Boppard to Marksburg castle (or other castle)

It looks like there is a ferry from Boppard to Filsen, where you can get the bus. Also, there are castles all over the place there. Depends on whether you want intact and full of a dead rich guy's stuff or ruined or a combo. I prefer ruined. Also, I'm someone who thinks a car is a good thing to have when visiting this area. I believe I am in the minority on both counts. Prost!

It depends on if you want an intact castle like Marksburg or a ruin like Burg Rheinfels in St.Goar ( which is close and easy to get to )

Marksburg is close but not easy to get to... 3 hours on a train shouldn't be necessary.

So much misinformation. Where does it come from, and how does it reach us??

Of course you can drive to Marksburg. But you do not need a car to shave off around 2 hours from that flawed 3-hour estimate. I don't know your specific travel date in spring or where you are looking. But schedules aren't even out yet. I do know that tomorrow morning, there's a train-only journey that takes only 42 minutes for Boppard > Koblenz > Braubach. 8:23 - 9:05. in the next 4 hours after that, there are 5 journeys on the same route that will get you there in roughly the same time frame. And the train ride is 100% free of charge if you are staying in Boppard (VRM Guest Ticket.)

Once in Braubach, walk up to the castle in 25 minutes or arrange a taxi ride.

Another way is this:

• Boppard ferry crossing + 10-minute walk into Filsen + a 7-minute train ride from Filsen to Braubach

Or this:

• KD cruise, leave Boppard 10:15, ar. Braubach 10:45

This information comes directly from KD cruise schedule and DB site.

Burg Eltz is the trickier castle to reach from Boppard ... an intact castle, like Marksburg, but really a lot of dead-people's stuff there!! Maybe you have Marksburg confused with Eltz?? It's more like 2 hours (2 trains + a bus ride to the Eltz bus stop.) After that, there's a walk of 800 meters to the castle entrance, or a Burg Eltz shuttle bus (fee.) Some people lengthen this trip with the traditional Rick Steves advice to take two trains to Moselkern and hike an hour from there to the entrance. It's a beautiful walk, but it requires much more time altogether than Marksburg.

Burg Eltz is the trickier castle to reach from Boppard ... an intact castle, like Marksburg, but really a lot of dead-people's stuff there!! Maybe you have Marksburg confused with Eltz?? It's more like 2 hours (2 trains + a bus ride to the Eltz bus stop.)

I loved Burg Eltz and found it very beautiful and in a gorgeous setting. And I did not find it difficult to get to. I took the train from Boppard to Hatzenport, with a change in Koblenz, then in Hatzenport I got on the 365 Bus that delivers you straight to the castle car park. From there you can walk or take a shuttle up. I opted for the shuttle since it was uphill. And as Russ pointed out, the trains are free.

But from Hatzenport on, it was lovely scenery all the way; through charming fields of bright yellow rape and then up into the hills through some lovely winding roads. I think the total time for me was a little under 2 hours, which consisted of an hour and 40 minutes on the train and the bus from Hatzenport was around 15+ minutes to the car port. But I found it well worth and was very glad I visited Burg Eltz.

Boppard ferry crossing + 10-minute walk into Filsen + a 7-minute train
ride from Filsen to Braubach

I did this in 2004. I found it was a pleasant 10 minute walk from the ferry into Filsen, along a footpath well off of the highway, Rheinuferstrasse. After about ½ mile, 6 or 7 minutes, there is a cross-walk across the highway to Pfaffengasse. Then go about 70m down Pfaffengasse to the railroad tracks where there is an underpass to Brückenweg. Follow Brückenweg 60m to the Filsen Bahnhof. I'm pretty sure this is the fastest way to get from Boppard to Braubach. There is also a bus from across the highway from the ferry dock, but according to the VRM website it looks like it only runs between the ferry dock and Filsen Bhf once a day at just before 2 pm (13:50) and only goes as far Pfaffengasse.

"I'm pretty sure this is the fastest way to get from Boppard to Braubach."

It could be, though you would have to time the ferry crossing and your walk such that you arrive a few minutes before the train to Braubach arrives if you want to win the race against the KD cruise boat.

But the main point about here is that Braubach is not difficult to get to - the Boppard ferry runs back and forth all day - the trains run all day - and the cruise boat trip is good for a morning visit - and none of these takes more than an hour.

If you want a more relaxed trip to Braubach, and you actually have 2.5 - 3 hours, you could take a cruise to St Goarshausen, then the train to Braubach. Perhaps that was the option you found, tckings?