After Basel, Tour Germany or France?

Wife and I are on a Rhine Viking Sun cruise ending in Basel. We have 5 days after Basel until we have to be in Heathrow. We're trying to decide between touring Germany or France before flying out from Heathrow. Not interested in big cities (Paris or Berlin). Any thoughts?

If it was me I'd hop a train for the south of France but then I really like the French and their hospitality.

Rent a car and drive through the Loire Valley. After seeing the Rhine castles, you can see -- and explore -- the French castles.

I personally much prefer Germany to France overall so would focus there.

In it's own right, Basel has much to offer, so personally I would base myself there before flying back to Heathrow.

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/basel.html

We lived in Germany for four years and traveled extensively in Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and more. We love Germany and France and either one has much to see. I would consider your location, which is near the SW corner of Germany and Western border of France.

You could stay in that area and see Triberg, Germany, which is in the Black Forrest, as well as Strasbourg, France. Also, take in part something in Switzerland.

The Loire Valley of France is the Chateau region and fantastic. You could continue on to see Normandy as well.

If you haven't been to Paris, take the train to Paris and spend your time there.

The south of France is great, but the wrong direction.

Another choice is to take in Strasbourg, France, then Luxembourg, Brussels and then Brugges, Belgium.

All the choices are good, like choosing between chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ice cream.

All the choices are good, like choosing between chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ice cream.

Absolutely agree. All of the previous posters have offered excellent ideas. The Loire Valley is awesome. You could base yourself in Amboise or some similar small town and easily get to several of the Châteaux such as Château de Chenonceau and Château de Chambord.

The Romantic Road in Germany is another option. You could stop at the Rhine Falls on the way to Füssen, where it begins. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a great place to spend a day or two. The road ends at Würzburg, an easy drive to Frankfurt to catch a flight to Heathrow.

Switzerland and the Italian Lakes region are other options. There's plenty around Lucerne and Interlaken to see and do without rushing yourself. Lauterbrunnen is an excellent base for the Interlaken area - absolutely beautiful.

As Papa said, they're all great choices and you can't go wrong with any of them. Good luck deciding.

Consider Lucerne and excursion to Mt Titlus. We enjoyed visiting both in April.

We all have our favorites in this region (we'd pick the Romantic Road; great suggestion, Rxgrad98, and we like to end in Wurzburg, then drive to FRA to catch an early PM flight) - but none of us can predict what you would like the most.

If you are more familiar with one of the languages, that might sway you in one direction or the other. But English is widely spoken in this region; even in smaller places you can get by. Do you prefer one cuisine over the other? Do you prefer wine, or beer?

Go to your local library and see if you can borrow travel guides for Bavaria and for France. Read through them and see whether you find the descriptions of the towns and sights interesting or not.

For example, when Chris and I started reading Bavaria guidebooks last spring in preparation for post-Danube cruise extension, we couldn't put them down. Every 15 minutes we'd have to show each other yet another amazing-sounding place that absolutely, positively, belonged on our must-see list.

Luckily our cruise got canceled and we had 2 full weeks to tour on our own, but it still wasn't enough to see all that we wanted, so we went back for another week last month. And we are still not done! :o

If one of your options excites you this much, then your choice is easy. If they all do, I can't help you decide, but you'll have a great time wherever you go!

With GPS navigation, and the availability to book hotels over the internet (try booking.com for ideas in smaller towns), any of the options that people have mentioned would be fine to do on your own, and a lot of fun. We have driven in all of these areas and other than the annoying toll roads in France, it's fine.

One other thought: if you are using a rental car, there's often a hefty surcharge to return it in another country. You can rent from the Swiss side or the French side of the Basel airport, as it serves both countries. Germany is not far either - but not at the airport.

Have a great time whatever you decide!

Hello,

great ideas from everyone! Myself, I would tend to go for France as the cruise before went through Germany more than France (the Rhine, of course, being the border between the two countries for quite a few kilometres).

If it is an option, look at train travel. From Basel you could head back into Germany. Or take the fast trains through France. The Vosges mountains region is a great route (sort of behind Strasbourg). Nancy - Metz - Luxembourg is great, you could get a taste of the three towns with their impressive architecture in a day or two. Other than that the high speed link takes you to Brussels and from there to London. Brussels is a big town, but it does not have the "big town feel" of Paris, Berlin or London in my opinion. And if you are in the region, Bruges is a fantastic place to explore.

So many options and lovely small places or regions not covered by river cruises to explore!

Think about what your interests at home are? Museums, a specific hobby? Nature lover?

Perhaps google maps and the panoramio feature may get you closer to a decision.

Have fun planning.

notamermaid

After our cruise we took the train to Prague and stayed there 5 days. Nice place if you haven't been there.

Wife and I are on a Rhine Viking Sun cruise ending in Basel. We have 5 days after Basel until we have to be in Heathrow. We're trying to decide between touring Germany or France before flying out from Heathrow. Not interested in big cities (Paris or Berlin). Any thoughts?

You might also look at Lyon in France. It is France's gastronomic center and home to some excellent wines. The area is gorgeous and there's a direct train from Basil to Lyon that takes 3.5 hours. Then you could rent a car in Lyon to explore the area and easily fly on British Airways from Lyon to Heathrow.

I agree about going to Lyon. We were there about 3 weeks ago. It is a beautiful city and the food and wine are so much more reasonably priced than Paris. Its really the gastronomic center of France. Flights in and out are very easy. Of course trains are too. But if you rented a car you are not very far from the Burgandy region and lots of other great places to visit in southern France.

The only reason not to go to Lyon on this trip, is that you will be going there when you come back for the Rhone River cruise some year in the future!