Planning a Rhine cruise and Neuschwanstein visit

My husband and I are travelling to Germany for a holiday next month (July). We are flying into Frankfurt and want to do a Rhine River cruise between Rudesheim and Koblenz. Following that we want to go to Nueschwanstein Castle. I have been looking at the train fares from Rudesheim to Munich and they seem quite expensive. So after the Rhine River cruise, I am now looking at catching a train from Rudesheim to Wiesbaden, then hiring a car from Wiesbaden and driving from there to Munich, then onto to Hohenschwangau for the Nueschwanstein Castle.
We can pick up a hire car from Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof. After looking at the www.bahn.de website for timetable information, would anyone know which station the Rudesheim train would arrive at in Wiesbaden?
Any suggestions for this itinerary would be greatly appreciated.

Have you checked the dbahn special offers if you are able to be a bit flexible?

"Dauerspezial" - which I think of as "last minute special" although you can buy it ages in advance (ie. the "last min" is that it closes a few days before your date).
"Sparangebot" - saver offers of 25 or 50% reduction.

I looked with a random July date and found 39 Eur compared to standard c. 89 Eur one way. That seems good value to me . There is a 29 Eur one listed but no longer available.

Also, the cost per ticket often reduces if your booking is for more than one traveller.

When I go to Koblenz with someone, we pay 29 Eur return and not the full standard list price of 39 Eur: a 25% reduction.

The best fare I can find from Rudesheim to Munich is 98 Eur for the 2 of us. That's why I am thinking of only going to Wiesbaden by train then hiring car.
Do you know if I could buy a Bayerticket for Rudesheim to Wiesbaden?

try the rmv website www.rmv.de

http://www.rmv.de/auskunft/bin/jp/query.exe/en?L=vs_rmv&

there are trains from Rudesheim to Wiesbaden...Id maybe look at hiring the car in Mainz, youll probably get it 15-20% cheaper.

There is only one main station in Wiesbaden.. Hauptbahnhof.


Not a chance.. The bayernTicket, (Hince its name) is only valid in the state of Bavaria. Of which Wiesbaden and
Rudesheim are not located. They are however, both in the state of Hessen, So get a Hessen Ticket.

If you want to continue your trip to Munich via the train and with the land tickets, you'll also need the
Bayern Ticket to get you from Würzburg to Munich. (Hessen Ticket from Ruedesheim/Wiesbaden via Frankfurt to Würzburg
then Bayern Ticket from Würzburg to Munich.

Land Tickets have many restrictions on use and which trains and lines they can be used for. I suggest you
stop in the DB Service center at Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof for more info. to even see if they'll work for you.
Each land ticket costs 25-30 Eur is good for up to 5 people. So your total costs (hessen and Bayern Tix) should be around
60-65 Eur. However you will be limited to using slow trains only, not the faster ICE trains. In the end it will take almost
6-8hrs longer to get to Munich, than if you were to just drive.

I had a look myself at bahn.de and for some reason they don't give you the prices nor let you book the tickets. That's unusual behavior for the Bahn, no idea what it's about. The Journey takes half an hour with a regional train and shouldn't cost to much. For the time table fill out the search form at the top left of their start side http://www.db.de/site/bahn/en/start.html. (Start is Rüdesheim(Rhein) in your case, don't confuse it by not using an umlaut), and buy the ticket at the Hauptbahnhof.

Thank you Scotster, this is exactly the train info that I have been looking for.
I will also look at car hire from Mainz but as it's 2am here now (in Australia) I will have to do that another day.
Thanks again for the great info!

Pricing is not avil. for most local trains on the website, and even if it is, it won't let you buy them online if your journey
starts in under 24 hrs.. The lander tix can be bought at the machines in the stations, as can tix for the local/regional trains.

€98 for two people travelling 450 kilometres is not expensive. You will spend nearly that much on fuel alone if you hire a car, so I can't really see how that option could save you any money. Book a return ticket on the train and the price will probably fall even further. If price is really an issue, use the Länder tickets or (at weekends) the Schönes Wochenende Ticket.