Cologne, Aachen, Bonn and Rhine Valley Itinerary Review

You do not say how you are arriving and departing from Cologne. By plane or train, or other?

By monthly pass, are you referring to the Deutchland Ticket? With such short distances you are covering, why do you feel the need for ICE trains?

We will be arriving and departing Cologne by train from/to Brussels. These tickets are already booked

There would be no need at all for ICE on the routes mentioned.

What are your travel dates? There's a lot of repair work scheduled for the tracks in this area. There may be disruptions, possibly a bit of chaos withou planning AROUND those work sites.

If this were my trip, with only 4-4.5 days, I would not bother so much with Cologne, Bonn, castle ruins, views from the Hohenzollern bridge, or Aachen. The more charming part of the Rhine lies to the south of these places. I could see a day for Cologne, maybe, plus 4 days in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz, where along both the Rhine and Mosel Rivers you'll have INTACT castles, cable-car and chairlift operations, wineries, old-world towns (Braubach is not the only one!) bike rides that are more pleasant, glorious hikes, and more dramatic scenery for those lunch spots with views. Right now, you have only a few hours in this area. Dropping just a few visual hints below:

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data_vrminfo/Bilder/Kampagnen/2025/VRM_Schienennetzplan_2024.

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/11/56/b8/15/terrassen-2.jpg

Burg Eltz

Cochem

Our travel dates are May 9 - 13. We've already booked our hotel in Cologne so I'm not sure how feasible it would be to go with your suggestion but open to it if it is feasible. If we do not need the ICE train at all, do you recommend we get the monthly pass?

You mean booked with no possibility of changes or cancellations, right?

Yes, that's correct

Month and year of trip?

My first visit to Cologne was by train from Brussels, for three nights. I did not leave Cologne during that time period. The train, which may have been a premium train, was much cheaper bought six or eight weeks in advance, no changes or cancellation available. I have not been to the Chocolate Museum, but it strikes me as a ginned-up tourist attraction. The "real" museums in Cologne are a gold mine, like the Applied Arts Museum, Kolumba, Walfraf-Richard, Ludwig, Schnütgen, Römisch-Germanisches (which has been recently closed for renovation), and more. The Dom Treasury (admission fee) is very worthwhile. I enjoyed the botanical garden, but that's a special interest. The smaller Käthe Kollwitz museum (prints, drawings, sculpture) is also a special interest, and is out of the way, attached to a mall (!) (There is another Käthe Kollwitz museum in Berlin.)

Since you have allocated only a half day to seeing Cologne, I'd suggest doing more museums before 5 or 6 PM, and save the scenic walks and sunsets for other evenings.

You don't mention having a Kölsch beer, which is worthwhile just to see the gravity tapping of the kegs, and the 0.2 liter glasses. A very local touch for a big city. I don't do much nightlife, but I would note that because of postwar rebuilding, Cologne has one of the least attractive or authentic Altstadt's among big cities. In fairness, it's right near the Archaeological Zone, where a lot of authentic history has been dug up. When I was there, you could sign out the key (leaving your passport) to see a very rare Medieval Mikveh. The underground Roman excavation (Praetorium) may still be closed for conservation.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/can-i-see-enough-of-cologne

AFAIR, some parts of the Aachen Cathedral are seen only by (their own) tour.

You can get the Deutschland Ticket for 58 EUR per person. Since it is a subscription, it has to be cancelled or it will automatically be charged agin for the following month. Easiest way to buy without cancelling is to pay a small fee and buy from Tranzer.
https://europe.tranzer.com/ticket-product/248
That will cover all your transport, including U-Bahn and trams as long as you do not use ICE or IC or EC trains.

No option to cancel: Then I guess that leaves you only with the option of day-tripping to this area on a second day in lieu of an Aachen or Bonn day.

Day 4: The tracks on the "St Goar" side of the river will have problems. Go via Linz (Rhein) to R'heim. (to find this schedule enter Linz (Rhein) as a stopover with :00 stopover time.) 6:51 - 9:52, 2 changes of train. Now you can catch the 11 am boat north. Arrive St Goarshsn. at 12:50. Train to Braubach, 13:02 or 13:32, 22-minute train ride, lunch, walk town, walk up to MARKSBURG Castle for a 1-hr tour. No grounds for NOT touring this terrific medieval burg as you are in town anyway! The 4 pm is usually in English. Back into town. 18:53 - 20:59 train ride back to Cologne again via Linz (Rhein) or leave at 17:53 or 19:53 instead.

I suggest a 2nd day trip, first to Koblenz Hbf via Linz (Rhein) (1 change) where you change for the Mosel Valley railway for trains to Cochem. A 1-hr cruise from there to Beilstein is possible. Take the Cochem chairlift ride or walk up to the castle Reichsburg for views. Wineries, the Bundesbank Bunker, an old-town stroll round out the options.

If you don't have the D-Ticket: You can buy this day pass (€59/2) at a ticket machine in Cologne or using the DB app for each day; however, these days should be Saturday and Sunday so that the pass works for travel prior to 9 am; a ban on pre-9-am travel exists on weekdays with this pass:

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

Thanks Russ. I think you had previously suggested this route:

Lv Cologne 9:51, ar R'heim 12:52 with 2 changes of train. Take a short walk around R'heim.
Catch the 14:15 KD boat from R'heim to St Goarshausen (16:00.)
If this were MY trip, I would then be looking for some food; I'd likely head to Braubach for a tour of the old town zone. Braubach is on the way back to Cologne.
Lv St Goarshausen station 16:32; ar Braubach 16:53. See 3 pages of Braubach photos here. Have a walk around town and a traditional German meal at zum Goldenen Schlüssel.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4143/4751924826_98980aa49f_o.jpg
https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=1070x10000:format=jpg/path/sc484ea64eed53c8f/image/i82e0948970fa8d90/version/1550765364/image.jpg
Lv Braubach 18:53; ar Cologne 21:59 with 2 changes of train.
For comparison: The fastest morning journeys along the west bank right now for Cologne > Bingen Rhine Stadt look to be around 2.5 hours. For the dates I checked in May, One-way saver fare prices for two to ride the fast trains out of Cologne, which produce the quickest rides there, range from €75 - €140. So double that for the round trip as an estimate. And they still require changing to the slower regional trains once or twice and are under constant threat from delays, replacement buses, and the sort of chaos that occurs on a busy route when construction takes place.

It seems that the difference between this route and the new one you suggested is the Marksburg castle. Is that correct?

Our travel dates are May 9 - 13.

Until May 19 the rail network around Cologne hub will have huge maintenance works going on, impacting train services between Aachen, Cologne and Bonn. This mainly affects regional services, but also ICE connections. For example, ICE trains that start or end in Aachen will be canceled during the construction work on the route to Cologne.

The following regional services are affected - the journey planners are already updated:

Between Cologne main station and Horrem: RE 1 (RRX), RE 8, RE 9, RB 27, RB 38, S 12, S 19
Between Cologne Hbf and Koblenz Hbf: RE 5 (RRX), RB 26, RB 48
Between Bonn and Walporzheim: RB 30
Between Cologne Hbf and Euskirchen: RE 12, RE 22, RB 24,
Between Euskirchen and Bonn: S 23
Between Remagen and Walporzheim: RB 39
Between Düren and Euskirchen: RB 28

Source: article

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Exactly right, kcheu3. You must catch the 11:00 boat to fit in Marksburg. The previous plan works alright if you have no interest in Marksburg. It's just that compared with Drachenfels, Marksburg comes out on top in a major way, as I see it. It's worth the early-am effort IMO, they don't make 'em like this anymore, the early train will likely be less crowded on Sat or Sun than the later one, and it would save you a 3rd day trip into this area if you do wish to see it.

Given all this transit maintenance, does it make sense to try and rent a car instead?

If you find bookable train connections in DB journey planner which fulfill your travel plans I would stay on public transport.

If you have US or Canadian driving license you would need IDP for driving permission in Germany.

You would have to backtrack to Rüdesheim after the cruise to retrieve your car.

What makes the best sense to me is to contact the hotel, offer to pay the higher refundable rate for 4 nights directly, and in exchange, they cancel the fifth night for no charge. That way you can have one night, maybe in Koblenz, a convenient base, without the backtracking to Cologne.