Marksburg Castle Braubach

"We do not want to carry our luggage on this tour..." I completely agree - especially if you plan to walk up to the castle.

The Braubach TI office is near the station and will hold bags for visitors during their hours of operation. You can contact them to find their hours on the date in question: info@braubach.de

HOWEVER... I disagree with the advice you've gotten to cruise the river from Braubach to Bacharach. You will be traveling upstream, bucking the current for 3.5 hours before you reach Bacharach (the same cruise in the opposite direction takes only 2 hours!) Besides, you'll be slighting yourselves on this cruise... the easiest and most scenic segment would be from Bingen to St. Goar or St. Goarshausen (1.5 hours.) Your cruise plan omits half of this very scenic section, which includes the Mäuseturm, Burg Ehrenfels, Burg Rheinstein, and more. (Check the KD boat schedule - there's a reason there are more boats per day for Bingen-St. Goarshausen than for towns to the north... the scenery south of St. Goarshausen is more intense and there's more demand for that trip.)

How many nights do you have in Bacharach? I'm guessing just one. If you have two, you could cruise Bingen-St. Goar on DAY 1 and see Marksburg the following day. Or even with just one night, you could possibly see Marksburg the next morning on your way to wherever.

With only one night, and you're arriving early at FRA, my best advice is to book in BRAUBACH, an outstandingly charming and scenic town... and the most logical place for your overnight stay. Here's a plan:

Arrive FRA
Train to Bingen
Short walk to boat dock w/ bags
Cruise 1.5 hours north to St. Goarshausen; short walk to train station w/ bags
Train to Braubach (22 min's.) and drop bags at hotel; see Marksburg

Bacharach itself is very nice but its prominence in Rick's books and videos wrongly makes it seem like the one-and-only place to stay on the Rhine. It's not.

You will find some Braubach accommodations at the standard booking engines. Other options include the Felsenkeller and the Zum Goldenen Schlüssel, both small, homey operations.

These places may work for you too.

One thing you didn't mention is from where you are coming. They advised you to take the train from Koblenz, so I suspect you're coming to Koblenz either from Trier (or Cochem, Moselkern) or from Köln. If you are coming from the other direction, Mainz or Frankfurt, then taking the boat down the Rhein would make more sense. I definitely would not bother with the river cruise between Boppard and Braubach, and probably not between Boppard and St. Goar either.

The first English tour of the Marksburg is at 1 PM and takes 50 minutes, then there is the time to walk down the hill to the TI office to pick up your bags and then the walk to the KD dock. You'd have a little over an hour to do this, since the only boat up the river from Braubach in the afternoon leaves the KD dock at 3:05 PM. That boat gets to Bacharach at 6:30 PM, a little late IMO.

The alternative would be to take a train up the river from Braubach after the tour, catch the boat from around Bingen, cruise to St. Goar, then train to Bacharach. But that would require coordinating two connections between the train and the boat. I would go to the Rüdesheim KD dock because, unlike Bingen, it is on the same side of the river as Braubach. The next to the last boat down the river leaves Rüdesheim at 14:15. There is no way you can do the Marksburg English tour and make that boat. The last boat is at 16:15. It gets to St. Goar at 17:55. There is a train from St. Goar to Bacharach at 17:56; you obviously can't make it. The next train from St. Goar to Bacharach is at 18:56. It gets to Bacharach after 7 PM.

So, even though it uses a very slow boat leg, I can see the wisdom in Rick Steves' consultant's plan.

Thank you for the suggestions. We will be coming into Koblenz from Brussels. We already have our room booked in Koblenz and understand that we will be cruising up river. Now I am confused by the suggestions that we would be missing the better part of the Rhine if we travel Braubach to Bacharach. (this was specifically the suggestion of the RS Consultant who also told me that any further travel - like Bacharach to Bingen - would be a waste of time as all the wonderful suites were between Braubach and Bacharach.
Our plans were to do a Rhine cruise before heading out on a driving tour of Germany. (We will rent a car for the remainder of our Germany time)

"We will be coming into Koblenz from Brussels. We already have our room booked in Koblenz and understand that we will be cruising up river."

So you have 2 nights in the immediate area. Koblenz and Bacharach are only about 35-40 minutes from each other by train. So it's a surprise to me that you've chosen to stay in 2 different towns. Your trip is still 3+ months off, correct? So IMO you just book 2 nights in one town. 2 nights in Koblenz, or 2 nights in Bacharach, or 2 nights somewhere else. It's less hassle, no bags to fuss with.

About the consultant's Braubach-Bacharach cruise suggestion... Although you want to see Bacharach, it's not a foregone conclusion that you must cruise there from Braubach in order to get in a cruise; the trains are a big help. Let's break the cruise options into 3 segments from south to north:
1.) Bingen-Bacharach; and the 2 segments the consultant suggests: 2.) Bacharach-St.Goar; 3.) St. Goar-(Boppard)-Braubach

Lee, Ms. Jo and I advise regularly on the complicated business of getting in a cruise. To summarize our views:

• All 3 of us advise cruising downstream from south-north if possible.
  
• All 3 of us agree that 2.) Bacharach-St. Goar is very worthwhile.
  
• Lee routinely suggests 2.) Bacharach-St.Goar as the the one critical segment to cruise (45 minutes,) while Ms. Jo and I routinely suggest that both 2.) and 1.) Bingen-Bacharach are essential for a more satisfying cruise and for additional excellent scenery (1.5 hours.)
  
• Not one of us recommends cruising the 3.) Braubach-Boppard-St. Goar segment, (except for those with specific plans for Boppard - they might want to stay on past St.Goar just as a way to get to Boppard.)
  
• Also, I don't think any of us would say Bingen-Bacharach is the lesser of the 3 segments in question.

So with a 2-night stay and a Bingen-(Bacharach)-(St. Goar)-(St. Goarshausen) cruise, here's how it might go...

Koblenz lacks the old-world charm of the other options. But I might stay there 2 nights if I couldn't un-book night #1. Let's say you wake up there on cruise/castle day. Strategy:
Take the 9:04 morning train south to Bingen (9:46.) Catch 10:30 cruise boat north to Bacharach for an hour-long walk around town. Reboard KD boat to St. Goarshausen (13:05); train (13:32) to Braubach (arrive just before 2 pm, have a meal in the old town.) Catch 4 pm English tour, return to Koblenz (10 min. by train.)

OR Cancel Koblenz, Stay 2 nights in Braubach: morning train to Rüdesheim, cruise north on 10:15 boat (the same boat that leaves Bingen at 10:30.) Proceed as above from Bacharach on.

OR Cancel Koblenz, stay 2 nights in Bacharach: morning train to Bingen, cruise north on 10:15 boat to St. Goar (11:55,) see town, cross over on ferry later to St. Goarshausen and proceed as above to Braubach. Return to Bacharach by train via Koblenz after Marksburg tour.

In case you haven't looked at a map or figured it out from our comments, Braubach and St. Goarshausen are on the same side (right bank) of the Rhein. Koblenz, St. Goar, and Bacharach are on the other side (left bank). There are not a lot of places to cross the river in this stretch. There is a rail bridge at Koblenz. There are ferries at Boppard, and between St. Goar and St. Goarshausen, and between Rüdesheim and Bingen. Going downstream, the K-D boat loads in Rüdesheim, then goes to Bingen, and stops first in St. Goar, then goes across the river to St. Goarshausen. The Loreley Ferry crosses between St. Goar and St. Goarshausen. It leaves one side regularly every 20 minutes and leaves the other side 10 minutes later. The adult fare is 1,80€.

Koblenz gets regularly beat up on this website, but I don't think it's a bad option at all. True, the main shopping street displays some of the ugliest tendencies of postwar reconstruction, but closer to the river, quite a bit of the city's 18th and 19th century elegance survives. I wouldn't base an entire vacation around Koblenz, but neither would a relegate it to the world of the "Unromantic Rhine" farther north.

One sunny Sunday midday in April I walked from the river confluence at Deutsches Eck to the main station. It was probably the first nice weekend day of the year and the natives were out in force in the street-side cafes. I'll never forget it. It was a great scene. Koblenz is not necessarily ugly.

We planned the same trip for this June - except we arrive from Brussels to Braubach on the train, take the 1 pm English tour at Marksburg castle and then the KD to Bacharach, arriving 6:30 p.m. We have a hotel in Bacharach. We decided that trip on our own, based on similar desire to see what you have - so I agree that you will see a LOT of the Rhine (including all the St. Goar sites) by taking this longer KD boat ride. I'm in agreement with the consultant as you will see a lot of the Rhine by going Braubach to Bacharach.

I had the same luggage question, so I sent an email like Russ suggested to the TI office. I'll repost when I get a response.

Enjoy your trip!

The trip from Braubach to Bacharach via Koblenz by train is usually pretty close to the same as from Braubach to Bacharach via St. Goarshausen and St. Goar, and a lot faster than going by boat from Braubach to Bacharach.

My suggestion would be to leave you luggage in a locker in Koblenz, visit Braubach, then come back to Koblenz, pick up your luggage and go to St. Goar and take the boat from there to Bacharach.

Frankly, I am appalled that a RS consultant feels there is nothing to be seen on the Rhine after Bacharach. Telling new visitors to Germany this fallacy is a disservice. I know in his Germany book this is the recommended cruise, Bacharach to St. Goar, but it cheats people who follow his instructions to the letter. Beautiful castles and scenery exist on the rest of the Rhine. It is far better to start your cruise in either Rüdesheim or Bingen.

Drop your bags off at your hotel in Koblenz. Take the train to either Bingen or Rüdesheim, then the ship to Braubach if you want to see the Marksburg. That said, my favorite castle is Burg Rheinfels in St. Goar. Massive fortress that is partially ruins, but much of it is intact. It is impressive and really gives you the feeling of the might and power that once existed here. The Marksburg is interesting, but you have to be on a tour to see it and once that 45 min. is over, that's it.