Earlier in the year we asked for & received some great advise on an October, 2016 trip thru the Rhine Valley, the Black Forest & Bavaria prior to a Danube River cruise. We are now about two months out & I'd appreciate some comments on our "semi-final" plan. We have hotels in Boppard, Staufen, Garmisch & Munich. Again, we are two semi-mobile couples who have been to Europe two & five times respectively, who are more interested in sight seeing & people watching than museums.
Day 1 - Fly into Frankfurt, pick up car, drive to St. Gaurshauen, take the ferry to St. Goar to walk off the jet lag before driving to Boppard for the night.
Day 2 - 8:07 train from Boppard to Bingen Stadtbahnhof, arriving at 8:56, for the 9:30 K-D boat for cruise down the Rhine Valley to Braubach, arriving at 12:20 for the 1PM English tour of Marksburg Castle. Take the 3:05 K-D boat back to Boppard.
Day 3 - Drive to Black Forest & "kinda" follow Rick Steves' Black Forest "short" coukoo tour, ending up in Staufen for the night.
Day 4 - Drive into Bavaria, past the mad king's castles to visit Oberammergau, then on to Garmisch. Feedback advises that a tour of the castles are not worth the limited time we have.
Day 5 6 - Visit the Zugspitze & Innsbruck. Day of visit will depend on weather on mountain. We will drive to Innsbruck because we understand from friends that the drive will be worth the trip. We will turn in the car in G-P because no one recommends driving in Munich.
Day 7 - Train in Munich, tour the Marienplatz area, view the 5PM Glockenspiel clock show, eat in the area, then visit the Hofbrauhaus beerhall to end the evening.
Day 8 - Take the high speed train to Budapest for the Danube River cruise.
Comments please.
Posted by
Oberpfalz, Germany
1289 posts
Maybe you stop and do the tourist thing and visit Neuschwanstein. I would do this and skip Oberammergau on the way to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Maybe you go to Mittenwald as an alternative to Oberammergau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a car. Same drive to Innsbruck from Mittenwald and with the car to the Zugspitze train/gondel is under an hour away. Maybe the Karwendelbahn in Mittenwald instead of the Zugspitze? This is all really touristic, but with limited time maybe the way to go. Fits the style of getting the tourist 'High Lights.' Wish you had more time...
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8942 posts
I never recommend driving a car after a long flight. If you need to walk off your jet lag, you have no business being behind the wheel of a car.
It doesn't look like you will even need a car the first couple of days. Why not pick up your car when you leave Boppard?
Why would you go to St. Goarshausen and take a ferry across to St. Goar? Go straight to St. Goar. It is on the same side of the river as Mainz, Bingen, and Boppard.
Posted by
OP
Kenner, LA, US
41 posts
MsJo, thanks for the reply. We will land mid morning & should be in St Goar before 1PM, so I don't think driving & jet lag will be an issue, but rest assured that we are aware of the issue. Re using the ferry across the Rhine, wouldn't it be quicker to take it rather than drive north to get the bridge across the Rhine? I appreciate your help. Thanks.
By the way, I see that you live in Germany. Do you have any advice for the route to the Black Forest. I don't mind driving on the autobahn, but would like a scenic route if possible.
Posted by
Paradise
6637 posts
"...we are two semi-mobile couples..."
You probably won't be keen on doing the steep hike to Marksburg from the dock in Braubach. Have you arranged for a taxi?
Your time in Braubach is pretty brief, especially seeing as you're arriving around lunch time. Since the boat arriving 12:20 in Braubach arrives previously in St. Goarshausen at 11:05, you would save yourselves some time by ending your cruise in St. Goarshausen instead. Walk the short walk from the KD dock to the train station and catch the 11:32 train to Braubach - that puts you in Braubach half an hour earlier. I wouldn't worry about "missing out" on the scenery you would be cutting... it's not as though the scenery north of St. Goar is any more interesting than the scenery you've just experienced to the south, which really does constitute the very best of the Rhine Valley - and you will still see the part to the north from the train anyway. There are some nice spots for lunch in Braubach on the market square. This is probably a better choice than the boat food. If this plan sounds good, be sure to check the train schedules for the date in question - I don't have your date, so I can't verify this schedule.
Alternatively... get off the cruise boat in Boppard at 11:50, where your car is, and drive to Braubach and park in the castle parking lot. After you're finished in Braubach, you can drive back to St. Goar at any hour you please - use the ferry just south of Filsen to cross the river.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8942 posts
If you are driving from the airport, you go to Mainz and continue down the river to St. Goar. No need for bridges. Driving down the right side of the Rhine to St. Goarshausen is out of the way. Check out a map of the Rhine to see the locations of the towns you want to visit.
If this is the direction you want to go though, why not drive from the airport down the right side of the Rhine to Braubach, tour the Marksburg, then take the ferry across at St. Goarshausen back to St. Goar. That way you have the car to get you up to the castle. The hike up is really steep. Leaves you free on the next day to explore more. With your early arrival, you then have time to tour the castle.
Posted by
OP
Kenner, LA, US
41 posts
Good info. You have us thinking. Thanks for the suggestion of going thru Mainz. I am a little concerned if we try to drive from the airport to tour the castle on our first day, then drive to Boppard. With Murphy's Law, I doubt if we will have time to make the 1PM English tour & the jet lag issues could kick in afterwards getting to Boppard.
I have read that there is either taxi's or a tram like shuttle up to the castle for fat old people. Is that true?
Russ: If there is no "easy" way up & we have to drive to the castle parking lot, will we have time to get off the K-D at Boppard, ferry across the river & drive down to make the 1PM tour?
It may not be the end of the world to forget about the English tour, take our time driving down the river & up to the parking lot & muddle thru a later, non-English tour.
My brother made the trip up to the castle in a tour bus earlier this year & he assures me that my wife, a professional back seat driver, will not complete the drive up the narrow road to the castle parking lot.
Posted by
Paradise
6637 posts
"I have read that there is either taxi's or a tram like shuttle up to the castle for fat old people. Is that true?"
(That would be discriminatory against skinny young lazy folks :) There is a shuttle but I think it operates in peak season mostly and on demand. You might check with the operator of this service:
info@ruckes-reisen.de
http://www.ruckes-reisen.de/about/about.htm
"Russ: If there is no "easy" way up & we have to drive to the castle parking lot, will we have time to get off the K-D at Boppard, ferry across the river & drive down to make the 1PM tour?"
The ferries that leave Boppard at 12:05 and 12:25 take only a few minutes to cross and should make this doable. But I think Marksburg is not particularly religious about offering an English tour at 13:00 - as with the shuttle I'd contact them in advance to indicate your interest in such - but they may or may not accommodate you unless there's a group of fellow non-German-speaking visitors to join you.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8942 posts
I don't believe that the little tram going up to the castle is running in Oct. unless someone else says that it is. It usually only runs in the summer and then only if enough people are there to ride it.
The most efficient and best plan is to leave the airport, drive to Braubach, tour the castle, then go to Boppard if that is where you are staying the night.
Do be aware that there are lots of really steep steps going up to the castle from the parking lot as well as lots of steps inside the castle itself. It is not made for those who have any kind of mobility issues.
You could instead go to Burg Rheinfels, in St. Goar. A bit easier walking and you can park next to the castle. Stunning views from the mightiest fortress on the Rhine. Drive from the airport down the Rhine from the Mainz side of the river. It makes no difference which side of the Rhine you choose, the traffic is pretty much the same on either side.
Posted by
Paradise
6637 posts
"Day 3 - Drive to Black Forest & "kinda" follow Rick Steves' Black Forest "short" coukoo tour, ending up in Staufen for the night."
This detour could be the one element in your trip that's most worthy of change. Staufen isn't remotely on the route between Boppard and your Bavarian destinations - it's just plain remote - and it isn't all that interesting either. I'd drop that reservation and map out a more direct driving route toward Garmisch. You might find Noerdlingen to your liking, a very handsome old walled town on the Romantic Road northwest of Augsburg. (I don't know Steves' cuckoo route but FYI there is a cuckoo clock shop in St. Goar.)
