Seven Rhine trips and what each price buys
A Rhine boat can cost less than a lunch or more than a hotel night. The spread pays for hours on the water and for the drive from Frankfurt, if there is one. Below, seven trips priced side by side, then the money you still spend on the day.
Seven Rhine trips side by side
The table holds the five tours on our home page plus two one-hour boats we mention only in the guides. Each price is the regular "from" figure per person, so a sale or another date can show a different number.
| Tour | From | On the water | Total length | Start | Included | Paid on top | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ETS Touristik day trip (our pick) | ~$167 | 1–1.5 h | 8 h | Wiesenhüttenplatz 38, Frankfurt | Bus or van with guide, boat, lunch, small wine tastings | Drinks at lunch, summer cable car, tips | Shared bus or van |
| Gilles Rheinschifffahrt castles boat | ~$21 | 2 h | 2 h | Brücke 2, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer, Koblenz | Boat ride | Food and drinks, train to Koblenz | Shared boat |
| KölnTourist skyline cruise | ~$27 | 90 min | 90 min | Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer, Cologne | Boat ride, recorded commentary in English and German | Drinks and snacks | Shared boat |
| Bonner Personen Schiffahrt to Linz | ~$30 | 4 h | 4 h | Alter Zoll, Brassertufer, Bonn | Round trip, covered seating | Food and drinks, train to Bonn | Shared boat |
| Go with Flo private day | ~$142 | 2 h | 7–10 h | Your Frankfurt hotel | Private van, river cruise, winery tasting, water and snacks | Meals, tips | Private, up to 8 |
| Gilles one-hour cruise (extra) | ~$16 | 1 h | 1 h | Brücke 2, Koblenz | Boat ride, commentary over the speakers | Drinks, train to Koblenz | Shared boat |
| KölnTourist one-hour cruise (extra) | ~$21 | 1 h | 1 h | Cologne riverfront (see the listing) | Boat ride, commentary from loudspeakers | Drinks | Shared boat |
ETS Touristik's day cancels free up to 24 hours before the start on GetYourGuide. For the other trips, check the listing before you pay, since terms can differ by date.
The cheapest hour on the Rhine
The lowest fares here buy one hour. Gilles Rheinschifffahrt's one-hour Koblenz cruise from ~$16, rated 4.5 from 100+ reviews on GetYourGuide, shows the city front and the Electoral Palace with commentary over the speakers.
Its weak point is the length. The shorter loop turns back well before Marksburg, so you glimpse the edge of castle country rather than sailing into it.
In Cologne, KölnTourist's one-hour cruise from ~$21 holds 4.4 from 1,020+ reviews. You get the cathedral and the Old Town from the water, and nothing beyond a city view, since no castles stand on this part of the river.
Two hours of castles out of Koblenz
Gilles Rheinschifffahrt's castles and palaces boat from ~$21 costs little more than the one-hour loop and doubles the time. It runs upstream past Lahneck and Stolzenfels, with views towards Martinsburg and Marksburg.
It holds 4.4 from 2,450+ reviews on GetYourGuide, the only site that sells it. Food and drinks are on sale on board, and dogs are welcome.
The downside is geography. This is the northern gate of the gorge, not the Loreley stretch, and our guide to the river's stretches shows what you miss.
A city cruise in Cologne and a long boat from Bonn
KölnTourist's skyline cruise from ~$27 is the most reviewed tour here, at 4.4 from 3,720+ reviews on GetYourGuide. In 90 minutes it passes the cathedral and the Rheinauhafen crane houses, then slips under five bridges south to Rodenkirchen before turning north.
Commentary comes from a recording in English and German, on the 10:45 am and 12:45 pm boats and again at 2:45 pm and 4:45 pm. The boat is not wheelchair-accessible, and the view is urban, with no vineyards in sight.
For four hours afloat, Bonner Personen Schiffahrt's Bonn to Linz trip from ~$30 costs only a little more. It passes Königswinter below the Drachenfels and the old bridge towers at Remagen, rated 4.5 from 550+ reviews on GetYourGuide.
The scenery is green hills and old towns, not the castle gorge. On Viator the same trip shows 3.7 from only 9 reviews, too few to read much into.
Why the Frankfurt day costs several times more
ETS Touristik's Rhine Valley day trip from ~$167 is our pick, and the price covers far more than a boat. A guide and a bus or van take you from Wiesenhüttenplatz 38, near Frankfurt's main station, for eight hours.
Inside that day sit a steamboat ride of 1–1.5 hours between Rüdesheim and St. Goarshausen and a lunch at a riverside restaurant. A wine-history lesson in a tavern ends with small tastings. It rates 4.4 from 1,520+ reviews on GetYourGuide and 4.1 from 1,280+ on Viator.
The trade-off is that the boat is one part of a coach day, and some Viator reviewers find it short. At high or low water, and on winter days with no boats, a castle visit replaces the cruise, as the low-water guide explains.
Lunch and the boat in one fare
ETS Touristik's eight-hour day from central Frankfurt, with the riverside lunch included and a steamboat through the UNESCO-listed gorge. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The run of the day in order, from the meeting point near the station to the drive home, is in our Frankfurt day-trip guide. It also covers the private and train alternatives.
A private day for a group of up to eight
Go with Flo's private day with Florian Härtl shows the widest price gap on this page. Viator lists it from ~$142 per person, a figure that assumes a fuller van, while one traveler booking alone on GetYourGuide pays far more.
The per-head price drops as the group grows, up to eight people. For that you get hotel pickup in Frankfurt and a two-hour river cruise. The day closes in the cellar of a family-run winery, with a tasting laid on for your group alone.
Meals are not included, though water and snacks ride along in the van. Reviews are thin, 5.0 from 4 on GetYourGuide and 20+ on Viator, where 96% of travelers recommend it. Our wine guide covers the tasting side.
What you pay on top of the ticket
- Drinks and snacks on every boat here, sold on board
- Drinks with lunch on the ETS Touristik day
- The open-air cable car at Assmannshausen in summer, optional on that day and paid on the spot (the listing calls it a small fee)
- Meals on Go with Flo's private day
- Tips for guides and drivers, if you were happy
- Train fares to Koblenz, Cologne or Bonn for the boat-only trips
The train can change the sums. A ~$21 boat from Koblenz grows into a bigger outlay once two people add rail fares from Frankfurt, and our Koblenz or Rüdesheim guide helps you pick the nearer pier.
Which price fits which trip
With a spare afternoon in Cologne, the skyline cruise does the job for little money. For hilltop castles on a budget, take the train to Koblenz and the two-hour boat.
Without a car and with only Frankfurt as a base, the guided day saves you the planning. Groups of four to eight who want a slower winery day should price the private van.
Weighing a week on a hotel ship instead? That is a different product altogether, and our day boat or river cruise guide sorts the two apart.