Here go's....If I am reading correctly, I can leave St Goar at 10:20 and arrive in Oberwesel at 10:50...Leave Oberwesel at 12:50 and arrive in Bacharach 13:30. Leave Bacharach at 15:15 and arrive in St Goar at 15:55. Can anyone confirm? I did not see a cost on the website, I believe last time it was in the E10 catagory for seniors.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7893 posts
What month? We have to know if you looked at the right timetable. Your nationality may affect the Senior discount. Since you have to board before the departure time, is this really the trip you want to take? The pier is not the most scenic part of these historic towns. We spent a whole afternoon in Boppard, and went home on the train, after a wine at the wine garden across from the station.
Posted by
Paradise
7072 posts
Those times are correct for the remainder of the season. But your cruise idea requires 2 hours on the boats, and it forces you to skip half of the most scenic section of river - the half between Bingen and Bacharach - in favor of repeating the St. Goar-Bacharach segment. Better IMO to cruise the rest and see the whole thing, from Bingen north to St. Goar, one time (which can be done in 1.5 hours.)
To do this, just take the train to Bingen first. To visit Bacharach, take the train there from St. Goar at 11:19 (10 min. ride) and spend your 2 hours there - then continue by train at 13:30 to Bingen. The 14:30 boat back from Bingen puts you back in St. Goar at the same time - 15:55 - as with your plan. Alternatively, spend 3 hours in Bacharach - not a bad idea if you plan to have lunch there - which means you'd leave St. Goar by train at 10:19 instead.
By starting in Bingen you'll see the Maeuseturm, Burg Ehrenfels, Burg Rheinstein, and a couple of other castles north of there as well. It's all pretty stunning, and there's no sense missing out on it since you have the time. That's how I'd advise my best friends, anyway.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19275 posts
The problem with your planned trip, St. Goar to Oberwesel to Bacharach is that you are going up the Rhein. I know it is down on the map, but the Rhein flows to the northwest, so going southeast is against a very strong current. For instance, the trip from St. Goar to Bacharach takes 70 minutes vs 40 minutes the other way. The boat goes slow enough with the current; you'll have plenty of time to see everything. Against the current I found the trip to be agonizingly slow.
And I can't see taking a round trip. No sense seeing things twice. Use the train to avoid the boat against the current.
I stopped in Oberwesel for one hour. That is too short. I arrived by train and spent most of my time walking from the station at one end through a relatively uninteresting part of town before I saw anything worth seeing, then had to turn around to get back to the station to catch the next train. The KD dock is a little closer to the middle of town, but still a long ways from the center. I definitely recommend a two hour stopover.