Before start of GAS tour

jlkelman, well, its a 2-3 hour train ride from Trier backtracking to Bacharach, so that eats up at least 4-6 hours of your day just in transportation. The tour meet up is in the afternoon, so that doesn't give you much time.

We chose to stay that one night before the GAS tour in Bacharach, and really that was enough. Its a very small place.

Stan - so do you think the one night in Bacharach was better than doing a river cruise from Trier? I'm guessing we would only have time for one with traveling time factored in.

"We are very interested in a river cruise - either Mosel or Rhine..."

The Mosel is nice but the Rhine is vastly more spectacular - which is why there are so many more cruise boats there.

"We will be taking the train from Frankfurt to Trier and would prefer to stay the extra night before the tour in Trier."

The Rhine cruise is en route to Trier from FRA or from Frankfurt if your routing is via Koblenz. So take that route and get off in Bingen, board a cruise boat to St. Goar (1.5 hours) then continue from St. Goar to Koblenz to Trier by train. This cruise segment shows you the best part of the river. You can take your bags with you on the boat, and you should have no trouble walking between the stations and the boat docks if you've packed ala Rick Steves.

An old-world wine town similar to Bacharach but near Trier would be either Cochem or Bernkastel. Both are terrific and either makes for a doable day trip from Trier.

well, I've not done a cruise from Trier, so can't say what's "better". Maybe others will add their thoughts. I can only say that it worked well for us to arrive in Frankfurt, take the regional train to Bacharach and stay there, one night. We had time for a cruise down to St Goar and back (its really a local ferry, not a cruise ship), and then back to take the train to Trier the next day. In hindsight, we could have just taken the ferry down river (with our luggage) and caught the onward train from there. I had been to Bacharach before, so was comfortable with the travel system. It is my personal preference to not backtrack when doing trips, so I wouldn't go all the way back to Bacharach just to see it, as you are passing by it on the way to Trier anyway. I guess what I'm saying is that If we had gone all the way to Trier on arrival day, I would have spent the extra day closer to Trier, rather than going all the way back to Bacharach.

Since it is the day of your arrival, you have to keep in mind your ability to do a lot more traveling, stopping, etc., while tired and jet lagged. Also note that the rail station in Bacharach is unmanned ( a kiosk for tickets) so you might want to have tickets for onward travel when you get there.

I'll say it a bit differently: if you are interested in Bacharach, you might as well see it on the way to Trier, rather than after you've already gone that far. If its not a must see for you, there are other places equally charming, more accessible from Trier, as Russ points out.

So looking at flights we might be able to get a late night flight with a late afternoon arrival the next day in Frankfurt. 9th landing on the 10th. We could then travel to Bacharach and see it the next day (11th), stay over again in Bacharach, and then on the day of our tour start take a river cruise on our way to Trier (12th). Would this work?

Russ - you have given me more to think about. Thanks!

With a late afternoon arrival, I think that changes the equation. If you have only one extra night, then you don't have time, as it will take 4-5 hours to get to Trier from FRA and you need to be at the meeting the next afternoon. If you have two extra nights, of course you have more options. We had direct flights from ORD to FRA, arriving in early AM, this giving us most of that day in Bacharach.

I could be wrong, but I don't believe there is a ferry or combinations of ferries, that go down the Rhine from Bacharach, and then up the Mosel. That would be a very long day if there was.

I will just add that I got to Trier 2 nights ahead of the tour start and did not get everything seen on my list for Trier. I felt there was a lot to see there and not much time on the tour for Trier itself. There is a walking tour the morning of the 1st full day but not enough time to go in to either of the big churches you will see (Konstantin Basilika and the Dom). Many tour dates start on a Saturday so your walking tour is Sunday morning when the churches are open for worship but not necessarily for touring.

Here is a link to one of the basic websites I used to plan what I wanted to see in Trier.

http://www.trier-info.de/english/sights-in-trier

Here also is a link to my Trip Report in case any thing in there is helpful to you. You will undoubtedly have much cooler weather in May than I had in August!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/trip-report-8-27-16-gas-tour

Thanks Pam! It looks like you had high temps, so I am hoping our weather is cooler!