One Day in the Rhine River Area

Just a note on Schoenburg - we have stayed there twice, both in the winter. It is really a neat place. The breakfast is one of the best we have had in Germany. There is a path down the side of the mountain that you can take if you are in good shape. You could easily go down, and maybe take a cab up. We have a couple of places in town where we like to eat and they are reasonable. We had a dessert one night in the "cave" and it was really neat.There is a small container of brandy that they put in your room. You are correct on the boat ride - it is very scenic and gives you a good perspective. It will be harder on you taking the train. We have always driven in that area, but the trains are all very accessable. I hope you have a wonderful trip. - Bill

We stayed in Schoenburg as well (not in the hotel but in the hostel portion). You have a beautiful view to Pfalzgrafenstein from their patio.

The path down to Oberwesel is quite doable. Going up as well - as long as you don't have to do it in 33 C heat as we did. And I'm not sure if I'd want to do it with a heavy backpack ... Check with the hotel if they offer a shuttle service to pick you up from the train station.

Are those dates correct? You are leaving Amsterdam early on the 14th and it takes 4½ hrs to get to the Rhein. That gives you half of the 14th (where do you plan to spend the night of the 14th?), all of the 15th, and part of the 16th (before you leave for Rothenburg). Correct?

In my opinion, the best part of the Rhein is between St Goar and Bacharach. The boat stops midway in Oberwesel, but if you get off there, depending on your direction, you either miss the Lorelei (between St Goar and Oberwesel) or the mid-river toll station, Pfalzgrafenstein (between Oberwesel and Bacharach).

I think (but I've never tried this) that a regular ticket is an on/off ticket, so you might be able to do St Goar to Oberwesel, get off check into your hotel, then do Oberwesel to Bacharach. However, I don't know if the tickets are dated. That is, if you could take the boat from St Goar to Oberwesel, spend the night, then go to Bacharach the next day, using the same St Goar-Bacharach ticket. However, tickets between Oberwesel, and St Goar or Bacharch are €5,70 each (€11,40 total) vs €10,50 for St Goar to Bacharach, so it wouldn't cost too much more for two separate days.

Oops...no, I wrote the wrong date for Amsterdam departure...thanks for catching that.

We leave Amsterdam early morning on the 15th, spend the night in Oberwesel, then want to be in Rothenburg by dinner on the 16th.

It works out to be about 24 hours actually in the Rhine River area once you account for travel from Amsterdam and to Rothenburg.

For the Amsterdam Rhein trip, sounds like you know the time and date you want to travel and have a lot of time to purchase your ticket in advance. You can purchase SparPreis (formerly Dauer-Spezial) tickets from the German Rail website for as low as €29 pP. I think that is a very popular route, so few tickets are offered at the lowest price, and these sell out as soon (3 month ahead) as offered, particularly for the early morning trains, but I did see some in March for as low as €49 pP.

SparPreis tickets must include a portion using express trains (ICE/IC/EC), but can also use regional trains to get from the last express train to your destination (Nach-Lauf), so make the tickets from Amsterdam clear through to Braubach (Marksburg). Some connections from Koblenz to Braubach will be by rail; other connections are by bus and will not be included in the Bahn ticket.

Actually, if you build it into your schedule when purchasing the tickets, you can book your tickets for all of the way to St Goarshausen. There is no specific train requirement for the Nach Lauf. You would have all day to get to St Goarshausen. Then take the ferry across the river to St Goar and see Rheinfels (if you have time) before taking the boat to Oberwesel.

Lee, my recollection is that tickets are dated and timed, but don't know if any 24-hour period would work or if they expire at midnight.

Kristina, do what Lee says, that's the absolute best part of the river. I'd favor St Goar and Boppard, but the southern chunk of the gorge is excellent as well.

The reason I suggest St Goar to Bacharach is you go by the Lorelei and the Pfalzgrafenstein. The Lorelei is actually just a big cliff, equally viewable from the train on the left bank, but only with the boat do you get close up to the Pfalzgrafenstein.

You can also try to get SparPreis tickets from the Rhein to Rothenburg. If you can't get those, it takes only a little longer to take regional trains, and you can get a Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket for €39 for two. The QDLT is an all day pass for any regional trains in Germany on workdays after 9 AM. (On a weekend day, you could use the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket for the same trains all day for €37.)

Note: the DB website shows the QDLT as being valid through Jan 31, 2010, but I have seen it show up on the schedules for later in the year, so I think they plan on continuing it.

You have luggage issues because you're staying just one night - and most stations on the Rhine lack lockers. St. Goar, Oberwesel, Bacharach, and Braubach (Marksburg) are all without. Auf Schoenburg is high atop the cliffs outside Oberwesel. It's a gorgeous place but a big hassle to come and go without a car. Plan on a taxi. You only want to come and go once. It's also a pain to get from there over the river to Marksburg from Oberwesel - 2 train segments and a ferry ride.

Here's how I'd do it.

6/15: Amsterdam to Koblenz, store bags in locker, catch next train to Braubach for Marksburg tour. After tour, train back to Koblenz, get bags, catch next train to Oberwesel, proceed to hotel.

6/16: Check out, take luggage, catch train south to Bingen Hbf (9:26 train from O'wesel gets in 9:43, lockers there, stow your stuff!), walk about 15 minutes to the boat docks and catch the 10:30 boat north to St. Goar (11:55.) See Rheinfels. Catch afternoon train south to Bingen, grab bags, catch next train to Rothenburg.