Joyce_Shane

My husband & I are planning a KD Rhine boat tour from Bonn to Mienz and then fly home from Frankfurt .
Where should we stay in Mainz after the cruise so we are close to the pier and the train station to Frankfurt airport? I have heart problems & cannot handle walking far. We would like an inexpensive hotel but still nice.

Also, we are leaving Bonn on Monday, July 30, 2012, do we need to pre-book the cruise?

Are there any special places we should stop and see along the way? My husband loves wine and hasn't seen the old cathedrals or castles.

Thank you,

PalenQ

We would like an inexpensive hotel but still nice.>

well consider IMO terminating the cruise at Rudesheim, a wine village that has oodles and oodles of family-run and small hotels and guesthouses - lots of tourists stay here and about as good rail links to Frankfurt Airport as Mainz - one reason is that from the Rudesheim boat dock you can walk a few blocks to the town center and zillions of hotels.

The Mainz station may have a few hotels around it but Mainx is a big city - many find Rudesheim more the romantic wine town that they dream of staying in and on The Rhine as well.

The best part of the cruises is between Koblenz and Rudesheim (one reason many boats terminated and depart from Rudesheim rather than Mainz - the Rudesheim to Mainz portion is rather industrial.

The Bonn to Koblenz portion is also far less scenic - the reason why nearly all K-D cruises only go between Koblenz and Rudesheim and Mainz.

It's a really long day from Bonn to Mainz and even on the most gorgeous stretch of the Rhine Gorge (Boppard to Rudesheim IMO) many folks I've seen so get rather bored with the scenery - not me but I've seen many do so.

So I would take a train to Rudesheim, get a hotel put your bags in it and take a boat from Rudesheim to Koblenz, over the most scenic part and then quickly return to Rudesheim from Kolbenz by train.

Going downstream like from Rudesheim to Koblenz takes about 2.5 hours vs 4 hours if going upstream the other way. This leaves more time for idling around Rudesheim perhaps or getting off the boat some place for lunch or to explore any of many lovely small Rhine-side towns.

On most K-D boats you IME just show up and buy tickets - I always have a railpass (100% valid on the K-D boats) so I always just flash it when boarding - never needed any reservations and even heard of them being possible for individual. But on some of the longer cruises like Bonn to Mainz you may need one - check www.k-d.com - official boat site for details.

check these fine sites IMO for more details on the K-D boats -
http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html and www.ricksteves.com as well as www.seat61.com.

PalenQ

Try to check out Cochem the same day you go to Burg eltz - just a few minutes by train from Moselkern - this is a picture postcard fairy-tale town the unlikes IME you even find on the Rhine - just a real pleasant laid-back place on one of the most stunningly scenic portions of the Mosel, which I and many others think is prettier than the Rhine - by far IMO!

So do Burg Eltz, hop the train to Cochem and when ready to go home for the night simply take the 20-min train ride to Koblenz and change for Mainz, Rudesheim or whatever your Rhine base is.

PalenQ

There is one daily K-D boat on the Mosel, leaving Koblenz about 9am and return from Cochem around 2pm - rather than having to get to the 9am boat at Koblenz take a train to Moselkern and Burg Eltz perhaps and leisurely tour the castle and then rendezvous when the boat docks at Moselkern to float back to Kolbenz.

Joyce_Shane

Thank you so much for your very helpful advise. We plan on doing all that you suggested.
Thank you for taking the time,
Joyce

Russ

Joyce: If you're OK with staying in Rüdesheim as PalenQ suggests, then I think it's a reasonable plan to cruise north from there. But the cruise to Koblenz takes FOUR hours, not 2.5, and you don't need to cruise all the way to Koblenz for the scenic part.

There's a 7:57 train from Bonn to Rüdesheim that takes just under 2 hours; you could check in and reasonably catch the 11:15 boat north. That boat terminates in Boppard at 13:50 - 2.5 hours - and Boppard is a handsome town with a nice river promenade, an old town square with outdoor cafes, and a nice chairlift ride to a nearby lookout. After a short visit there, take the train south to St. Goar for a look around town and at Rheinfels Castle (steep walk up or taxi):

http://www.st-goar.de/17-1-.html

South of St. Goar is Bacharach, a VERY handsome town with lots of nice half-timbered buildings and wine spots. So take a train there for a look around too.

From there, take a train south to Bingen, then the ferry over to Rüdesheim.

I don't see how it would be possible for you to see the Rhine AND Cochem and the Mosel in the same day, really, unless you stayed on the train most of the day.

Do you need help with trains/tickets?

PalenQ

I agree with Russ the boat sector Boppard to Koblenz is far less scenic than the classic Rhine Gorge - good suggestions to mull over. The train station at Boppard is a few blocks uphill stroll from the K-D boat dock.

PalenQ

Yes thanks to Russ for correcto on time Rudesheim to Koblenz - 4 hours yeh not 2.5 (and 6 hours if going upstream the other way like OP had at first - I guess I was thinking 2.5 hours to Boppard which again I would and have often recommended getting off the boat in as the best scenery ends around there.

PalenQ

There is a boat dock just below Marksburg Castle, the only castle that is authentically old and not rebuilt or in ruins I read after Napoleon and other marauders knocked most of them down - some left in ruins today (to me a ruined castle is about as dreamy looking as a real castle!)

So you could get off the K-D boat at Marksburg stop and either hoof it up to the hilltop castle or take a chairlift of some type I believe. Anyway Marksburg is a very famous and popular castle on the Rhine.