I am leaning to spend my first days in country on the rhine. Based on comments here, I am looking at boppard (1) and St Goarshausen (2) I have a reservation at the hotel patt. Anyone stayed there? Distance from train station? Help???
Haven't stayed there myself. British owner(s)/operators I think. A bit further than most places from the station but not unwalkable IMO. Reviews are very favorable. Boppard altogether is a complete town with lots of options and a better location if you'll be visiting the Mosel. St. Goarshausen is quite small, offering little in the way of dining and lodging, but right across the Rhine (ferry) from St. Goar and pretty close to Marksburg and the Loreley and the summer bobsled run there. The wine museum/tasting room in the old city tower is nice.
I spent five nights in Boppard a decade ago. It's the largest town in the area and has many more accommodations.
There is a whole row of higher end hotels facing the river across a treed boulevard plus a number of smaller hotels, pensionen, and private rooms. You can find a listing of accommodations here.
From the Boppard Bahnhof, it's about 100 yds down the hill on Bahnhofstrasse to Rheinallee, then 200-300 yds to the hotels. According to Google Maps, it's a 5 minutes walk from the station to the Best Western Bellevue.
Hotel Patt, on the other hand, is about as inconvenient as any place in Boppard. It's about a km, 15 minutes, from the station.
I would pick Boppard over St. Goarshausen as the town has more dining options and is prettier.
On the other hand, the Loreley Ferry goes between St. Goar and St. Goarshausen. So you can easily get across the river and there is a town and a Bahnhof on each side. The Boppard ferry goes to a parking lot in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the river. It's a 1 km walk to Filsen, where there is a train stop. When I went to Braubach (Marksburg), I took the ferry across, then walked along the side of the highway to Filsen to take the train.
We stayed in Boppard on a trip 2 years ago. It was a very convenient base for getting around and had a lot of restaurant choices. We stayed at the Hotel Garni Gunther which was well-located, friendly and comfortable.