Rhine Germany

Generally between Bingen and Rhens is the Rhine gorge area.

Have a look HERE to get oriented.

By car, Wiesbaden to Bonn, although there's a fairly unattractive industrial stretch immediately downstream of Koblenz. By boat, Rüdesheim to Koblenz. About the same by train.

"By boat, Rüdesheim to Koblenz."

As Tom indicates, it's a tad industrial in spots south of Koblenz, so don't bother cruising all the way to Koblenz - get off in Boppard or Braubach (Marksburg Castle) instead. Both are nice towns to visit or stay in, or you can hop on a train there to wherever else you're headed. From either town it's 10-15 minutes to Koblenz station by train if you have to go there anyway. Staying on the boat costs a good bit more and takes much longer, not only in terms of boat time but because the cruise dock in Koblenz is far from the station (long walk or take a bus.)

Thanks very much everyone. Keep any new ideas coming for me and others. There's no teacher like experience!

The Rhine is nice, but I liked a leisurely drive from Trier down the Mosselle(SP?) River to the Rhine better!

We just finished our stay on the Rhine in Bacharach,do the river from Boppard to Bacharach or to Rudesheim.
Mike

planning similar trip for June with 2 teens. Which castles from Bingen to Braubach are walkable (within 15 minutes) or easy bus/tram connection from the KD baot stops? also, if we have to pick 2 along the route, which should it be? thanks, Elaine

In my opinion, there are only two "castles" in the area worth seeing. Those are the Marksburg, in Braubach, and Rheinfels, in St. Goar. Marksburg is the only intact castle on the Rhein; Rheinfels is a ruin, but interesting. All the rest are 19th century reconstructions.

When I was in St. Goar, there was a trolley running from the market square, next to the K-D dock, up to the Rheinfels, but the walk is not too bad.

The walk up to the Marksburg is a bit more intimidating. It's shorter, but a little steeper to walk up the dirt path that starts in the town at the intersection of Nonnengasse and Hahnweg. According to Google Maps, that route is 1.1 km and could take 20 minutes to walk. There is a trolley (click on "approach") from the dock to the castle, but I understand you have to make arrangements ahead of time.

The walk up to the Marksburg is a bit more intimidating. It's shorter, but a little steeper to walk up the dirt path that starts in the town at the intersection of Nonnengasse and Hahnweg. According to Google Maps, that route is 1.1 km and could take 20 minutes to walk.

It took my 70 year old mother about 20 minutes, my dog and I did it in about 10. Depends on your level of fitness. Upon reaching the entrance, I was then more than a little annoyed to discover the castle parking lot that then-current Rick Steves Germany guidebook failed to mention. Last time I ever relied on at that book for any information.

Marksburg and Rheinfels are indeed your best bets.

Rheinfels Castle Express shuttle But teens should be able to get up that Rheinfels hill easily enough.

Boppard is a nice place to stay over - lots of hotels and restaurants, handsome old town. Check out the old folks doing the Klettersteig there. The chairlift ride there is a breathtaking. Marksburg is on the other side of the river, but Rheinfels is just south on the same side, just a few minutes by train; for Marksburg you can ferry over the Rhine from Boppard, walk into Filsen, catch a train and be in Braubach in just a few minutes.

I would second Russ's suggestion of Boppard. It's bigger than the other towns, with more lodging and restaurant options. I stayed there 5 nights in 2004. It's on the same side of the river as Bacharach and St. Goar and only a few minutes by train from them.

When I was there, I went to Braubach (Marksburg) using the route described by Russ (ferry across the Rhein, walk about 1 km to Filsen Bahnhof, 7 minute train to Braubach), but there are other options. You can take the K-D boat to Braubach (about ½ hr with the current, longer back), or you can take a train (MRB) to Koblenz and change to another train (VIA) to Braubach (about 45 minutes, total).

I stayed in a nice Privatzimmer near the train station, but there is a whole row of nice hotels facing the river, including a Best Western (Bellevue). I found my place on the Boppard website, accommodations page. It shows more than twice as many places (hotels and pensions) actually in Boppard as does a popular booking website, plus it shows vacation apartments.

thank you. We could stay in Boppard Best Western (Bellevue) or in Mainz at the Hilton. If we stay in Mainz, we could add Heidelberg as a day trip. I was worried about Boppard b/c hotel does not have A/C and others have said you can hear the trains all night long. We would probably have lunch/dinner in Boppard one day. Is Boppard worth it over Mainz as a base?

"...others have said you can hear the trains all night long."
Maybe. Boppard generally doesn't have much of this problem, at least not with the trains that run through Boppard. It's possible, if you must leave windows open at night, that at the Bellevue from a river-facing room, you might hear noise from the tracks across the river. It is possible in June to have a heat wave, and without a/c you might want to sleep with the windows open. A/C is somewhat scarce in this area as it is not often needed.

I suggest you look into other hotels in Boppard, St. Goar, Oberwesel and Bacharach where the reviews do NOT mention noise as a problem. There are some good hotels in these Rhine towns locations that shield them from train noise.

In Bacharach (a place famous for its train noise, at least at certain establishments built too close to the tracks) a good strategy for a quiet night is to book on Blücherstrasse, a street with several lodging options and perpendicular to the Rhine, one which leads up a small "Seitental" or side valley. Similarly, there are outlying places in other side valleys (Knab's Mühlenschenke Winery/Inn in the Gründelbach valley, for example) and in suburbs of these towns on the hillside and clifftop plateaus (like St. Goar-Werlau, St. Goar-Biebernhem, Boppard-Buchholz, Boppard-Weiler, Bacharach-Steeg) where you would be well away from train noise (but you'd want a car for some of these locations.)

You might check the top-rated Rheinhotel St. Goar to see if there are train noise complaints. St. Goar is only a few minutes from Boppard by train and also a good place to stay.

Bingen (where you probably want to start a river cruise) might have something for you too.

Rüdesheim, Braubach, and Kaub, all on the opposite river bank, would be better base towns for the Middle Rhine Valley than Mainz; screen these places for train noise too.

I like Mainz a lot but it makes for a longer trip to the MRV - especially starting from the Mainz Hilton (a long trek from the main train station in Mainz.) I'm sure you can find something in the MRV towns. If not I imagine the somewhat dull KOBLENZ will have something with A/C and would be closer than Mainz

In all fairness, the trains that go through Bacharach in the middle of the night are either freight trains or a few express trains, none of which stop at the Bacharach station. Local passenger trains stop running around midnight and don't start again until early morning (0500). The worst noise would be from the trains coming from Koblenz and stopping, with brakes screeching, in Bacharach.

In Boppard, the hotels are on the river front, more than a few blocks from the Boppard Hbf. I doubt that you would hear them much. In 2004, I stayed in a Privatezimmer a block up the hill from the station, and I barely heard the trains at night.

I've never spent the night in St. Goar, but here, also, the station is several blocks up the hill from most of the hotels.