Rhine and Mosel by train

I would assume the river cruise you want is between Bacharach and St. Goar (the most interesting part of the Rhein). The boat goes under the Lorelei and past the mid-river toll castle, Pfalzgrafenstein. Unless you really like spending a lot of time on a boat, go from Bacharach to St. Goar, with the current. It takes 40 minute, which is enough time to see everything, versus 70 minutes the other way.

My favorite Rhein castles are the ruins of Rheinfels at St. Goar and the Marksburg, at Braubach. Boppard is well situated for trips to Bacharach and St. Goar and Braubach, and to Koblenz. It's about half way between Bacharach and Koblenz. To go to Braubach from Boppard, take the ferry across the Rhein and walk about 1 km to the train stop in Filsen. It takes about 20 minutes by train from there to Braubach. You can also take the K-D boat from Boppard to Braubach or trains via Koblenz.

In late May, on weekends, there are buses from Hatzenport Bahnhof (about a half hour from Koblenz Hbf on the Mosel) to the bus stop above Burg Eltz. Buses leave Hatzenport at 9:19 and 11:19. The trip takes 17 minutes. Buses leave Burg Eltz at 12:15, 16:15, and 18:15. The trip back to Hatzenport takes 14 minutes.

According to the Bahn schedule page, you can leave Boppard at 7:45 or 9:51 and get to Hatzenport in time to catch one of the morning buses.

Pam,

I've used Bacharach as a home base for the activities you listed, and that worked well. It's also a good choice in terms of transportation from the airport, as the trip only takes about an hour if you can connect with one of the direct trains. One important point to note is that there are two rail stations at Frankfurt airport, a Fernbahnhof (long distance trains) and a Regionalbahnhof (local trains). You will most likely be using the Regional station.

I've done a day trip to Burg Eltz from Bacharach and it wasn't difficult at all, however the last segment from Moselkern to the Castle was a bit "challenging" as I didnt' want to do the hike. In my case, an expensive Taxi ride was necessary but my focus was to achieve my goal so I tolerated the cost.

The rail trip from Bacharach to Moselkern will take about 1H:20M, with one change in Koblenz. When you arrive at either Moselkern or one of the other nearby stations, you can either make the hike or take the BurgenBus which runs from May to October. If you make the hike, you'll arrive in the valley below the Castle and then cross a bridge over a small meandering stream and climb a bunch of stairs to reach the entrance. As I recall, there's a beer garden at the entrance so you can get a "cool one" to recover from your arduous hike.

That's the bus, the BurgenBus, to which I was referring. It runs only on weekends.

If one stays in Boppard, they are inside the VRM (Verkehrsverbund-Rhein-Mosel), the transit district for everything on the Rhein between Oberwesel and the border between Rheinland-Pfalz and NordRhein-Westfalen (almost to Bonn), and up the Mosel beyond Cochem to Bullay. For 22,10€ you can buy a Minigruppenkarte for up to 5 people, which will give you unlimited travel on all conveyance of the VRM for the entire day. That would cover your round-trip train to Hatzenport as well as the bus to/from Burg Eltz. But Bacharach is outside the VRM, so it would take a Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket, for 29€ for the same coverage from Bacharach. Both passes cover the bus.

Like Bacharach, Boppard also has direct RE service to Frankfurt (Flughafen and Hbf).

K-D has structured their fares so that the one-way fare is almost as much as a round-trip fare, and the difference is less than the cost of a Bahn ticket, one way. For instance, St. Goar to Bacharach, a one-way K-D ticket is 12,80€/P, while round-trip on the boat is 15,40€/P. That's only 2,60€/P more, while a train between St. Goar and Bacharach is 3,80€/P. But I don't think going back on the boat would be worth the 1,20€/P savings, as the boat trip is sooooo slow and you are just re-seeing what you've already seen. But fortunately, if you go to one end of the trip on the train, by showing your rail ticket you can get a 20% discount on the boat fare. So rail first, then the boat, will be the least expensive, and fastest, way.

Pam: Bacharach is a lovely town but I routinely recommend Boppard instead for anyone doing train outings to the Mosel and a Rhine cruise.

• Boppard is a handsome larger town with a little more to see and do than Bacharach (developed river promenade, chair lift ride to Gedeonseck cafe and Roman ruins for example) and a greater selection of restaurants and rooms. Boppard's hotels also have fewer problems with train noise than Bacharach.

• Your long train outing (Burg Eltz) can be done each way in less than 1 hour from Boppard; if you stay in Bacharach it's 1:20 to Moselkern (which of course adds 40 minutes to the basic train journeys that day.)

• When you leave your Boppard hotel to do your cruise, you take one train south from Boppard station (though possibly with a stopover in St. Goar, Oberwesel, or Bacharach) then one boat back north (as Lee wisely recommends) to Boppard, and you're "home." (And as Lee points out, you also get a 20% cruise discount if you show the valid train ticket at the KD cruise kiosk.) If your base is Bacharach, it's possible to start a northbound cruise north from there (yes, north is always best) to St. Goar and take one train back to Bacharach, but you lose the discount AND, more importantly, boarding in Bacharach means you miss out on some significant river scenery. Unless you're in a really big hurry, you should add the segment south of Bacharach - and probably the one north of St. Goar as well.

Think of the scenic Rhine cruise as 3 segments roughly equal in length. From south to north they are...

Bingen - Bacharach
Bacharach - St. Goar
St. Goar - Boppard

• "Core" cruise: Bacharach-St. Goar (as Lee suggests) = only 40 minutes, 13 km of excellent scenery, €12.80. (If you had only 2-4 hours to spend on the Rhine, this would be your cruise.)
• Bingen-Bacharach (south of the core cruise) = 45 minutes, 15 km of excellent scenery (add this segment for €6.60 additional
• St. Goar-Boppard (north of the core cruise) = 55 minutes, 14km of very good scenery (add this segment for €5.60 additional)

(Prices above before discount)

Starting the cruise in Bacharach means you'll miss out on scenery like THIS (Rheinstein castle, south of Bacharach near Bingen) and THIS (also near Bingen.)

So my cruise tip for someone like you who will be in the area for a few days is to enjoy a longer cruise. Take one train from Boppard to Bingen (maybe with a stopover or two as suggested above) and board the boat there; get off either in St. Goar (then train to Boppard) or stay on the boat all the way back to Boppard. (Either cruise would be possible from Bacharach but to return to Bacharach you would have to take at least two trains that day - one before the cruise and one after.)

About the outing to Burg Eltz:

The hike is wonderful and time consuming but not difficult (my 75-year-old in-laws managed fine.)
HERE'S A GOOD GUIDE.

COCHEM is an enchanting town not far from Moselkern that can be visited in connection with a visit to Eltz or on a separate day trip.