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Visit to the RHIN VALLEY

I will be on franfurt next july, and would like to go in a one day trip to the rhin valley, by train , I know there are excursions , but i would like doing for myself, is this possible , I mean , take the train and then in koblenz take a river boat , all by miself, or better pay for a coach from frankfurt? thank you, flying from mexico

Posted by
6717 posts

Hi, zapatav232, I think you would actually be better off taking the train to one of the river towns, like Bingen, instead of Koblenz. It's shorter for one thing, and the most scenic area is between Bingen and Boppard.

So you would just take the train from Frankfurt to Bingen, get off there and walk down to the water where you can buy a ticket for one of the river cruises that goes downstream towards Boppard. This is the most scenic part of the river and you will see so many castles along the way. I went on the KD cruise line, which is probably the most popular.

It will stop in Boppard where you can disembark and explore the town, which is charming. Then just take the train back from Boppard to Frankfurt.

Posted by
19123 posts

You take the train to Bingen

There are two train stations at Bingen, Bingen Hauptbahnhof (main station) and Bingen Stadtbahnhof (city station). You want the Bingen Stadtbahnhof, also just Bingen Stadt.

Coming from Frankfurt, you get to Bingen Stadt one stop before Bingen Hbf.

Go to Google Maps and search for "Bingen (Rhein) Stadt"

BTW, in German, the letter 'i' is pronounced like an 'e' in English. The 'i' sound in German is the diphthong 'ei', i.e. Rhein.

Posted by
8982 posts

Rather than Bingen, my recommendation is to take the train from Frankfurt to Rüdesheim, stroll around the town for 30-40 min. then get on the ship and ride it to St. Goar. Explore Burg Rheinfels. Take the train back to Frankfurt.
Show your train ticket when you buy your ship ticket and get a 20% discount.
Rüdesheim is a cuter town than Bingen and you get your choice of seats here, which in July might be a good idea, because the ship then goes to Bingen. All the good seats are gone.

Posted by
1020 posts

I agree with Ms Jo. You want to take the boat north because that's the way the river flows. Going south takes twice as long. And taking the train south you can get off in any of the towns and walk around and then get back on the train, as they come through every half hour. You will have to change trains, probably in Bingen, to get back to Frankfurt.

Posted by
19123 posts

You will have to change trains, probably in Bingen, to get back to
Frankfurt.

The RBs (Regionalbahn trains) that run hourly along the left bank of the Rhein between Koblenz and Mainz stop at every station, including St Goar. They, of course, stop in Bingen, but they terminate in Mainz, so to get to Frankfurt Hbf you would have to change somewhere, and that could be Bingen or Mainz.

However, the REs (Regional Express trains) that run the same route stop in Oberwesel and Bacharach in addition to Bingen and Mainz (but not St Goar). So if you take an RB from St Goar, you could stop to see Oberwesel or Bacharch and take the RE from there all the way to Frankfurt without another change.

Another good reason to go to Rüdesheim is that there are hourly VIA (regional) trains direct (no change) from Frankfurt Hbf to Rüdesheim. To get to Bingen Stadt from Frankfurt requires a change in either Mainz or Bingen Hbf.