kd cruise to Boppard or Rudesheim?

I'd head down river to Boppard. You might get a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket and visit towns on the way back via train.

"The last time we were in Germany we cruised to St. Goar and toured the town and castle ruins."
It's not clear where the last cruise began, what segment you cruised last time.

Obviously, at least part of your cruise included the stretch between St. Goar and Bacharach, so cruising from Bacharach to Boppard would repeat that segment. If you have not cruised between Bacharach and Bingen (or Rüdesheim, across the river) then you might do that - it's a very scenic part The part from St. Goar north to Boppard is not as scenic. Boppard is a very nice town however. Nice old town, nice eateries, cool river promenade, chairlift to an outstanding view of the river (Vierseenblick, or 4-lakes-view, which is what the river appears to be from this spot.) Stop in at Gedeonseck for refreshments. You could catch a train to Boppard from Bacharach or St. Goar (only 12 minutes from St. Goar.)

"We like to do something a little different..."
Maybe you shouldn't do a cruise at all. It's time consuming, and you've already done that. One of my favorite experiences in the area was at the open-air museum in Bad Sobernheim, not too far from Bingen up the Nahe River Valley (also a scenic river trip.) The collection of historic houses from around this part of Germany was captivating.

Rheinland Pfälzisches Freilandmuseum

Did you do a little wine tasting last time? From St. Goar there's a ferry that runs all day across the river to St. Goarshausen, where the Historic City Tower at the south end of town houses a wine tasting room and museum. There are other places too - many in Boppard, and Bacharach and Oberwesel have places in town as well.

Thank you both for your thoughts. Our first trip to Germany was 3 years ago. We spent our first 2 days in Bacharach and did the Rhine cruise to St. Goar. Loved the cruise, scenery, people and exploring another town. This time we are again starting out in Bacharach and planning one day for Burg Etz and Cochem and one day for the Rhine cruise and exploring another town. Boppard seems more laid back? Rudesheim crazy touristy but fun? Looking at the KD schedule we'd only have a couple hours to tour. I know we could train back if we want from Boppard (I believe it's on the same side). but not sure how we would train back from Rudesheim.
We did not have a chance to do wine tasting last time but am looking forward to doing that this trip. I see there's a couple places in Bacharach to try. Opinions always welcome... very help! thanks!!

"...not sure how we would train back from Rudesheim."

Trains can't cross the river there. Best way is to take the train south to Bingen (10-12 minutes,) walk into town and catch the passenger ferry from the river promenade over to Rüdesheim. Then CRUISE BACK to Bacharach.

"Looking to see if anyone has any thoughts on these or other towns along the way."
Oberwesel is wonderful on foot. Market square has some fine half-timbered buildings and is the gathering point for events. Have a walk around the old town wall using this (MAP - towers are numbered.) Walk up to the Günderodehaus in the vineyards for a great view and some refreshments.

You might think about taking the train just a few more minutes south of Rüdesheim and go to Eltville. A lovely, charming town full of half-timbered buildings, a church built in the 1300's and a pretty river promenade. Eltville is one of the few towns along the Rhine that doesn't have a road or railroad tracks between the river and the town. Hop on a bus and go up to Eberbach Monastery. Magnificent place, used for filming "The Name of the Rose" and most recently, "Game of Thrones".
http://www.eltville.de/sprachen/english/highlights/old_town.html#c4343
http://kloster-eberbach.de/kloster/klosterfuehrungen.html

Thanks for your thoughts and links.
I think I have heard of Eltville, I will give that some thought. We might even be able to stop there as we head down
to Colmar.
I like the idea of taking the local train down to Bingen. Depending on train schedules we can get
an earlier start. I don't know much about the passenger ferries. Do they run pretty frequently?
Thanks for the info on Oberwesel. It sounds like what we are looking for. I will see where we can fit that it.

Ms Jo...
Thanks also for the info on the Eberbach Monestary. My husband is a HUGE Game of Thrones fan. Do you know more
about what scenes were filmed there? I will have to do some research on it. I will also bring up the info on the links you
so nicely provided.

Kathy: Speaking of movies... The Günderodehaus in Oberwesel was also the setting for many scenes from "Heimat", a German made-for-TV film series that was enormously popular there. Germans seem to enjoy making a pilgrimage there (their equivalent of "Little House on the Prairie, perhaps.)

I believe the trailer for Season 5 Game of Thrones was filmed at Eberbach. I haven't watched any of these shows, but I might have to now. Just watched the trailer and recognized a lot. It is a magnificent place. Hope you make it there and then let us know what you thought of it.

great!!! thanks all for your advice and comments

Looks like the filming was for special Game of Thrones trailers for SKY Germany (not the show itself).

Kloster Eberbach posted the trailers on their Vimeo account:

https://vimeo.com/klostereberbach

If you want to do something a bit different, I'd suggest to take the boat from Bacharach upriver and disembark at Assmannshausen. It's a small pretty town, not too touristy. Walk to the chairlift and take it up to the Niederwald. That's a very nice smallish forest area with hidden gems to discover while taking a stroll: don't miss the enchanted cave, the artificial Rossel ruins ... Then go to see the famous Germania monument and enjoy the views over the Rhine gorge! Then take the cable car down to Rüdesheim which takes you over vineyards into town. You will walk through the famous - and extremely touristy - Drosselgasse towards the river. Take the boat back to Bacharach from there.

You can purchase a "Ring Ticket" which gives you the chair lift in Assmannshausen and the cable car in Rüdesheim.

http://www.ruedesheim.de/en/see-discover/cable-car/
http://www.ruedesheim.de/en/see-discover/castles-buildings/ [scroll down to read about the Rossel and the Enchanted Cave]

We did the opposite of Beatrice's suggestion and had quite a day. It was the first week of May and the weather was more summery than Spring. Our base was St.Goar so we started our KD cruise from there. We took the first departure of the day it was close to 10am.
time. On the River it was cool enough to have a hot tea.

We got off at Bacharach and strolled about at the flower/farmer's market. We never left the market/pier area so I told myself some day I"ll get back to Bacharach.

After Bacharach we hopped back on and got off at Rudesheim. After some wine window shopping and a light lunch, we went by cable car up to the Niederwald. From the Niederwald Monument we walked across to Assmanshausen. We stopped along the way to take in the sights of the forest. Then we took the Assmanshausen chairlift down. The views from up here were stunning and the forest walk refreshing.

In Assmanshausen we lingered too long over our wine and missed the last KD boat of that day. Ooops! So the cafe owner called us a cab. Along the way we passed the KD boat. We hopped on at St.Goarshausen and crossed back over to St.Goar. We had Boppard on our list, too, along with some others. We both enjoyed the relax mode and scenic ride of the River Cruise Boat. We'd easily take another boat to get around again.

My apology, I mean "Beatrix".

I agree with Beatrix---did this a few years ago and it was one of our most enjoyable memories.

Enjoy your trip!

Hi Becky,
thanks for clarifying the GOT trailers... I was having issues tracking the info. ... regardless tho, I hear it is beautiful. if we have time we may try to swing by.

Beatrix, Diane & Susieeqq... thanks for info. I have had someone else mention Assmannshausen in the past saying what a beautiful town it was and a better place to stay then Rudesheim, or at least less touristy. I read they play music all day in Rudesheim and thought it would be awesome to sip a glass of wine and listen.

Here's my dilemma .. the 1st kd boat out of Bacharach is at 11:30 and arrives Rudesheim 1:15. the last boat out of Rudesheim is at 4:15 and gets into Bacharach at 5:15. This is only giving us less than 3 hrs to really explore. From past experience we know the boats can even show up early so be there waiting!

so if we are having tons of fun in Rudesheim or Assmannshausen we can take a local train back from Bingen... however.. my question here is how often and late do the river ferry run so we can get over to Bingen? I can't seem to pinpoint much info on this.

The part of Diane's story about having the café owner call a cab was intriguing... I like cabs. lol..... any idea how much and how available they are go from from Rudesheim to Bacharach? but is there an issue with how late car ferries run also?

thanks for your help! kathy

kathy: "the 1st kd boat out of Bacharach is at 11:30 and arrives Rudesheim 1:15."

You're trying to maximize your time in R'heim and A'hausen, right? You'll get to R'heim 3 hours earlier if you catch the 8:30 train to Bingen (13 min.) then the 9:00 passenger ferry to R'heim (the passenger ferry runs every hour on the hour from Bingen across the river.) Or get there 2 hours earlier by leaving Bacharach on the 9:30 train.

Then you'll have your 4:15 cruise back to Bacharach.

Bingen-Rüdesheim ferry schedule

Hi Russ, Great idea....I actually did find the local train schedules and thought the same thing. Thanks so much for the ferry schedule .. it is EXACTLY what I was looking for. We loved cruising the Rhine last time and would love to do it again at least one way. Now I have options on taking the train either there or back! Vielen Dank!