Rhein cruise from St Goar

Up river or down? Before Oct 6 (High season) or after (Low season)?

Are you looking at the K-D website? Top right corner, tap on the symbol with the 3 horizontal lines. Select English on the drop down

Best cruise segment lies between Bingen and St Goar. Staying in St Goar? If so, it's generally a good approach to first catch the train to Bingen and to cruise back to St. Goar.

Bingen - Rüdesheimer cruises sends off boats from Bingen at 11:15 and 14:00 every day of the week until Nov. 2, when its season closes. Their cruise takes 2 hours. See the Loreley Fahrt time table at the top of this page; no language skills needed:

https://www.bingen-ruedesheimer.de/cms-data/file/Fahrplaene--Linienfahrten.pdf

Russ is right.

I was in St Goarhausen (across the river from St Goar) last night and the boat landing had very noticeable signs stating that the schedules will be changing to the winter (off season) soon. These towns will be dead in a month. I've walked Cochem and the Rhine towns in late October/early November and 3/4 of the businesses are closed and the streets are empty of everyone but the locals.

FYI: We were in St. Goar last week and the Rheinfels Castle that is listed as a must-see in the Rick Steve's guide book is closed until 2027. There is a nice hiking path up there from the train station and you can a walking path across a foot bridge over a stream bed. We came upon some Roman ruins also but the signs were to faded to learn about them.

I am with KGC here. Have stopped in many of the towns on the Rhein in Nov. and it is like everyone left. Nothing is open. The only towns with something open would be Rüdesheim, Eltville, Bingen, and Koblenz. Even Rüdesheim is only about half open until the Xmas market and then it kind of shuts down too.

Rheinfels was open last weekend, but i think that's because it was the final "Rhine in Flames" which was held then. They are doing a huge refurbishment on the castle. Repointing the walls and cleaning up the stairs (even putting in new ones.) I really hope they can do something about the paths, because they're bad; lots or loose rocks and uneven as all get out. It's been many years since my last visit, but things obviously went a long time with minimal improvement.

Leslie: It's my understanding that renovations at Burg Rheinfels will continue into 2028 - and that the grounds will remain open to visitors on a daily basis throughout the process. There is nothing on any of the Rheinfels or St Goar pages I am seeing to indicate that the site is closed or will be closing. If you have documentation to the contrary, I hope you will post it.

Cruises continue to all the towns through October. The shopkeepers selling souvenirs etc. pretty much clear out in November; Nutmeg... you asked about October - you will be able to cruise and find a meal or two in St Goar... St Goar's Cuckoo-Clock and Beer Stein Center - the MONTAG shop - is likely to be open as long as there is cruise activity, but you can contact them if you are curious about this sort of thing and want to know their hours while you are there:

https://www.steinsandclocks.com/pages/contact

While Rheinfels is open year-round, that alone doesn't necessarily mean you should pay it a visit, especially if construction work is underway... IMO the far better castle experience anyway lies across the river and a little ways to the north at MARKSBURG Castle in Braubach. It's not a set of ruins but an intact medieaval castle that no invading horde ever managed to bring down. Hours through October (when Nutmeg will be there) are normal - 10 - 18:00. In November, when tourists are fewer, that changes to 11 - 16:00. Braubach is easy to reach - it's on the same east-bank railway route that is shared with Koblenz, Rüdesheim, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt., which are all connected by direct trains. If you happen to be in St Goar, like maybe after one of those October cruises, just take the ferry crossing to St Goarshausen and you can catch one of these trains to Braubach. Or you can end the cruise in St Goarshausen instead. The train ride is 22 minutes.

Marksburg website: https://www.marksburg.de/en/circuit/

BOPPARD is larger and busier than the other small Rhine towns and serves as a hub of sorts for locals in neighboring communities, so it remains a little busier in winter than the tourists-only towns. In October, it will still be somewhat lively. I would stay there in the off season if I did not want to be on one of the larger cities like Mainz or Koblenz. Boppard is about 10 train minutes north of St Goar.

"Leslie: It's my understanding that renovations at Burg Rheinfels will continue into 2028 - and that the grounds will remain open to visitors on a daily basis throughout the process.”

Russ: Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the chain link fence at the entrance to Burg Rheinfels with the sign saying it was closed for renovations. We were there on September 10, 2025 and noticed a lot of scaffolding holding up one side of the ruins. We attempted to walk around it and took pics from outside the fence but saw no other entrance that we might have missed nor anything about a private tour. We were disappointed to say the least but enjoyed the hike up there.

Thanks for reporting back here, Leslie.

I had a look at the Rheinfels page at the St. Goar TI office website just now. Although it is scheduled to be open year round, it did in fact shut down temporarily for 5 days in the 2nd week of September due to demolition work that made it unsafe for visitors: The following notice appears in red lettering:

Aufgrund des Gerüstabbaus im Rahmen der Sanierungsarbeiten bleiben die
Burg Rheinfels und das Museum vom 08.09.2025 bis 12.09.2025 für
Besucher aus Sicherheitsgründen geschlossen.

Why is this warning for early September still online in the first week of October? Can visitors actually depend on up-to-date online information? I suspect there may be additional days here and there in the next 3 years when Rheinfels might be shuttered due to unforeseen construction needs. IMHO, anyone interested in visiting Rheinfels over the next 3 years of construction should not rely on what's online but instead contact the TI office in advance to make sure Rheinfels will be open on the date of their visit:

[email protected]

Thanks for the update Russ and a good reminder to contact the TI office for updates. When visiting beware of falling rocks and debris at construction sites. Maybe they will loan hardhats to the visitors.

@Russ can you share the website for the cruiseline whose PDF schedule you included? i'm looking to do a cruise as a daytrip from Frankfurt 10/30 or 31st so this looks like it would work well. Thanks!

I assume you have checked the other thread you began. Feel free to repost or pm me with any questions.