Rhine Valley/Bacharach/St. Goar...

You could go by train from Venice to St. Goar, but there is no night train from Venice to Frankfurt. There is a night train from Zuerich to Frankfurt, but you'd have to get to Zuerich by day train. There is also a night train from Venice to Munich and you could take other trains from there to St. Goar. If you book well in advance (92 days) you can probably get a fare of €109 for the whole trip, Venice to St. Goar or Bacharach, including an economy double compartment from Venice to Munich.

However you slice it, you're traveling healthy distances and there will be a small amount of rigor involved in reaching the Rhine. You will probably save some time and money by flying. Check Ryanair or other carriers - www.whichbudget.com is a great resource for finding airlines that offer cheap flights. Ryanair's fares vary - anywhere from about 30 to maybe 100 Euros to Frankfurt Hahn. From Venice, there are a couple of airports - either Treviso or Marco Polo. The flight is only about 1.5 hours, but I think it's about an hour's ride by bus to Treviso. And when you arrive at Frankfurt Hahn, you are not yet in the small villages you want to visit. It takes about 1.5 - 2 hours from Frankfurt Hahn airport (very far from Frankfurt) to Boppard, for example, or 1.25 - 1.75 hours from Frankfurt am Main airport. I have flown into Frankfurt Hahn with Ryanair on numerous occasions. It's a small airport, easy to negotiate, and not hard to get out of on a bus to Mainz or Emmelshausen, where you connect by train to reach the Rhine towns. You can see these connections at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en for your date of travel. It's then a simple matter to take the train to Paris using the same website. The Rhine is great for what you're looking for. When are you going?

danielle, The Rhine Valley and especially Bacharach would make a great stop on your way to Paris. However, as the others have mentioned that's not going to be an easy trip. In those circumstances, using a budget airline would be the best method, in order to avoid using up a large part of your very short three days in travel times. The fare prices will likely depend on when you'll be travelling. I'd suggest flying into FRA, as it's only about an hour from there to Bacharach (there are rail stations right at the airport) - Lee will be have information on which station is best for your trip). Have a look at Air Berlin or Air Dolomiti, which I believe both offer VCE - FRA flights. The trip from Bacharach to Paris Lyon is as short as 8H:07M, with two changes in Mainz and Basel. Although that's a long trip and basically a full travel day, I'd probably consider it. Good luck with your planning!

It should take closer to 5-6 hours to reach Paris Nord or Est from Bacharach, not 8. It's even faster if after a couple nights in St. Goar or Bacharach, you spend some of your third day on the nearby Mosel River (Cochem's a great choice) and overnight there. The 8:58 a.m. departure from Cochem gets you to Paris in under 4 hours. Check out the castle (cool falconry show there in warmer months) and one of the most fetching towns in Germany. http://www.burg-cochem.de/ http://www.falknerei-reichsburg-cochem.de/fotobuch.htm

I am going first week of March 2012. Thank you all for your helpful replies!

The first week of March, eh? The villages will be pretty quiet/shuttered at that time, and there'll be little to do in the evenings. You can visit Bacharach and the others during the day of course, and maybe tour the excellent Marksburg Castle in Braubach and Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar (open 11-5 weekends.) But Koblenz, though metropolitian, might be a better place if you want things to do in the evening. Or if you'd rather stay NEAR Koblenz in Braubach (about 12 min. by train from Koblenz) or Boppard (about 15 min. to Koblenz) it would be easy to venture into Koblenz for the evening. I stayed in Boppard last March and did exactly that. If you use a regional daypass to do your sightseeing during the day, you can use the same pass at night to reach Koblenz and return. Look into the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket (21€ for single traveler) or the VRM day ticket (17€, more limited area of travel) here: http://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets-and-fares/ticket-offers/rheinland-pfalz-ticket/ http://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets-and-fares/ticket-offers/leisure-ticket/

Do you recommend anywhere else that is better suited for this time of year, close proximity to Paris, easy travel...? This will be my first time in Europe!

If it's true that you are "more interested in seeing quaint towns, castles, great views, not so interested in metropolitan areas...." then I think you absolutely have chosen the right place. You'll find castles here like nowhere else, and the scenery, though it will be leafless in March, is still compelling, especially if you take a walk to the top of the cliffs that overlook the Rhine (especially nice views along the cliffside trail that heads south from St. Goar toward Oberwesel.) The thing with quaint towns is that they aren't normally next to major airports or major train stations, so it takes a little longer to reach them, that's all. If you are put off by the bus/train connections to reach the Rhine villages from Hahn airport, well, I wouldn't worry. The bus takes you at the train station, where you get on the train. If you take the Mainz bus from Hahn airport to the Rhine, then you'll have to walk inside the Mainz station and find the platform where your train to Boppard (or your base town) leaves from. If you take the bus to Emmelshausen (this bus continues on to Koblenz) there's only going to be one little train to get on. It's not that terribly tricky, just a little time consuming. This page for Frankfurt Hahn airport shows you the shuttle routes to the Rhine and Mosel and the schedules. On the map, click on Mainz or Koblenz, or Cochem for the Mosel (bus goes to Bullay, where you catch the train to Cochem) to get bus information. http://www.hahn-airport.de/default.aspx?menu=by_bus&cc=en