Arrive Frankfurt to Bacharach

Not everything you need to know is at the DB website. Local transit authorities sell tickets and determine prices too.

Bacharach:
If 2: Go to FRA's Regionalbahnhof. Buy a RMv (local transit authiority) ticket for 2 adults to Bacharach (€22.40.) Use any ticket machine with a RMV logo. Machines might look something like THIS.

How to find the train station in this huge airport? To start with, there are two train stations. Going to Mainz or Bingen, you should follow the signs for Regional Trains or S-Bahn. (look for the big green S) This station is under Terminal 1 by Arrival Hall B-1, and the signs will be in English. Just take the escalator downstairs. For Mainz, you will want to go to track #3. This is where the S-bahns 8, going to Mainz and the Regional train #80 going to Bingen stop. There is also an RMV ticket machine here, but it will probably be easier to use the ones upstairs.

The RMV and DB share ticket machines and they are all touch screens. They switch into English and are fairly user friendly. The machines take coins, 5 and 10 euro bills for single tickets and if you are getting a group ticket it will take a 20 euro bill. It will NOT take a 50 euro bill. Change will be in coins.

RMV machines do not take American credit cards for local travel, but the DB does.

Your ticket will cost 11.20 € p.p. one way.

You have bought your ticket, put it in your wallet, and now, go to track 3. You will not need to validate it.

If the S-8 comes first, you will take this to Mainz, where you would get off. This train comes in on track 1 a. Your train to Bacharach, which will have an end destination of Koblenz, comes in on track 11 about 7 min. later.
Depending on what time your flight arrives, and after finding the train station at the airport, if the Regional Train #80 comes first, take this to Bingen, where it will come in on track 102, and your next train comes in on track 103 about 5 min. later. This train will be heading to Koblenz. Your train will arrive in Bacharach in about 11 minutes.
This is going to be your easiest connection. If you do go to Mainz though, this is the same train that goes on through to Bingen.

If you miss any of these trains, remember, another one will be by in about an hour. The Bingen connection looks the easiest. That train comes through the Airport Regional train station at 24 min. past the hour, every other hour. So, 09:24, 11:24, 13:24. The S-bahns will come in at 07:59, 09:59, 11:59, and so on every other hour.

I am using the local transportation website for this information, www.rmv.de which you can switch into English.

Jill,

Jo provided excellent directions, which should get you to Bacharach quickly. Remember to look for the RegionalBahnhof rather than the FernBahnhof, and that will take you to the correct station at the airport.

One other point to add is that the station in Bacharach is very small, and you may not even realize that you've arrived there especially in a jet-lagged state (that shows only part of the station). Keep track of the times and if the train stops at about the expected arrival time, then it's time to get off! You can always ask the Conductor to let you know.

As the Bacharach station is unmanned, there's only a ticket Kiosk there so it's prudent to keep small bills and change at hand for buying tickets. I can't remember if the machines take credit cards, but as I recall they do.

Happy travels!

Thanks to all!

The change in Mainz is from track 1a to track 11, but track 11 is cross platform from track 1, not out beyond track 8. Walk to the NW end of the platform (the S-Bahn came in on the SE end). Track 11 is to your right after the end of the building on your right.

If you change in Bingen, 102 and 103 are cross platform from each other.

We fly into Frankfurt on Lufthansa and then take train to Bacharach.