tbonetbone5687

I will be starting a 5 week bike tour in July. I will be taking the train from Paris to either of these 3 places to ride to Trier and then Koblenz. Germany along the bicycle path..What are your thoughts of interesting and beautiful scenery. Out of the 3 places where would you start**********???? Thanks.

Boudicca

There's also a canal route out of Paris that takes you all the way to Meaux, so you may not need to train it to Saarbruecken/Saarlouis/Metz at all, and that's my plan for a July trip. I have 10 days to get from Paris to Frankfurt (so along some of the route you plan to take). Fate, and riding companions, will decide whether I ride all the way or hop on the train to get through some parts.

Here's a link to the canal route.

Biking along the Ourcq Canal

(And I know, this does not answer your question at all. But it may be something else to think about, especially if you have five weeks for your tour.)

fietsbob

Headwaters, then downstream?

Doug64

If I understand you correctly, regardless of where you start, it would take less than a week to ride from the start to Koblenz. If in fact you get to Koblenz with time to spare, the upper Middle Rhine south and north of Koblenz is a really spectacular place. The 65 km section is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. There seems to be a castle on every hill. You may want to check out the Rhine Route.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1066

https://www.rhinecycleroute.eu/

Philly Tandem

I'm in Germany on business now, and this past weekend did a short (2.5-day) bike tour from Mannheim to Koblenz along the Rhine route. I agree with Doug that you should definitely tag on an extra day or two and ride upstream from Koblenz toward Mainz along the Romantic Rhine section. It's about 65 miles or so from Koblenz to Mainz. South of there the route is ok, but nothing special IMO. The Mosel is definitely a nice route and you'll enjoy it. It's very popular, though, so finding lodging might be a challenge unless you pre-book.

If you have any direct questions about Saarland or Saarbrucken, I'm sitting in a meeting room for the next two days with a colleague who lives in Saarbrucken and I'll be happy to ask him directly for you. He's not a biker, though.

Machka 

Do not miss Metz!! It was a surprise for us. We had been in Luxembourg and were planning to cycle to Strasbourg, but when we came to Metz, we stopped for a couple days to take it all in.

I think if I were cycling in that area again, I might do a combination of two tours Rowan and I have done.

Take a local train from Paris to Chateau Thierry. That's about how far out the local trains go (relatively inexpensive). The chateau there is nice. Then make your way to Nancy. There's a really nice campground on top of the hill, but take time to explore the centre of Nancy. From there, head up to Metz, and plan to stay a couple days. Then follow the Mosel to Luxembourg City, and the Mosel again to Koblenz. Take your time between Koblenz and Mainz. We stayed in St Goar, that was nice ... and then we did a cruise to Bacharach which was well worth the trip.

I don't think that would take you 5 weeks, so you might want to continue on to Switzerland, following the Rhine Route to Lake Constance. We haven't done that part of the Rhine Route, but apparently it is the better half of the route.

Once you're in Switzerland, get to Chamonix and Mont Blanc. We stayed at a hostel just out of Martigny along the Rhone Route and took in Chamonix/Mont Blanc one day and Zermatt and the Matterhorn on another day, as well as cycling up and down the valley where we were staying several other days.

Just a few things to think about.