Hi folks!!
My husband and i have booked a ferry ride (Dover-Calais) at the end of May.. were driving to Bruges for 2 nights, then down to the Mosel valley for a few days then down to Bavaria for a couple of weeks. Does anyone know of any interesting places to visit on the way? were really flexible and enjoy a range of activities from admiring beautiful buildings to hiking in the mountains.. Our 1 year old son is joining us too so baby friendly places/activities are a must!!

we're mainly camping but will probably stay in a couple of pensions for the odd night during our travels!!

Thanks!!

:thumbsup:

Bruges is a beautiful city with some very good bars and fantastic chocolate shops !!

Personally I prefer the Rhine Valley to the Mosel - Bacharach, Rudisheim (the Drosselgasse is a great little alley full; of shops and bars), Koblenz, Mainz, Wiesbaden are all very pretty towns (I lived there for 3 years) and are just a short drive from the Mosel area. Cologne is also well worth visiting even if just to see the cathedral.

Also Heidelberg (about 50km south of Frankfurt) has plenty to see and do if you are passing anywhere near on your way to Bavaria

In Bavaria, Munich itself is a fascinating city. Garmisch Partenkirschen is also well worth a visit.

Burg Eltz is very beautiful and, in my opinion, worth a visit.

Cochem is a lovely place, on the banks of the Mosel and not far from Koblenz.

yes we're camping in Cochem... very excited...

were driving to Bruges for 2 nights, then down to the Mosel valley for a few days then down to Bavaria for a couple of weeks. Does anyone know of any interesting places to visit on the way?As you have a few days' leeway, you could do worse than veer a bit south (not too far) and have a gander here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metz).

You're unlikely to find as much architectural diversity anywhere else around the Mosel valley, in such compact settings.

We did a big camping road trip a couple of years ago - through northern France, Luxembourg, into Germany near Trier and along the Moselle then north towards Aachen and through Holland & Belgium to get back to Dunkerque for the ferry. It was a fantastic trip and we had sunshine every day for 3 weeks apart from the last 2 days when we were staying in a youth hostel in Bruges anyway!

My favourite place in Germany by a long way was Ahrweiler (http://www.ahrtal.de/en/ahrweiler.php), which is a beautiful little old town surrounded by vineyards a bit north of Koblenz. It has a nice little campsite just a couple of minutes walk from town (http://www.camping-ahrweiler.de). You can get a train to some of the tiny villages up in the hills from there as well.
We also loved Trier - we stayed on a really nice little campsite in a little village called Thornich and got the bus into Trier for the day rather than driving in and having to negotiate the mad one way systems. The campsite was run by an old couple who also produced wine (we bought some of it to take home, it was gorgeous!) - the website is http://www.schmitthof.de/ but it's only in German.
If you're goign to be near Trier, you could do worse than take a quick trip across to Luxembourg as well - we really liked it, especially in the east around Vianden and Echternach. There are plenty of campsites and the tourist information website will send you a list if you email them.

Have a great trip, feel free to send me a message if you want any more details about any of this!