Planning for a trip "The Romantic Rhine"

You've just posted on a bulletin board where other travelers try to answer your questions. You did not reach Rick Steves Travel. You can reach the travel experts at ETBD by email at [email protected] or call 425/771-8303. Just to get you started, you can find information, including schedules, for the boats at www.k-d.com. And, trains go up both banks of the Rhein and there are ferries across it; you don't need a car.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and getting me on the right track. Kay

Kay and Ron - suggest you get the Rick Steves Germany book at bookstore or library - all this is covered plus a wealth of other info. Enjoy your trip!

Kay, I definitely "second" the suggestion on getting the Germany 2012 Guidebook. There's a wealth of information there, and it's an excellent resource for planning travels in that area. Note that the book is also available in E-book format in Kindle, iPad and other formats. The print version of the book is available now, and the E-book 2012 version should be available soon. Bacharach and St. Goar are two popular "home base" locations for touring that area. I assume This is the section of the Rhine that you're most interested in? Happy travels!

Rhine Cruise: Boats stop everywhere and cruise in both directions. Do it south to north - with the current - to save time. Don't start in Mainz or anywhere south of Bingen, the best place to start to see the most scenery. Bingen to Boppard (almost 2.5 hours) or Braubach (almost 3 hours) are the best bang for your time on the boat. http://www.k-d.de/english/home/ Braubach is a great place to get off because of Marksburg Castle, the one castle in the area that has withstood all assaults and which offers a fine tour of the interior: http://www.marksburg.de http://www.roadstoruins.com/marksburg.htm You can rent a car but train travel to all the villages is simple, fun and very cheap. A Rheinland-Pfalz ticket (daypass, 25€) gets 2-5 people north to Bonn and south to Karlsruhe along the Rhine, west to Luxembourg along the Mosel River, and many other places; to see the scenic Middle Rhine, you can use trains on BOTH sides of the river from Bingen north to Bonn: http://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets-and-fares/ticket-offers/rheinland-pfalz-ticket/ Ben has pages and pages on great places to stay, most at very reasonable prices: http://www.bensbauernhof.com/accommodationsrhinemosel.html