Help plan our Rhine River excursion

Rick covers this in detail in his book, Germany & Austria. St Goar and Bacharach are 2 places that come up a lot but not the only places. The boats run frequently, you just buy tickets and get on and get off where you want, repeat the process--not too involved. Get the book. And here's a link to one of many prior discussions here: Rhine River Cruising & Home-BasingTo get many more links here, search on "rhine river cruise" and similar phrases (search box upper right).

Here's the schedule:

www.k-d.com/englisch/schiffstouren/fahrplan-rhein.html

2 hours or so is usually long enough.

Focus on the area between Bingen and Koblenz for good scenery - upstream from Bingen is dull.

I'd suggest about two hours max for the cruise. It can get tedious and uncomfortable after that.

Bacharach to Braubach is just about perfect. And in Braubach you can take the best castle tour on the Rhine - Marksburg: www.marksburg.de

You can return to your home base by train from any town the boat stops at. However, you might have to cross the river; St. Goar's ferry to St. Goarshausen on the east bank is the most convenient for this.

I like St. Goar best. Walter Huppertz' reasonable (around 50 Euros, or less) apartments are sometimes available for a few days - very friendly guy who speaks English and will meet you at the station (though you could easily walk by yourself - only a block or so to the riverside apartments (great view from the Rheinblick apartment!)

www.mittelrhein-ferienwohnung.de/st-goar/germany/rhine-river-view/index.html

? Which cruise line? My wife and I took the 16 day
Viking River cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest
two years ago. It was almost perfect. So I can
recommend Viking.
As for suggestions....go ashore every time you have
an opportunity. Every town is different. Do a
google search for ‘German river cruises comments’
and read other travelers reviews for ideas of what to
do and how the cruise works.

If you like to stay on the cheap, I recommend
staying in a hostel. My wife and I have stayed in
many in the last 20 years.

Some now have private
rooms for 2 in lieu of dorms. Do a google search asking for 'Munich Germany hostel'. You will find
many to choose from.

We have also stayed at:
http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/index.html
This is a budget price motel with clean, modern
cheap rooms. We have stayed in several of them
and can recommend them.

For 2-3 days. Try to stay at Burg Stahlek, a castle turned into a hostel. If you can't stay there, pensions in the area are nice. It's very clean and quiet and they have private rooms. The KD line cruise runs up and down the Rhine, a good taste is from Bacharach to St. Goar. I don't think you have time to do a lot more.

There is a ticket booth at every dock the boats stop at. Tell them what part you want to see, get your ticket and board the next boat. You can take the train back.

I've been shut out once. A boat was pulled for maintenance and the next one was too crowded to take on all the waiting passengers, we had to get a refund and change our plans.

Of course everyone will weigh in with their favorites- but be aware that the direction of travel on the river matters. It takes longer to go upriver ( South) than downriver. Bacharach to Braubach might be 2 hours, Braubach to Bacharach might take closer to 3 hours, etc. That's one reason why people suggest to go boat one way and take the train the other.
I recall that there is a wrinkle with that strategy, though, in that the price of a K-D one way ticket was only 4 or 5 Euros cheaper than a round-trip ticket. If you are on a Railpass day it doesnt matter...but I priced the boat and train return fares and decided I would just put my feet up and take the boat. Of course, being on the boat longer meant I bought a couple beers and a snack and cancelled out the savings ! LOL