Which city would be better to stay in for 3 days, St Goar or Oberwesel? From what I can see, it's a tossup, so any advice would be appreciated. It looks like both towns are suitable for our main criterion which is to have close, easy access to both train and boat for day trips on the Rhine. Our St Goar hotel, the Rheinfels, is right next to the train tracks, but it says it is "soundproofed". I'm skeptical about that.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Both towns have equally easy access to rail and boat.
The major attraction in St. Goar is Burg Rheinfels. Oberwesel doesn't have a castle ruin that you can explore, but the entire town features extensive remains of it's defensive wall and towers. Weighing which town contains a higher percentage of historically preserved buildings, St. Goar might beat out Oberwesel slightly, but that's only from my own rough estimate, non-scientific survey. Oberwesel is a little less touristed.
I don't know, flip a coin...
Posted by
Paradise
7072 posts
Oberwesel, with its old town wall and towers and lovely half-timbered buildings, is a good deal more "old-world" than St. Goar. St. Goar's edge is the exceptional view of the river and castle-clad cliffs at that location and the availability of a ferry that runs all day long to the other river bank (for catching a train there to Braubach and Marksburg Castle, or to Rüdesheim.)
I would encourage you to investigate Tripadvisor for comments about the hotel's possible noise problem.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
"Our St Goar hotel, the Rheinfels, is right next to the train tracks"
Who told you that? According to what I see on the map, Hotel Rheinfels is next to the river. That's several blocks from the train tracks, which are a lot higher up, and there are many buildings between you and the tracks. I doubt that you will hear a lot of train noise from there. It's not like Kranentrum, in Bacharach, which is right next to the train tracks.
In defense of both Hotel Rheinfels and Kranenturm, the most annoying train noise is when the trains stop at the station and screech brakes when stopping or the engines labor to get the train back up to speed. But only a few trains stop between about 11 PM and 7 AM. Trains that go through town without stopping in the wee hours don't make that much noise.
As for which town, I think there is more to see in St. Goar, but it is a little more touristy, with the castle ruins. But I might base my decision on finding reasonably priced accommodations. When I was looking 10 years ago, I found more in St. Goar, but that might depend on when you are looking (actually, I found a nice Privatzimmer in Boppard and stayed there).
Pension im Malerwinkl in Bacharach is in a beautiful setting, pretty far from the tracks, but not a steep climb up the hill like to the hostel.
I'd recommend you take the boat from Bacharach to St. Goar, since that is down river, with the current. I went from St. Goar to Bacharach and it was soooo sloow and boring. If you stay in St. Goar, you can walk up the hill to the station and take the train to Bacharach first. If you show them the train ticket for that day at the K-D dock, you are supposed to get a 20% discount on the boat ticket.
Posted by
Baden Wurtemburg, Germany
16 posts
I would offer an alternative: stay in Bacharach. The town has a quaint medieval feel, and many hotels that aren't directly on the train (the ones that are offer ear plugs, lol). Food and shopping is varied and great. The Hostel on the top of the hill has great views and cheap food, even for non guests. You can take the Rhine tour from Bacharach to St. Goar and visit the Castle while you are there, great views.
Posted by
America's Vancouver and the First
111 posts
We recently stayed in Bacharach at Pension Winzerhaus (basic and clean) and loved it. Im Malerwinkel would be a step up in price and quality. The town is very picturesque and we're so glad that we stayed there. It was easy to take the KD boat down to St. Goar and wander the slightly more touristy streets and then head up to the castle ruins. We walked to and from but there was a nice little train that can save on the legs. I'm sorry to say that we didn't have time for Oberwesel.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
After listening to the arguments, I would say stay in St. Goar and save on the boat fare by taking the train first to Bacharach.
As for Oberwesel, I stopped there on my way back from Bacharach. I wanted to take the next train in an hour back to Boppard to get there by a certain time. I walked north from the train station for a half hour, then walk back to catch the next train. In that time I didn't really see anything I thought was worthwhile, but I hear that some of the interesting buildings are on the far north end of town.