Tour guide for Bacharach?

kara, its so small that you don't need one. Seriously, you can slow walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes. The RS guidebook tells you all you need to know. There's not much historic or tour-able there, that can't be seen from the outside. For example, the castle is certainly worth the climb up the hill to see, but its a working hostel, and not much if anything open for looking at. None of this is saying its not charming or worth a visit.

I agree with Stan, no need for a tour guide. In addition to the castle/hostel there are the ruins of the St Werner chapel (15th c), otherwise the town is about 6 blocks long. There's a nice little walking path off the main drag where you can see some nice private gardens and a little stream with a bridge over it, but that's about it. I enjoyed walking around there early in the morning.

If you would really prefer having a local tour, check the guidebook as I believe they have at least one local guide listed there. THIS website describes a visit to Bacharach and a tour with Herr Jung, an excellent local guide.

If you contact the Tourist Info in Bacharach they should be able to put you in touch with an English speaking guide.

Towns along the Rhine often have an incredible amount of history and just strolling though the town reveals nothing about its' past. A tour guide will be able to tell you stories about the famous people that lived here or visited here, events that changed its' history both the good ones and the bad ones. I love going on tours in these small towns and villages. You would be amazed at how much this can change a cute, quaint town into something far memorable than just a photo op. Who was Werner? Why does he have a chapel here named after him? Who was Heinrich Heine and why is he important to Bacharach? Any idea what those designs on the half-timbered houses mean? How were they built? Why is the town even here and what is its' history? What about that wine?

I enjoyed the tour that Thomas Gundlach gave our RS group last fall. I had wondered around Bacharach on my own the previous evening, and was surprised at how much I had missed when Thomas started pointing out things and giving us the local history. His contact info is in the RS guidebook.

Do you tip tour guides?

Bacharach is amazing and one of our favorite stops on the Rhine or Mosel. I would love to go back but we're trying not to revisit any vacation spots. It is very small and best experienced just wandering aimlessly. Be sure to get above town to see the church, ruins, town and river. It's gorgeous!

This is a case where size doesn't matter. Small is mighty.

You may not "need" a guide but the only way to be able to compare the difference is to have one after not having one like the above poster. We toured privately with Thomas. We were supposed to spend three hours with him, but we saw so much and talked so much that we spent four. Geographically it's a small space, but historically it plunges back centuries.

And we didn't go up to the castle; there was more than enough detail in town to see and learn about.