Rhine Cruise suggestions

"I am interested in travelling from Frankfurt to either Rudesheim, Bingen, or Bacharach, and then take a K-D cruise up to St Goar, and then even take the boat back as we do have the full day. "

Yes - take the train from Frankfurt to Bingen and board there. Ruedesheim will work as well - the boat leaves R'heim 15 minutes prior to its departure from Bingen. But because R'heim is on the opposite river bank, your trains are different and arrival times don't coincide neatly with cruise boat departures - you'll have an hour layover (or you can spend an hour or 2 hours or whatever seeing R'heim prior to your cruise.)

The best scenery is between Bingen and St. Goar (or go a little further to Boppard.) This stretch takes 1.5 hours. Map of scenic area: http://www.bingen-ruedesheimer.com/images/map/rhine-valley290.jpg

You can start in Bacharach but you'll skip half the good part if you do.

Because it takes hours 2.7 hours to return by boat from St. Goar to Bingen (it's very slow in that direction - strong current) and because it takes you through the same scenery you just saw on your way north, I'd advise against a return trip by boat. Take the train instead - just 25 minutes to Bingen. The supplement for the round trip by boat is only E2.60; the train will cost E6.20 but you will get a cruise fare discount of 20% at the KD dock (about -E4.00) if you show your Frankfurt-Bingen train ticket at the KD kiosk - so the train vs. boat return trip is a financial "wash."

But the main advantage of the train is that it saves you 2 hours that you can spend somewhere else. A lot of people seem to think the only thing to do in the UNESCO World Heritage Middle Rhine Valley is to ride the boat, but that's a serious misconception. There's Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar. Or you can break up your 25-minute train trip back to Bingen with a 1-2-hour stopover in Oberwesel, or Bacharach, both fine old-world towns with nice buildings, wineries, and more that you can explore on foot. Oberwesel has a nice town wall with a trail that takes you past all the old towers:

http://www.oberwesel.de/en/wandern0/stadtmauerrundweg/

As far as Rüdesheim vs Bingen are concerned, they are on opposite sides of the river and the boat goes to each place before heading down the river to St. Goar. So, to me, they are essentially equivalent. However, you might want to spend a little time visiting Rüdesheim before the boat trip. I don't think there is much to see close to the train station in Bingen, so I would tend to Rüdesheim. If you don't plan on seeing Rüdesheim, go from Bingen, because the boat leaves Rüdesheim 15 minutes earlier and just goes across the river to Bingen.

However, the boat moves so slowly, even with the current (Bingen to St. Goar, 1h25m), that I found the boat trip boring. I'd start in Bacharach, where the trip to St. Goar takes only 40 minutes, and, I think, the most interesting sights (Pfalzgrafenstein and the Lorelei) are in the segment.

My advice would be to get off at St. Goarshausen and take the train down that side of the Rhein to Braubach and see the Marksburg, the only Rhein castle not destroyed. After the Marksburg, come back up to St. Goarshausen, take the ferry across the river to St. Goar, and visit the ruins of Rheinfels before taking the train from St. Goar back to Frankfurt.

Thanks so much for the insights - exactly what I was looking for. One final question - is it recommended to purchase tickets for the train and boat trip in advance, or just buy the train ticket at the main train station in Frankfurt and the boat ticket in Bingen when we get there? I like the idea of taking the train back based on your advice - can the 1 way ticket from St Goar to Bingen include a 1 -2 hour stopover (hop-on/hop off) in Bacharach or do I need to buy 2 separate tickets?
Sorry - new traveler and have not booked tickets before.

Always astonished that anyone can find any part of the Rhine gorge boring. How very sad. Castles, vineyards, barges, water birds, clouds, shadows from the sun, mountains, small towns, all passing before your eyes.

If you want to match up the train and ship times, ride one stop past Rüdesheim to Assmanshausen. You can easily catch your ship with time to spare. Have done this lots of times. Dock is easy to find too. Alternative is to plan on walking around Rüdesheim for 45-50 min. after you get off of the train while waiting on the next ship. Last one is 11:15 and then you have to wait until 14:15 I believe.

Boat and train tickets are separate tickets.

There's no need to buy the boat ticket in advance. It's about E20 without the discount for Bingen or R'heim to St. Goar or St. Goarshausen, about E16 with the discount (which you get by showing your train ticket you bought back in Frankfurt.)

The train tickets: What follows is complex... and your price depends on where you're traveling to, and when. Below are specifics for the train to Bingen, then the return train from St. Goar, all by local/regional train... No need to advance-purchase any of these train tickets either. (Local/regional trains do not sell out, and there's no price advantage for early purchase either.) (Note: I've edited some info below from a previous version.)

Standard fares on weekdays for travel at any hour: you need 2 separate tickets for the best deal... at Frankfurt station buy a RMV group day ticket for up to 5 persons from a ticket machine (good for round-trip ticket for Frankfurt-Bingen (RMV fare E34.50) PLUS another standard one-way DB ticket for St. Goar to Bingen so that you can get back (E12.40/2 adults, buy at Frankfurt or St. Goar station - yes, stop over with this ticket at will.) Total, E46.90. Cruising to Boppard would mean a longer train ride back and an additional E8/2- so E54.90 total.

On Sat or Sun you can save with the Weekend ticket day pass (E44/2, valid throughout Germany, travel at any hour.) This would be the only ticket you'd need for trains that day.

If you were to cruise further than Boppard (like to Braubach or Koblenz) on a weekday, there are other strategies for saving some $ that involve regional day passes like the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket (E29/2 for travel north of Mainz, which you pass through or stop in on the way to Bingen.) Buy this R-P ticket to travel from Mainz onward to Bingen, and later from Braubach or Koblenz back to Mainz. You'll also need an RMV group day ticket, but this time only from Frankfurt to Mainz (and back,) which costs E28; total is E57.) (Note that the R-P ticket day pass is valid at any hour on weekends but only valid after 9 am on weekdays - so your train needs to pass through or leave Mainz AFTER 9 am.)

Train schedules: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
Specify "only local transport" to find local/regional trains for the above tickets.

Main station in Frankfurt - use this name: Frankfurt(Main)Hbf

I'm also of the mind that 1.5 hours isn't too long for a Rhine cruise. That said, I get a bit antsy after sitting anywhere for more than 2 hours myself...

This is amazing. Thanks for the replies. I am amazed at the level of detail of suggestions and recommendations you have provided. I posted a question in hopes of receiving general suggestions but didn't expect responses anywhere near as thorough as what you have provided (Russ and Lee - thank you). Thanks so much - this is one of several stops along a 3 week initial visit to Europe and the advice from this forum has been so very encouraging!

Don't know what your dates in August are, but check this website for the various fireworks on the Rhine events.

http://www.firework.rhine-river.com/

BTW, I think lee's tip on Marksburg is an excellent suggestion if you have the time -one of Germany's top castle tours, and the only intact medieval castle on the Rhine that is open for tours - and Braubach is a good substitute for stopping in Bacharach or Oberwesel, if you need to drop something.

But you don't have to cruise all the way to Braubach for Marksburg. The RMV + Rheinland-Pfalz ticket strategy I gave you previously (E57 total) will work for you if you cruise only as far north as St. Goar and St. Goarshausen and do as Lee suggests - take the train to Braubach for a tour of Marksburg Castle - then later, the train back to Frankfurt. In this case, if you were to just walk up to a ticket machine and buy standard fares for two for your 3 train legs (Frankfurt - Bingen, St. Goarshausen - Braubach, and Braubach back to Frankfurt) you would need to buy 3 tickets for a total to E85+. The R-P strategy would also be a bit cheaper than the weekday/any hour strategy - the RMV group day ticket (E34.50) plus standard fares for St. Goarshausen-Braubach (E9.40) plus Braubach back to the RMV zone (E17 - total around E61.)

Thanks for the advice on the train tickets as well. We will be doing the day trip on a Sunday so sounds like getting a weekend day ticket for E44/2 would work best, and allow us doing the multiple stops (Frankfurt - Bingen, St Gaurshausen - Braubach to see the Marksburg, Braubach to St Goar and then back to Frankfurt.) and it looks like the train follows the Rhine pretty closely so the sights would be nice from either side.

Everything said above is spot on. A small bit of advice based on my own recent experience on this part of the Rhine. First, download the app for RMV so you can make sure you catch the correct train - the local whistle stop ones are yellow and white - and that it stops at the town you want. I inadvertently got on one of the "fast" trains (they're red) that flew right past St. Goar (and everything else). An adventure, but you won't have time for that.

Second, there are only a few English tours per day at the Marksburg. But you can always join a German tour - just pay a 5E deposit for a paper guide in English (you get your cash back when you return the book). The castle is spectacular even if you don't get the tour guide's jokes.