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My Rhine itinerary - thoughts?

Posted by (North Carolina) on

We have two weeks in Germany at the end of July. Instead of one giant long post, i figured I would break down the three sections as I make them to avoid going completely off topic :-). After the Rhine we will spend 4 nights in Nuremburg and 5 in Munich before heading home.

We have gotten lots of info from previous postings - so will attempt to only repeat what is necessary,

There will be my wife and I, along with our daughter who turns five on this trip (as I know that drastically changes what we normally would do). We tend to be "slow travelers" and not hop from place to place, and with the little one, we will go even slower with more stops (think playgrounds and running around) and sorta of soak in the sights over some a beer or wine..

We get into FRA at 6am July 21 from Raleigh, NC (yay for the new direct flight!).
Take the train to Boppard, were we have reserved the previous night to ensure we have a place to drop bags and crash a bit.

Will spend the rest of day hanging in Boppard, getting groceries, and just adjusting to the time change.

Monday July 22.
Take train to St Goar (Rheinfels Castle) then to Oberwesel (VRM pass). Can add Bacharach to this and skip it the next day based on time.

Tuesday July 23
Take train to Bacharach (VRM pass) for sight seeing, then..
Need to buy ticket from Bacharach to Bingen Rhein Stadt but gets us 20% of cruise ticket.

Two options
1. KD Boat Crusie from Bingen Rhein Stadt station - walk 5-10 minutes to boat, cruise home 6:30 - 18:50 - get off at Boppard.
2. Can do cable car from Rüdesheim -need to take ferry to get across river from Bingen to Rudesheim, go to cable car, then back to catch ferry upstream from Rudesheim. Do this if more time - likely this if skip Bacharach this day.

Wednesday July 23
Train to Cochem (tourist train thing) 1 hr with connection at Koblenx (VRM guest pass) - Any towns to stop at at way home?

Thursday July 24
Morning in Boppard
Take 12:12 train to Koblenz and connect to Nurenburg.

I put Cochem at the end if we don't make it to everything we had planned on the Rhine (for example we end up staying in some of the towns a lot longer and don't make it to everything - like we skip Bacharach and add it to something else on Wednesday.

Thoughts? Any towns long the Rhine that we missed (and easy to get to from "our side" of the Rhine?

Thanks all!

Posted by
6643 posts

1) 22nd and 23rd: Using trains on the O'wesel > Bacharach > Bingen segment of railway will require separate DB tickets since the VRM Guest pass is not valid only as far south Bacharach... only to Oberwesel.

Oberwesel > Bacharach ticket = €3.20 ea
Oberwesel > Bacharach > Bingen (Rhein) Stadt ticket = €8.10 ea, stopover in Bacharach permitted

2) 23rd: If you visit Rüdesheim: the 16:15 cruise boat (not ferry) will take you all the way to Boppard - it's the same boat that leaves Bingen at 16:30.

3) Shuttle bus schedule to Reichsburg Castle from the center of Cochem (Endertplatz is the square down by the tourist office.) Nice views from the top across the town and river valley, possible tour of castle.

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data/pdf/fahrplanbuecher/2024/701.pdf

Posted by
8943 posts

Check your arrival dates. July 21 is a Sunday and there will not be any grocery stores open, as stores are always closed on Sundays. Plan on dining out for lunch and dinner on your arrival day.

Posted by
87 posts

Thanks for the heads up in the Sunday closing. Never would have thought about that. Will make sure we have “something” for the kiddo either in our luggage or at the grocery store in the airport.

Posted by
87 posts

another question - does the VRM guest pass cover both RB and RE trains? I can't find the answer online, but I think it does?

Posted by
6643 posts

Yes it does. RB and RE trains = Regionalbahn and Regional Express. These and other regional trains with different acronym-labels are fair game for holders of pretty much ANY of the other day passes in Germany which are available for purchase within Germany as well. The Day Pass for Germany, the Bayern Ticket, the Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket, the VRM Day Ticket, the VRN Tagesticket Plus (Nuremberg area...) they include all trains within the "Nahverkehr" group of trains... which basically refers to all trains which are NOT long-distance trains (like the IC, ICE, EC trains.) S-Bahn and IRE trains are among the many other designations that are found all around Germany

Note also that if/when you travel by train on the EAST bank (also called the "right" bank,) the regional trains there are labeled "VIA" trains, which refers to the VIAS company which owns them.

Posted by
87 posts

thanks again Russ

Also interested in any Mosel River Day cruises, something from Cochem north to Koblenz (or another convenient option to hop on a train back to Boppard)

Posted by
6643 posts
  • Rhine/Mosel destinations that are possible with the VRM Guest Ticket lie within the colored zone on the map linked to below:

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data_vrminfo/PDF/Gaesteticket/Infoflyer_Gaesteticket_englisch_2022.pdf

  • Dates for Wed and Thu of the week in question are incorrect.

Also interested in any Mosel River Day cruises, something from Cochem north to Koblenz

There are very few cruise options on this part of the Mosel. I think the simple way to do this would be to make the cruise part of your return trip to Boppard.

Sample schedule:

Some Mosel towns like Treis-Karden take their names using settlements opposite each other on the river. The station here is on the Karden side.

  • Board the 16:45 Kolb cruise in Cochem for the trip to Karden (17:35.)(see cruise schedule in bottom-right box at page below.)

https://www.moselrundfahrten.de/files/moselfahrplan_cochem_2023.pdf

The Treis-Karden station (DB in red) looks to be right next to the Karden dock (black boat) on this map:

https://www.moselrundfahrten.de/files/moselfahrplan_cochem_2023.pdf

Board 17:54 train in Karden for Boppard (18:36) with a change of train on the way in Koblenz.

If you choose not to cruise, you can stop off the train in Winningen, a small and attractive town with some nice buildings, wineries, and restaurants, on the way back to Koblenz and Boppard. RB trains from Cochem depart at :44 after the hour and take 38 minutes to reach Winningen.

Posted by
87 posts

There are very few cruise options on this part of the Mosel. I think the simple way to do this would be to make the cruise part of your return trip to Boppard.
Board the 16:45 Kolb cruise in Cochem for the trip to Karden (17:35.)(see cruise schedule in bottom-right box at page below.)
https://www.moselrundfahrten.de/files/moselfahrplan_cochem_2023.pdf
The Treis-Karden station (DB in red) looks to be right next to the Karden dock (black boat) on this map:
Board 17:54 train in Karden for Boppard (18:36) with a change of train on the way in Koblenz.

This is exactly what I was looking for/thinking about- thanks!

How scenic of a trip is this? I know the landscape is scenic and dramatic, are there many castles along this route? Just debating if it is much different than the train ride home.

Posted by
6643 posts

It's a small stretch of river, not a lot of castle structures, some campgrounds, and some attractive towns. Not dramatic in the way the Rhine is, more peaceful and bucolic and a nice way to spend an hour on the water with limited time. You'll probuabuly see some bicyclists on either riverbank - it's a popular ride. You will of course see much more by boat than when you're zipping through on the train (which takes only 10 minutes between Cochem and Treis-Karden.) This is not a part of the river that is full of cruise boats all the time as there are no major destination towns like Bernkastel in this area and Koblenz is too far to cruise to. It does get used by visitors to Burg Eltz who have extra time and just want to cruise for a bit, I understand. There are some very short round-trip cruises on the Mosel that stay within earshot of Cochem while they cruise up, down and back in front of the town, and they tend to get a lot more cruisers.

You can check out these photos of the towns you'll hit as you move downstream on the suggested route:

 
https://img.fotocommunity.com/blick-vom-martberg-auf-pommernmosel-f5a42168-f392-43a5-8df2-e02cfa2572eb.jpg?height=1080

https://mosel-erlebnisse.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/klotten.jpg

https://www.mosel544.de/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Karden-Panorama.jpg

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