buying a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket

Yes, the R-P ticket at 25€ is the way to go. Buy it an any station at a ticket machine. Use regional trains only, after 9 am weekdays, anytime on Sat or Sun; to find the regional trains at the DB itinerary page, specify "only local transport" under "means of transport" when you do your search: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
Regular fares for Bacharach-Cochem alone are 18.10€ each, so the R-P is your best bet.

Thanks Russ for your help.

Everything from Oberwesel (but not Bacharach) down to the border of Rheinland-Pfalz near Remagen and up the Mosel to Bullay, including St. Goar, Boppard, Braubach, and Cochem, is in the regional tariff district of Verkehrsverbund-Rhein-Mosel (VRM) and you can find prices on their website, www.vrm.info. And that is the reason you won't find ticket prices on the Bahn website - they don't show prices for tickets that are sold within a Verkehrsverbund. You can, however, find the prices for express trains (ICE, IC, EC), but those trains don't stop in St. Goar, Boppard, or Braubach. An all day pass for the VRM, a Minigruppenkarte, for 20€ will cover travel for up to 5 people on buses and regional trains everywhere in the VRM for a day. For 25€ for two people, a Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket will cover 2 people on the same conveyances for a larger area, the state of Rheinland-Pfalz, which includes almost everything between the Rhein and the French border, to west of the Mosel.

Thanks Lee for the information. This ticket will be just what I need, as I will be leaving from St. Goar.

There is also a 3-Tages-Minigruppenkarte for three consecutive days of unlimited travel in the VRM for up to 5 people for €40. The VRM day passes have the same 9 AM workday restriction as the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket. You might want to take a careful look at your itinerary. Boppard and Braubach are on opposite sides of the Rhein and there are very few crossings in that area (ferries at St. Goar/St. Goarshausen and at Boppard, and train/bus crossings at Koblenz). If you go first to Boppard, the ferry across the river ends in nowhere. There is a bus stop at the ferry dock across the river from Boppard, so if you find the schedule you might take the bus to Braubach. If you can't connect with the bus, it's about a km walk along the highway to the train station at Filsen and a train to Braubach. You can also take the train from Boppard into Koblenz and then across the river by bus or train to Braubach. Lastly, you can take the K-D boat (www.k-d.com) from Boppard to Braubach. I'm not sure if the Minigruppenkarte covers the ferries, but it doesn't cover the K-D boats (but you can get a discount by showing your train ticket). I spent five nights in Boppard, using it as a base to explore the Rhein gorge from Koblenz to Bacharach, but only spent one day actually seeing Boppard. It's a cute town, but not really much there to see. It started as a Roman garrison, and you can still see the remains of the Roman walls. There is a museum in town, but it is closed for construction through 2013. If you don't want to see Boppard, you can take the ferry across from St. Goar to St. Goarshausen and the train to Braubach.

I spent several days on the Rhine a bit over a year ago and used the VRM 3-day ticket extensively. Lee is correct that the VRM ticket is the best option - as long as you are not heading for Bacharach (a place you mentioned in your post, and which sounded like it might be a destination option) in which case you'd want the R-P ticket. Like Lee, I spend several nights in Boppard. It's quite a nice place, larger, with perhaps more dining and lodging options and wineries than the other towns and a very pleasant old town area. But if I were in St. Goar and headed for Braubach, I think I might want to visit Bacharach just as well. Bacharach has some fabulous old half-timbered buildings you won't find in Boppard and wineries as well. If you use the ferry in St. Goar, both the VRM and the R-P ticket are accepted. The VRM ticket is accepted on the Boppard-Filsen ferry too.

Thank you Russ and Lee. My plan is to purchase a Schones-Wochenende ticket from Rothenburg on Sunday Oct. 21 to Rudesheim, then catch the 1415 K-D ferry to Boppard arriving at 1650 (last stop). This is the last day for the ferry for the season so this is my only chance. Using the same train ticket, return to St. Goar where I have reservations for 2 nights. When I leave St. Goar we are going to spend 2 nights in Cochem (Burg Eltz). After much research the places and things that stand out are: Rheinfels Castle, Marskburg Castle, Boppard (nice town with a chair lift), the walk or cycle from St. Goar to Oberwesel and Bacharach (nice town with half timbered buildings). I realize that I am trying to do and see too much in a short period, so I would appreciate any help with organizing my time and then the train tickets should fall into place. Thank-you for all your help.

"My plan is to purchase a Schones-Wochenende ticket from Rothenburg on Sunday Oct. 21 to Rudesheim, then catch the 1415 K-D ferry to Boppard arriving at 1650... Using the same train ticket, return to St. Goar..." Your train plan from Rothenburg should work but you'll end up waiting for about an hour in Rüdesheim. The DB itinerary page shows you'll need to be on the 8:06 train from R'burg and will arrive at 13:18 in R'heim. However, I notice there's also a departure at 9:06 that gets you to Bingen (Stadt station) - just across the river from Rüdesheim - at 13:58. With this option you could leave an hour later and still catch that same boat from Bingen instead, at 14:30, and without the one-hour gap in R'heim where you're just waiting around with your luggage. If you're arriving in Boppard at 16:50, I'm guessing you're then just going to walk through town with your luggage to the train station and proceed to St. Goar, which is fine if you've packed light, a pain if not. The chairlift closes at 17:00 so you won't have a shot at it that day. So there might be a couple of reasons right there NOT to cruise all the way to Boppard on Day 1. You might instead just get off the boat in St. Goar at 15:55, drop bags at your hotel, and see Rheinfels, which is open until 17:30. If you go to Boppard the next day by train (a 12-min train ride), you can do the chairlift and you will still catch all the river scenery - the train follows the riverbank the entire distance. Boppard, Oberwesel and Bacharach could all be seen in one day. Not just on foot, of course. If you're biking, you can load your bike on the train whenever you like (after 9 am) if you also have a Rheinland-Pfalz or a VRM daypass. It's also possible to drop Boppard - you'll see the river scenery on the way to Cochem on Day 3, and Cochem also has a chairlift.

On Day 3, you should travel to Braubach for Marksburg via Koblenz so you can drop bags in a station locker there - Braubach has no lockers. Pick up bags there later when switching trains for Cochem. I'd recommend the falconry show at Cochem's Reichsburg Castle; it's open through October for shows at 11, 1:00, 2:30, and 4:00, closed Mondays: http://www.falknerei-reichsburg-cochem.de/fotobuch.htm Walk to Burg Eltz: http://www.bensbauernhof.com/burgeltzfrommoselkern.html

By the way, there is one later boat on Oct. 21 at 16:15 from R'heim (16:30 from Bingen) in case you oversleep in Rothenburg or miss a train connection for whatever reason.

Thanks alot Russ for all the great ideas. I have decided to take your advice on the train to Bingen and also getting off the boat in St. Goar.