Rhine Valley -- lodging and activities

2) That's the standard approach if staying in Boppard. ("Make your way" by train, or you will have to find a way to pick up the car you dropped in Bingen.) The VRM Guest ticket which you offers free train and bus travel and which you get from your hotel or other accommodations provider covers the train to Oberwesel (about half way to Bingen) and the return by train to Boppard, but you will need real train tickets for the remaining distance (Oberwesel > Bingen.)

Some people just use the cruise boat to enter the Rhine Gorge in the first place. That is, if they are arriving in the area from Frankfurt or from the south by train, it's easy to just get off the train in Bingen, walk about 5 minutes to the dock, and cruise north to St. Goar (where they rejoin the train system to reach Boppard, an 11-minute ride.) Or they use the cruise boats from Bingen all the way to Boppard (which costs a bit more. This of course doesn't work well at all if you are traveling by car. But it saves time and maybe some €s.

1) Trier is a long daytrip from Boppard. If it's important to you, consider spending a night there or elsewhere on the Mosel. Can't advise you specifically on this since it's not clear where you are headed after visiting this area. Burg Eltz is accessible by train + bus from Boppard for free with your Guest Ticket, btw. It is also very close to Cochem, a popular Mosel base town on the main train line with Trier. It seems to me that you have no plans right now for anything on the Rhine except the 2-hr cruise and Rheinfels Castle. I wonder if it might be smart to have just 1 night in Boppard and 2 over on the Mosel, perhaps in Cochem. Trier and Eltz will take up the bulk of your sightseeing time, as you have explained your intentions.

Thank you, Russ, I was hoping you would be able to chime in.

• I'll look into finding lodging for a night in Trier -- we will be arriving from somewhere in the black forest. (That's another post!)

• Do you think that a different city might make the cruising/Rheinfels plan a little easier? It's true we will have a car, but right now I'm envisioning that we will use it just for moving between cities on the itinerary but take trains/buses within each city. Which means we are comfortable taking public transportation (esp since we won't have our luggage on the activity days) and I would love it to be as simple as possible (traveling with 2 kids, 14 and 8).

DAY/NIGHT #1: You will probably have a drive of around 3 hours or so coming from the Black Forest, so with arrival around 12 noon you'll have a few hours at most on that first day, time enough for both Rheinfels and the cruise if you don't mind keeping a schedule. This will be a full day.

1) Drive to St. Goar, find lunch, and drive up to Rheinfels.
2) Direct train 14:56 > 15:26 to Bingen Rhein Stadt; walk to dock, buy tickets, request cruise discount with your train ticket in hand.
3) Cruise Bingen > St Goar 16:30-17:55

(Could make good sense to just stay in St. Goar on this night instead; park at your hotel upon arrival. OR, pay for parking, then drive to Boppard after the cruise to your room there.)

DAY/NIGHT #2: There's nothing else on your sightseeing list this day for the Rhine. If this were my family and I were driving, I would check out, then maybe undertake something small that morning nearby for a full day of sightseeing... (Drive to Bacharach, just 10 minutes from St Goar or 20 from Boppard) for a 1-2 hour walk around town? Take the Boppard Chairlift ride? After that, I would drive straight to Burg Eltz for an afternoon tour, then continue to Trier after that, perhaps making a brief stop in one of the nice Mosel towns on the way (Cochem? Beilstein?) with arrival in Trier around dinner time for a 2-night stay. Stopping off at Eltz on the way to Trier is very convenient by car and makes a lot of sense in view of the backtracking back to St. Goar or Boppard that you would otherwise be doing. But perhaps I don't understand the reasons for wanting two of your three nights on the Rhine...

DAY/NIGHT #3: Trier should be looked at as a full-day experience, probably, if you are serious about a visit there, as there's quite a bit to see/do.

I'm a train guy myself, but aside from the train to Bingen for your cruise, I don't really see any grounds for public transport with the plans you have.

For example, for the Rhine portion of the day, would it be easier to stay in Bingen or Rudesheim in order to make getting to and from cruise easier? Are these towns also scenic, with a variety restaurants? Perhaps St Goar, since it's close to Rehinfels.

Also, we do have the option of doing one of these activities on our departure day, as I assume we can stash luggage at the hotel. Curious if one of these activities, perhaps seeing Reinfels, would be doable before leaving the area. Welcome any and all advice!

"...would it be easier to stay in Bingen or Rudesheim in order to make getting to and from cruise easier? "

Rheinfels is in St. Goar, on the cliffside overlooking the town.

Bingen Base: Park at your accommodations; cruise to St Goar; walk or shuttle to Rheinfels, then do the same back down; train back to Bingen. The boat schedule for getting to st Goar (14:30 - 16:10) means you will reach Rheinfels kinda late after the walk up... doors close at 17:00.)

St Goar Base: Drive into town (if you want lunch;) drive up the hill to Rheinfels, then down afterward and park at accommodations; train to Bingen, cruise back to St. Goar.

Basically the same task either way except that you will have the CAR for getting uphill to Rheinfels, a small advantage. However, the car trip to Burg Eltz and then to Trier will be shorter for you from St Goar than from Bingen.

"Are these towns also scenic, with a variety restaurants?"

Bingen has a developed waterfront that provides a nice view across the river over to Ehrenfels Castle ruins. The NH hotel there enjoys this view. Not so much other Bingen hotels, however:

https://media-cdn.holidaycheck.com/w_1280,h_720,c_fit,q_80/ugc/images/49ae7b3e-32a5-3d2a-8987-6a0c2650c5d2

Rüdesheim is on the opposite river bank, which adds a ferry crossing to your list of steps for the cruise + train ride back to town. The views across the river are not as impressive as those from Bingen. Hotels there are set back a ways from the river as well. The nicest views are had in St. Goar IMHO, especially nice from the Hotel Rheinfels and Rheinhotel St Goar, across from Burg Katz:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Sankt_Goarshausen_Burg_Katz_2012.jpg

From Rüdesheim - which is the most touristy of the Rhine towns and DOES have a lot of restaurants - the "scenic" views across the river to Bingen are not nearly as nice. Altogether, staying on the west bank probably makes more sense.

St Goar should have enough restaurants to accommodate you for such a short time. Or try Boppard, 10 minutes up the road. St Goar's offerings include Alla Fontana, a place I try to patronize whenever I'm in the area. St Goar's restaurants:

https://www.stadt-st-goar.de/restaurants-in-st-goar/#/pois

Also, we do have the option of doing one of these activities on our departure day, as I assume we can stash luggage at the hotel.

If your final night is in TRIER, your departure from the area (Day 4) will be from Trier... you will not want to tour Eltz or Rheinfels that day and then backtrack to Trier. I suppose you might pack up the trunk of your car and tour Eltz that day... depending on your other travel plans for Day 4.

Thanks so much for all the help! I will look into booking a place in Trier and St Goar. Seems like that will be the most convenient use of the limited time.

If you are coming from the Black Forest, go to Trier first. Depending on where you start it's going to be a 3–4-hour drive; more if you stop along the way (and there's a lot to see in that area.) Just walking to the multiple Roman ruins (Ampitheater, Bridge, Baths, etc.) will take half a day. But plan to walk, because driving and parking can be a bit crazy. You may want to stay overnight, because the ruins look great at night and it can be a long drive up to Burg Eltz.

Driving from Trier to Burg Eltz/Cochem can easily take a whole day if you follow the river (which is the most scenic route). this is because you have speed regulation on the roads, bicycles and tourists, caravans, and farming equipment all using the same route. And you are going to want to stop, because (my opinion) this is a much nicer drive than along the Rhine. (I did the stretch Cochem to Bernkastle Kues (again) just 2 days ago.) You pass some fantastic towns and castles, and some great ruins. Plus even better wineries. And good beer.

Burg Eltz will take a minimum of 3-4 hours if you take the tour. Unlike most castles the walk is downhill from the parking area and uphill on the return. If it's raining, it's steep and slippery. Frankly the Cochem Castle has a much better view.

If you plan to have a car, it makes little sense to go to Bingen just to take a boat or train ride. Just drive over to Boppard, and then take your time driving along the river to Bingen. That way you can stop where you want with no major time issues. You'll avoid all the road repair on 61 also, and traffic sucks on this route during the day. (I know Google says just over 1 hour from Cochem to Bingen, but you should plan on twice that.) One thing you should do, once you get to Bingen, is take the ferry over (with the car) and go to the Niederwalddenkmal.

You might also check to see if you can drop the car at Bingen, and plan of taking the train direct from there to the Frankfurt Airport. Much faster than driving and cheaper too.

Last, it's been wet and windy, and it can get "interesting" in the river valleys. Plan to bring a rain jacket.

Be aware the ruins at Rheinfels are presently undergoing restoration, and there is scaffolding in place. I just returned from a visit to Rheinfels and was a little disappointed with the experience. My family spent about 30 minutes there and decided to move on. I am sure it will be great once the work is done though.

The work at Rheinfels involves clean-up and stabilization of walls as well as an expansion of the underground zones to make them accessible that sort of thing, but I'm pretty certain it will be looking much as it looked before. It has been and still will be a set of ruins, not one that will be rebuilt, but improved a little and preserved.

Anyone hoping to visit an INTACT Rhine Castle should turn their attention to Marksburg Castle in Braubach. It's just across the river and north from St Goar.

https://img.fotocommunity.com/marksburg-braubach-bc203e81-d606-4f2f-bb8d-17e275e8ba88.jpg?width=1000