Along the Rhine
 

We'll (my wife and myself) will be in the Frankfurt area for part of an arrival day and 4 fulls days.

We're staying in Mainz.

The plan is to go on two day trips; Heidelberg and Koblenz.

On one other day the plan is to take a day cruise from Rudesheim to Boppard. Upon closer inspection of schedules and timing it makes more sense to get on the boat at the start in Mainz even though that may not be scenic as the part beyond Rudesheim. So that's what we'll do.

Once in Boppard we'll spend whatever time interests us. We may even rent bikes and ride along the river some (or wherever).

On the fourth day (in no particular order) we'll train from Mainz to Bacharach, then to Oberwessel and then to Sankt Goar (all on the west side of the river. We'll spend whatever amount of time in each town as interests us. Depending upon the time we end we may go back past Mainz to Frankfurt and check out the reconstructed town center.

I have a couple of questions.

Do I buy separate train tickets for each part or is there a day ticket?

The part from Oberwesel to Sankt Goar looks quite strange. It appears the train goes from Oberwesel to Boppard and then change and train back to Sankt Goar. That just doesn't seem right.

Is there anything I should change in the town selection along the Rhine?

I think the train day ticket covering your segment is Rheinland-Pfalz ticket https://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets/ti...-pfalz-ticket/ .
This is also listed under DB site https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/...al/index.shtml, You will have to click through the regional offers and select Rhineland Palatinate on the map which will point you again to the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket. It can be purchased at a DB ticket machine or if you really want to make sure it covers your trips, you can also get it from a manned counter with a 2€ surcharge. (see Fahrpreise für Kauf an DB-Automaten; am Schalter + 2 € Zuschlag.) at the bottom of the vrminfo site?
Understand the time, type of train, and the class restrictions with this day pass.

>>> The part from Oberwesel to Sankt Goar looks quite strange.
Look at trains before and after the itinerary you looked at. Sankt Goar is only connected by the milk run RB trains.It runs once an hour upstream and once an hour downstream. If you just missed a down stream RB train from Oberwesel, you can get to Sankt Goar slightly earlier by taking an RE (regional express that skips many stations) to Boppard then turn back to Sankt Goar on an upstream RB train. The travel time is longer but you get there earlier. One way to avoid this is to sync your itinerary to the hourly downstream RB train connecting Oberwesel to Sankt Goat.

Are you just going to Koblenz or proceeding to Braubach to visit the Marksburg Castle?

You might want to consider how the town are connected by different types of train. I think this is the simplified connections to the towns mentioned.
Koblenz, Mainz, Boppard, Oberwesel are connected by hourly RE and hourly RB trains.
Bacharach is connected by every two hour RE trains and hourly RB trains.
Sankt Goar is only connected by hourly RB trains.
You might consider basing itinerary timing on a hard to get in out town like St. Goar and wrap around other easy to get in and out towns. I think you are doing this backwards.

greg,

Thanks. I'm considering dropping St Goar but which other towns would be of interest to just wander around that are easier to get to?

Ok. I think I figured out St Goar. Coming from the Oberwesel side going in the direction towards Koblenz there are "milk runs" and "express" trains. The so called express trains don't stop at St Goar.

The so call milk runs stop at St Goar every hour on the hour and it's only 6 minutes from Oberwesel.
= = = = = = =
On the day we're taking the KD river cruise we will end at Boppard and spend as much time as interests us in the town.

Depending upon what time we are ready to leave Boppard, I'm tempted to stop in St Goar. This train runs every hour and only takes 11 minutes.

That would leave Bingen, Bacharach and Oberwesel for the day we only take the take along the Rhine.
= = = = = = =
Should things change during the planning and I need to drop one of St Goar, Bingen, Oberwesel or Bacharach which is less appealing, has less to do or has less to see?

How much time should I expect to spend in each town?

And lastly, if we find ourselves in one of the towns and decide to stay for dinner, which of the above would be best?

Typo.
I meant to write
"That would leave Bingen, Bacharach and Oberwesel for the day we only take the train along the Rhine."

I find Bingen less interesting but that is my opinion only, YMMV. Sounds like you have made good plans for the Rhine.

Lavandula

If you have time, consider the chair lift (Sesselbahn) in Boppard. Gorgeous views!

Has anybody also taken the train up to Emmelshausen?

Emmelshausen is a spa in the sense of a curative spa (Kurort) - Germany has many and if you are a public servant you can get paid sick leave to go to a spa. I've never been to Emmelshausen but apart from the spa I don't think there's much there for visitors. Good luck finding a Fodorite who's been! :)

Lavandula

Here is a link to the activities you can do in the area (walks, cycling, food). Use Google Translate, I don't think there is English. It looks pretty!

https://www.rhein-mosel-dreieck.de

Lavandula

Thanks. I've seen most of the "What to do" articles. It appears hiking is big.

I'm on this trip with my wife and while we walk all day, up and down hills all day may not be what we have in mind.

Also, four days after we return from this trip I'm going on a hiking trip to North Carolina with my daughter.

OK, perhaps Emmelshausen is not for you :) As an aside, I find it interesting that some tourist towns are all about German visitors (and accordingly cater to them), whereas foreign tourists are attracted to other sights. Emmelshausen seems to be one of those 'weekend away for the local tourists' places. We have also found a few other places like that (Weimar being one of the most significant, or Wiesbaden being another that gets lots of German visitors). Interesting!

Lavandula

I would think foreign visitors might want to spend their day seeing sights while locals might want to spend a good part of their day in a spa relaxing.