Best train ticket for Rhine river "tour" from Frankfurt

In the scenic zone south of Koblenz, Oberlahnstein is on the EAST river bank. Many of the nice towns (Boppard, St. Goar Oberwesel, Bacharach) are on the WEST-bank train line. Both lines run to Koblenz. So you want a ticket that will allow you to use both railways.

The RMV zone is not enough coverage. Day Ticket for Germany will accomplish that. It's actually good for the entire country on ALL regional trains. The west-bank railway also gets you back to Frankfurt (via Bingen and Mainz.)

https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/regional/day-ticket-germany

http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/walking-hiking.php

Buy this ticket for 2 at any ticket machine at Frankfurt station on the day of travel and observe the rules of use.

For the train, I would go up one side of the river and back down the other side.
The only towns that are going to have much of anything going on would be Rüdesheim (you can ride the gondola up at sunset for a gorgeous view), Koblenz, and there may be markets in a few towns on the weekend, but you need to check, other than that they are going to be very quiet. Bacharach or St. Goar may have a market.

The Quer Durch Deutschland is the ticket you want. Good on all regional trains in Germany all day long. Get on and off as often as you like. The train on the right side (Rüdehseim, Lorch, Eltville, Kaub, etc) only comes by once an hour, so you will need a time table for that. The left side is a bit more frequent, but I would want to know the times so you are not sitting in the cold for 45 min.

The Quer Durch Deutschland is the ticket you want.

This is the same day pass I mentioned, Kevin; the actual name in German is the Quer durchs Land (QdL) Ticket.

Most towns will indeed be very quiet. But if the weather is reasonably good, you'll do well to take a walk through one or more of them just for a look at the old-world buildings. Bacharach (west bank) is a good choice for an hour's walk-around. So is Braubach (just south of Oberlahnstein,) although you should probably allow extra time there for a tour of Marksburg Castle, the very best example of a medieval castle in this area for tourists.

Map, Bacharach + walking paths: https://www.informagiovani-italia.com/mappa_bacharach_am_rhein2.jpg

Braubach - scroll through 3 pages of photos: https://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org/forum/index.php?thread/7322-braubach-am-rhein-und-marksburg-galerie/

Marksburg Castle:
https://img.fotocommunity.com/marksburg-braubach-bc203e81-d606-4f2f-bb8d-17e275e8ba88.jpg?height=1080

https://www.marksburg.de/en/circuit/#/

Wow thank you both so much for the very valuable information! I am more than impressed by helpful people are on this forum!

The more I look into it, it does seem that there won't be much to do to even pass an hour's time in many of the towns between Rüdesheim and Koblenz. We'll probably just ride the train up to Koblenz and hope to see some pretty sights and spot the castles. We'll definitely stop in Rüdesheim on the way back as it looks very pretty!

I will get the Quer Durch Deutschland ticket you mentioned...although I assume this means I need to ensure I plan to take only the regional trains from Frankfurt. I found RB10 and RB26 timetables and will need to connect Frankfurt/Mainz for the RB26 leg with a non-ICE train.

Remember, you have to begin travel after 9 am on week days. Anytime weekends.

What day of the week will your tour take place? On Sat or Sun you can leave Frankfurt on the QdL ticket at any hour you wish. If it's a weekday, my first move would use the 9:08 RE 2 train (with stops in Bingen, Bacharach, Oberwesel and Boppard) to cruise the WEST bank. You'll reach Koblenz at 10:54 if you choose to stay on this train (a better choice than the 9:53 - 12:06 RB 10 on the east bank if time is a concern.)

The return trip with the RB 10 VIA train takes you home from Koblenz to Frankfurt along the east bank (11:52 - 14:05.)
 

We'll probably just ride the train up to Koblenz...

From someone who's been there multiple times in all the seasons to a newcomer, I'll call it a travel mistake to go all the way to Germany and to pass through all these UNESCO-World-Heritage-site towns without setting foot in one or two of them. You do have time to stop, even on a weekday, even if only in one town.

Perhaps Rüdesheim should be that town. The Christmas market is going as we speak and runs through the 23rd. And it's a great Christmas Market with a wonderful atmosphere - in a very nice town that gets visitors nearly year round. The cable car lift in Rüdesheim is also running through the 23rd. The place WILL be alive and perhaps even crowded in the late afternoon and evening.

Rüdesheim cable car lift

Cable car opening hours: 11-6 pm: https://www.seilbahn-ruedesheim.de/en/operating-hours/

Rüdesheim Christmas market

The 11:52 train from Koblenz gets you to R'heim at 12:52. So you'd have several hours in the town if you wished. Or you could take a 1-hr stopover in one of the other towns along your route beforehand, arrive an hour later in R'heim, and STILL have lots of time in R'heim.

Russ - This is great info! We certainly plan to stop in Rüdesheim on the way back and even wanted to do a bit later in the afternoon for the cable car at sunset. So I agree that we have time for another stop along the way...probably makes sense to do something on the west side so perhaps Bacharach is a good stop. We were planning on gong Wed Dec 20 (but could also do Thurs Dec 21 if it was better for some reason)…likely not the most active day in the area but we are still excited to see and experience what we can!

Note the castle in Bacharach, besides being a steep climb up the hill, is not open to the public. It's a operating hostel. Nevertheless, Bacharach is a pretty little town. IMO, the view of all these towns and their castles is much better from the cruise boats than from the train which is too close to the hills to keep looking up.

True that the views are best from the river itself. But I wouldn't recommend December cruising. K-D does conduct a round-trip cruise between Rüdesheim and St. Goarshausen in winter, but only on those dates when enough hardy souls have signed up in advance to meet their minimum. The K-D site has a page announcing those dates which have so far qualified... surprisingly, that page is promising a cruise on every day from Dec. 7 - Dec. 17:

https://www.k-d.com/de/magazin/artikel/kd-winterfahrplan-mittelrhein

Train seating for the best views: Always sit "Fahrtrichtung rechts" (on the right side of the main aisle as the train moves forward) so that you're looking across the river at the sights on the opposite bank. This would work for the suggested northbound train along the west bank (the Bacharach side) to Koblenz and also later for the suggested southbound train from Koblenz along the east bank (the Rüdesheim side.)

Attempting to catch glimpses of castles on the clifftops that hover directly above your train will result in taco-neck syndrome.

Sorry to interject... but a question in line with the main theme...

Can I buy a one-way ticket on the RB10 going from St. Goarhausen to Rüdesheim? If so, which site? (Trying to get down to Rüdesheim to take the morning KD cruise in April, 2024 - Low Season Schedule)

I have tried the DB and RMV sites, but no matter the dates and time I put in, I get that it is too early to book the ticket.

Best Regards,
Don

You can purchase tickets for the VIAS regional train rides along the Rhine in advance from the RMV but there is no reason to do so - not for this stretch or any other regional train ride in Germany. Purchase does not provide you with a seat, and tickets are non-refundabule. Just buy your ticket on the day of travel.

Beyond St. Goarshausen you are out of the RMV zone anyway.

https://www.rmv.de/c/fileadmin/documents/PDFs/_RMV_DE/Linien_und_Netze/Liniennetzplaene/RMV-Schienennetzplan.pdf

You need a QdL ticket = Day Ticket for Germany to get as far as Oberlahnstein.

https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/regional/day-ticket-germany

Same advice. No seat guarantee, no refund, read conditions for use, buy on the day of travel. Regional train tickets in Germany are handled much like municipal bus tickets in the USA. You can't book in advance, you stand if there's no seat for you, etc.

We just finished up our Rhine river train tour and it was amazing!!! Thank you to everyone that provides such helpful information! I highly recommend to other travelers that might read this. We stopped in Mainz, Bacharach, Koblenz, and Rüdesheim and enjoyed them all. It was a wonderful way to stretch beyond the big tourist cities and see some really impressive German culture.

If you are staying in Frankfurt I highly recommend the Frankfurt on Foot walking tour. I just returned home from Frankfurt last night.

https://frankfurtonfoot.com/

We just finished up our Rhine river train tour and it was amazing!!!

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourselves.

One final note: While Kevin was based in Frankfurt, MAINZ (population 220,000) is a good base-town alternative for such a trip.

As the map below shows, Frankfurt lies several miles to the EAST of the airport (Frankfurt Flughafen on the map.) Mainz lies on the Rhine river to the WEST of Frankfurt Airport, significantly closer to Bacharach.

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data_vrminfo/PDF/RLP-Ticket_streckennetz.pdf

So taking the train straight to Mainz (25 minutes from FRA airport) has at least 3 advantages as I see it:

1) Mainz is a nice place with a handsome old town zone and lots to see and do; it requires more than just a quickie stop. Overnighting here makes very good sense. When you stay there, you'll also have more stopover time (or perhaps cruise time in warmer months) during your train outing.

2) A Mainz base shortens and simplifies the train loop. Mainz has frequent departures to the Bacharach stop, including DIRECT RB trains every hour (trip takes 45 minutes) and DIRECT RE trains every 2 hours (trip takes only 30 minutes.) From Frankfurt proper to Bacharach, you must backtrack; the RE trains require 70 minutes to Bacharach, while the RB train trips force you to make train transfers and require 90 minutes to Bacharach.

3) The Mainz-based day pass for the train loop costs less - for two adults, a €32 Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket covers all your trains. From Frankfurt, the QdL pass (Day Ticket for Germany) at €55/day is required.