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Planning a Full Day in the Rhine Valley

Posted by on

Hi Folks,

I'll be visiting France, Germany and Amsterdam in late September/early October, and have been working to get all of the details set. In late September I'll be arriving via train at St. Goar Monday night, then spending a full day (9/27 if it helps) in the Rhine valley and jumping on a train to Berlin early the next morning. I've looked at the various ferry websites, and I'm completely confused as to how they work. My goals are to:

  • Attend an English tour of the Marksburg Castle (at either 1pm or 4pm)
  • Go on a boat tour of the Rhine
  • Scamper around Rheinfels with my flashlight

Are all three reasonable in one day? Do I need to reserve my boat trip before hand? What is the best order for this? How do the boat and train options work together? Is there anything amazing I'm missing (Sadly Rick's favorite castle won't work for this trip)? Are there any incredible places to eat in St. Goar I should check out?

I appreciate any guidance you can offer on these questions. Thanks!
~Jen

Posted by
19100 posts

I think your goals are attainable, as long as you limit your boat tour time on the Rhein. The boat goes very slowly between docks; you can easily take up your entire time on the boat and not see anything else. The boat schedule is here (page 9).

I stayed in Boppard and toured the Marksburg one day, then went the next day to Rheinfels and took the boat from St. Goar to Bacharach, spending some time in Bacharach and Oberwesel on the way back.

There are at least hourly trains on both side of the Rhein plus ferries across the river, the most useful of these is the Loreley Fähre between St. Goar and St. Goarshausen.

Posted by
6663 posts

The KD boat is a cruise ship/boat. There are also "ferries" on the Rhine just for crossing since there are no bridges between Mainz and Koblenz.

Here's a plan that should work fine.

8:19 or 9:19 train to Bingen (Rhein)Stadt station, walk to KD dock, show train ticket to get 20% discount.

9:30 or 10:30 KD boat back to St. Goar (10:55 or 11:55.) This is the most scenic part - http://www.bingen-ruedesheimer.com/images/map/rhine-valley290.jpg

Tour Rheinfels. Have lunch.

Use FERRY to St. Goarshausen. It runs all day. Walk a few blocks north, take 14:32 train to Braubach (14:53.) Walk into and through Braubach's old town, then up to Marksburg for 16:00 tour. I'd be sure to contact the castle in advance to confirm there's an English tour that day if that's what you're expecting. Return to St. Goarshausen by train, ferry back. The old town zone might be good for an evening meal - try the zum Goldenen Schluessel for German food.

Before boarding the train in St. Goar that morning, purchase a VRM DAY TICKET (E18.80) and one normal DB TICKET for Oberwesel to Bingen (E4.50) for E23.30 total from a ticket machine. The day ticket gets you on all trains except the O'wesel-Bingen segment (which is what the DB ticket covers) and also on the two ferry rides. The DB ticket to Bingen gives you the cruise discount - which pays for the cost of the DB ticket.

Although you will be using 2 separate tickets to reach Bingen, you will not need to get off the train. It's just one train from St. Goar to Bingen.

Posted by
12 posts

Thank you both so much! This is exactly the information I was looking for! I'm feeling far more confident about this leg of the trip now.

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