Lallie

After Alpine tour,want to go from Munich to Middle Rhine area of Germany by train. Do we need to go to Frankfurt and then down or is there a better way? We want to stay at Schoenburg Castle one night and then stay at pensions the other nights. Any thoughts as to a pension with friendly hosts in that area? Someone mentioned pension they stayed at was smelly and not clean. What have you travelers experienced? Mid-Sept. are temps usually in the 40's and 50's?

elberko

Lallie,

You can go from Munich to any town along the Rhine you like-no need to go to Frankfurt. You can see train schedules at:
www.bahn.de

Travelnut

We stayed 2 nights in the tiny town of St Goar at Hotel am Markt. The hotel has a nice restaurant on the ground floor and simple but comfortable rooms above. We paid 59Euro for a 'king' bed that had separate duvets for cover. Our window opened out to the church square and Rhine view, where we could see a castle above the town across the river. There was very little traffic noise - I can't even remember now if the church bells rang, I think they did but not often.

St Goar itself is too small for two days, but after we explored the Rheinfels ruins, we spent most of a day in Boppard; took the chair lift and rented bikes to ride along the Rhine a couple of miles.

Very nice mostly-outdoors experience (Oct 2003); temps were 60-ish.
http://www.hotelammarkt1.de/main.htm

Of course, there are more upscale hotels in the area if you prefer. "Pension" denotes to me a simple establishment.

jmw44

http://www.bacharach-germany.com/

Hi, Lallie. Take a look at Bacharach, a wonderful little Rhine town. J.

Travelnut

I thought Bacharach looked very nice (photo-ops!) but we didn't make it there. I have read posts that many hotels experience train noise due to the routing through the town. (did not experience this with St Goar). Of course, I can't verify this with personal experience.

Lallie

Thanks for the tips, I will start checking them out. Appreciate the help.

picapica

We stayed in Bachrach, but I can't remember the name of the pension, it was part of the town walls, but I don't recall there being a lot of train noise. The best recommendation I have is to take the boat ride (there are several companies that do day cruises in Bacharach and St. Goar) up the rhine. I think we got off and had time to see the Rheinfels ruins and then took the boat back to Bacharach, but we may have taken the slow train which I remember riding as well. Be sure and sample lots of regional wine, it was lovely. Mid september temps will probably be in the 50's and 60's. This was one of my favorite trips in Germany, have fun!

GregPCM

Lallie,

We did this route backwards a couple of years ago. We came up the Mosel by train and stopped to see the Burg Eltz, well worth the walk. Then we entered the Rhine at Koblenz and trained down to Bacharach and stayed at the Krantum Hotel right on the railroad tracks and the river. No train noise bothers us. It is a very nice pension with a good restrauant as well. From there we took the boat back up the river to St. Goar to see Rheinfels. The boat continues up the river to Koln, but it takes about 4 hours, we took the train. Have a good trip.

Greg

Russ

Lallie: I don't think a stay of several nights along the Rhine is excessive, if you have the time. There are many things to do in the neighborhood... Bacharach is indeed worth a visit. Burg Katz (castle) across the river and north (use ferry in St. Goar) has an interesting falconry show. Boppard is also a charming town. The previously mentioned Burg Eltz is a terrific outing (combine with a visit to nearby Cochem on the Mosel and maybe Beilstein too - one hour upriver by boat from Cochem.) Another worthwhile castle tour is the one of Marksburg Castle in Braubach, (ferry over the river in St. Goar, then take the train north along the river to Braubach.) North of Koblenz and also on the east bank, the half-timbered, cobblestoned town of Linz is picture-perfect; you can walk north from there up to the village of Erpel and ferry across to Remagen to visit the WW II museum ( www.bruecke-remagen.de - it's a very good one) at the site of the old bridge that figured so prominently in the Allied victory. Train from Remagen south back to the Middle Rhine.

I could contentedly spend the rest of my life along the Middle Rhine, but 3 or 4 days is nice too.

After many visits, St. Goar is still my favorite base town for the area. It has the most scenic setting of all the towns in the steepest part of the Rhine Gorge with 3 castles visible from town, and the ferry across to St. Goarshausen makes coming and going very convenient. I especially enjoyed our stay there last summer in the "Rhine View" rental operated by the very friendly Walter Huppertz (I think he rents for 3 days or longer):

http://www.loreleytal.com/st.goar/fe...tz/english.htm

I've heard several good comments about the Am Markt as well, but haven't stayed there myself. Also, there's a B&B run by Frau Kurz (a Rick Steves recoommendation) that I've heard good personal reports on as well.

You will need a taxi to get from the Oberwesel station up to Auf Schoenburg - it's a long, steep walk otherwise.

Enjoy your trip.

Lallie

More replies, Wonderful. I just love getting lots of information. Thanks Russ for the taxi information on the castle. I knew they took the luggage up for you and that we would have to walk up, however didn't know that it was that steep. Anyone out there walked up to Schoenburg Castle?

spacea

We have stayed at the Kranenturn in Bacharach on many occasions. They have soundproofed it and there is no noise. the rates are good and the people that run it are very pleasant. The only problem is if you hit it when Rick Steeves has a tour in there.