Out train will arrive in St. Goar at 16:20 and the KD boat leaves at 17:20. I know there is a path to the Burg Rheinfels Castle from the Train Station, and I think it takes 10 min. to get there. How much time should we allow to explore the castle? How much time prior to 17:20 should we be on the boat?
Do you think we will have time in 1 hour to see the castle and not miss our boat? It will just be my husband and I...both in early 30's and in good shape. Thanks!
Five years ago, I spent 2½ hours "exploring" Rheinfels, not including travel time to the castle with the tram and walking back to the river front (the tram wasn't there when I wanted to go back). I'm not sure 20 min would be enough to get from the castle to the K-D dock AND buy your tickets. So, from that standpoint I would say you can't explore anything in half an hour.
On the other hand, last month I took the train from Innsbruck up to Brenner (Italy), then another train down to Fortezza for lunch and back. I now can say I have "seen" Italy. So, if a couple of hours counts for "seeing" Italy, then maybe half an hour if enough to "see" Rheinfels.
In a word - no.
As I recall, it's about a 10-15 minute walk just to the base of the hill on which the castle sits. Not surprisingly, like pretty much all castles, the castle itself is a long way up, and I remember the climb taking longer than the walk from the dock to the base of the hill (and I walk fast, and don't mind climbing). One hour is simply not realistic - not at all, not even close. This will not work, not even to just pop your head in so you can claim you were there.
Time for Plan B.
Thanks for the advice! Guess we'll just admire the castle from afar. :-) We'll spend a few minutes walking around the town, but we definitely don't want to miss the boat, as it is the last one out that night.
As has been said, I would expect almost a twenty minute walk up to the castle, it's pretty steep, and maybe a fifteen to twenty minute walk back to the boat docks. Add a few minutes to buy a ticket at the gate and that gives you about 15 - 20 minutes to see the castle. It's really not worth the effort unless you have time to see the castle.
Rheinfels is a comfortably paced half day of exploring - from opening to lunch - depending on how much crawling and climbing you like and how much you read about the exhibits in the museum.
