Eurail from Frankfort to Bacharach to Ghent

I think you should book a ticket from tripadvisor.com. Remember that "when you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable" I wish you the happy journey.

Forget anything about "Eurail", "RailEurope", or any other third party agency that tries to resell you marked up tickets. Head to the websites of the entities that actually run the trains. You can buy direct from them online, and avoid the middle-man. Go to Deutsche Bahn for any rail inquiries you might have for Germany.

Frankfurt am Main (not "Frankfort", sometimes correct spelling makes a difference) to Bacharach is a relatively cheap, one hour ride on a regional train. No first class seats available. One of the rail gurus on this website can probably quote an exact fare (I can't see them on the DB website, for some reason), but I doubt it's much more than €20, and wouldn't be surprised if it's significantly less. Because this is a regional train with frequent runs, there is usually no advantage, either in cost or seat availability, to purchasing your tickets in advanced. Simply walk up to the one of the electronic kiosks at the airport, purchase your tickets, and jump on the next train. You will rarely need to wait more than 30 minutes. If you can figure out how to use an ATM, you can use the ticket kiosks. They're that simple.

For Bacharach to Ghent, I'm seeing advanced purchase saver fares for as low as €29, with the full price second class ticket costing only €81.50. This ticket would cover a regional train from Bacharach to Köln, then a Deutsche Bahn intercity express (ICE) to Brussels, and from Brussels, you can hop on any of the extremely frequent Belgian Rail intercity (IC) trains to Ghent.

There you go, Frankfurt to Bacharach for less than the cost of a meal, then Bacharach to Ghent for between €29 and €81.50. I think the cost comparison to a rail pass speaks for itself.

Oh, and speaking of first class... unless you want absolute quiet, you need waiter service or you have work projects to complete en-route, don't bother plonking down the extra cash. Second class seats are perfectly comfortable for most people. First class on European trains is designed more to accommodate business travelers than to provide extra comfort. .

Once you've researched which trains you'll be using on the bahn.de website, you can easily purchase tickets online at www.capitainetrain.com (they also sell tickets for trains in France, Italy and a few other places).

One other point to mention is that the station in Bacharach is very small and it's not staffed. There is a ticket Kiosk there however. Once you arrive in Bacharach, you should be able to easily walk to your accommodations (depending on where they are of course).

The reason that the ticket price from FRA to Bacharach is not shown on the Bahn site is that the ticket is sold by the Frankfurt metro district (RMV, www.rmv.de), not the Bahn. According to the RMV site, an adult one way ticket will cost 11,60€.

Just for information, the Bahn site does show the cost (25,20€ for a ticket) to Oberwesel, one station beyond Bacharach.

As mentioned above, you don't need to buy the ticket to Bacharach in advance. In addition to a ticket automat, there should be a ticket counter in the Frankfurt airport Regionalbahnhof - no difference in price.

Except for the S-Bahn from Frankfurt airport to Mainz, first class seats on the other regional trains are available at a higher price, but they are certainly not needed.

I've traveled in Europe since 1987. The first trip was paid for by my company. They made the rail arrangements and put me in 1st class. The second trip (1988) was on my dime, and I traveled 2nd class. I really couldn't see that the difference was worth the extra cost, so on my third trip (even though also paid for my the company), I used 2nd class, and I have every since (10 more trips).

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John, there is a rail station right there in the airport (Frankfurt Flughaven). Its named that way at the bahn website, so make sure you look at the right one. There are ticket agents there, and some who speak perfect English who can get you oriented and point you to the right tracks. No need or advantage to book Frankfurt to Bacharach in advance since there are many trains a day, and you can't be sure when your flight will arrive. You do have to change trains once or twice, but at relatively small stations where you can't get lost. You can get tickets at the airport rail station for Bacharach to Ghent, while you are there. There is no manned rail station in Bacharach.

John,

One point to clarify about train travel from Frankfurt airport. There are actually two rail stations at the airport, a Fernbahnhof (long distance trains) and a Regionalbahnhof (local trains). The train you'll be using will almost certainly be departing from the Regionalbahnhof so be sure to go to the correct station. I can't recall the exact route to that rail station, but I'm sure one of the others will be able to provide that information. As I recall, it's across one of the airport access roads.

There are some direct trains on that route every day, and others with one change, usually at Mainz Hbf, and travel times vary from about 56 minutes to 1H:28M depending on which train you use.

The Regional train station is under Terminal 1, Arrival Hall B-1. Just follow the signs and keep going down. You will see the DB ticket counters. For Ghent, I would get my ticket ahead of time, as it will be cheaper.

The ticket machines in the Regional Train station switch into English. You will need cash for your tickets to Bacharach. Use a ten € bill and a 2 € coin. There are Deutsche Bank ATM's all over the airport. If you want to use your credit card, go to the ticket counter, but they will charge you an extra 2 € for this service. There may also be long lines there, depending on time of day and time of year.

I can't recall the exact route to that rail station, but I'm sure one of the others will be able to provide that information.

Rather than describe precisely how to get there, which involves going up and down escalators and many twists and turns, simply follow the signs. You can't go wrong by this method.

To be technically correct, the Frankfurt Regionalbahnhof is underneath the building across the street from Terminal 1, but you get to it via steps or escalators next to (inside) the outside wall of the great hall of Terminal 1 (Concourses A, B, & C). From there you go through a passage way under the access road to the service area of the Regionalbahnhof. If you are arriving at Terminal 2 (Concourses D & E), you can either walk to Terminal 1, take the Skyline from the top floor of Terminal 2, or take a bus from in front of Terminal 2 around to the front of Terminal 1. Most of the time, there are six buses every hour from Terminals 1 to 2, so an average of every 10 minutes, but the interval is uneven, a 6 to 15 minutes wait.

The building across from Terminal 1 is a bus terminal at ground level, but I don't think you can get into it by crossing the access road. Underneath the bus terminal is the service level (ticket machines, ticket counter, etc) of the Regionalbahnhof. From the service area you can go down elevators or escalators to the track level or up to the bus terminal or above that to the passage that leads out to the Fernbahnhof.

The last time (2008) I was in the Regionalbahnhof I entered it from Termainal 1 via the passageway under the access road and immediately in front of me were two ticket automats. I bought an S-Bahn ticket to Mainz at the RMV automat, which only took cash. Then I bought a Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket from the Bahn automat next to it using a credit card. The Bahn automat might also sell RMV tickets; then you could use a credit card for the tickets to Bacharach.

If you use the RMV automat, try to use as close to the correct amount (23,20€ for two tickets) as possible. It probably only gives change in coins, so if you give it a 50€ note (if it will even let you), you'll get 13 two euro coins, plus some smaller coins, in change.

The opening screen of the Bahn touchscreen automat has a four touchpads in a square pattern for different functions and another pad underneath to change the language to English. The lower right pad of the four should allow you to purchase RMV tickets.

Whenever you can reliably expect to catch a specific train connection from Bacharach to Ghent, I would buy the Savings Fare ticket from the Bahn website. If you wait until you are in the Regionalbahnhof, the fare can only be higher.