Rothenburg, Rhine River Cruise, Burg Eltz

Laurel, I'm not sure that your proposed Itinerary is realistic, at least not in that time frame. Regarding your questions..... 1.) You can travel from Munich to Bacharach by train. The journey will be about 5 hours, with at least two changes. The KD cruise from Bacharach to St. Goar is not really something you need to pre-book. I just walked across the street from the town and bought a ticket at the KD ticket office and then boarded the next sailing. Given the travel times, I'd suggest staying at least one night in Bacharach. 2.) To get to Burg Eltz, you'll need to travel from Bacharach or St. Goar to Moselkern. The journey will be about 1H:50M, with one change in Koblenz. When you reach Moselkern, you'll have about a one hour (or more) hike up through the woods to reach the Castle. AFAIK, there are no transportation services to the Castle, other than Taxi, except in the summmer when a Bus may operate from Treis-Karden station (details in the Guidebook). If you want to get to Burg Eltz via Taxi, one possibility would be to get off the train in Löf instead of Moselkern. There's a Taxi based there, but it WON'T be cheap (and the drivers speak only German). There may also be Taxi's in Cochem. When you reach the Castle car park, you'll need to hike down the hill or take the Shuttle (the hill is very steep - I'd recommend the Shuttle). BOTTOM LINE: I very much doubt that you'll be able to do the KD cruise and visit Burg Eltz on the same day. 3.) In Munich, I'd recommend either Hotel Uhland or Hotel Royal. Both serve exceptional breakfasts (included with the room). Royal is very close to the station, so very convenient. In Rothenburg you could have a look at Gasthof Goldener Greifen or Hotel Spitzweg. If you decide to stay one night in Bacharach, I can suggest some lodgings. continued.....

Laurel - continued..... 4.) The train will be your easiest option for travel from Venice to Munich. The shortest trips will be departures from Veneza Santa Lucia at 06:50 or 08:50, arriving Munich Hbf at 14:25 or 16:25 (time 7H:35M, one change at Verona Porta Nuova, reservations compulsory). That will be a full travel day. The trip from Munich to Rothenburg will be easier. There are numerous trips throughout the day, with 2-3 changes and a few routes that use Bus for the last leg. Check the bahn.de website for details. When travelling by train, there will always be a change at Steinach, as Rothenburg is on a "spur line". That's about all I can think of at the moment (it's late). I'm sure the others will have some good suggestions. Happy travels!

I have done this exact route a few years ago. It sounds like you are staying in Rothenburg two night. Hotel Gerberhaus is nice and an RS favorite. We took the night train from Venice to Munich, but it has been discontinued. Now it will take 11 hours to get to Rothenburg. A stop in Munich is a good idea to break up the trip.
Rothenburg to Bacharach can be done in 4 hours and change. You can get the scheduled K-D boat there at 3:15 and ride to Boppard, then catch a train to the Mosel. Burg Eltz will not be an option in the evening, so spend a night in Moselkern, then hike up to the castle in the morning. You can be back to Moselkern mid afternoon and get a train to Amsterdam and be there that night.

Sunday, June 23-Rothenburg ob der Tauber Monday, June 24-Rhine River Cruise in morning and Burg Eltz Castle in the evening "How do I get from Munich to the Rhine River Cruise" Huh? I thought you were going from Rothenburg to the Rhine. You'll need a very early start. The Rhine is 4 hours from Rothenburg by train. Leave R'burg 7:06 am, and I still don't see how you work in a cruise and Burg Eltz, at least not in June when the mid-day boat isn't running. It COULD be simpler to visit Marksburg Castle on the Rhine - great place and tour. Take same 7:06 train from R'burg but go straight to Braubach (12:06.) Braubach is lovely. Leave bags at hotel and take shuttle up to castle; do tour and shuttle back into town Take 15:07 train south to Assmannshausen (15:47) walk to dock and catch the 16:45 KD cruise boat back to Braubach (19:20.) KD BOAT SCHEDULE MARKSBURG CASTLE

Laurel, IMO, you should spend two days in Munich and one it Rothenburg. Check Eurail for transportation, or rent a car as it will give you the most freedom of where and when to go.
Jeff

Dont check Eurail. Check DeutscheBahn. They run the trains.

For hotels... Munich - Falkenturn (near the Marienplatz) Rothenburg - Hotel Klosterstueble or Hotel Elefant
Burg Eltz - that cute little inn in Beilstein...Hotel Haus Lippmann, not too far from Cochem.

Not realistic at all. Burg Eltz is a half-day trip if you start early from a NEARBY location, like Cochem. It's a great castle but not easy to get to. Ryanair flies from Venice to Frankfurt Hahn, which isn't too far from the Mosel area. Save yourself a ton of time by flying (check the luggage requirements CAREFULLY!!!), rent a car at Frankfurt Hahn, stay overnight at a town on the Mosel not too far from Burg Eltz (Cochem or others), see the castle in the morning, then drive to a KD dock on the Rhine, park, do the cruise for the shortest, fastest, and most scenic portion as outlined by RS, then train back to your car. That's a long day, but if you're really determined to somehow fit both Rothenburg and Burg Eltz and the Rhine cruise into two days, you could then exhaustedly drive the 2.5 (or more) hours to Rothenburg that afternoon/evening. Spend the next day in Rothenburg. Then drive on to whatever major train station you're taking to Amdesterdam, drop off the car. I'm usually a train person, but I think renting a car is the only way to make this work.

Check Eurail Eurail doesn't have train schedules. They are just a packager and promoter of rail passes. Some people don't know the difference between Eurail and RailEurope. RailEurope does sell tickets, usually at a big markup. They only show schedules for trains for which they actually sell tickets, a small subset of the trains available. For train schedules in all of Europe, you should use the German Rail (Bahn) website. (You can also use the Swiss Rail site.) BTW, if going to Burg Eltz, I wouldn't stay in Beilstein. There is very little there to see. I once spent four hours there on a Sunday afternoon, one hour seeing everything there is to see, the last three hours waiting for the next bus so I could leave. There are a few places in Moselkern. Treis-Karden is near Moselkern and has accommodations.

The addendum to Lee's post is that if you want to stay somewhere near Burg Eltz where you won't be bored senseless, stay in Cochem. Yes, it's touristy, but it's also charming and fun. An additional 10 minutes of driving/train time isn't that important.