threerohdes

I have posted several queries on this forum, and have received some incredibly valuable advice. Now, less than 2 weeks from our travel dates, some plans have changed.

I need some detailed information, and some advice. We will be traveling by train from Frankfurt to Brussels via the Rhine on March 28. We will have a bit less than a day and a half to tour the area before I have a business meeting in Brussels on the evening of the 29th.

There are 3 of us, we will have a small carry on bag each.

First, I believe we need to take the train from Frankfurt to Mainz and change trains to go up the Rhine. Is this correct?

Knowing we have unlimited time and my daughter specifically wants to see the castle Rheinfels ruins, would like to tour Marksburg Castle, and maybe check out the museum in Boppard castle, how would you do it and where would you spend the night?

We will be traveling only by train, so will have no car to get around, but from what I understand the K-D boats can get us up and down the Rhine from town to town while we look around.

After we finish our abbreviated tour of the Rhine, where should I get back on the train to get to Brussels?

Thank you in advance, I guess I am a bit overwhelmed and in over my head. This is not how it was supposed to be.

smueller

I can't answer all of your questions, but your best bet of catching a direct train to Brussels from the Rhine area would probably be from Koln (Cologne).

There are several towns (and even a few castles) that you can stay in along the Middle Rhine, but with only two weeks you might have trouble getting a reservation.

PalenQ

rather than going to Mainz go to Rudesheim or Bingen and catch boats there to Boppard, getting on and off at any of everal places like you mention.

or you can go along either side of the Rhine by train - train stations short walk from most boat docks.

Boppard would make a good base or any Rhine town

to Brussels may actually be quicker to take train to Cologne then hop ICE or Thalys to Brussels but a more scenic way goes Koblenz-Cochem-Luxembourg City-Brussels - quite scenic and lots of trains.

<First, I believe we need to take the train from Frankfurt to Mainz and change trains to go up the Rhine. Is this correct?>

yes and i'd take train to Rudesheim, where best part of Rhine begins - KD boats mainly start here to do DOWN the Rhine or trains go on each side of the Rhine but chose your route carefully as there are not trains across the Rhine between Rudesheim and Bingen though there are several pedestrian and car ferries.

PalenQ

www.k-d.com for boat schedules

Larryincolorado

I was on the middle Rhein the first week of April three years ago, and I don't think anyplace was completely booked. I had lunch at an inn (www.weinhaus-wieghardt.de) in the Marktplatz of Braubach and except for me and the owner, it was deserted. I didn't spend the night there, but I probably would if I went back. It is just up from the K-D boat dock. If the shuttle (see on the Braubach website, www.braubach.de, under Marksburg) to the castle is running, it goes right by the front door.

Russ

Sounds do-able.

Use www.bahn.de to find the best schedule to St. Goar. Check in there, drop bags. Ferry across the Rhine to St. Goarshausen, walk north, take the train from there to Braubach for a tour of Marksburg. Hike up (about 25 min?) or take shuttle if running. Take train back to St. Goarshausen (or cruise down if boats are still running), ferry back to St. Goar for evening.

Day 2: See Rheinfels after 9 a.m. Check out, cruise downstream to Boppard if you haven't cruised yet or want to again, or take the train there. Train from Boppard to Brussels.

Check all train possibilities at www.bahn.de.

Larryincolorado

Russ, well, your itinerary solves one problem that has been bothering me - the lack of luggage check in St. Goar. I was in the Bahnhof, and I just remember it was very small and "primative". I don't remember seeing storage lockers there. Maybe someone else knows where they are.

However, expecting to get up in the morning and see Rheinfels, and then get to Brussels is iffy. Rhienfels opens at 9:00. I spent an hour 45 minutes there; expecting to see Rheinfels, recover your bags, and be back at the bahnhof at 10:37 is unrealistic. But that's what you would have to do to be in Brussels by 14:38. The next connection out of St. Goar is at 11:32 and gets you to Brussels at 16:36 (ThreeRohdes, is that early enough?).

My itinerary would be to go first to St. Goar and see Rheinfels. Get across the river to St. Goarshausen by 14:09 and take the RE to Braubach at 14:31. That gives your and hour and a half to check in at Braubach and get up to the castle.

In the morning, leave Braubach at 8:32, change in Koblenz, get Thalys in Köln (you need reservatons in advance), and arrive in Brussels at 12:38. If you can wait until 14:38 to get to Brussels, you can leave Braubach at 10:32.

Larryincolorado

BTW, regarding Weinhaus Wieghardt, there is an email address on the site where you could make reservations. When I was there I ordered my lunch and had some small conversation with the owner in German (which I speak passably). Afterward, out of curiosity, since I though I might want to recommend the place to non-German speaking fellow posters, I asked her if she spoke English and if she ever had guests who couldn't speak German. She replied that she could speak English and that, just last week, she had English-only guests.

However, she told me all of this in German, so I don't know what to tell you.

Russ

"Russ, well, your itinerary solves one problem that has been bothering me - the lack of luggage check in St. Goar. I was in the Bahnhof, and I just remember it was very small and "primative". I don't remember seeing storage lockers there. Maybe someone else knows where they are."

There are no lockers there. However, for those who want to drop bags somewhere without messing with a hotel, the TI, just a block or so from the station, will let you stow luggage there temporarily; when they're not open, the Hotel Hauser sometimes serves as an informal TI and will also hold bags.

"However, expecting to get up in the morning and see Rheinfels, and then get to Brussels is iffy. Rhienfels opens at 9:00. I spent an hour 45 minutes there; expecting to see Rheinfels, recover your bags, and be back at the bahnhof at 10:37 is unrealistic. But that's what you would have to do to be in Brussels by 14:38. The next connection out of St. Goar is at 11:32 and gets you to Brussels at 16:36 (ThreeRohdes, is that early enough?)."

That 11:32 departure sounds workable to me too, depending on the poster's time restrictions, of course.

"My itinerary would be to go first to St. Goar and see Rheinfels. Get across the river to St. Goarshausen by 14:09 and take the RE to Braubach at 14:31. That gives your and hour and a half to check in at Braubach and get up to the castle."

I see no reason why your suggestion won't work too, Larry. I was thinking it might be possible to squeeze in a short river cruise on day 1 in the afternoon, but actually I'm not sure the boats are running until April 1, now that I think about it.

Larryincolorado

Actually, according to the K-D website, the boats will start running on Saturday, March 31, too late for the OP to take a cruise.

Note that, threerohdes, no boats running on those days. Go first to St. Goar, see Rheinfels, then cross the river by ferry to St. Goarshausen and take the train to Bacharach, check in and see the Marksburg.

Some of this schedule is driven by the fact that Marksburg is on their winter schedule, tours start a 11 AM and end at 4 PM.

When I was on the Rhein in 2004, the boats started on Saturday, April 3. It seems they start on the first weekend in April, and since April 1 is a Sunday this year, they start on that weekend.

Robespierre

K-D.com runs a winter service from Rüdesheim to Boppard between 3 January and 30 March. See here:

http://www.k-d.com/englisch/schiffst...timetable3.jpg

Larryincolorado

Robespierre, good catch.

I missed that because I was on the German language side of the K-D site. Usually you get much better information in German on these sites, but not this time. The information is on the German side, under Winter schedules. There are four sub-topics. It's under "Special offers". I only looked under Rüdesheim (naturally) and didn't find anything. On the English side, under Winter schedule, it comes right up.

Anyway, OP could make the boat trip from Kaub to St. Goarshausen at 11:40, go right to Braubach by train (12:31) and see the Marksburg, come back at 15:22 by train to St. Goarshausen at 15:44, and still have time to get across the river and see some of Rheinfels before they close at 18:00.

Unfortunately, it all depends on the timing of a tour (in English?) at Marksburg. They would have 2h 51m to get up to the castle, get a tour, and get back to the train station. The shuttle won't be running yet; I don't know if they could find a taxi. If they couldn't get a tour soon enough, they would either have to leave Marksburg without seeing it or skip Rheinfels. I think I would forgo the boat to make sure I got to both castles.

Also, including the boat trip would necessitate a lot of backtracking on the Rhein (2 or 3 trips between St. Goarshausen and Braubach = €10,80 each). The best bet here would be to get a Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket at the Frankfurt Hbf. It would cover all needed travel from Wiesbaden on.

PalenQ

The K-D wiwnter service is not guaranteed - you must call ahead and reserve and if not enough folks book the cruise is scrubbed so i don't think you can be sure of a winter cruise.

threerohdes

Thanks for all of the info so far. I think I have it narrowed down a bit to a plan that will allow us to do at least one of the castles my daughter wants to see.

We have reservations at the Weinhaus Wieghardt hotel in Braubach for the night. So looks like we should go directly from Frankfurt to the hotel in Braubach.

We will be leaving Frankfurt main airport around 10, assuming we get through all of the passport stuff and get our bags in 90 minutes and if our flight lands on time.

So, assuming we get up to the castle no later than 2, we could do the tour, look around and enjoy the afternoon. I know that the castle closes at 5 during the time we are there.

We could try to get over to Rheinfels that same afternoon, as it does not close til 6, but we might be pushing it, so mabe a better option would be to get there when it opens at 9 the following morning.

My meeting in Brussels is not until the evening, we would be able to get there as late as 6:30.

In looking at the train schedules, I can leave St Goar as late as 1:32 on the 29th and still make it to Brussels in time.

So, is this a decent plan? Train to Braubach, see Marksburg and relax, ferry over to St Goar the next morning, see Rheinfels, then train to Brussels?

I am not familiar with trains, have actually never taken anything other than an Amtrak once or twice. Can I purchase one ticket for the entire journey, or do I purchase a ticket from Frankfurt to Braubach, and another one from St Goar to Brussels?

Again, thank you so much for the help, it has really helped me figure out our options.