Hi all - my husband and I have 3 booked nights in Kolbenz (early June). We will have visited Cologne and plan to enjoy the cable car/fortress on arrival in Kolbenz. My query to the group: we have 2 full days to explore The Rhine, with Kolbenz as our home turf. We anticipate travel by boat and train - want to visit a few key castles, tour several towns, and enjoy a few lovely lunches. With so little time, hiking is not a focus, but we are keen walkers. We anticipate returning to Kolbenz early evening both days. Any ideas for how we should structure our time most efficiently? Restaurant ideas for evening meals in Kolbenz also appreciated. (Note: after this segment of our travels we will be on a 7-day boat/bike tour Amsterdam to Bruges so have plenty to look forward to!) Thanks for any tips for our 2-days on The Rhine! C
Posted by
Bend, Oregon
2547 posts
We enjoyed a tour of Marksburg castle last year. I would also recommend taking the train up river and then taking a boat back (or partially back then continuing by train, as time allows). Here is the timetable for the KD line https://www.k-d.com/fileadmin/KD_Fahrplaene/KD_Fahrplan_intern_2024_web.pdf
In the past, we’ve taken the boat from Bacharach to St Goar, toured that castle, then continued by boat to Boppard. Boppard is a great spot for lunch or dinner, with a lovely promenade with several restaurants right on the river. Bacharach is ridiculously cute, and very worth a stop.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9222 posts
My favorite towns on the Rhein are Eltville, St. Goar, Bacharach and Ober-Wesel.
From Koblenz, take the train down to Eltville one day, go visit Eberbach Monastery and then walk around Eltville. Take the train up to Rüdesheim, ride the chairlift, visit RheinWeinWelt for wine tasting, or visit Siegfrieds Musical Cabinet. Take train to Braubach and visit the Marksburg. Train to Koblenz. Next day, train down to Bingen, ride the ship back to St. Goar. Show your train ticket and get 20% off. Go explore Burg Rheinfels. Train to Bacharach, walk around. Go to Ober-Wesel if you have time. Train back to Koblenz.
Posted by
Alsenborn, Germany
1488 posts
Ms Jo posted some good ideas. I would do things a bit differently.
You're going to want some time to see Koblenz, the Eck and Ehrenbritstein will take half a day, at least. You might want to see how late the fortress is open, because the view from there after dark if fantastic. Sundowns are pretty good too.
You can take the train from Koblenz to Bingen, and get off at any of the towns along the way. Trains run every half hour so don't worry about that. (They have been working on the north end of the line, but if the track is closed they will have bus service.) And riding the boat back from Bingen is a good idea. take the evening cruise and eat on deck.
But I also suggest you could take the train to Cochem (on the Mosel) and do a day river tour from there. It's very different than the Rhine and easy to do from Koblenz.
Posted by
OP
18 posts
Such great ideas. Many thanks for your wonderful ideas. Much appreciated.
Posted by
Niagara, Ontario
1678 posts
You can't see it all. My favourites are similar to Ms. Jo's, Eltville pipping Bacharach by a touch. You can spend an enjoyable long day shifting between Eltville and Rudesheim. A very attractive restaurant serving good food at Eberbach Abbey.
Posted by
Paradise
7072 posts
No - you can't see it all.
"...want to visit a few key castles..."
Doing 3+ castles would probably require most of the two days you have. How about TWO castles, two that will be fairly easy to reach and not demand too much of your time?
Marksburg Castle: This one is in Braubach, 10-15 train minutes south of Koblenz's main station. It's a walk of 25 minutes each way from Braubach station to the castle entrance. Or taxi. It's a genuine, intact medieval castle, the very best Rhine Castle tour available IMHO. English tours at 1 and 4 pm are the plan.
https://www.marksburg.de/en/circuit/#/
Have lunch on the Marktplatz. The zum Goldenen Schlüssel has both indoor and outdoor dining; try elsewhere on W and Th, however, as these are their "Ruhetage."
Strongly agree with catching a train up the MOSEL River as well, at least as far as COCHEM. Cochem's Reichsburg Castle: quite popular (not with Rick Steves - but with European tourists.) And it's easy to access from town (15-minutes on foot? Or use the shuttle bus.)
https://reichsburg-cochem.de/?lang=en
Koblenz Hbf station > Cochem = 35-50 minutes by direct train, depending on choice of train type.