Koblenz is located at the intersection of the Rhine and Moselle rivers and is surrounded by more castles than you can shake a stick at. After reading about some of the coolest castles in Western Germany, I figured Koblenz was a good place to start. Driving time was pretty short (about 2.5 hours from Utrecht) and the German borders had finally opened to Dutch tourists. After more than 3 months of quarantine, it was time for a relaxing (and responsible!) trip.
I looked for hotels with a nice view on one of the river banks and settled on the Mercure Hotel, a 4-star hotel on the Rhine River that checked all the boxes. As it turns out, they had just reopened a few days prior and had some good Coronavirus prevention strategies in place. Masks were required in the lobbies, elevators, and hallways, and rooms were left un-booked for several days between guest stays. Partly due to this and partly because of the type of room I had booked (City View ftw!) we ended up having the entire top floor to ourselves. There were beautiful views of the southern half of the city (including Schloss Stolzenfels in the distance) and the Rhine River.
Going into town that evening was an interesting experience. There were tons of people out and about, enjoying the night air. Many people had masks on, and they were required when entering any indoor area. Everything closed down around 22.30, with a pair of police officers politely going around the square and asking people to disperse. After picking out some to-go beverages, we walked on a nice boulevard that ran the length of the western bank of the Rhine and found a nice bench to people watch. A very solid evening.
