Hello, just booked my 12th Rick Steves tour and pouring over the itinerary, it says we sleep in Rhine Valley at "our charming riverside village", i would appreciate some details on where this charming riverside village might be, for planning ahead purposes; its okay to spoil the surprise. TIA.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19227 posts
I think this question would better be asked of Rick Steves office. They should know. We can only guess.
I looked at a number of their tours, and I don't see "we sleep in Rhine Valley at our charming riverside village" anywhere. Maybe you could tell us exactly for which tour you saw this.
Maybe ETBD is deliberately holding off on telling you which 'charming riverside village' in order to retain some flexibility. However, I would think the most likely towns would be St Goar or Bacharach. Or they could be Boppard or Oberwesel, but not as likely. But regardless of which town, I think you will enjoy any of them.
Posted by
OP
22 posts
Thanks for your input Lee. It is in the Best of Germany tour itinerary for 2025. I was just thinking a previous tour member could shed light on the actual location as sleeping in the Rhine Valley is so general; we sleep in the charming riverside village 2 nights. Looking at the itinerary again, i can now see we end up in Bacharach. so i will close out this topic, if i can.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19227 posts
I think it's St Goar.
According to the itinerary, day 5 starts in St Goar, then you take a boat trip and disembark in Bacharach (the boat trip from St Goar to Bacharach, at 70 min., IMO, is agonizingly slow. I did it in that direction once; never again.). The itinerary doesn't mention a bus ride back to St Goar, but the summary at the bottom says there is also ½ hr of bus rides that day, which is probably the trip back to St Goar.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9122 posts
Such a shame to be on a river full of castles and they only cruise for such a short stretch. By train, this is about 10 min. You miss 3/4ths of the castles. They have a bus, why not start in Bingen and cruise north to St. Goar? I will never understand that super short cruise.
Having cruised the opposite direction many times, from St. Goar to Rüdesheim, I find it relaxing and not boring or excruciating. It is a beautiful river, with beautiful scenery. Imagine walking it. Would it be boring or could you still enjoy the beauty?
Posted by
OP
22 posts
Thank you Lee for the additional detailed response..that actually makes sense. Appreciate your pointing out the specifics.