Please sign in to post.

Rhine valley touring

We are booked for four nights in Bacharach after arriving in Frankfurt. So we have three days to see the Rhine. Day 1 wander around Bacharach and short hop to St. Goar to tour Burg Rhinefels. Day 2 train up to Koblenz then on to Moselkern to see Burg Eltz then see Koblenz before returning to Bacharach. We have one more day to fill with ???

More mundane question: We know which train to get from Frankfurt airport to Bacharach (RE 29542 at 16:23), from Bahn.com, but it doesn't show fares for RE trains. Where do I find this?

Thanks!

Posted by
8934 posts

Do you have a cruise on the Rhein planned? Best spot to begin is down by Bingen. If you are only seeing the Rhein from Bacharach to St. Goar you are missing 3/4ths of the castles and the lovely scenery of the Rhein Gorge.
There are many, beautiful towns along the Rhein you can visit - Eltville, Lorch, Ober-Wesel, or even Rüdeseheim.

Posted by
6591 posts

"We know which train to get from Frankfurt airport to Bacharach (RE 29542 at 16:23), from Bahn.com, but it doesn't show fares for RE trains. Where do I find this?"

The RMV transit authority sells local tickets for ALL the local and regional trains in their jurisdiction - and even though this is a fairly long trip, this is considered local, so DB doesn't provide fares. You can find them at the RMV website but you might not find that so easy as the English pages require some German. The fare is €11.95 each adult, €7.10/child or €34.50 for a group of up to 5. Buy the tickets at the Regionalbahnhof station from any ticket machine with a RMV logo.

"Day 1 wander around Bacharach and short hop to St. Goar to tour Burg Rhinefels."

I think it might be unwise to attempt Rheinfels on Day 1 since it closes at just about the time you arrive in Bacharach. You could instead take the train to Oberwesel (only 5 minutes) and do the town wall walk there. Alternatively, take the Bacharach foot-tour.

When you go to Burg Eltz, I'd advise you to visit nearby Cochem afterward. It's going to be easier to navigate and more rewarding than a stopover in Koblenz (which I would just skip.) Your train trip to Cochem and back to Bacharach won't cost any extra because you'll probably use a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket day pass to get to Eltz anyway.

On your 3rd day you have a number of options. If you cruise, do as Jo suggests - train to Bingen, cruise north to St. Goar (or St. Goarshausen on opposite river bank.) Visit Rheinfels in St. Goar if you like afterward. However, Rheinfels is undergoing some sort of construction project and may not be fully accessible. If you get off the boat in St. Goarshausen instead, you can take the train (20 minutes) to Braubach for a tour of the very best Rhine Castle of the bunch, Marksburg. It's been intact since medieval times - never destroyed - and it provides an authentic look at that period of history. There's an English tour at 13:00 and 16:00 so time your arrival accordingly. For the 16:00 tour you'd need to leave St. Goarshausen on the 14:32 train to Braubach, which allows about 1 hour to see Braubach (small but terrific old town) and to walk up to the castle and buy tickets. Braubach photos:
https://www.romantischer-rhein.de/uploads/pics/Altstadt_02.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4143/4751924826_36d7071291_b.jpg

If you do NOT take a cruise, you can still get to St. Goarshausen and Braubach easily enough by taking the ferry from St. Goar to St.Goarshausen. It runs all day long, every 20 minutes or so.

Other options for Day 3 would include a visit to Oberwesel and Boppard this day. Both are worthwhile towns that are easy to reach from Bacharach by direct train. Boppard has a nice selection of restaurants and a chairlift ride with a stunning view of the river valley.

View from Gedeonseck terrace near top of lift
Boppard's waterfront
Boppard walking tour

Posted by
6591 posts

"I'm puzzled to no end at the suggestion to swap Koblenz for Cochem."

Koblenz' "old town" is tiny and separated from the train station by a lengthy walk through a largely uninspired area of traffic-filled streets and modern shopping complexes.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Koblenz_im_Buga-Jahr_2011_-_Er%C3%B6ffnung_L%C3%B6hrstra%C3%9Fe_4.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/L%C3%B6hr-Center_Koblenz.jpg

Cochem is nothing like this...it's much, much smaller, with several old-town towers and wall remnants, a visual delight throughout, all easily reached on foot from the station.

"Ther's nothing important to see in Cochem."

That might be just a tad overstated since what's "important" is completely subjective.

Reichsburg Castle: Hardly "nothing" IMO. Rick Steves dismisses it too, but plenty of others disagree.

https://www.german-way.com/travel-and-tourism/germany-for-tourists/castles-and-palaces/cochem-castle/

The views alone justify a walk up to the castle pleasant little bar/cafe patio up there as well.)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Cochem_Reichsburg_Blick_auf_Cochem.JPG

(While you might view Stolzenfels as comparable to Cochem, Lubitsch, it's also well away from the old town center. Reichsburg is steps away from Cochem's.)

A walk around town includes old-town wall fortification and some handsome old-world buildings.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/20151012Martinstor_Cochem1.jpg
http://ks-portfolio.de/wp-content/gallery/cochem/cochem-11.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Germany_(9),_Rhineland-Palatinate,_Cochem,_Markt.JPG
http://www.pellny.moselmetropole.de/images/stadtmauer.jpg

Some indulgent wine-sipping and noshing is important to some. Cochem is ripe with that sort of opportunity.
https://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/q188MamUksxmsBX1u_Pn3Q/o.jpg
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/05/f9/49/11/schlossbergkeller.jpg
http://luxeadventuretraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Jdombs-Travels-Cochem-11.jpg
https://media-cdn.holidaycheck.com/w_1280,h_720,c_fit,q_80/ugc/images/be5cb167-10af-3e00-b787-8e54bcdac3c8

There's also a cool chairlift ride, or you can take a hike to the Pinnerkreuz or walk across the river for interesting views of the castle.

Chairlift: http://www.mosel.de/typo3temp/_processed_/csm_Sesselbahn_30_36d9ea5f03.jpg
Pinnerkreuz: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iJVm3bbd0xY/UDJS4Nv9RHI/AAAAAAAABGg/QfNwwX6-_Bo/s1600/Pinnerkreuz-002.jpg

You will only have a few hours at most to spend in Cochem after Burg Eltz, TommyMac - you'll have to pick and choose what interests you - but better IMO to spend them in a place like Cochem than in Koblenz.

Not that you must go to either. On this day you could possibly squeeze in another small Rhine town near Bacharach that you didn't find time for on the other days.

If you are running short on time after Burg Eltz, and you sense Cochem is too much extra travel and time, it would be easy to head back toward Bacharach by train and make a stop of just 1-2 hours in the small but lovely wine town of Winningen, about 10 minutes prior to reaching Koblenz:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4120/4745527870_9850deb0ee_z.jpg
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/3475980.jpg

Posted by
3049 posts

I'm going to fight with Lubitsch and Russ and say scrap their suggestions and spend a day in Mainz. As a "big city" it's far more worthwhile than Koblenz, and Cochem, while good as a base, isn't worth the trip. Mainz is both convenient and has a stack of worthwhile sites to visit like the Dom (pretty amazing), the Gutenburg museum, and St Stephen's with the Chagall windows. Did I mention it's super convenient?

Posted by
6591 posts

" ...spend a day in Mainz. As a "big city" it's far more worthwhile than Koblenz... Cochem, while good as a base, isn't worth the trip."

For the record: I suggested Cochem (rather than Koblenz) as a nice place to stop in for a few hours after Burg Eltz, not as a full-day experience.

I completely agree with the notion of a day in Mainz if there's an additional day in one's itinerary. But given his plans, I doubt that TommyMac would want to drop Eltz for Mainz.

Posted by
10 posts

Thank you to everyone for all the suggestions. My description of our stay in Bacharach may have been confusing. It will be 6PM by the time we get to our hotel, so won't see much other than dinner and stroll about town. We then have three full days, one for nearby St. Goar and etc, perhaps starting or ending with a KD cruise. Next day trip up to Koblenz and out to Burg Eltz. Third full day still under consideration. We considered a day trip to Cologne, but that seems like a lot of travel up and down the Rhine if we go to Burg Eltz the day before, so Mainz would be less train time and sounds interesting. I'm sure we will find things to do.

Posted by
3049 posts

Russ, emphasis noted. I rather liked Cochem as a base for a 2 day leisurely Mosel trip. Just didn't think it made sense for OP's trip. He can easily visit Burg Eltz without it but if he feels like popping by, assuming train/bus schedules work out, it's fine.

OP - Mainz looks like a little bit of a nightmare in the few blocks surrounding the train station but it's a 15 minute walk to the interesting parts. If you're not a museum/cathedral person perhaps it's not a must, but if you are, I would really consider it. I've been to a lot of cities on the Rhine and Mainz has a lot more to offer a traveler than Koblenz or Cologne in my opinion.