Should I rent a car while staying in the countryside?

I would rent a car to give you greater flexibility in your researching.
We have always booked cars with AutoEurope and have been very satisfied.

If you are asking about a car for the last 4-5 nights in the Münster area, given that you do not have any idea what exact places you'll need/want to visit, a car rental seems the clear choice.

If your question includes day trips from Nuremberg, Gengenbach, and St. Goar, well, we don't know exactly what outings you plan to take from there. But generally speaking, there are all kinds of nice outings available to you from those places by train, so I would say you do NOT need a car. Unless, of course, you booked without checking your locations carefully and your booked accommodations are in the dingle-weeds far away from a rail station.

I believe you've already gotten some info here on free and inexpensive day trips by train from G'bach, St. Goar and Nuremberg. If you have specific questions about those, feel free to ask.

Having booked in St. Goar rather than Boppard (where all guests receive free train travel passes) you will likely have to pay for those St. Goar train outings; day passes from the VRM transit authority and the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket are good options for care-free travel for two in the €30 or less/day range for two persons.

That said, if you happened to book with one of the 3 innkeepers in St. Goar who DO participate in the free VRM Guest Ticket program, you will have free train outings from St. Goar; those 3 appear on the last page of this list. Scan down the middle column until you find St. Goar:

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/user_upload/VRM-Gaesteticket-Vertraege_Juli_2021.pdf

Russ,
I just perked up seeing a reference to free train passes in Boppard. Hopefully we will be in the Rhine River Valley late April/early May this year. I quit planning when Omnicron entered the scene, but maybe I can start more research now. Could you pls give me more info, or how I access info on the free passes. My intention was to stay in Baccharach, but....???
Thanks so much!

Sure thing, Pat.

VRM - Verkehrsverbund Rhein Mosel - is the local transport authority which manages local ticketing and other responsibilities for rail and bus travel. Their site explains the details of the Guest Ticket below. First, here's a map of the VRM zone where the guest ticket can be used. From Koblenz, it continues southwest to Cochem and beyond to Bullay - and southeast to Boppard, St. Goar and then Oberwesel (west Rhine bank) and southwest to Kaub (east Rhine bank.) (I will show you only the rail map here...the map with all the bus lines is an overwhelming mess.)

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/_processed_/d/e/csm_VRM_Schienennetzplan_2021_mit_Streckenverzeichnis___neu_117e571126.jpg

But as you read about the Guest Ticket below, you'll learn that east bank validity was extended last year even further south, to Rüdesheim and other towns.

https://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets/tickets/ticket-offers/network-tickets/

In most towns, individual innkeepers get to decide whether to participate. They pay a small fee to be "Guest Card" members, eyeing free transport as a way of competing for bookings from guests. In the case of Boppard, the whole town competes as one with all the other towns, and all the town's innkeepers are required to participate.

If you stay in Boppard (a good idea on other grounds as well!) and wish to visit Bacharach, you would ride the train for free as far as Oberwesel - but before boarding, you would have purchased an additional ticket for Oberwesel > Bacharach (for a few Euros) from a ticket machine in Boppard. That way you just stay on that southbound train when it stops in Oberwesel and 5 minutes later arrive in Bacharach without being a "Schwarzfahrer" (fare-dodger.)

If you stay in Bacharach, this card is not available.

It's really a blessing to travelers that Boppard has this policy. Boppard is a great town and has always been a great travel base.

Boppard info-broschure

Suki, thanks! I liked Auto Europe last time I used them, so it's good to know that others do as well.

Russ, no, I'm not planning to rent a car until I get to Münster. I have NO desire to drive in a city. And I was planning to stay in Boppard, but was having a difficult time finding a hotel. The one that I wanted was completely booked for May on their website, and when I tried to contact them (because it seemed strange they would be full this far ahead), I got no response. Then I tried to book something else and had some difficulty with the reservation, and so I finally just figured the gods were against me and turned to St. Goar. I'm not worried about the guest pass - most of my day trips will be out of the area anyway, and I got a great deal on a room, so I'm happy.

Let me say that the rail system in Germany is the most extensive (miles of track) in western Europe and second by only 1% in density (miles of track per sq. miles) to Switzerland, and the Bahn probably has the most number of station. German Rail is augmented by an even more extensive bus system.
I've spent about 175 days traveling in Germany in 20 years and never needed a rental car to get to where I wanted to go (I have, on occasion, used taxis). And it isn't just in major cities, as some inexperienced travelers seem to think. 85% of my nights have been in towns with under 20,000 inhabitants (over half under 10,000).

With good planning you should rarely, if ever, need to rent a car.

I'm instinctively with Lee on this issue, Mardee. It's just that you seem quite eager to lay out your transportation NOW, in advance of knowing the actual destinations and routes you'll need/want to take for your genealogical adventures. I mean, you're talking about nearly 4 centuries of family history, dozens or hundreds of ancestors. All the towns you mention can be reached by rail. But what if all those ancestors didn't choose to fish, farm, pray or be buried within walking distance of the rail and bus stops that were developed centuries later? So I still think a car reservation at this point is in order. If it turns out that before you leave, you can pin down all your side trips - and good transport is available as well - then you can always cancel.

Boppard vs. St. Goar: Different places for sure, but both very nice.

I'm not worried about the guest pass - most of my day trips will be
out of the area anyway, and I got a great deal on a room, so I'm
happy.

I looked back at your proposed out-of-VRM-area Rhine/Mosel day trips to determine trip length. TRIER is the main day trip, right?

St. Goar > Trier > St. Goar = 5 hrs. (Rheinland-Pfalz ticket valid after 9 am weekdays. Lv. 9:00, ar. 11:30)

Boppard > Trier > Boppard = 4 hrs. Also, the guest pass permits earlier boarding on weekdays (Lv. 8:23, ar. 10:30) for a fuller day in Trier (you'd still need the R-P ticket on this day.)

To leave earlier than 9:00 from St. Goar (8:00 for example) on a weekday, you will need both the R-P ticket PLUS the standard VRM fare for St. Goar > Koblenz (€9)

So beyond travel costs, the longer travel times and the ticketing constraints might or might not factor into whether you are fully comfortable with St. Goar. As a rule of thumb, I try to keep my own day trips to around 90-100 minutes in each direction. I think of Boppard > Trier as a bit long for a day trip but perhaps worth doing because of the great Mosel River scenery on the way. The St. Goar option OTOH, with 30 extra minutes in each direction, would probably steer me to an overnight in Trier or to take a second look at the options in Boppard.

It's not unusual for small-town inns to be non-responsive at this time of year, BTW. I've seen a lot of that with my own planning. Business is so slow that small operations go into hibernation while the owners/operators take very long vacations.

Lee and Russ, I'm also instinctively with you on the train vs. car means of transport. I would rather not rent a car and I agree, Lee, that with good planning, you can get wherever you want. BUT, the problem is that I can only do so much planning. For example, if I find some records in Ostbevern that lead me to Münster, or another small town, I'd like to have the opportunity to just pick up and go without waiting for a bus or a train to get me there. That is really the only part of my trip where having a car will give me the flexibility I need to search for records and graves. I have 2 sides of the family that came from that area - my father's paternal side, who emigrated from Ostbevern (via Bremen) and had lived in Ostbevern since the 1600's (at least). But my father's maternal side is a bit sketchier - I know they came from the Hannover area, but it could have been Damme or Oldenburg. I think it will be easier to just get around with a car. And then when I'm ready to head to Hamburg, I'll return the car and take the train.

Russ, I see what you mean - maybe I'll check back on that. I'm not too concerned with it, but the time factor does make a difference.

Russ, thank you, that brochure of Boppard was very helpful. I'll start a new thread, as I was convinced we were staying in Bacharach, but now I'm debating....

If it turns out that before you leave, you can pin down all your side trips - and good transport is available as well - then you can always cancel.

Russ, I just noticed your last comment and that's a good idea. It very well could be that I can figure out the side trips and then either cancel the car or turn it in early. It's not like I don't have 3 months to continue my planning. :)

Russ, I went back and checked on hotels in Boppard for the 4 nights I will be there (I'd forgotten that St. Goar doesn't have the guest pass), but there must be some event going on there. I thought maybe a trade show but do they have them in small towns?

The Hotel Garni Günther was one I was trying for and they never responded, but showed that they were unavailable on their booking calendar. So I went to Booking.com to see if they were listed there. They were not available on several of my dates, and the 2 that they were available were listed for over $200 a night. Other hotels in the city center seemed to be lot pricier for those dates as well.

So since I have a very good rate at the Hotel am Markt in St. Goar, I think I'll stick with it. :) I'm traveling by myself so I'm pretty flexible and extra time on a train doesn't bother me. I keep a travel journal so it's nice to have time to write, and trains are perfect for that.