Rhine valley itinerary and river cruise - help needed

Part of the issue is that most of the routes stop at St Goar/St Goarhausen, whether you are going Upriver (South) or downriver (North), you really can not go directly from Bacharach to Boppard on the same boat in early April

Personally, I would take the train up to Bingen, and go down river, it moves faster, the boat a bit quieter. You can get off at St Goar and wait for the boat coming upriver to head back down river, about 30-60 minutes later and get to Boppard. Note: You need to be looking at the Low Season schedule.

If time is limited, do St. Goar to Boppard one day, Bingen (or Bacharach) to St. Goar the next.

Sounds very nice. In Bacharach, we've eaten at the Altes Haus restaurant, oldest building in town, Rudesheim is full of things to see, but much more touristy. They do have a nice chairlift, and then a nice walk down to Assmannhausen. And a Kathi Wolfahrt store.

Also, be sure to install the DB Navigator app and get familiar with it. And the KD Line timetable for that time of year. If you take boats, better to go downriver rather than up river.

Cruise: you will have time for this on April 9.

• See Oberwesel first, Bacharach 2nd.

• After Bacharach, take the train to Bingen Rhein Stadt station.

• Board the 16:30 boat which travels all the way to Boppard (ar. 18:50.)

On this day your VRM Guest Card will cover the train trip as far as Oberwesel, so that morning, pick up a ticket at Boppard station for Oberwesel > Bingen Rhein Stadt. Like your day pass, this ticket can be used at any hour you like on any train that day for this track segment. Ride to Bacharach, hop off, see town, hop back on for Bingen Rhein Stadt.

Board the 16:30 boat which travels all the way to Boppard (ar. 18:50.)

The Goethe, that makes the run all the way to Boppard, doesn't start running until April 25th. The last boat leaves Bingen at 14:15, ends at St Goarhausen, but you can catch the last boat going down river about an hour later, getting to Boppard at 18:30.

The Goethe, that makes the run all the way to Boppard, doesn't start running until April 25th. The last boat leaves Bingen at 14:15, ends at St Goarhausen, but you can catch the last boat going down river about an hour later, getting to Boppard at 18:30.

if i did this would i need to buy 2 different cruise tickets?

Ah yes, still too early for that later boat - thanks for the heads up, Paul.

So in your situation, I think might choose to fit in a cruise after Bacharach and before Oberwesel, as follows:

• Morning train to Bacharach (8:56 - 9:05) (with the supplemental Oberwesel > Bingen Rhein Stadt ticket I mentioned.)
• Train to Bingen Rhein Stadt (with that same ticket) (11:06- 11:26, or 12:06 - 12:26.) Lunch in Bingen (several spots on the waterfront)
• Cruise to St Goar with Bingen-Rüdesheimer (13:45 - 15:45.) Walk to station.
• Train from St Goar to Oberwesel (15:56 - 16:01.)
• Train back to Boppard at your leisure.

Bingen-Rüdesheimer's schedule for this cruise is at the following link. Scroll down to the bottom and click on Fahrpläne komplett unterladen to download the schedule. The "Loreley Fahrt" schedule at the top of the download is the one you want.

https://www.bingen-ruedesheimer.de/fahrplan/

Traveler: Trying to see both Bacharach and Oberwesel before the 14:30 cruise (not 14:15) will probably put you under a bit too much pressure time wise. See my most recent suggestion.