@Jo
If this family wants to go anywhere, they have a long ride to get to
connecting trains (1.25 hours) in Frankfurt...
What you are saying here is that a 3-night stay in Rüdesheim will prevent visitors from doing outings because the only worthwhile outing destinations are in Frankfurt's neighborhood (which of course would be a long trip from Rüdesheim.)
But the fact is that Rüdesheim's neighborhood is fantastic and has its own very desirable destinations for outings, places that are easy to reach from R'heim. Trying to get there from a Frankfurt base - plus making time for all there is to see there - would of course be not just a hardship but an impossibility. You'd have time for only a smattering... The travel facts below bear this out:
- Rheinfels Castle ruins and museum in St. Goar (one of your favorite castle visits, correct?)
from Rüdesheim: 25 min. by train + a 5-minute ferry crossing
from Frankfurt: 1 hr. 40 minutes by train
- Eltville (another favorite of yours)
from Rüdesheim: 17 min. by train
from Frankfurt: 40-55 min. by train
- Bacharach (Rick Steves' favorite Rhine town)
from Rüdesheim: Just add a Bacharach visit to the Rheinfels/St. Goar outing. (It's only 10 additional train minutes from there.)
from Frankfurt: 65-95 min. depending on hour of the day
- Marksburg (intact medieval castle) in Braubach
from Rüdesheim: 47 min. by train
from Frankfurt: 2 hrs. by train
The entire Rhine Gorge, including its gateway town of Rüdesheim, is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with excellent and enjoyable means of transportation on both riverbanks AND right down the middle of the river as well with the Rhine Cruise boats which 3 different companies use between Rüdesheim and Koblenz. Several ferries connect towns across the river. Bus services exist as well.
I am not saying it's impossible to spend 7 nights in Frankfurt and to do nice day trips from there. What I am saying - and said - is that a 3-night stay in Rüdesheim and the Rhine Gorge is entirely feasible, family-appropriate, ripe with outing options and good transport to reach them, and easy to incorporate into a week-long stay near FRA airport.
IME there is nothing at all debilitating about the east Rhine train line north of Rüdesheim. Hourly service would be perfectly adequate there (if that's all there was.) I once spent 5 nights (pre-covid) in the tiny east-bank town of Osterspai. I did train outings from there up the Mosel River, the Lahn River Valley, and traveled as as far north as Bonn on the Rhine. It was a snap.
But train frequency is in fact better than hourly - trains run every half hour during busier periods. If I stay in Osterspai again this summer, 22 different trains are on the schedule to stop there on the way to Koblenz on every weekday across the 18 hours between 5 am and 11 pm. That is crazy flaming good service for a town of 1,200 people. If I lived and worked in Frankfurt I might require more... but that is more than I would ever need as a casual visitor for 3 days in Osterspai - OR in Rüdesheim (pop. 10K.)
European visitors seem to grasp the value of staying in Rüdesheim. Interesting tourist-industry data... visitors from Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, and Switzerland sit atop the "Top 10 list" of foreigners who book there. They average 2-3 nights for each stay. Americans (who make up just 4% of the top 10) only stay an average of 1.5 nights - a strategic mistake for this area, I think.
