We'd like to travel up the Rhein when traveling from nurnburg to Cologne. What route is best? Is it a one day trip? Longer? Shorter? We won't be making many (if any) stops. Out travel is Nov/dec and most castles are closed. But we'd love to experience the area by train.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19099 posts
Is it a one day trip? Longer? Shorter?
What's shorter than a one day trip? A no day trip. "Hey, Scotty. Beam me to Cologne."
Are you willing to spend more to take a fast train to Mainz. There are regional trains at least hourly down the Rhein (the Rhein flows to the northwest, down to the Netherlands) from Mainz to Cologne, and there are a few long distance trains per day along the same route.
If you use the stopover function on the Bahn website and specify Koblenz (no stopover time needed), the website should show you a route from Nürnberg that includes the Rhein segment.
Posted by
Paradise
6658 posts
"Out travel is Nov/dec and most castles are closed. But we'd love to experience the area by train."
Marksburg Castle in Braubach is not - and it offers the best castle tour in the Middle Rhine Valley. Plan to arrive between 11 and 4 when they're open - and schedule a stopover in Braubach instead of Koblenz that specifies 3-4 hours. Braubach is a gorgeous old-world town worth a stroll and a meal in between your train rides. You can only check fares 91 days in advance. I just checked Sept. 29 as a sample date and pulled up a E29 fare for Nuremberg (8:00)-Cologne(18:42) with a 4:19 hour stopover in Braubach (starting at 12:53.) You can expect fares and schedules to be similar for your travel dates.
Marksburg: http://www.marksburg.de/en/
Braubach's old town: http://djtravel.homestead.com/files/braubach_-_hotel_1610.jpg
You won't find lockers at Braubach station. But the TI office will hold your bags while you're in town. It's open M-F 9:30-17:00 and Sa 9:30-13:30. So visit on a weekday if possible.
Or you could just travel to Braubach, drop bags at a hotel in town and plan to spend the night there - see the castle and town... then catch a train to Cologne early the next morning. In this case you could specify a much longer stopover in Braubach and do the 2-day travel sequence on a single ticket - probably for the same price. I see a E29 fare for the same trip with a 19:19 stopover in Braubach, arriving 9:05 the next day in Cologne, for my sample date.