Luggage dilemma at Burg Eltz

First, the S-Bahn system is run by German Rail. You can use your Eurail pass for the S-Bahn from Munich to Dachau (a suburb of Muncih), but the Eurail pass will not cover the bus to the Memorial. That will cost you €1,20 extra, one way, per person. "or take a ferry to Burg Eltz". There is no ferry to Burg Eltz. There are also no lockers in the train station at Moselkern. There are lockers at Koblenz. I suggest you leave your luggage there. You'll be coming back through Koblenz on your way to Munich, anyway.

Thanks Lee,
Thanks for helping me solve the luggage dilemma! Good to know that the Eurorail pass can be used to get to Dauchau. Lynette

Lynette, As you'll be starting in Bingen, you might consider stopping for the night in either Bacharach or St. Goar (Bacharach would be my choice). From there you can continue on to Koblenz the following day. I'm not sure you'll be able to finish your excursion to Burg Eltz by noon. It will take time to get from your stop on the Rhine (whichever town you choose) to Moselkern, and then the hike to the Castle is about an hour each way. You'll arrive at the Castle in the valley below it. Cross the small river and then make the uphill climb (easy path) to get to the entrance of the Castle. If you were planning to take the guided tour of the Castle, that will take about an hour as I recall, not including time to look around the Treasury. One thing to mention is that during the "official" tour, no photos were allowed inside the Castle (photos are allowed in the Treasury). You may already be aware of this, but another important point to mention is that Eurail Passes DO NOT include the reservation fees that are compulsory on some trains (usually the high speed trains, such as the TGV in France). It's possible that at least part of your trip from Paris to Bingen will be via "fast train", so you'll have to pay separately for the reservations on that portion of the trip. Happy travels!

I echo what the other's are saying, Koblenz to Burg Eltz and back is probably too much to exepct by noon without a car. You can absolutely rule out going to Burg Eltz and Dachau by way of Munich in one day. You can realistically expect that from the time you catch the train from Moselkern until you arrive, check in and get settled in your Munich hotel, 7-8 hours may have elapsed. It will likely be well after dinner by this time.

According to the Dachau website, http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de, the guided tour of the Memorial takes 2½ hrs. The Memorial closes at 5 PM, so you'd have to be there by 2:30 PM. Even if you just toured it yourselves (which I wouldn't advise), it would still take 1-2 hours. Why not plan on going someplace closer that night, like Rothenburg. Leaving Moselkern at 13:41, you could get to Rothenburg before 7 PM.

I suggest you restructure your stay in the area to make it doable. Day 1. Get up early and take the 7:04 train from Paris. Breakfast/nap on train. Arrive Cochem 10:58. Cochem is a fantastic town and just 17 min. from Moselkern by train. Check in and drop bags. Then take an afternoon train to Moselkern and walk to Burg Eltz for your tour. Evening in Cochem. Day 2. Catch the 7:59 train to Bingen Hbf, arrive 9:43. Stow bags in lockers. Walk to docks, catch the 10:30 K-D cruise boat north to St. Goar, arrive 11:55. You will be passing through the most scenic section of the Rhine gorge. Enjoy St. Goar, see the castle ruins, have lunch, catch the 14:20 train to Munich, arrive 20:09. The train makes a 12-min. stop in Bingen Hbf, enough to get your bags from the locker. Worst case scenario, your train into Bingen is late and you spend an hour there, then catch the next train, arriving Munich 20:31. Do Dachau another day.

Although the Moselkern Bahnhof is unmanned, the town is not abandoned. It has a website, www.moselkern.de, and lists a few accommodations under "Tourismus". Zur Burg Eltz looks nice, and traditionally German, reasonable, has English on their website and rooms for more than two people. If you stayed there, you could get an early start to the castle in the morning and they would probably keep your luggage for you.

Still processing all this information, (knew about the train reservations, thanks). Now I have more questions! Will I be able to use our Eurorail passes for the line from Koblenz south to one of the Burg Eltz stops? I am not opposed to renting a car, but wouldn't that be more of a hassle to get to and from the car rental agency before going on our way? It sounds like I need to move the Dauchau experience to the next day. Ultimately, that means we will need to choose between Neuschwanstein Castle and Burg Eltz. We don't like crowds, nor lines and our day at Neuschwantstein would fall on a Saturday. Would we be missing out terribly to skip Newschwanstein? For the remainder of the trip, we'll be based in Salzburg. Wondering about stopping in Chiemsee on the way to Salzburg, but that's for another post. Thanks everybody---this is very cool. I need to make some quick decisions!

I don't like Neuschwanstein, much less the crowds there. It's a castle with a very short history; it was barely occupied or used for any purpose. It's a weak/short tour, a relatively dull interior. Spectacular setting and cool to see from outside, but not worth the trouble. If Burg Eltz is a bugaboo for you, it's usually easier and quicker to tour Marksburg in Braubach, which is also excellent and doesn't involve a 45+-minute walk each way; take the shuttle called the "Marksburg Express" from the center of town for a couple of Euros. Or see both castles http://www.marksburg.de Braubach is only a 12-min train ride from Koblenz.

Lynette, One point to note about visiting Neuschwanstein is that visitors must make an appointment for the "official tour" of the Castle. While this is easy to do, missing your designated time means you probably won't be taking the tour. I've visited both Burg Eltz and Neuschwanstein and both are interesting in different ways, so I can't really recommend one over the other. That's a decision you'll have to make. You might find it helpful to read the description of both in the Germany Guidebook. One other point to mention is that if you're going to be in Munich for a few days, there are tour companies that can provide day trips to Neuschwanstein, Dachau or other sites, as well as walking tours in Munich. Have a look at the Radius Tours website for the details. Cheers!

Although it can be convenient, it is not necessary to reserve your tour of Neuschwanstein in advance. Just around the corner from the bus stop in Hohenschwangau is the ticket kiosk for the castles. There you can reserve a tour time. When I was there in Sept. 2009, they were reserving the tour starting in about an hour and the line was not long. It probably takes 30-40 min to walk up to the castle, so that's about the right amount of time. When we went there in 2002, we reserved a tour several hours in advance so that we had time for lunch at Hotel Müller before our tour. I don't think it's a question of Neuschwanstein or Burg Eltz. They are entirely different. They are on different sides of the country. Neuschwanstein is not an authentic "medieval" castle. It was built at the same time as the Eiffel Tower or the Brooklyn Bridge. It has running water and electric lights, but was otherwise the fantasy of an eccentric king who yearned for an earlier, more romantic time. The question might be between Burg Eltz and the Marksburg. Neither one was ever destroyed (unlike other ruined or rebuilt castles in the area). Burg Eltz is currently lived in and Rick's favorite. The Marksburg has been preserved by the German castle association just like it used to be when it was lived in centuries ago. The Marksburg is far easier to get to.