Touring the Rhine Valley and the Moselle

Are you planning on taking a cruise on the Rhine with one of the K-D boat's? Take an early train to Bingen Stadt and you can get one of the boats there and head north and down river with the current. You can get boats at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30. Its 1 hour and 25 minutes to St Goar.

What day of the week? Week end or week day will affect your train ticket strategy. And I would not stay in Koblenz, stay in Cochem or small B&B type establishment along the Mosel. Or St Goar or Boppard.

And time of year? There are "Rhine in Flames" fireworks displays at various towns along the Rhine on weekends.

Castel tours? What trips your trigger?

"We are going to be based in Cologne... Do you suggest we start from Bacharach towards Koblenz and stopping also at St Goar and Oberwesel, or starting off at Bingen?"

From Cologne you will pass St. Goar and Oberwesel on your way south before you reach Bacharach or Bingen, whether you are traveling by train or by car. There is no single "best" spot to begin looking around. But by train, you will probably want to drop your bags somewhere before you start exploring.... so if your plan is to stay in Koblenz, stop there first and drop bags at your hotel or in a station locker. If you overnight in St. Goar, stop there first, etc... Map:
http://www.mittelrhein-wein.com/Bilder/rheinlauf-gross.jpg

It's a good idea to travel south beyond Bacharach. The scenery between Bacharach and Bingen is very good. You don't mention a river cruise - but that is a popular thing to do, and if you want to do one, board the cruise in Bingen and cruise to St. Goar for the best scenery. This map covers the best cruise segment:

https://gruppentouristik.com/sites/default/files/anbieter%202/Bingen-R%C3%BCdesheimer%20F%C3%A4hr-%20und%20Schiffahrtsgesellschaft/Rheinlauf.jpg

Koblenz is a lot larger, busier, and more modern than the other towns. An overnight stop like Boppard or St. Goar, both with some nice old-world buildings and great river scenery, offers more atmosphere, IMO. Here's a view from the boat dock in St. Goar:

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/kdboat2010a.jpg

Boppard has a nice riverfront walk with cafes and restaurants:

http://schnuggel-elsje.de/upload/Bilder/IMG_0131.JPG

It would not be difficult to wake up in one of these two towns and move on to the Mosel River on your second day.

So basically what we were thinking about was getting a train from Cologne to Bacharach early in the morning to be there at around 9am and tour it for an hour, get a river cruise to Oberwesel and stop there for two hours, hop on another river cruise to St Goar and stop there for around five hours, and get another river cruise to Koblenz where we spend the night.

Then the next morning we get a river cruise to Cochem or else go by train and return by river cruise.

We will be going mid September and this has to happen during the weekdays. We will be travelling with a 9 year old in tow, so we need to keep that in mind, one of the reasons we decided to sleep over and not return to Cologne getting another train ride at the end of quite an intensive day.

But reading past reviews, it was suggested that one should stop at Bingen and cruise towards Koblenz or we would be missing out. So looking for suggestions and views on this issue. Thanks

OK, so your post is about cruising.

I see you've scheduled your stops in between Bacharach and Koblenz by the KD schedule - then at the end of Day 1, you would "get another river cruise to Koblenz where we spend the night."

"Then the next morning we get a river cruise to Cochem or else go by train and return by river cruise."

I gave you my take on Koblenz already, so, about the cruising...

Koblenz to Cochem one way by boat (which requires 5+ hours on the boat and about €36/adult) is a pleasant cruise segment but not as dramatic as the Rhine cruise and obviously time-consuming. There is only one boat per day, and only 3 days per week (Fri - Sun, which you might have overlooked) but the underlying message here is that this route is in much less demand than the Rhine cruise for people in the Koblenz area. The boat + train (which costs about €22 for your family) strategy would mean boarding the boat on one end of Koblenz, then getting off the train on the other end of town, so you would have either a lengthy walk or a taxi/bus ride across at the end of your day.

So for Koblenz to Cochem, my advice is to use the train only. You can travel there on any weekday on the 9:06 Regional Express train (takes 35 minutes; round trip = €22.10 for your family on a VRM mini-group day pass.) Trains follow the river bank and you take in the Mosel scenery the entire way:
http://www.zughalt.de/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/DB11321.jpg

Note: this VRM pass will get you back to Koblenz and beyond Koblenz as far north as Remagen on regional trains on the return to Cologne.

And this way, you will have time to enjoy Cochem. Stepping off the boat from Koblenz at 15:00 would have compromised your activities, which could include a visit to Reichsburg Castle, the chairlift ride, the mustard mill, and some wandering around the handsome old town, and a nice lunch somewhere. But by using the train you really free up your day. It's not uncommon for visitors to combine a visit to Cochem with a visit to Burg Eltz Castle, near Moselkern (in between Cochem and Koblenz) if you don't mind an even longer day.

Back to Day 1... If you keep things roughly as planned, I suggest dropping bags in a Koblenz locker (or schlepp them through all the Rhine towns as you go.) Your train will likely have a scheduled layover during which you can do this. Hopefully more than a few minutes. (If not, schedule in a longer stopover time.) BINGEN is not a must-visit town but the river scenery between Bacharach and Bingen is among the Rhine's best. Since the cruise matters a lot to you, I suggest you get off the train there instead of Bacharach. Bacharach to St. Goar is excellent as well, so do both segments. Here is a map of this best cruise zone.

Bingen - St. Goar totals only 1.5 hours on the boats; the 10:30 boat from Bingen (you probably won't make the 9:30 boat) gets you to St. Goar at 11:55 if you just stay on. See Rheinfels Castle and have lunch.

Now, you were going to spend 5 hours in St. Goar because of the skimpy cruise schedule, but you don't need 5 hours there, so board the 14:56 train to Oberwesel, which you skipped on the cruise; it's only 5 minutes from St. Goar. Spend your 2 hours there however you planned them, then catch either the 16:54 or the 17:35 TRAIN (not boat) to Koblenz (if that's your overnight stop of choice.) For the St. Goar - Oberwesel train trip and the Oberwesel - Koblenz train trip, buy one of those VRM mini-group day passes at €22.10 - that covers all of you on the local and regional trains.

The best scenery is between Bingen and Boppard. You need to get from Cologne to Bingen Stadt Bahnhof by 9:15 to get the first boat. The best and cheapest train connection leaves Cologne Hbf at 6:53, changes trains at Koblenz, then Bingen Hbf, then turn around and go back to the next station which is Bingen Stadt Bf, arriving at 8:56. That is plenty of time for the 10 minute walk to the dock.

It is a 45 minute ride to Bacharach, and you can get off there at 10:15. There are boats continuing at 11:15 and 12:15. I'd skip Oberwesel and continue to St Goar. You can tour there for the afternoon. there are boats from St Goar at 15:55 and 17:55. The one at 17:55 is the last one of the day and is the paddle-wheel steam boat. Take one of those to Boppard and stay in Boppard.

Next day take a train to Cochem, not the boat. The Mosel has locks and passing through the locks is time consuming. You can buy a train ticket called a VRM Minigruppenkarte for 22.10 EUR, and starting at 9 am, you can travel on all the regional trains and buses in the region for the rest of the day and it covers up to 5 people traveling together. So you can take the regional train to Koblenz and change to trains traveling in the Mosel valley. You can hop-on and hop-off as you like, visiting Cochem and any towns up river to Bullay and the little spur line from there to Traben-Trarbach. At the end of the day, the ticket is valid as for as Rolandseck, which is just south of Bonn. You will need to buy tickets for the section from Rolandseck to Cologne. The 9 yo travels with you for free as long as he/she is you son/grandson or daughter/granddaughter. And only regional trains, no IC or ICE or EC trains.

Thanks for your suggestions, you were a great help, greatly appreciated.

Don't miss Trier and if you can handle it Viaden, Luxembourg.

We have researched more on our trip down the Rhine and Moselle and we've arrived to the conclusion of staying 2 nights in the Rhine Palatinate region. So to recapitulate:

Day 1: Departure from Cologne to Rudesheim/Bingen for the first KD boat trip (9:15/9:30) with stopovers at Bacarach for Rick Steves' town walk - 10:15 to 11:15, Oberwesel (Rick Steves walk' - 11:35 to 12:35) and St Goar (Rheinfels Castle - 12:55 to 15:55), ending in Boppard (16:50 onwards) where we stay for the night.

Day 2: Departure in morning by regional train to Braubach (Marksburg Castle), then to Burg Eltz Castle, and finally to Cochem where we stay for the night.

Day 3: Tour of Cochem town and castle. Departure to Cologne in the afternoon.

Do you think this is doable? We plan to travel light but are there any suggestions where we can leave our bags for our visits before check-ins?

Any suggestions would be more than welcome.

Thank you for your help.

You have some pretty packed days with some luggage problems caused by the logistics you have chosen. I don't think it will go smoothly as planned. I'll make some tips for reorganization that should make it more doable.

Day 1: Departure from Cologne to Rudesheim/Bingen for the first KD
boat trip (9:15/9:30) with stopovers at Bacarach for Rick Steves' town
walk - 10:15 to 11:15, Oberwesel (Rick Steves walk' - 11:35 to 12:35)
and St Goar (Rheinfels Castle - 12:55 to 15:55), ending in Boppard
(16:50 onwards) where we stay for the night.

• You will need to leave Cologne at 6:53 am to catch the 9:30 from Bingen or the 9:15 from Rüdesheim.

• One hour in Oberwesel is insufficient for Rick Steves' walk, and an hour in Bacharach is next to nothing as well. You will have to stop at the Tourist office in both towns to deposit your luggage and then pick up your luggage within that 1-hour time frame as well. You would be wiser IMO to just cruise all the way to St. Goar (10:55... or 11:55 if you must take second boat of the day to St. Goar) and visit Rheinfels etc. there. You have already walked twice with your bags at this point - once to the Bingen dock and once when you step off the boat in St. Goar. So instead of continuing to schlepp your bags uphill to Rheinfels or to the TI office in St. Goar (and later in the other towns) you should be making St. Goar your overnight stop. Get off the boat in St. Goar, drop bags at your hotel for good, and don't fuss with them one more minute that day.

• After 3 hours in St. Goar, at 13:56 or 14:56, take the TRAIN to Bacharach (14:05 or 15:05.) Then at 15:50 (or 16:28) take the TRAIN to Oberwesel (only 4 train minutes.) Two hours later, take the TRAIN from O'wesel to St. Goar, where your day ends. Now you have a still small but decent amount of time to do a walk through these towns. (The cruise segment to Boppard is somewhat repetitive of what you've already cruised - don't fret over skipping it. You will in fact see it by train on the way south on the trip to Bingen and again on Day 2 as you proceed north.)

Day 2: Two more castles (and two uphill hikes) in one day... It might be feasible but if both castles really matter to you, it would be wise to use two separate days for these. You again have a luggage problem. Best strategy IMO is to do Eltz on this day. Take train straight to Cochem (8:01 - 9:41) and drop bags at hotel. Enjoy the town for a while. Train to Moselkern (12:43 - 13:00?) and do the 1-hour walk to Eltz. Then you have the 1-hour tour, the 1-hour return to Moselkern, and the 17-min. train ride back to Cochem for the evening.

Day 3: Visit Marksburg on this day so that you can take advantage of the lockers at Koblenz station (which you must pass through to reach Braubach.) If you really need a 4th castle, see Reichsburg in Cochem before checking out. Then... train to Koblenz and Braubach. Your layover of 18 minutes at Koblenz station gives you time to put your bags in a locker. Then it's a 10-minute ride to Braubach, about 20-25 minutes up to and back from the castle and of course a 1-hour tour. Try to arrange your arrival in Braubach so that you make the 1 pm or 4 pm English language tour. Remember to fetch your bags at Koblenz station on your return trip to Cologne.

As regards the train from Cologne to Rudesheim, do we need to prebook to obtain good prices, or do they remain the same and we can buy them on the day from the train station?

Also do we need seat reservations?

Thanks

Standard fare for that 6:53 IC train I mentioned is €71 for 2 adults no matter when you buy it. You can perhaps pre-purchase a saver fare (Sparpreis) for two to R'heim for around €40 - or perhaps a little more - it all depends on your travel date and whether the cheapest fares are still available now for that date. Prices rise as tickets sell, so if you want a saver fare, buy ASAP. Just use the DB itinerary page to find that saver fare: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Saver fare details: http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/prices/germany/savings-fare.shtml

I wouldn't bother with reservations. They are not required.