one- or two- day trips from Dusseldorf

Hi,

I live in Dusseldorf and I think I have done the majority of %26quot;touristy%26quot; things in the near area. I have a few free weekends coming up, and usually don%26#39;t have a car, but will have a car for about a month. Does anyone have any recommendations of places maybe a couple of hours away from here where there%26#39;s plenty of interesting things to see and do?

Thanks

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I was thinking a bit further afield than Cologne, Bonn etc

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- Middle Rhine Valley

http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de

http://www.marksburg.de

- Moselle Valley

www.mosellandtouristik.de/en/default.aspx

http://www.burg-eltz.de

and Germany%26#39;s oldest city

http://www.trier.de

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- Cologne is 45 mins ride from the city center

- brussels roundabout 2 hours

- amsterdam roundabout 2 hours

- Aachen is ca 1 hour ride (on the way to brussels)

- Bonn is ca 75 mins away from the city center

...

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I was thinking of towns and areas a bit more %26quot;off the beaten track%26quot; than the major european cities (that i have already visited).

some of these suggestions are great though, thanks, i shall look into them.

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For our day trips around Stuttgart I always use maps in Die Shell Regional Karte series which are large scale (1cm = 1.5 km), 18 maps cover all of Germany. These are simply the best maps I have discovered for Germany after looking at all the other options, and are available from Shell gas stations and bookstores. Düsseldorf is on the border of maps #6 and #10, but there probably is another map that is centered on Düsseldorf.

These maps show interesting towns; castles, palaces, and monasteries and whether they are intact or in ruins; churches; amusement parks; zoos and wildlife parks; scenic rivers, roads, and valleys; vista points; waterfalls; etc., actually almost all places a tourist would want to visit. The sights are, I believe, accurately rated, with the better natural sights being highlighted in green and the man-made ones in yellow, and the best ones also have a box around them. Even non-highlighted places can be excellent to visit. We%26#39;ve spent many enjoyable days doing day trips using these maps, they have hundreds or thousands of places of interest on each map. They also show all rural roads, and roads subject to traffic jams. All you really need to have an excellent time whatever your interests are.

I cannot recommend them enough!!!!!

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Drive over the Eifel from Bonn via the Nuerburgring, not the B51, that itself is a nice ride and then head down to the Mosel to Trier and Luxembourg. Return via Echternach and catch the B51 .

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What about Maastricht/Liege?