Rhine gorge boat trip next April

In 2004 I did a K-D boat trip from St. Goar to Bacharach. I had already taken the train down the left bank from Mainz to Boppard, including Bingen to Bacharach. The boat allowed me to see the Loreley, Kaub, and the Pfalzgrafenstein from mid-river instead of the opposite bank, and Oberwesel from mid-river instead of in it on the train. The disadvantage - it took 70 excruciating minutes against a strong current. I didn't see anything between Bingen and Bacharach. My advice would be to go just from Bacharach to St. Goar, the most interesting part, and in that direction, 40 min with the current.

Thx, Lee. It almost sounds as if I could almost use the boat like a hop on hop off bus. Neato! I'm trying to overcome my lifelong anal obsession to overplan every trip I take, and this time I want to pick which trains to take each day, and where to go, WHILE I'm standing in front of the white and yellow boards ON the platform! Using the boat the same way would be the utmost!

Bingen to Braubach is all pretty scenic. Takes nearly 3 hours south to north (downstream) with the 9:30 am boat. There's also a 16:30 boat and a 14:30 boat from Bingen that goes to Braubach on Fr, Sa, and Su, but only as far north as Boppard on Mo-Th. You'll probably want to tour Marksburg Castle if you cruise all the way to Braubach - it's excellent - http://www.marksburg.de . Don't cruise north to south or the 3-hour trip takes 5 hours (upstream.) You can of course hop off anywhere you like. If you want to cut your cruise time in half, try Bingen to St. Goar or St. Goarshausen (across from each other on the river.) St. Goar is home to Rheinfels Castle: http://www.st-goar.de/17-1-.html Then do the rest of the route to the north by train. You can see the same scenery by train, of course, as the trains follow the riverbank. I would not take the cruise further north than Braubach; the scenery becomes industrial and less appealing as you approach Koblenz.

"It almost sounds as if I could almost use the boat like a hop on hop off bus. Neato!" Forget that. You must not have a schedule. It doesn't work your way with so few boats. Use the train once you get off. http://www.k-d.de/english/kd-scheduled-cruises/kd-rhine-timetable/#c572

Russ, Thx for clarifying it for me! I guess I didn't quite think THAT far ahead. But even if I use trains, which I will, I still can keep a lot of the flexibility and spontaneity I'm hoping for, I hope!

For the entire area, you can buy a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket (€21 for one person, €3 each additional person up to 5 total) for hop off/on travel on regional trains in the area. There are regional trains hourly in both directions on the both sides of the Rhein. For the area from Oberwesel down to Remagen and up the Mosel to Bullay, it's all day on/off for €17 single, €20 up to 5. But that doesn't include Bacharach.

The Rick Steves' Germany guide book provides a most excellent kilometer by kilometer description of the most film gobbling part of the Rhine from the point of view of the ship in the river or the slow train or car on the shore. There are many things that the book has left out about Germany but I believe that the Rhine castle guide is a pretty good piece of work. It goes over several pages and is well worth buying or finding. By the way, I don't think I'd call the Rhine Valley a gorge. It is a huge river and as such the topography is much flatter.

Thx Nigel for the tip on the book. As for calling it a gorge, I guess I just picked up that term somewhere else. Actually, I did travel down it many MANY years ago while studying in Munster so I do recall it isn't exactly the grand canyon, but I also remember it was "gorge-ous"!

Nigel: The topography of the Rhine is clearly flat in many places, and gorge-like in others. If you've ever hiked from the river's edge to the clifftops near St. Goar, you'd surely call that section of it a gorge. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hans_rued/339489710/lightbox/ There are trails like the one at the Oelsberg vineyard in Oberwesel that take you up a 70-degree pitch: http://www.weinlehrpfade.de/mittelrhein/oberweselobs/oberweselobspopup/oberweselobspopupbilder/ks_oelsberg14_gr.jpg

Tom, If you traveled DOWN the Rhein river from Muenster (el. 197 ft) to it's mouth in the Netherlands, it would have been pretty flat. The section from Bingen to Koblenz is often referred to as the Rhein Gorge, and for good reason, although the river is fairly wide, there are steep slopes on the side with very little flat land along the river.