Rhine River day cruise

The area between Bingen/Rüdesheim and Boppard is the most scenic. Travel north on the ship.
Almost all of the towns along the Rhine are scenic, St. Goar, Ober-Wesel, Eltville, Bacharach, Boppard, Lorch. Trains run up and down both sides of the Rhine.

Every time someone mentions a cruise on the Rhine River, I recall my sightseeing experiences there via fairly plain ferries not basking on luxurious cruise ships....it's just pleasant enough river transport in a gorgeous area.

I'm still looking for suggestions for best town to stay in while in area with regard to taking the Rhine River cruise in the most scenic area.

I'm still looking for suggestions for best town to stay in while in area with regard to taking the Rhine River cruise in the most scenic area.

St. Goar.

Why? Because whether you start your cruise in Bingen or Bacharach, you don't really want to come back beyond St. Goar. Make sure you start your trip with a train trip to the start of the cruise so you can take advantage of the 20% discount on the boat ticket by showing the train ticket.

That said, stay wherever you find accommodations you like and train to the cruise start. The trains along the Rhein are very convenient and connection times are short. Boppard has a row of higher end hotels, including a Best Western, facing the river across a treed park. St. Goar has a number of small hotels across the town square from the K-D dock. If I were staying in Bacharach, I would want to stay at Im Malerwinkel.

No matter which town you choose to stay in, you will need to use the train to either begin your river cruise or once you have ended your river cruise. So an important point would be want kind of town atmosphere you want, does it matter which part of the cruise you'll use the train or do want to be in the middle (requiring a train ride both directions).

In September we chose St. Goar as our base along the Rhine. We traveled by train to Bingen to begin the river cruise and got off in Boppard. Had dinner in Boppard and returned to St. Goar by train.
This June we are returning to the Rhine but for convenience to Frankfurt airport, we have chosen Mainz as our base. We intend to take the boat from Mainz and get off in St. Goar to tour Rheinfels Castle and have lunch. We'll return to Mainz via train that evening.

As for atmosphere of towns although we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in St. Goar we felt limited and it was a bit too sleepy for us. From what we saw, I felt both Bingen and Boppard had a little more life as well as offered more for our needs. St. Goar only had a tiny expensive grocery store, the only other one nearby was across the river. I know Bingen had more grocers and appeared to have more dining options. Boppard seemed bigger than St. Goar & seemed to offer more services as well.

You really can't go wrong with any of the quaint towns along the Rhein.

Make sure you have the right boat schedule. It changes to Low Season around the first week of October. You might consider how frequent and fast the trains are. You really do not need to do strategic hotel planning around the 1 to 2 hour boat ride from (say) Bingen to Boppard. As others noted, stay in a town you like. The train is at least four times as fast as the boat, even local trains. Do have small bills and change in case the train station is unattended and machine-tickets only. If, for some itinerary reason, you do not wish to sleep in one of the nice Rhine towns, it is entirely possible to make a half-day excursion with boat ride, and sleep elsewhere.

Some posters here have noted that you may wish to take the proximity of train and river noise into account when you select a hotel. Perhaps in October you can close the windows at night.

No matter which town you choose to stay in, you will need to use the
train to either begin your river cruise or once you have ended your
river cruise.

Well, not really. K-D offers a round-trip on the boats for not much more than one-way. For instance, Bingen to St. Goar costs 19,80€; Bingen to St. Goar to Bingen is only 22,40€. The return trip costs 2,60€, less than the train back to Bingen. But it not the cost, it's the time. Bingen to St. Goar takes 1h25, St. Goar to Binen takes 2h40, almost twice as long and seeing the same scenery you saw going down the river. If all you do in St. Goar is wait for the boat back, you'll still spend 4½ hours.

Im voting for St. Goar as well. I loved the location of it- in the middle of all those great towns- not too big and not too small. A great point to catch a cruise going either direction. We stayed at the Hotel Am Markt and loved it. Got a river view room. It was wonderful just being able to look out the window at all the boats and castles. We took our bikes on the cruise and just biked back after we went one direction. It worked out fantastic. Didn't have to take a train at all.

St. Goar is the most convenient place for train outings and cruises.

"We only have one night in area."

Now that's an error I'd fix right awy. The Rhine/Mosel is one of Germany's most scenic and interesting regions. Sadly, this Rick Steves travel skills video appears to endorse the idea that you can spend only one night in St. Goar, take a cruise between St. Goar and Bacharach, and check the Rhine off your list. I see LOTS of itineraries on this forum that do just that...

We stayed in Bacharach after a direct flight from the states. It was easy and quick to get here by train. It was a lovely little place with a grocery store. We stayed at Pension Lettie and had a wonderful time. She was a great hostess. There was no noise from the street or trains. When we return, we will stay with her again. We took the cruise to St. Goar for Rhinefels and then returned. The train is at one end of town and the boat dock is about a half mile away. A nice pleasant walk. You can take the river North which is down stream and the train back.

The cruise: A variety of suggestions and personal experiences have been put forth. No matter what you choose, you'll probably enjoy it. But here are a few pointers that I think will probably enhance your experience...

• As Lee suggests, be sure to cruise from south to north (with the current.) Cruising in the opposite direction hits the same scenery but wastes a lot more time.
• If pressed for time, then be sure you cover at a bare minimum the Bacharach-St. Goar segment (45 min., €13.60 for the standard fare.)
• For a longer cruise, board in Bingen. IMO Bingen-St. Goar (1.5 hours, €19.80) is just about perfect - it covers twice as many kilometers and yields a bigger "scenery bang" for your buck. Here's a map from one of the cruise companies. The Bingen-St. Goar segment is in high demand, and for good reason - that's why KD provides more boats per day starting from this part of the river. Yes, St. Goar, like every other Rhine town, is "a great point to catch a cruise going either direction", but starting a cruise there either wastes time (if southbound) or misses the most intensely scenic part (if northbound.)
• Consider using the cruise to reach St. Goar in the first place. Wouldn't you rather cruise the Rhine as a castle-spotting virgin? If you are coming to the Middle Rhine by train from the south (from FRA for example) then staying on the train to St. Goar will "spoil" your cruise experience a little - the train passes through the most scenic part right next to the river. So rather than stay on until St. Goar (or other town to the north) you can just hop off in Bingen with your bags, walk to the dock, and catch a northbound boat to St. Goar. Besides the visual experience, this also saves you an additional train trip later to return through the Bingen-St. Goar segment to the Bingen boat dock. Details: 1.) Remember to show your train ticket or rail pass at the KD kiosk for the cruise discount (so your trip to St. Goar is only about €16.) 2.) Pack as Rick Steves suggests, and the short walk to the KD dock will seem even shorter. 3.) If you end up having to wait in Bingen for the next boat for whatever reason, the river promenade there is a great place for a meal or some refreshments.
• If your time is shorter than short... if the cruise really is the only thing you have time for - stay in Bingen. The NH Bingen is right on the river promenade near the docks. Cruise north to St. Goar, take the train back.
  

csu- Rick's update says Lettie's has closed

My favorite town on the Rhine is Eltville. It is far down on the right side of the river, (a little bit south of Rüdesheim) but there is no road or train track between the river promenade and the water. No trains to bother you in your hotel, lots of wineries, lovely restaurants, a castle moat and tower and plenty of winding streets with half-timbered houses. One ship a day leaves here in the morning, so you could see all of the castles with out missing any of them.
There are some very nice hotels and pensions here.

It (Eltville] is far down on the right side of the river, (a little bit south of
Rüdesheim)

I hate to correct someone who lives in Germany on German geography, but people should have a good understanding of where Eltville is. It is east and a little north of Rüdesheim. It's up the river from Rüdesheim, so you cruise a longer stretch of the Rhein then starting in Rüdesheim. It's next to Wiesbaden and almost across the river from Mainz.

When the KD boats are operating, there is one boat a day, starting at Mainz and stopping at Eltville at 9:15. During the height of the season (July and August) there is a second boat leaving Mainz and stopping at Eltville at 10:15.

Thanks for the good information.

If we are planning taking a day cruise on 10/19 , that is low season.
How I read K-D schedule there are if i was to take the cruise from Bingen to Koblenz there are 2 cruises available 0930-1310 and 1430-1810. How do people hope on and off and various towns and sights along Rhine?

Also can't find any info on how much a train ride would be Koblenz back to Bingen. Are trains pass available for hop on and back on or would we have to pay new fare every time we got off and wanted to get back on?

You do not use the ship as a hop on hop off form of transport. They don't come by often enough. You ride the ship all the way to your end destination and then take the train back. You use the train to stop at towns.

Train schedules and prices can be found here:
www.rmv.de
Switch it into English.

"If we are planning taking a day cruise on 10/19 , that is low season.
How I read K-D schedule there are if i was to take the cruise from Bingen to Koblenz there are 2 cruises available 0930-1310 and 1430-1810. How do people hope on and off and various towns and sights alone Rhine?"

You can't hop off and on easily. Even in high season there are only 5 boats per day, and that's only as far as Boppard.

I suggest you take the train to Bingen then cruise back to your base town and stay on the boat. So if you stay in St. Goar...
1.) catch a train in the direction of Bingen, 2.) Stop over by train in Oberwesel and/or Bacharach ( There are DOZENS of trains every day running every hour or better,) 3.) continue south by train to Bingen, 4.) Cruise back to St. Goar.

You can also cruise a little further to Boppard if you like (cost is a little more,) then catch a train back to St. Goar if staying there (or stay in Boppard instead.)

It is not a very good idea IMO to cruise all the way to Koblenz. The scenery as you approach Koblenz isn't all that great, and the trip takes more time and costs more. And the KD dock is a long walk from Koblenz station.

If you want to visit Koblenz or Braubach or Boppard or other places north of St. Goar, I'd use the train.

The Rheinland-Pfalz / Rhineland-Palatinate Ticket is a day pass good on all trains (and buses) in this area and more. A pass for two adults can be bought at any station ticket machine and costs €29. Use it all day long on any of the local/regional trains (after 9 am weekdays) and hop off/on all you like.

Thanks again for good information

RMV is a Verkehrsverbund (transit disctrict) and, although it's site will show schedules at least to Koblenz, it only shows fares from inside the RMV (which does not include Mainz) down to Bacharach. For schedules and fares from Frankfurt or Mainz to left bahn towns down the river beyond Bacharach (Oberwesel, St. Goar, Koblenz, et al), use the Bahn website, RMV does show fares and sell tickets for towns on the right bank of the Rhein to below Rüdesheim to Lorchhausen, but not to Kaub or St. Goarshausen.

Mainz to Bacharach on the left bank of the Rhein (including Bingen) is actually part of another Verkehrsverbund, the RNN or Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkersverbund, but in a part of RNN to which RMV is permitted to sell tickets, as long as the trip starts in the RMV. Thus the RMV will show fares from Frankfurt Flughafen to Bacharach.

Towns on the Rhein below Bacharach down almost to Bonn and up the Mosel to Bullay are in yet another Verkehrsberbund, VRM or Verkehrsverbund-Rhein-Mosel. Here is their website. Use them for fares from, say, St. Goar to Koblenz or Braubach to St. Goarshausen.

The Bahn does not sell tickets online or show fares for regional train travel within a Verkehrsverbund or within an area where tickets are sold by the Verkehrverbund. That's why if you put in Frankfurt Hbf to Bacharach on the Bahn website it will say, "fares not available". But for trains of the Bahn (ICE, IC, EC) the Bahn site will show fares, even for connections with a Verkehrsverbund.

Most of this area, from Mainz down the river almost to Bonn is part of the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. A Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket covers all of it. The short stretch of track on the right bank between Kaub and Wiesbaden is outside Rheinland-Pfalz, but covered by the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket.

Simple, huh?