Rhine Valley - on way from Amsterdam to Zurich

Posted by rcam88 on 04/06/15 12:05 AM

I will be traveling through the Rhine Valley on my way from Amsterdam to Zurich by rail on a select Eurail pass. In route, I am thinking of taking a boat from Koblenz and stopping overnight in one of the riverside towns. Based on my research, Boppard best fits our travel party's preferences. From there we would traveling on to Zurich. Would it be a time squeeze to rail from Amsterdam to Koblenz and the same day catch the boat from Koblenz to Boppard, then the the following day rail to Zurich? Also, if I wanted to extend our travel one day in the Rhine, would I be able to get off at interim stops en route to my final boat destination, or would I need to buy another ticket?

Thank you for any feedback.

Posted by Sam

Green Bay

04/06/15 03:40 AM

20098 posts

The river between Koblenz and Boppard is not the most dramatic part of the gorge. You might take the train to Boppard and take the the boat upriver (the slow way) to Bingen. Spend the night there and then on to Zurich.
The official Rick Steves way (its on his European Travel Skills part ! video) is to train from Amsterdam to St Goar, take the boat to Bacharach and spend the night. Then move on the next day to Switzerland. The section between St Goar and Bacharach is the one in all the tourist brochures with the Loreley rock and a ton of castles.
The KD boats are not really hop on hop off, although you could do it if you take luggage with you and buy additional tickets. Another way is to train to an upriver spot, check in to a hotel, then take the boat down river (the fast way) and return to your hotel on the train.

Posted by rcam88 OP

04/06/15 04:44 AM

18 posts

Thank you, Sam... Nice feedback... I'll probably stick with some upstream variation similar to your first suggestion.

Posted by Eileen

Texan in CA

04/06/15 08:34 PM

4407 posts

I'm guessing your train will go through Köln/Cologne; my standard response is to always store your luggage at the Bahnhof, and take at least 2 hours to visit the Cathedral next door. Take more time and have lunch...and some Kölsch...at one of the nearby restaurants ;-) You'll have to skip the lunch...and probably the Cathedral (!) to make the 14:00 boat, though. You can always have the Kölsch ON the boat ;-)

Assuming your trip is between April and October, yes, you can do this. I've traveled from Koblenz to St Goar (plus many other routes over the years) but that takes awhile; your trip will last 2 hours. You can get a 20% doscount with your SelectPass (or German rail ticket), and any seniors can get up to a 30% discount. This will not use up a day of your pass. Yes, you'll need to buy tickets at each boat dock before your departure. (You can HOHO with a GlobalPass, however.) I always suggest the Goethe boat at 9:00 when possible (you can have a great breakfast onboard!), but this will be pretty early for someone coming from Amsterdam :-( Your next choices are 14:00 or 18:10 (this one is on a different company's ship, but they look the same as the K-D boats to me...). In Koblenz, the boat dock isn't terribly far from the train station, but it's not super close, either. Plan accordingly. The trains will arrive in Koblenz around 13:45, so it'll be tight getting to the dock and getting your tickets purchased. An earlier train arrives around 11:45, giving you some time to check out Deutsches Eck, grab a quick lunch, and/or stroll and hang out near the dock.

To extend your time on the Rhine, you can also just buy train tickets that travel along the river. You can buy them from the machines at the stations, and there are many more departure times for the trains than for the boats. This way, you can visit a few of the other towns along the bank. Maybe even take a boat back to Boppard, if you'd like.