Day itineraries
There and back in a day
Scheduled boat on the Rhine and a walk along Bacharach's wall
The meander from the chairlift, lunch in a castle and the Loreley from the water
Wall, Crime Museum, Town Hall tower and Franconian lunch at the Plönlein
Eltz Castle through the Elz valley and the Reichsburg in the afternoon
Boat from Cochem to Beilstein, a terrace over the Moselle and a chairlift
An Advent Saturday by train: Christmas market, tower, Crime Museum and dinner with Franconian wine
Overnight itineraries
Overnight from Frankfurt
The airport has a long-distance train station and car hire
There are direct flights to Frankfurt airport (FRA) from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Alicante, Málaga, Seville, Palma, Gran Canaria, Tenerife North, Tenerife South, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma. The airport has a long-distance railway station and car hire offices, so you can set out for the Rhine or for Bavaria without going through the centre.
To the west you go by train. To Bingen it is about an hour, and there begins the World Heritage stretch of the Rhine Valley, with a boat downriver. For Boppard, the train continues along the left bank from Bingen or from Koblenz. Koblenz is also the change for the Moselle valley: the Moselle regional train stops at Moselkern, at the foot of the path to Eltz, and at Cochem. To the south-east, the car takes you along the A3 to Würzburg and the A7 to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, about 177 km; by train you get there with two changes, via Würzburg and Steinach. Check the day's connections on bahn.de.
45 minutes of Rhine between Bingen and Bacharach
An hour away is the boat from Bingen to Bacharach: 45 minutes of Rhine, Bacharach's town wall, the Werner Chapel, Stahleck Castle and lunch with wine on Oberstraße.
Between an hour and a half and two hours and a quarter away are the rest of the Rhine and the Moselle. At 105 minutes, Boppard, Schönburg Castle and the Loreley: chairlift to the Four Lakes viewpoint, lunch at the castle and a boat from Oberwesel to St. Goar beneath the rock. At 125, Eltz Castle on foot from Moselkern, with the Reichsburg at Cochem in the afternoon, and at 140, Cochem and the boat to Beilstein, with a chairlift to the Pinner Kreuz.
Two hours away, by car, is Rothenburg. In a day it covers the rampart walk on the wall, the Crime Museum, the Town Hall tower, the Plönlein and Franconian food; with two nights in a hotel on the wall you add the Tauber valley as far as Detwang.
When the Rhine boats sail, the chairlifts run
From April to October, water: the Rhine and Moselle boats sail and the Boppard and Cochem chairlifts run. Eltz Castle is open from 21 March 2027 to early November. The boat to Bacharach is done from Tuesday to Saturday, when the plan's Weinstube is open, and the Eltz day from Wednesday to Sunday, because the Ringelsteiner Mühle is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
From November to March, the Rhine and the Moselle are not recommended, and Rothenburg remains, which can be visited all year round; in those months the Town Hall tower is open only at weekends. From 20 November to 23 December there is the Reiterlesmarkt, and for that month there is a plan of its own by train: Rothenburg at Advent, with dinner at Zur Höll, two and a half hours away.
Rothenburg in a day or sleeping on the wall
- Without a car, in spring or summer: the boat from Bingen to Bacharach, the shortest plan from Frankfurt.
- For a castle: Eltz on foot from Moselkern, about 5 km there and back along the valley.
- With a car or two nights: Rothenburg, in a day on the A3 or sleeping on the wall.