Rudesheim Hotels

You might get some ideas at http://www.ruedesheim.de/en/overnight-stays/. Rick seems to find Rudesheim to be overcrowded.

All of the ships dock at Rüdesheim either overnight or for the day, so you have a ton of tourists here all the time. Way too many souvenir stores, selling lots of stuff from China. Town is ok for an hour walk around, and a ride on the chairlift up to visit Germania overlooking the Rhein. Food is usually cheap but decent.

Have a look at Eltville. Just a short train ride from Rüdesheim, it has a lovely old town with lots of half-timbered buildings, castle tower, dry moat filled with rose bushes, a plethora of wine bars, pretty little B&B's as well as small hotels, and the promenade along the river doesn't have a railroad track nor a road running down between the river and the promenade. Lots of wine bars along here too. The church dates back to the 1300's, and Eberbach Monastary is a short bus ride away.
http://www.eltville.de/bildergalerie/altstadt.html
http://www.hotel-frankenbach.de/en/index.htm
http://www.parkhotel-sonnenberg.com/cms/pages/en/welcome.php
http://kloster-eberbach.de/kloster/klosterfuehrungen.html

one important thing to remember about Rudesheim is that the hotel, or most of them, are right along the train tracks, along the river. I am in no way a high strung person, but I must say I do not think I could stay in a hotel in the main area near the train tracks because the sound of the train is deafening. and the trains come by frequently. I really don't know how people can enjoy their outdoor dinner patios or hotel rooms. I had a quaint, quiet, small hotel about a 7 minute walk away from the river/train track area Rudesheimer Hof that we enjoyed very much. Not fancy but clean pleasant romms and full breakfast. Very good reviews on Trip Advisor.

Also, there is a very enjoyable "circle" tour that you can take on your own from Rudesheim---an easy walk, involving a historic statue (I believe by the same person who sculpted the Statue of Liberty), a short chair lift, a short walk through a forest on flat, wide trails (very safe), through a small park where you can feed deer, and down a short chairlift to a neighboring town, Assmannhaushan. Then you take a very quick (10 minute?) ferry ride back to Rudesheim. Although I work a full time job, I am not what I would consider an athlete, and I did it easily along with my two 9 year olds and we all enjoyed it very much. My review on Trip Advisor is here: hope the link works: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g187345-d192310-r28658181-Niederwald_Monument_Niederwalddenkmal-Ruedesheim_am_Rhein_Hesse.html

enter link description here

There are tourists, there is no doubt about it, but the town of Assmannhaushan is as picturesque as a fairy tale village. Something for you to consider.

Thank you all so very much for your thoughts. Eltville looks quite nice I will look into there further. I agree with the train track issues. We stayed in Bacharach a couple years ago and
saw restraunts/hotels abutting the tracks. I am thinking we may go back to Bacharach and take a boat to Rudesheim. The way the boat schedule looks I think it will only give us a couple hours in Rudesheim but if it's as crowded and touristy as you all say that might be enough. I did read about the chairlift and monument .. thanks for your take on that. I had read something about music native to the town that I was looking forward to hearing. Someone also sent me a pm on Assmannshausen that might be an interesting alternative.
thanks again! Kathy

There is one unique feature that Rüdesheim can offer you that no other town on the Rhine can match. Many of the restaurants have nightly live Schlager music performances. Love it or hate it, after two or three glasses of wine, you'll probably start singing along (even if you don't know the words). You will likely be joined by stag and bachelorette parties from the surrounding cities. So if you're into a bit of cheesy but fun nightlife, Rüdesheim can't be beat. If you're looking for a peaceful night's sleep, look elsewhere.

PS- If you're thinking the "music native to the town" is a bunch of guys in Lederhosen playing tubas and accordions... wrong part of the country, that's Bavarian. Schlager is... well, look up some clips on Youtube. It's a form of music that's played all over northern Europe, not particular to Rüdesheim. It's just that Rüdesheim, for some reason, seems to offer the most venues for live performances in a relatively small area.