Marksburg/Rheinfels, Rhine and Mainz/Bacharach day trip from FRA

You've chosen a good place to visit. You can do all these places in that amount of time.

The following are weekday instructions. Sat or Sun you can use a less expensive ticket strategy. RE-post if that's the case and I'll explain.

First, go to FRA's Regionalbahnhof station (not the Fernbahnhof,) buy a RMV (local transit authority) ticket to Bingen for €8.10 from a ticket machine. (You won't find this fare at the DB site since the local TA handles it.) While you're at the ticket machine also buy a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket (day pass) for the trains you will use later in the day (€23.) Catch the S or RE train to Mainz (and if needed drop bags in a locker there.) Catch the next train north to Bingen Hbf or Bingen Rhein Stadt station, which is a little closer to the KD dock (stay off the ICE and other high speed trains.) Walk to the KD dock, show your train ticket for a 20% cruise discount and board. You probably don't need to cruise past St. Goar or St. Goarshausen - the best scenery is between Bingen and there. Cruising all the way to Braubach will take a lot more of your time and money. For Marksburg... get off the boat in St. Goarshausen, walk north to the station, and take the train north to Braubach with your R-P ticket day pass (22 min.) When done w/ Marksburg return to St. G'hausen by train and take the ferry across to St. Goar. This is not the KD boat but a real ferry and it's covered by the R-P day pass. See Rheinfels as well then catch a train to Bacharach for an hour's look around, then a train into Mainz. The R-P ticket covers all these trains.

When you're ready to go back to FRA buy a ticket for €4.55 from Mainz ticket machine - Fetch bags and hop on a local train. The R-P ticket doesn't cover you after Mainz.

Mainz is a larger, charming town, while Bacharach is a very small, charming village. Bacharach can be walked from one end to the other in about 15 minutes. Two different experiences.

Ah, I did not realize Bacharach was that small.

And Russ, thanks!! I'm doing this on a Monday so your advice is perfect. Are there any additional stops along the way you would recommend?

A few follow-up questions - do you know if the luggage locker facility in Mainz definitely have space? I was thinking of depositing my bags in FRA in case there's no space for bags in Mainz, but Mainz is definitely cheaper (€2-3/bag in Mainz, vs €7 at the airport). Also, do you know if they only take coins?

Another potential issue - unfortunately, I do not speak a word of German. I'll print out the important information, but in case I have issues, do people generally understand English in these areas? Since the Rhine is frequented by tourists I would assume that at the very least the staff in train stations and tourist attractions understand English?

Finally, are the RMV and ICE trains generally located in the same station (for Mainz, Bingen, etc)? It should be easily distinguishable, right? I'm doing this day trip after a long cross-atlantic flight and will probably be jetlagged and tired, don't want to end up on the wrong train by accident.

ICE trains are high speed, they cannot run on the tracks along the Rhine. You want to avoid them for this particular trip as they are meant for long distance and not for regional travel.

The two train stations at Frankfurt airport for long distance and regional trains are quite well marked in English.

"ICE trains are high speed, they cannot run on the tracks along the Rhine."

??? Actually they DO travel along the Rhine just fine - there are 5 ICE trains that cover the Mainz-Koblenz-Cologne stretch every day. There are also lots of IC and EC high-speed trains. None of these are accessible with the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket day pass so stick with the RE and MRB trains.

"...do you know if the luggage locker facility in Mainz definitely have space?"
I've never failed to find an empty locker there but I suppose it's possible they'd all be full.

"...do people generally understand English in these areas?" Yes. Except for the elderly and some of the foreign-born immigrants, Germans will almost always have reasonably good English skills. English is used to communicate with Dutch and other foreign visitors who don't speak German, as well as with native English-speaking visitors.There's a DB info desk at large stations like Mainz (upstairs hall where the shops and cafes are) if you have transport questions.

"Finally, are the RMV and ICE trains generally located in the same station (for Mainz, Bingen, etc)? It should be easily distinguishable, right?"

RMV is the transit authority - but there are no "RMV trains." (Sometimes you will see a "RMV" logo on local/regional trains to indicate they are accessible with RMV tickets.) From Frankfurt you will likely ride either the RE or S trains. From Mainz north along the west bank you'll see MRB trains or RE trains. On the east bank you'll see VIA trains.

S trains (S-Bahn)
RE trains
MRB trains
VIA trains

ICE TRAINS look a bit different.

You can find out which trains are leaving which tracks using the electronic boards at the station or the large goldenrod-colored timetables. Both show S / RE / MRB or VIA designations.

"ICE trains are high speed, they cannot run on the tracks along the Rhine"

Actually, the Bahn schedule website shows at least one express train (ICE/IC/EC) per hour each direction between Koblenz and Mainz, and at least several per day are ICEs, but they just don't make any stops (like in Bingen) in between. At least a few of the ICs do stop in Bingen. They probably can't go very fast on this stretch, since I don't think there are any places to pass slower trains.

There are also hourly MRB (Mittelrheinbahn) trains in each direction that stop at every station and Regional Express (RE) that stop at only a few stations every two hours.

I would recommend that you take an MRB train from Mainz to Bingen Stadt Bahnhof. Only the MRB stop at Stadt and it's a bus ride or a longer walk from the Hbf to the KD dock. The MRBs leave from track 11 in Mainz Hbf. Track 11 is not a through track. It comes into the Mainz from the north and dead ends against the station building, across from the north end of track 1. The S-Bahn from the airport will come in on track 1.

Ethane (isn't that C2H6?): Braubach IS on the east side (right bank) of the Rhein, which flows down to the NW. You can take a VIA (like the MRB, stops at every station) UP the right bank of the Rhein to Wiesbaden, then another regional train back to Mainz. Or, you can take a bus or train to Koblenz and come back on the left bank (west side) of the Rhein directly to Mainz. The route through Koblenz will take longer.

Here is a map of the ICE Streckennetz for Germany.

Thanks a lot, everyone! The multitude of transport options is a little overwhelming. I'm in the US, and to get between cities the options are either one regional train or no train at all.

Russ: Thanks for the clarification! The ICE trains look different from the other trains so that would not be a problem.

Lee: When I said "take a train up to Koblentz to get back on the east side, then down to Mainz", I meant Braubach is on the wrong side of the Rhine to take the train back to Mainz. Russ suggested I can get back to St Goarshausen by train, so I might not need to go up to Koblenz after all!
(and yes, C2H6 is ethane. a little word play on my name, which is Ethan!)