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Confusion about the best way to stage my travel in Germany

Posted by on

I have been trying to figure some things out from guide books and websites and am still having a little difficulty. Perhaps someone else on can answer some general questions (primarily about transportation).

I will be staying a few days in Frankfurt prior to then travelling to Trier to start our RS tour, yea!! I am considering one day taking a Rhine or Mosel Valley day cruise and these seem to mostly originate from Koblenz (at least for the part of the river that seems to be most scenic and of the most interest to me). It appears that Koblenz is a fairly good train ride by train from Frankfurt, and I am trying to figure out the timing and everything. I am wondering if there is some multi-day pass for tourists that incorporates intracity travel (like u-bahn and S-bahn, etc., with regional DB train transportation?) I am just trying to do what might be most beneficial or economical.

SO BASICALLY: I need to get from Frankfurt airport to Frankfurt hbf, later may need some intracity Frankfurt travel, but I like to walk and will not be carrying luggage the majority of the time, a travel from Frankfurt to somewhere (Koblenz) to take a river day tour, then travel from Frankfurt to Trier.

Any guidance is appreciated.

Posted by
7078 posts

"...a travel from Frankfurt to somewhere (Koblenz) to take a river day tour..."

I assume "a travel" means a day trip (with return to Frankfurt.)

Don't take the train to Koblenz. Take it to Rüdesheim. Buy a KD cruise ticket there to St. Goarshausen. Board the cruise boat in Rüdesheim and cruise north as far as St. Goar. This is the most beauriful part of the river. If you get off in St. Goar as suggested, tell the KD personnel you plan to reboard later for St. Goarshausen so they can mark your ticket. In St. Goar you can tour Rheinfels Castle and have lunch there (maybe at the hotel next to the castle.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85114404&x-yt-ts=1422579428&v=qxFF80wORNQ#t=32
https://www.st-goar.de/en/rheinfels-castle/
http://sr47.de/t/pics/56e71e44de.jpg

After that you can catch a later cruise boat to St. Goarshausen (or use the ferry for €2 instead if the cruise boat doesn't travel when you wish.) Then take the train back to Frankfurt from there.

Train tickets: Buy a RMV day ticket (€23.80) to cover the trip to Rüdesheim + return to Frankfurt from R'heim. Also buy a one-way DB train ticket from St. Goarshausen to Rüdesheim (€7.20.) Buy both at Frankfurt's main station from ticket machines before you leave Frankfurt.

Cruise ticket: Buy at the dock in Rüdesheim; be sure to show your train ticket for a 20% cruise discount (should be only about €16 for the ticket.)

Posted by
8986 posts

Just noting that if you're all the way to Koblenz, you're more than half way to Trier. Have you considered spending that one night there or somewhere along the Rhine, rather than backtracking to Frankfurt? You eat up a lot of that precious time going back and forth.

Posted by
7900 posts

Sheila, use the Search box for this board, looking for "Middle Rhine" and then filter for the last year of Newsboard Posts. You do not want to boat the Rhine from Koblenz. If I could only do one, I'd choose the Middle Rhine because there's so much more to see. You will find that the train time is trivial, compared with the boat time. The Mosel is nature-scenic, but that's about it. It's also much more suitable for bicycling, if that's an interest of yours.

If you post again, please give the month of travel. It helps get the best advice.

Posted by
12 posts

We got a boat tour in Bingen that went to St. Goar, and you could hop off at many cities like Bacharach. Beautiful area, One of our favorite sights.

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