Laurie

My husband and I will have 3 days to visit the Rhine river area in early June of 2006.

I would like some opinions of whether to base ourselves in Bacharach or St.Goar. We are around 50 years old and enjoy scenic areas and architecture. We like to try the local cuisine, so we would like to choose a town with a couple of good restaurants.

We do plan to take the K-D boat for a short trip down the Rhine. Are there other activities in the area you could suggest?

Thanks for much for your help! Laurie

Laurie

Oops! I thought I should also mention that we will not have a car. Trains will be are main mode of transportation.

Travelnut

I didn't go to Bacharach, but it seems all the hotels are situated where the train is very noisy...

We stayed for 2 nights at Hotel am Markt in St Goar - it's downhill from the tracks and we didn't hear a thing. It's also just up from the road, but still..quiet.

It's a plain but clean hotel with a decent recent on the ground floor. Our double (queen size, I think) looked over the church square and we could see a castle on the hill across the river. The room was 59€ including continental breakfast in the restaurant.

There's a boat dock there, a few shops, a couple nice restaurants, and a steep climb up to the Rheinfels ruins (be sure to photocopy the walking tour of the ruins out of the Rick Steves book, as the 'handout' is not informative).

http://www.hotel-am-markt-sankt-goar...lish_home.html

baymtnman

I travelled to these towns in October and would vote most definitely for Bacharach over St. Goar. It had a more interesting architecture and more active nightlife. Teh Hotel Am Markt is a good recommendation for St. Goar-but go to Bacharach.

Laurie

Thanks so much for your replies. I am still on the fence! Anyone else have an opinion?

Travelnut

Laurie, I didn't see any other posts that gave more about your itinerary. A great town to stay in on the Rhine would be Boppard - have you looked into that?

The boat docks there and there is a train station; it is located 2-3 stops north of St Goar and is a little larger. Has a good range of hotels, a lovely waterfront, nice town square, and bicycle rentals. If you request brochures from the tourist office, they will send a large booklet of hotels and pension options, a map, and other tourist info.

Hotels:
http://www.boppard.de/2001/asp/Hotel.asp

Brochure request:
http://www.boppard.de/2001/html/pros...llung_engl.htm

Laurie

Thanks for the info, Travelnut. I will look into Boppard. We are staying in Croatia for 9 nights and then on to the Cologne area for 3 nights before we go to Prague for 5 nights.

I just want to base ourselves so that we can see much of the Rhine Valley area before we fly on to Prague.

It looks like Boppard would be closer to Cologne for our flight over to Prague.

Thanks again! Laurie

Russ

Bacharach has a good number of half-timbered buildings and homes and some good restaurants, but I prefer St. Goar, and in your situation I think St. Goar is definitely a better choice. St. Goar is more centrally located to the other towns of interest in the Middle Rhine region and is connected to the other side of the Rhine by ferry, and unlike the other towns, there's a real town on the other side, St. Goarshausen, which has its own train station for exploring that side of the Rhine; if you're into architecture, you'll want to use the train on the east bank to visit/tour Marksburg Castle in Braubach or to see wine towns to the south like Ruedesheim.

St. Goar is also in the most scenic spot in the Rhine Gorge, IMO - 3 separate castles are visible from town, one of which you can tour (Rheinfels, a massive set of ruins with a good museum - walk or shuttle up) and one which puts on a falconry show (Burg Maus - long walk, easy bike ride, or taxi) 3 times daily.

Bacharach is a very nice town. It is surely worth a visit and a meal, but that is easily accomplished by hopping on a train or a boat. In my experience it seems to be heavily patronized by American tourists, probably because of numerous mentions in Rick Steves' guidebooks and TV - seems like every other person on the street is toting his book around. I like Boppard a lot too - a good place if you want a larger town. But St. Goar is charming too and more convenient for the train traveler.

Laurie

Russ, Thank you for your suggestions!
Marksburg Castle in Braubach and Ruedesheim sound like places we would both really like. My husband loves to try European wines. Are there other small towns near Ruedesheim that would be good for a wine tasting?

We would like to stay in one of Walter Huppertz apartments in St Goar. I completed the reservation form online several days ago, but I haven't received any word about availability or confirmation. I think I will try to telephone Mr. Huppertz.

Thanks again for your advice! Laurie

Russ

Mr. Huppertz was unusually punctual with his e-mails when we made arrangements. Yes, try giving him a call - he speaks reasonably good English. The Rheinblick apartment is the one you want if a view of the river is important.

I'm not a big wine taster myself but I did so once in St. Goarshausen at the wime bar at the Stadtturm, an old fortification at the south end of town near the Loreley. There's also a small museum of wine glases and other items pertinent to the wine trade. It's open daily after 1 p.m. I found this website for the place (in German but it may give you some idea):

http://www.rhein-lahn-info.de/museum...oarsh-wein.htm

There's a chance you'll stumble onto a wine festival in June. What days do you plan to be there?

Ingelheim is a town between Bingen and Mainz known for its wines, but I'm not knowledgeable on wine tastin opportunities there.

mari5

We stayed a couple of nights last spring in Boppard. It was a very central location, easy to get around...nice people , clean, interesting. I did alot of research beforehand. The boat for the 3 hr. trip up/Down??? the Rhine was right outside our front door.....a beautiful 4 star Best WEstern overlooking all the activity on the Rhine. Forget the name, but you can get fairly good rates if over 50 OR AAA! We were there in April, and had a car...but train station is close by, I believe. The scenery is beautiful...and you can see pictures of the area by Googling "Boppard" or other towns.
Bacharach is pretty, I understand, but further south and not quite as good a location. St. Goar, we passed on the boat trip,but it looks smaller.

Laurie

Thanks for the information, Russ. I did call Mr. Huppertz and he put me touch with someone who could speak English.

The only apartment they have open during our stay is the Rheinfels apartment on the 3rd floor. It is their newest apartment. It is 40 euro per night. I am waiting for an email from Mr. Huppertz, but I think we will rent the apartment.

We will be there June 4-6. That would be fun if there was a wine festival during our stay!

I will try to do some research on the towns you mentioned. Thanks again for the suggestions.
Laurie

baby2

We stayed in the Rheinview apartment early June 2005 for a week and we really liked it - the view was worth the many steps. The price was right at under 40euros/night. Walter and his wife are very nice people altho his english is limited. Stephen who owns the store on the ground floor is also very friendly.

We did several day trips from the apartment by train - Cologne, Trier, the Mosel valley, Luxemburg City and a day on K-D boat. There's a decent grocery store, produce store, butcher, and a couple of bakeries plus a number of restaurants and cafes. We also took a walk up the hill in the residential area, pass the castle ruins - very pleasant and the view great.

We enjoyed our stay there and hope to get back in a couple of years.

Laurie

Thanks for the information, baby. I think we will be renting this apartment for our stay in early June. It is nice to know that there are shops and restaurants closeby.

I hope to do a couple of side trips, also.

Laurie

don76

We stayed in Bacharach in April but we had a car.
The train station is quite a walk from the town center and there were not any cabs available.
I would stay in St.Goar or Boppard as others have suggested.
You can take the KD boat to Bacharach as this ride is along the most scenic portion of the Rhine.
Then you can either return by boat or take the train which only takes a few minutes.

twoflower

My first time in the region I tried to get accomm in Boppard and St Goar, but ended up in Bacharach and loved it.
Next time there I stayed in Rudesheim and loved that too, for its livelier night life. Nearby is Assmannshausen, just above which is Lorch from where there is a ferry connection to just south of Bacharach - so they're all closely connected. We had a car, however. I couldn't imagine doing justice to the Middle Rhein without one.

Lynn77079

We're flying into Frankfurt and renting a car. Thinking of starting with a couple days in Bacharach before going to the Mosel. Is Im Malerwinkel near the train tracks? How about Altkölnischer Hof?

Thanks,
Lynn

valtor

Laurie,
I saw your message and I was glad that you have a similar plan with mine, hoping to receive some ideas after your return. But, I'll have my vacation in May. We plan to spend 3 days in Berlin, then to go to Cologne for 3 days (including one day trip to Bonn), then to stay 5 days in Cohem. From Cohem, we shall visit Koblenz, Luxemburg, Tier. Then, 5 more days in Bacharach, to visit different castles and towns, including Frankfurt. Then, go home.
Also we shall not have a car, and we travel by train. I have a list of zimmers in Cohem and Bacharach, I did not decided yet what we take.
I found a lot of info in internet and in this forum, aand hope to have a very nice vacation.
Did you decided where to stay?

don76

To: Lynn77079 & valtor

In April we stayed at Pension lettie for 3 days. Her B&B is located near the center of Bacharach.
Letties is located far enough from the RR tracks that you don't hear the trains.
As some of the other B&B's we considered were some distance from town, I suggest you use the Michelin map search to locate the exact location of the lodging you are interested in.
One we considered was high above town and would have required lots of hill climbing or driving for meals.
In case of inclement weather you want to be located close to restaurants.
Several good restaurants are only a block away from Letties and the K-D boat dock is an 8-minute walk from her place.
We used Bacharach as a base to visit Burg Eltz and places of interest along the Rhine.