I was wondering if anyone knows if I need to pre purchase tickets for a one day Rhine River Cruise. We will be staying in a Bacarach and would like to take a sort cruise up the River from there.

I did not pre-purchase mine. Just walked up, bought it and got on the next boat.

I have taken many groups on the K-D boats and they always said only groups could even reserve and that folks always can get on and though I've seen fairly full boats I've never seen anyone turned away - the reservations policy may have changed but think not except for the one daily cruise in winter when advance reservations are needed to guarantee running of the boat then, subject to demand. check the following informative sites for more info on the Rhine Gorge Cruise, best part being between Rudesheim/Bingen and Koblenz - Mainz to Rudesheim/Bingen is largely industrial or at least does not offer that great of scenery nor cute Rhine towns but industries, etc - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com. For boat schedules and info www.k-d.com - see if they say anything about reservations. You can also bring bikes on board if you want - or could - I have not taken the boats in a few years now.

Take a downstream cruise - manuy in our groups got quickly bored so a few-hour cruise - fster downstream is better IMO than a slower upstream cruise going towards Rudesheim.

From Bacharach: you might cruise north to Boppard (1.5 hours) to experience the best scenery. But if you have the time, you might instead start in Bingen to the south of Bacharach. The trip to Boppard would cost you 2.3 hours, and the scenery between there and Bacharach is also very nice; here's one view just north of Bingen:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ngen_Rhein.jpg

There isn't much reason to travel further north than Boppard, as the scenery deteriorates after that, especially as you approach Koblenz. However, if you're going to tour Marksburg Castle (an excellent idea) you might continue past Boppard a short bit to Braubach.

www.marksburg.de

(cont.) To reach Bingen, just get on a southbound train from Bacharach. The trip costs less than €5, and you will get a 20% discount on your cruise fare if you show your train ticket at the KD dock.

Again IME of taking these boats many times - I would board at Rudesheim where the boats mainly originate or the most people get on - by the time they get to Bingen just across the river many of the nicest seats may be gone - well that is my experience anyway.

And I would stay on to Koblenz and take a stroll around this nice larger city - check out the Detusches Eck Monumnet at the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine - very famous in Germany - once had an equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm on it but that was blown to smithereens by an American GI after the war ended for the fun of it and now on the giant plianth there is a monument to German Unity.

Koblenz' old town - nicely restored has many restaurants, beer halls, etc and the town's pedestrian shopping drag is often thronged - anyway Koblenz to me is a really nice city - when you get off the K-D boat there you walk on the esplanade along the Rhine to Deutsches Eck and then to the nearby old town and the train station is not far from it.