Germany - The Rhine

I visited the Rhine Valley with a coach party some years ago. The highlight of this trip was (unsurprisingly) the trip down the Rhine by boat, passing vineyard after vineyard, schloss (castle) after schloss... There is great food and drink, fine architechture, rich culture and history to be had here. On the downside, the region is commercialised to the hilt and everything tends to be very expensive.
The scenery is really top class and the people are very friendly. Germany is an easy country to travel around, and we took the liberty of jumping on a train to visit Bonn whilst we were there. My German is not great, but the fact is that many many Germans speak excellent English, and are often very happy to practice on passing English-speakers... For Brits and maybe our American cousind, breakfast may appear a little odd in Germany often consisting of all types of meats and cheeses rather than cereals and a fry-up... Embrace the culture and dig in - that's my motto...