Look for vacation apartments - "Ferienwohnungen" - or the like, or hotels with "halbpension", meaning breakfast is provided. Stay in the town center, that's where everything interesting is. Avoid middays in places like Bernkastel, that's when the tourists are out in force. Kind of like skiing Colorado: Get there early, do your thing, take a long, leisurely lunch, then head back out once the Texans in their shorts and Stetsons are dying of heatstroke. And if you can pick up some German between now and then, it will really contribute to your experience - they react a lot better to Americans speaking German than they do to Americans demanding they speak English. It doesn't have to be much! Once they know you've made the effort, they'll likely be wanting to improve their English. Once I could put a few sentences together, the hardest thing for me was finding someone who didn't want to improve their English.