We want to take a Rhine cruise after Rothenburg ob der Tauber and will take the train. Since we'll have our luggage with us on the train, what's the best way to plan a Rhine cruise and drop the luggage off somewhere so we can get on and off the ship at stops? I was thinking of taking the train to Rudesheim and booking a hotel there. Drop the luggage off at the hotel, then take the cruise down to St. Goar? (or other suggestions for where to end it?) and getting off at Bacharach and St. Goar, then take the train back to Rudesheim for the night. Is that doable? Or we can book a hotel in Rudesheim for 2 nights (one on the day of the train journey and the other on the day of the cruise). We will check out of our hotel in Rothenburg on August 8th, and have to be in Frankfurt in the evening of August 10th. Any help would be greatly appreciated since the Rhine cruise is what my husband is really looking forward to. Thank you.
Posted by
Green Bay
20158 posts
Most hotels will store your bags in the morning if you have a reservation for that evening.
Keep in mind that it will take 4 hours to get from Rothenburg to Ruedesheim. So if you left at 7:00 am, you would get to Ruedesheim about 11 am, with barely enough time to get to the dock for the 11:15 boat, let alone time to check in at a hotel and store your bags. There are only 2 more boats schedule for the day at 2:15 pm and 4:15 pm.
If you took the 2:15 departure, you would have time to get to Bacharach for 2 hours, then getting the last boat to St Goar. There you would need to take the ferry across to St Goarshausen and get a VIA train back to Ruedesheim on that side of the river. With this plan you could leave Rothenburg at 9 am and get to Ruedesheim at 1 pm with time to check in and get to the dock by 2:15 pm.
What is going on in Frankfurt that you have to be there in the evening? If flying out the next morning, you can get to the airport in the morning from Ruedesheim in 1 hour and 21 minutes.
Posted by
Paradise
6658 posts
"I was thinking of taking the train to Rudesheim..."
That would be at least 4 separate trains. R'heim is at the end of a trunk-line railway.
"...and booking a hotel there. Drop the luggage off at the hotel, then take the cruise down to St. Goar? (or other suggestions for where to end it?) and getting off at Bacharach and St. Goar, then take the train back to Rudesheim for the night."
Thousands of folks before you have had this Rothenburg-Rhine logistics dilemma - they make a 4-hour train trip on 4 different trains, then they have plans for more trains, and boats as well, on the same day.
An itinerary fix is probably in order...
- If you have more than one night for Rothenburg, you can steal the night of August 7 (and possibly some of the day) for a brief visit and an overnight stay somewhere near the station in Würzburg, a handsome Romantic Road city to the north of R'burg with excellent train connections.
World Heritage status Residenz (palace)
Leave Würzburg the next morning after a nice breakfast at 8:26 for the Rhine. With only 1 change of train you can be in Bingen at 10:59 at the Bingen Rhein Stadt station, perfect timing for the 11:30 cruise (same boat that leaves Rüdesheim at 11:15. If you take the train to R'hein instead, you arrive at 11:04 - with no time to board - which is part of the reason R'heim isn't a great choice.)
Once in Bingen just walk to the KD dock with your bags and get your tickets. The cruise to St. Goar gets you there at 12:55. Just stay on the boat and enjoy the cruise - no sense hopping off with your bags in Bacharach on this day. Once the cruise is over, you don't need to take another train anywhere else. St. Goar can be your home base. Check into your St. Goar hotel, and enjoy a tour of Rheinfels Castle that afternoon. Relax, have a nice meal, enjoy the views from the waterfront or from the clifftop terrace at the hotel next to the castle.
St. Goar has an ideal and scenic location in the geographic center of the Middle Rhine Valley (more scenic than Rüdesheim and far less trampled by tourists, which you will already have experienced en masse in Rothenburg.) So on August 9 and 10, it will be very easy to do outings. You could spend the 9th visiting Rüdesheim and Braubach (Marksburg Castle) on the east bank (just use the St. Goar ferry crossing to board trains over there.) On the 10th, you can take the train south to Bacharach (only 10 minutes) and Oberwesel (only 5 minute, in between St. Goar and Bacharach) or Boppard (12 minutes north of St. Goar.) All 3 towns are worthwhile. You left your bags at your St. Goar hotel front desk - so stop by there for them before you proceed to FRA airport on the evening of the 10th.
The train and boat schedules may change for your dates but they are normally very similar from year to year. Check next August's schedule of course once it comes out before finalizing your plans.