As long as you make sure the taxi driver knows how to get there, you'll be OK. Our driver looked it up on his map and went right to it. However, last year, our driver got a little lost so it took longer and therefore cost a few Euros more!!

bettyk

Somehow I forgot to mention that we stopped in Speyer on our way from Bacharach to Gengenbach. Made our way to a parking lot near the "Dom" by following the signs. This is a beautiful town. The cathedral is absolutely awesome -- much bigger than I had anticipated. While we only stayed for a short while, I'd definitely put it on my list of places worth an overnight stay or longer.

bettyk

Here's a link to the photos from our trip to Germany & Switzerland in May 06. My husband, David, had a featured album on webshots last year for our trip to Germany & Austria. I think he got some really good shots this year as well.

http://community.webshots.com/user/dkubiak

rachw

OH MY GOD, BETTY!!!! yOUR PHOTOS ARE FANTABULOUS! Somehow I missed you trip log posted in May, But i found your gorgeous pics! What a nostalgic walk down memory lane---I stayed in a private apartment in Bacharach, and later, Gengenbach (2 weeks each) a few years ago! What memories of these and surrounding areas... I also stayed in Brienz another year, so greatly enjoyed the lovely Thun/Spiez, etc photos--
You made my day/week and fortified my resolve to go again next May!
Thanks, Rachel

bettyk

Thanks, Rachel. My husband deserves all the credit! He has a really good eye when it comes to taking photos. All I do is tell him where we're going and he takes the pictures!

We had a wonderful trip and are hoping to spend our next vacation in Austria for a couple of weeks.

susan001

Your photos are wonderful! You've given me some ideas for additional places to visit on my trip to Switzerland next summer. Thanks so much for sharing your experience of these off-the-beaten-track villages with us.

S

Sibelius

Betty, what do you mean you were "underwhelmed" by the Schwarzwald Hochstrasse? We are planning a 2-day drive from Baden-Baden (after nude spa bathing!)to Freiburg (mostly driving on route 500). I have put a lot of time into planning this portion of our trip. We will then cut over to France through Freiburg to Breisach to Colmar for a brief Route du Vin sojourn. Is this overrated as well? At the end of Oct., one hopes for less traffic. Am I naive? Thanks.

bettyk

Sibelius, it's just that we were expecting something a little more special and it wasn't. The stop we made at Mummelsee was nice but that was it. Many trees had been cut down close to the road leaving nothing but stumps. We kept waiting for that "Wow" moment and it just never came. Maybe others have had a better impression of this road than we did.

Sorry, can't help you with the French route.

bigtyke

fantastic photos!! what camera did your husband use?

bettyk

Bigtyke, all I know is that it's a digital Canon Rebel.

jmw44

What a treat, bettyk, to see your photographs of Miltenberg, Bacharach, and Stein am Rhein. I've stayed in all three over the years, but it's been a while, so I was afraid they would not be as I remembered. But they are! You've made my day. Thanks. J.

bettyk

Thanks, J. It was your post about Miltenberg that made me want to see it. It was just a short drive along the Main from Wertheim where we stayed. Well worth the trip!

jmw44

I'd forgotten. I think we are really on the same page with regard to a love of small places. Keep us posted on any new discoveries!

I would imagine that you and your hubby are able to travel more often than I am, so take a look at Neckargmund on the Neckar below Heidelberg. It's a good location among a cluster of very pretty and interesting villages. There's one up on a hilltop whose name escapes me, but that's a lovely area. (Dilsberg, perhaps). On Bodensee, I liked Uberlingen very much. It had a fine little town museum, and again, excellent location for visiting Meersburg, Lindau, and Mainau. Don't even get me started on Swiss villages. You probably already know that I'm enchanted by quite a few. Affectionately, J.

bettyk

Yes, J, we have given up on the bigger cities for the smaller, more intimate locations. We find, as we get older, we don't like the traffic hassles or the crowds. Right now, we do just one 2-week trip each year, usually in May. When hubby retires next year, maybe we can extend our trips by another week or so.

We did Lindau a few years ago as well as Bad Wimpfen on the Neckar, which is still one of my favorites of all time. We never saw another American the entire time we were there!

I'm doing research now for a trip to Austria next year. Hadn't planned to go to Europe but hubby's decided that he wants to go back so who am I to argue!!

Thinking of flying into and out of Frankfurt for convenience and spending the first night in Feuchtwangen since we've never been there. Would like to spend several days each on Achensee and Wolfgangsee. Haven't figured the rest out yet but am open for suggestions.