Rhine River Ferry: One Day Itinerary with Teens

Our German River Cruise Experience

Five years ago, as an extended family, we took an amazing two-week river trip down the Danube. While we were by far the youngest travelers on the ship we found the relaxed pace and force-fed charm was a perfect way to see the villages of Germany.

So, you can imagine our delight when we learned that DIY single-day River Ferries for the more adventurous set are available as an alternative to the two-week leisure cruise.

About the Rhine a River Ferries

Each morning, starting in Cologne and Mainz KD Ferry operates boats heading up and down the Rhine River. Most people prefer to start their ferry experience in Mainz and head north to Cologne (getting the prettiest portion of the route earlier in the day and taking advantage of the quicker speeds the follow traveling with the current). But, we’ll be traveling from Brussels and Bruges, so beggars can’t be choosers.

Rhine River Cruise Itinerary

We’ll start the day in Cologne and take an early morning train to Boppard, skipping some of the earlier but less high-impact stops so that we can allow our boys a little sleeping in time (to ensure domestic tranquility) and arrive in Boppard at 11:00 AM.

Our day in the Rhine will be made en-route to Switzerland where we’ll spend two nights and three days, so we’ll be traveling with luggage; and although we are a carry-on family, we’ve decided to focus our Rhine stops in cities that offer luggage storage which means St. Goar and Bacharach.

I purchased Ferry Tickets in advance through KD Rhine (I’m a fan of skipping lines wherever possible and tend to get a better conversion rate when I book in the USA.

To cap off our exciting day on the Rhine we’ll spend the evening at the Hotel Lindenwirt of Rudesheim am Rhein.