Rhine, Mosel, Black Forest and Alsace in 24 Days - Itinerary

I’ve had this long trip in the plans for over a year.


The castles of the Middle Rhine. Vineyards and quaint little towns of the Mosel Valley. The Alsace and its winemaking villages. The rustic charm of the Black Forest. While each region would easily warrant a little trip on its own, we dug deep into our vacation reserve and fit it all into a 1200 km journey, stretching from the North Sea to Switzerland.

Aside from our main regions of focus above, we also managed to fit in a week of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, the World Heritage cathedrals of Cologne and Aachen, picturesque Heidelberg, and even a day-trip to Switzerland at Basel (courtesy of **free** transportation for guests staying within the Black Forest).

We flew into Amsterdam Schiphol and out of Frankfurt am Main, mainly to take advantage of cheaper flights. While the route may seem convoluted on first glance, excellent train connections on both the German and French sides of the Rhine ensured minimal back-tracking. Travel times between cities were generally within 90 minutes aside from a few longer distance moves.

Our final itinerary was as follows:

[ Netherlands + Belgium ]
Day 01: Amsterdam Schiphol Airport - Haarlem
Day 02: Haarlem - Amsterdam
Day 03: Haarlem - Kinderdijk - Brussels
Day 04: Brussels
Day 05: Brussels - Ghent - Bruges
Day 06: Bruges


[ Black Forest + Heidelberg ]
Day 07: Bruges - Aachen - Cologne - Heidelberg
Day 08: Heidelberg
Day 09: Heidelberg - Baden-Baden - Gernsbach
Day 10: Gernsbach - Gutach
Day 11: Gutach - Schiltach - Triberg
Day 12: Gutach - Gengenbach


[ Alsace ]
Day 13: Gengenbach - Basel - Colmar
Day 14: Colmar
Day 15: Colmar - Riquewihr - Hunawihr - Ribeauville
Day 16: Colmar - Strasbourg


[ Mosel Valley ]
Day 17: Strasbourg - Luxembourg - Trier - Cochem
Day 18: Cochem - Bernkastel-Kues - Traben-Trarbach
Day 19: Cochem - Burg Eltz
Day 20: Cochem - Beilstein - Burg Arras


[ Middle Rhine Valley ]
Day 21: Burg Arras - Burg Liebenstein
Day 22: Burg Liebenstein - Bacharach
Day 23: Bacharach - Sankt Goar - Oberwesel - Koblenz
Day 24: Bacharach - Frankfurt am Main Airport