Rhine river itinerary help

If you would like to see more of the Rhine, I would train a bit farther than just Bacharach. That is such a tiny piece of the river between those 2 towns, that there is no point in even taking a ship between them.

Many people start by training to Rüdesheim or Bingen, cruise on the ship to St. Goar, explore Burg Rhinefels, then use the train to go to Bacharach. There is a ferry that runs between St. Goar and St. Goarshausen and you can take the train then to Braubach from St. Goarshausen. Train back to Bonn from Braubach, though you will probably have to change trains in Koblenz.

A better alternative (if the ships are running here that late in Oct. ) is to take the ship from Bingen (or Rüdesheim) all the way to Braubach explore Marksburg, train to St. Goarshausen, ferry across to St. Goar, train to Bacharach, then train back to Bonn. You will probably have to walk up to the Marksburg, so add in time for doing this. Takes at least 20 min. to go up, 10 to come down.

Are you traveling alone or with others? Will this be on a weekday, or weekend? Last K-D boat will be Oct 25.

I think this is doable. I suggest getting an early start. You can take the MRB train at 6:27 and get to Bacharach at 8:29. The KD boat leaves at 10:15, Giving you about 1 1/2 hours to see Bacharach and time to walk to the dock (15 min). That will get you to St Goar by 10:55. You'll have about 3 hours to see Rheinfels and walk to the cross-Rhine ferry to St Goarshausen. The VIA train leaves at 14:32 and gets to Braubach at 14:53, so you will have the next couple of hours to see Marksburg. The return train is at 17:54 at gets you back to Bonn by 18:59.

If you do this on a weekday, you will need to buy a 22.10 euro ticket to Bacharach, then buy a 24 euro Rheinland-Pfalz ticket for the rest of the train journeys including the cross-Rhine ferry and a discount for the K-D boat trip. You will also need a 3.80 ticket to cover the portion from Oberwinter to Bonn, since that is in Nordrhein-Westfalen.

On a weekend, you don't need to buy the 22.10 ticket, since you can travel all day on the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket, but you will need an extra 3.80 ticket to cover Bonn to Oberwinter.

If more than one person, the price will go down per person, because you can add an extra person on the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket for just 4 euro.

For information on the Marksburg (Braubach) go to this page and click on the "Information" link. Entrance to the Marksburg is by guided tour only. English tours during the summer season (which they say is until Nov. 1) are at 4:00 PM, so Sam's schedule would work for the Marksburg.

According to the K-D schedule for off-season (Nebensaison), they run until October 25, not until the end of October.

I would agree with Sam, the most interesting stretch of the Rhein is between Bacharach and St. Goar, with the Pfalzgrafenstein (mid-river toll castle) and the Lorelei. With your tight schedule, I'd limit the boat trip to that part. I didn't find the Rhein above Bacharach (to Bingen) to be that interesting, and I found the boat to be excruciatingly slow. You can see both sides between St. Goar to Braubach from the train.

"You will also need a 3.80 ticket to cover the portion from Oberwinter to Bonn, since that is in Nordrhein-Westfalen."

You don't need an extra ticket to get to Bonn on the way back. The Rheinland-Pfalz ticket is good all the way to Bonn. The route to Bonn is named as eligible at this page.

6:27 a.m. is pretty early. I'd do the following trip instead, which gets you out of Bonn at 8:57 - it includes a cruise on the scenic part from Bingen to Bacharach as well as Bacharach to St. Goar (actually you'll board in Rüdesheim across the river from Bingen.) Jo writes, "If you would like to see more of the Rhine, I would train a bit farther than just Bacharach. That is such a tiny piece of the river between those 2 towns..." Jo's right. You probably don't want to miss the castles at that end, or Rheinstein, or any of the other castles, and you don't have to:

2 of the castles Near Rüdesheim

Lv Bonn 8:57, arrive Braubach 10:06, walk up to and see Marksburg. Grab lunch in Braubach's attractive old town. Train south at 13:07 to Rüdesheim (13:51) for the 14:15 boat north. Arrive St. Goar at 15:55, scurry up to see Rheinfels. Train from St. Goar at 17:19 to Bacharach (17:29.) Return to Bonn whenever you're ready.

Since you're leaving only 3 minutes before 9 am, you can use the R-P ticket daypass for almost everything - On top of the €24 for the R-P ticket, you'll only need a VRS train ticket for Bonn to Bonn-Bad Godesberg (where you pass through AFTER 9 am) which shouldn't be more than a couple of Euros.

And you can have a decent breakfast in Bonn.

NOTE: Bingen-Rüdesheimer also does a cruise from R'heim to St. Goar and operates until NOVEMBER 1 - just in case you're there at the VERY end of October. You would need to leave Braubach at 12:37 for Rüdesheim to make this boat.

Thanks Russ, I was looking all over for the R-P gesammtnetzplan and couldn't locate it.