Help in selecting choices of sights at Rhine River

I just answered this for you on the TA forum.

Thank you so much

I know many people value visiting Castles very highly, but I would prefer the KD boat ride through the highly scenic Middle Rhine Valley. This also allows you to have a sausage and beer lunch on board the boat, with no extra time spent. I had hoped to visit the Thonet museum, but it was closed on our day in Boppard. But we found a wine cafe across the street from the train station, while we waited for our train.

My response that I posted on TA:

I think you need to check the times of the gondola and Siegfrieds musical cabinet. They may not open til 10:00

Alternative is to take the train to Boppard, Do the chair lift, train to St. Goar, See Burg Rheinfels. Take the ship back to Rüdesheim. Yes, it is slower, but it gives you more time in all three places. Once you get to Rüdesheim do the chairlift if you like or see Seigfrieds.

End your day over at RheinWein Welt, which is across from the train station. Do some wine tasting here, or have a snack. They even have alcohol free wine if you prefer.

I left off Bacharach, which though a nice town, does not take 2 hours to see and it is in the middle of all the rest of the places you want to visit. I just don't feel it is a must to see on the Rhein.

There is a train every hour back to Frankfurt.

Arrive Rudesheim at 9.04 am and see Neiderwald as well as Siegfried museum.

Be aware of operating hours. The Seilbahn doesn't operate until 9:30. Siegfried doesn't open until 10:00.

Arrive Rudesheim at 8.04 am to catch 9 am ferry to St Goar

I took the 9am ferry last year from Rudesheim. I liked it because it's not very crowded and got us to St Goar around lunchtime.

I left off Bacharach...I just don't feel it is a must to see on the Rhein.

We stopped in both Bacharach and Oberwesel coming back and in hindsight I'd have removed Oberwesel and spent a bit more time in Bacharach. It's worth the stop.

Thank you. I too feel 9 am ferry would be better as it may be less crowded and will reah St Goar around 11 am. Only challenge is to reach Rudesheim early as I will be coming from Offenbach. Currently S-Bahn tracks are undergoing some work and for some stretches there are buses instead- with challenging transfer times from 3 to 6 minutes. I will have to perhaps use taxis till Frankfurt Hbf.
If I reach Rudesheim at 8.04 am is there anything that can be seen within half an hour time. I will need to be at KD cruise pier by 8.40 am.

Nothing is open then, other than maybe a cafe along the river bank. It takes about 15 min. to walk from the station to the KD dock where the ships stop. (if you ask about ferries people will send you to the small ferry that goes back and forth across the river)

Rüdesheim is much nicer in the late afternoon and evening, with the chairlift, and the huge ferris wheel. Which is why I gave the advise that I did. I have taken this trip both ways, dozens of times and stopped in most of the towns along the Rhein dozens of times.

Doing all of this in the opposite direction doesn't appeal to you? It gives you the most time in Rüdesheim, which is what you ideally asked for. It is the town with the most going on and things to see. You can of course get off the ship in Bacharach and get back on the next one, but have the schedule as they don't run that often. I like Bacharach, but you have so much on your plate for things to see and do in one day, that it seemed best to leave it off the plan. What did you want to see there?

Alternative is to take the train to Boppard, Do the chair lift, train
to St. Goar, See Burg Rheinfels. Take the ship back to Rüdesheim.

Well, let's take a close look at this option on paper. You are in Offenbach. The ticket office at the Boppard chairlift won't open until 10. You board the 7:19 bus #41 in Offenbach, then successfully catch 3 different trains, then bus #670 to the chairlift stop (9:54.) Let's say you get the first chair of the day. The ride up is 20 minutes, then another 20 back down. Even a short 20-minute round-trip walk to one of the view points with 15 minutes to enjoy the view will mean getting back to the base station at 11:15. But the base station is not the train station. It's a 20-minute walk to get there. Next train at 11:44 gets to St Goar 11:55. You successfully find your way to the #681 bus stop and ride up to the castle, arriving at 12:18.

Besides the fact that getting all this transportation done on schedule is highly theoretical, I would also point out that it has taken 5 hours of your time to have the briefest possible experience in Boppard, and that even if you had breakfast, the two of you will be hungry for lunch by now.

As you said on the other site, "Everthing is not possible in a day as want to return to Frankurt by atleast 9 PM and not later."

How short do you want the Rheinfels Castle visit to be, exactly? Which cruise ship will you catch? What time will it get to Rüdesheim? How will you fit in the cable car there, and Siegfrieds, and... and... and get back to Offenbach by 9? It's at least 1.7 transport hours from R'heim back to Offenbach. Even without a stop in Bacharach, I don't see this as feasible.

Back when you were starting and ending in Frankfurt, I suggested this abbreviated plan, which drops Boppard (are two lift rides really necessary?) and includes the rest, with ample time in Rüdesheim. I suggest you examine the train schedules with Offenbach as your base and adjust your train times to accommodate this plan:

• Lv. Frankfurt 8:53
• Ar. 10:04 in R'heim as planned for cable car, Siegfried's, lunch, town walk.
• CRUISE to ST GOAR: 13: 45 - 15:45 w/ Bingen-Ruedesheimer for castle tour
• Lv. St Goar 17:56 - 18:05 (train) for Bacharach - walk the town.
• Lv. Bacharach 19:36 for Frankfurt; ar. 20:47

Is Bingen Rudesheimer (BR) cruise of same quality as KD cruise? In terms of crowd, type of cruise ship, etc.? From pictures, KD cruise looks more comfortable (sophisticated) and heard they have running commentary and also food options. Does B R cruise match to it?
I need to think and research things more seriously considering the inputs you all have given

I have further examined the upstream route and ruled it out. Early start of the day by 6.30 am from Offenbach still does not allow me to complete Boppard chair lift and St Goar Rheinfels Castle in time to catch 13:10 B-R cruise to Rudesheim. Earliest one I can catch is 16:10 of KD or 15:45 of B R. The latter one of B R will bring me to Rudesheim at 18:20 which means Seigfried Museum is ruled out. I have arrived at Rudesheim only to soak in the touristy environment and have dinner there. I reach Offenbach quite late that affects my next day. Plus I have compromised on a place like Bacharach that is often considered very charming.

I would rather prefer the following:

Option 1: Easy paced, good start time, reach back on time but leave out Boppard and hurry a bit on Rheinfels:
8:14 am to 10:04 am; Offenach to Rudesheim with transits.
10:04 am to 13.45: Neiderwald monument and Seigfried Musical
13.45 to 15:45: BR cruise to St Goar
15:45 to 17:43: Rheinfels Castle (2 hours total time)
17:43- 17:57: St Goar to Bacharach by train
17:57: 18:58: only 1 hour in Bacharach
18:58- 21:05 Bacharach to Offenbach with various transits.

Option 2: Early start, 2 hours in Bacharach, can do Boppard Chair lift but Rudesheim only as a launch base, timely return to Offenbach.
6:14 to 8:04 Offenbach to Rudesheim
9:00 to 11:00 KD Cruise to St Goar
11:00- 13:13 Rheinfels castle, St Goar
13:13- 13:34 St Goar to Boppard
13:34- 15:30 Chair lift in Boppard ( 2 hours total time)
15:30-15:37 Boppard to Bacharach
15:37- 17:58 Bacharach (two hours)
17:58-20:36 Bacharach to Offenbach

As for Rhine expereince, which of the above option is considered more fulfilling as per you all?

So you must have done a good job of researching the travel times. I notice that they are very different from normal - taking much more time than usual - for connections to/from Boppard, St Goar and Bacharach. 2.5 - 3 hours for Bacharach > Offenbach in the evening?? Starting from Offenbach rather than Frankfurt is part of your problem here. The other part is the construction work that is happening on the date of your visit. It's really messing with schedules on the west side of the river. Both your travel schedules are absurdly heavy with train time. And because of construction, there is a strong potential for delays and, irregularities and changes from the published schedules. Having experienced getting entirely stranded last year on one stretch of track that was under construction, I must advise you to scrap your plans for using trains on that side of the river.

The Offenbach > Rüdesheim journey looks normal. No construction over there to those east bank Rhine towns. Same for Rüdesheim > Offenbach in the evening. It's only 1.5 hours or so for both of these train trips with just one transfer.

I think the sensible thing to do is make lemonade out of the lemons you have been given. Here's an outline, you can fill in the details... it will be much simpler, the train rides more dependable. Maybe you will even have time for breakfast at your hotel in Offenbach?

1) Lv Offenbach 7:17 (bypass Rüdesheim) ar St Goarshausen 9:31. Walk to the ferry crossing to cross the Rhine and reach St Goar.

This is the ferry headed to St Goar; it runs back and forth between the two towns all day long.

You will likely be in St Goar by 10:00. Walk up to Rheinfels for your tour.

2) Tour Rheinfels Castle. Get lunch at the Landgraf terrace, in the villa-hotel next door to enjoy the views. Take a few minutes to walk through St Goar after that if you have time.

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

3) Catch the 13:15 boat to Rüdesheim (16:20) for 2.5 hours seeing/doing whatever interests you.

4) Train back to Offenbach: Lv Rüdesheim 18:53, ar Offenbach 20:38.

10:04 am to 13.45: Neiderwald monument and Seigfried Musical

13.45 to 15:45: BR cruise to St Goar

You could see Seigfried first, go up the Seilbahn in Rudesheim, see the monument, then hike a bit then go back down the seilbahn in Assmannhausen to catch the KD cruise. Check the KD schedule to confirm.

https://www.seilbahn-ruedesheim.de/en/tours/