St Goar Rhine cruise

You definitely should go to Bacharach. Walk the town, visit the restaurants, go up the hill to the vineyards. Wonderful town that seems stuck in time. Friendly people too. Spend the day there. In St. Goar, buy an authentic Black Forest cuckoo clock. They are an amazing piece of craftsmanship.

I guess I'd say go to Bacharch so you can go past the Lorelei and the Pfalzgrafenstein Castle. You could also start by taking a train to Bacharach in the morning and taking the boat to Boppard, then return to St Goar on the train. Going down stream is a bit faster and then you can see more of the Rhine Gorge.

I don't think the scenery from St. Goar to Boppard is that great. I wouldn't do a trip that way.

And, I would not cruise UP the Rheiin (towards Bacharach). The current is too strong and the boat goes very slow. It takes 1H10 just to get from St. Goar to Bacharch. I did that once; never again.

What I would do is take the train from St. Goar station to Bingen STADT bahnhof (not Bingen Hbf) and walk along the river to the KD dock. The trip from Bingen KD back to St. Goar is probably the most scenic part of the Rhein gorge. You'll see lots of castles, particularly between Bingen and Bacharach, plus the mid-river toll castle, Pfalzgrafenstein and the Lorelei. The trip from Bingen to St. Goar WITH the current only takes about 15 minutes longer than St. Goar to Bacharach.

It looks like on this year's schedule most of the boats from Bingen stop in St. Goarshausen (across the river from St. Goar) but don't stop in St. Goar. There is a ferry across the river from St. Goarshausen to St. Goar. Or, since it appears that K-D sells a ticket from Bingen Stadt to St. Goar, maybe they will let you get off the boat in St. Goarshausen and then take the next boat, from Boppard, a few minutes later from St. Goarshausen to St. Goar.

Take the train to Bingen. Show your ticket and get 20% off your KD fare. If possible go all the way to Boppad where you can take the chairlift. If no ships go that far, then of course get off at St. Goar. Explore the other towns by train

Take Lee's advice, it is spot on.

As Lee and Stephen have advised, 1) St. Goar > Bingen Rhein Stadt by train, then 2) Bingen > St. Goar (or Boppard) by boat is your best strategy for getting the most out of your cruise.

About seeing BACHARACH... a good idea IMHO... Why not just make a stopover there on your way to Bingen? Have a walk around town, then catch a second train to Bingen for your cruise.

KD Cruise to Boppard: Most departures from Bingen (9:15, 11:15, 14:30) will require 2 boats with a layover in St. Goar / St. Goarshausen. Only one boat continues past St. Goarshausen / St. Goar to Boppard; it departs Bingen at 16:30 and reaches Boppard at 18:50. If you have only 2 days on the Rhine, a layover in St. Goar - where you are already staying - may or may not be so convenient.

So... the question being where to end your cruise... St. Goar or Boppard... Answer this question first: Were you wanting to visit Boppard anyway? And if so, during the day or the evening? Unlike other towns, Boppard does have a great riverfront promenade lined with restaurants and inviting outdoor dining venues with nice views. So after taking that 16:30 cruise and dinner in Boppard, you could take a walk around town and get back to St. Goar (a 10-min. train ride) that evening. OTOH, keep in mind that the additional cruise time between St. Goar and Boppard adds €11 each (standard fare) to your cruise fare - and at least €4 each for the additional train ride back to St. Goar.

Here's a sample "snug" schedule for one day using the 14:30 cruise from Bingen; or you can loosen it up with extra time here or there and take the 16:30 cruise from Bingen if you like:

• Breakfast in St. Goar

• Rheinfels Castle tour (opens 9 am)

• Train (10:56) from St. Goar to Bacharach

• Train to Bingen Rhein Stadt (13:23- 13:56)

• Cruise back to St. Goar (14:30-16:00.) Going to Boppard? The last boat leaves St. Goar at 17:55 (arrives 18:50)

About the 9:15, 11:15, and 14:30 cruises from Bingen: THEY DO STOP IN ST. GOAR even though no arrival time is shown. Use the 14:30 cruise as an example... After the boat finishes the northbound cruise to St. Goarshausen (16:00), it crosses the river and docks in St. Goar to begin the southbound cruise, leaving St. Goar at 16:10. You can see this departure time from St. Goar on the southbound schedule - it's the same boat. So don't get off the boat in St. Goarshausen. Just hang in there for a few more minutes and you'll dock in St. Goar, with no need to use the standard ferry crossing.

Beilstein: you can cruise from there to Cochem (12:00, 13:30) in about 1 hour. Return cruise at 16:15, or return by bus.

Schedule in bottom left corner: Schiffsausflug nach Beilstein

Incredible, detailed, helpful advice and insight. Thank you all very much. We do have a car, so I believe we will definitely take the train to Bingham and decide whether to take it to Saint Gore or all the way to Boppard. . If we don’t go all the way to Boppard we can go there and also Bacharach by car the next day. Thanks again Brian.

Mine is a question. We will be staying in Boppard and my plan is to take the train to Bingen and then board a KD cruise and go back to Boppard.
Am I understanding correctly that we will have to switch boats at some point? Are there only certain departure times that will work for this?
I am hoping we can possibly hop off the boat at some towns (still to be determined which ones....open to suggestions) and then get back on the boat and continue .
Is this a feasible plan?

sharoscott6952: There is only one northbound KD boat per day - the 16:30 boat - that makes it all the way to Boppard, where you arrive at 18:50.

You can do the same cruise using two boats with a stopover in St. Goar - and of course this stopover adds time to the journey - using the earlier boats from Bingen at 9:15, 11:15, and 14:30. NOTE: The schedule shows no arrival time for St. Goar, but the boat WILL go to St. Goar right after St. Goarshausen - so add 5 minutes to the St. Goarshausen time and that's about when you'll reach St. Goar:

https://www.k-d.com/fileadmin/KD_Fahrplaene/KD_Fahrplan_intern_2023_final.pdf

It is NOT especially convenient to hop off the boat to visit towns. It is convenient to do that by train. So I suggest you take a southbound train from Boppard and hop off the train in the towns that interest you... St. Goar? Oberwesel? Bacharach? All are on the same railway on the same side of the river. Service between towns is hourly or better, not every 2-3 hours as it is with the cruise boats. Make sure your last train makes it to Bingen Rhein Stadt station by 13:30 or 4:00 so that you have time to walk to the dock (just a few minutes) and buy cruise tickets at the KD kiosk.

Train ticket: To get to Bingen you need a DB Oberwesel > Bingen ticket on top of the Guest Ticket you'll have from your Boppard hosts (which provides free train use as far as Oberwesel.) With this DB ticket (€7.40 ea., buy at the station from ticket machine on the platform or buy app) you can make any stopover you like (such as Bacharach) on the way to Bingen. And of course the Guest Ticket also allows stopovers until Oberwesel. Once at the dock in Bingen, show your DB train ticket for a 20% cruise discount.