Land Rheinland-Pfalz Travel Answers

Hi :-) First of all thank you for asking precise questions! That helps us to give you the best and precise possible answers and you to have a very nice trip. One very important remark beforehand: May 1st is a public holiday in Germany (and other European countries). It is Tuesday this year which makes it very likely a good possibility to take off Monday 30th and have a long weekend. => it might be crowded on the streets and in trains. Not so much on the boat, because the capacity of the KD line boats is quite high. Your questions: ##How long does it take from Frankfurt to Mainz/bingen and what method of transport would you recommend we take to get us there? Aprox costs would be great.## The best possible transport is the train. Have a look at: bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index... When I look up trains for May 1st, I get several for Frankfurt - Mainz, with 30 min travel time and prices of approx. 10 Euro one way. Your question: ##How often to the ferries leave from Mainz and return?## If you look at: k-d.de/english/kd-scheduled-... you can download the schedule of the boat (not ferry). IMPORTANT: scroll down until you see "Hautsaison", April 27 - October 3. There are three boats from Mainz: at 8:45, 9:45 and 11:40. All these three might be too early to take on May 1st (when you plan to arrive). BUT: you could take the train from Frankfurt to Bingen instead, travel time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes, price approx. 15 Euro. Then you could take the KD boat that leaves Bingen at 14:15 or 16:15. I highly recommend not to go as far as Koblenz, simply due to the time. Get off at Boppard, stroll through town and walk to the train station to get the train back to Frankfurt. Travel time by train Boppard to Frankfurt: approx. 2 hours, approx. 20 Euro. Your question: ##How long would it take us to get from Mainz to Koblenz without getting off?## Mainz to Koblenz = 5,5 hours, Bingen to Koblenz = 4 hours Bingen to Boppard = 2,5 hours Your question: ##What about if we decided to do some of the other KD river options? Could you advise how these time slots would work and could you provide us with some sort of time itinerary to work with? Essentially we would like the opportunity to hop on and off the ferry to visit one or two spots along the way, however I'm not sure if we have the time to do this and how the ferries actually work and the frequency of it all.## In case you get the earliest boat (8.45 from Mainz or 9:30 from Bingen), you could hop off at 10:15 or 11:15 at Bacherach, which is a cute village. Boats stop at Bacherach at 11:15, 12:15, 15:15 and 17:15. So you could have minimum 1 hour or more. But this "more than 1 hour" won't work if you do it on the same morning when you fly back home in the evening. Your question: ##What about going to the river Mosel. I believe it s gorgeous. Would we have time to go there?## I am afraid not. Simply because the travel by train to Moselle river is very time consuming. And when I look at the cruises of KD Line: k-d.de/english/kd-scheduled-... there is only one per day from Koblenz. While it is easy to get to Koblenz by train from Frankfurt, the time consuming thing is to get back from wherever you get OFF the Moselle boat and go to the train back to Frankfurt. There is no direct train, which means you have to go to Koblenz and change trains to Frankfurt. Not good for May 1st (your day of arrival in Frankfurt) and not good for May 2nd (when you leave back home). Your question: ##What time do the ferries start and stop operating?## Please see schedules at KD line: Moselle: k-d.de/english/kd-scheduled-... Rhein/Rhine: k-d.de/english/kd-scheduled-... Your question: ##Do we purchase our tickets on line, through you or at the port on the day?## Not through us. We are just ordinary people who like to travel but no travel agents. You can buy the tickets directly at the port of KD Lines. Your question: ##What are the costs for the day tickets## Please see website: k-d.de/english/kd-scheduled-... It depends where you get on the boat and where you get off the boat. For example: if you get on the boat in Bingen and get off the boat in Boppard, it is letter "H", which is 23,80 Euro for the trip per person. If you get on the boat in Bingen and off the boat in Koblenz, it is letter "N", which is 34,10 Euro per person. Your question: ##Now what is the best way to return back to Frankfurt, ensuring that we get back to Frankfurt on time to catch our flight out. (we would need to be back by no later than 5pm.## Definitely the train. It is quicker and more frequent. I hope this helps. If you have additional questions, please feel free to ask :-) Ingrid

trekki covered it very nicely so you have all your answers. One thing you wrote seems curious to me, the comment asking whether to buy tickets through VT. This is a travel forum where ordinary travelers try to help people decide where to go and navigate the local transportation, give them ideas for sightseeing and where to stay and eat. We are not, for the most part, travel professionals. We are people who love to travel and want others to have a good travel experience. We can't arrange trips or itineraries nor sell tickets. trekki lives in the area you are going to explore so she is a great help. Often on this forum, local people will go out of their way to obtain information for travelers. There are also areas that are not covered and if you live in one of them (or have a special knowledge of one), please consider creating your own Travel Pages here on Virtual Tourist and joining those here who help others traveling. Yes, it is a free service, but it relies on everyone helping others. Enjoy your trip. We're headed that way in the autumn and trekki has helped us a lot too.