rhine town/river

Are you cruising on the day of arrival or the next morning? Where are you coming from / going to, and about what time will you arrive and leave? Traveling by railpass or car? Do you intend to tour a castle, or just cruise past them all?

Do answer Russ's questions. A lot could depend on what your plans are. Without knowing anything else, I would suggest staying in either St. Goar or Bacharach. They are on the same side of the river and only a few minutes apart by train. The trip by boat, up the river (to the SE, St. Goar to Bacharach, against the current), takes 70 minutes. The trip down the river (with the current to St. Goar) takes only 40 minutes. There are really not 70 minutes of things to see between St. Goar and Bacharach; take the boat from Bacharach to St. Goar. Use the train either to get to Bacharach or to get back. While in St. Goar, tour the ruins of Rheinfels castle.

We are travelling by car coming from rothenburg and going to amsterdam. We would like to split the trip so we thought we would stay 1 night and do the river, how about rudesheim i heard good things about that town. Thanks

Ruedesheim is THE most touristy town in all of Germany. Chock full of one tacky souvenir shop after another, crowds of bussed in tourists and cruise ship tourists. Though it has cute houses, you can find the same cute houses in every other town along the Rhine. Check out Bacharach, Ober-Wesel, St. Goar, Elteville, or Lorch. Look at their websites and photos online to see which one appeals to you the most, or perhaps has the castle that you like the most.

I'd probably go with what Lee said. If you can stand hostels, Burg Stahleck (above Bacharach) is one of the best anywhere. It's normally very crowded (primarily with Germans) so you need to reserve to have any chance of staying there. St Goar also has a hostel which I would describe as average, not bad but the coed bathrooms might put a lot of Americans off (the shower stalls and toilets are private, just a large area with shared sinks in the middle).

Marianne, I would visit the town of St. Goar and visit the Rheinfels castle. Then take the boat cruise to Bacharach. This is a very scenic beautiful section of the Rhine, passing many remains of castles and towns along the way. You then can spend the evening in the beautiful town of Bacharach.

It doesn't sound like you have any specific interest in the area aside from the boat ride. Bacharach, St. Goar, and Oberwesel are all on the same side of the river, all nice towns, and all convenient for this purpose - so stay where you find a hotel you like. (If you're going to end the cruise in St. Goar, an idea that makes good sense for a short cruise, it might be easiest to overnight there as well, of course.) Cruise south to north to save time, as Lee suggests. If by "short cruise" you mean longer than 40 minutes, you might want to start further south in Bingen instead of Bacharach, as the scenery between those towns is great too. A cruise from Bingen - Bacharach - Oberwesel - St. Goar takes 85 minutes and costs you only about 6€ more. Using the train: Note that you will get a 20% cruise discount if you present a train ticket at the dock - so maybe you want to use the train BEFORE your cruise rather than after. I too would suggest seeing Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar. And if you aren't in a huge rush on the way to Amsterdam, Marksburg Castle across the river in Braubach (there's a car ferry in St. Goar and in Boppard) is a better choice yet.

Thanks guys, you helped alot I will take your advise.

I like the idea of going to st goar and river cruising to Bacharach and staying there overnight but we will have a rental car so is there a way to get the car there also

Marianne, Based on your latest post, here is one option: Drive to Bacharach, secure your lodgings and rental car. Then take the train to St. Goar. They have regular "milk run" trains that connect these two towns. If I recall, it is a very short train ride. Maybe 15-20 minutes. Then take the Rhine cruise back to Bacharach & spend the night.

great idea I think we will go to bacharach first and then take the train to st goar and river criuse back. Thanks for all ur help