I have tried to get train tickets on DB Bahn with a regional train from Cochem to St. Goar, for June 3, but only tickets available are at 23:00 hours. Would like to travel earlier in the morning around 8 or 9 to St. Goar from Cochem. Has anyone else made this short trek using another form of transportation? Bus??? Thinking maybe we may just have to rent a car, but we will eventually end up in Munich and not keen on driving there! LOL!!!!! Thanks.
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
Don't buy in advance, it is a local network ticket. There are train connections via Koblenz about twice an hour. The local network is called the VRM, (Verkehrsverbund Rhein Mosel). How many are you, you might take advantage of a VRM Group Day ticket. Prices and schedule planner are at http://www.vrminfo.de/en/timetable/
Deutsche Bahn is not allowed to sell local network tickets anymore, unless it is an IC, ICE, or EC train. Obviously, that 23:00 was an IC train. RE and RB trains ply this route.
It is a Price Level 9 ticket, Cost 11.50 EUR and you buy it out of a vending machine.
PS if there are 2 to 5 of you, and you can wait until after 9 am on a weekday, you can get a Minigruppenkarte for 22.10 EUR. Even with just 2 people, you will save money. Trains take 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours.
Posted by
OP
28 posts
Thanks, Sam. We are a group of 4, My husband and I and 2 twin teenage daughters.
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
So leave after 9 am (unless its a weekend or holiday when you can travel anytime) and the whole group travels for one price of 22.10 EUR. Bonus, you can use local trains and buses in St Goar until 3 am the next day.
Posted by
Paradise
6637 posts
Sam has advised you correctly to buy the VRM Mini-group ticket (Mini-gruppenkarte.) You buy it at the station from a ticket machine. I believe the ticket machine in this photo is the same one at the St. Goar station that we used last summer. It's not out front or in the former "lobby" - it's located at the end of the underground passage you must use to reach the rear train platform.
The VRM site Sam gave you will be difficult to use for scheduling as it's not totally available in English. Same for ticket pricing. (You don't need it for buying tickets either. Buy at the station.) Use the DB site to find schedules instead.
Sam's price isn't quite right, methinks. It's €12.10 each for a single adult ticket, or you can buy the Mini-group ticket for €23.60 and cover the family.
Remember that it's not just a one-way ticket, but a day pass. If you want to travel additionally that same day within the VRM zone, you can - for no additional charge. Thus you could in theory travel to Cochem, drop your bags, backtrack to Moselkern by train for the hike to Burg Eltz, hike-tour-hike back, then ride the train back to Cochem again. The light-green VRM area on this map shows the train stations that are covered.
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
I guess you just can't trust the internet. I see it now here, but I clicked on the "download pdf" so I could read it and got the 2017 price table.
http://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets/tariff/price-table/
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
Both Cochem and St. Goar are in the metro district VRM (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Mosel), and VRM runs the regional trains in the district. The German Rail website shows the schedules for these VRM trains but doesn't sell tickets for them. You don't need a ticket in advance. These are regional train; you just go to the station, buy a ticket, and get on.