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German trip all by DB Bahn

We are going to Germany in late June / early July. The plan is to travel via DB Bahn. On the website, the pricing seems best to buy point to point rather than a 7 day pass, however wondering about reservations. Should we spend a bit more to reserve seats? Thinking about going second class, but want to avoid hunting for seats or worse not getting one. Assuming some of the legs are less popular and seats are available and some may need a reservation.

Itinerary (set)
Frankfurt Airport to Strasbourg France (Alsace for three days)
Strasbourg to Schwalmstadt (small town where ancestors came from - one day)
Schwalmstadt to Bacharach (two days)
Bacharach to Cochem (two days)
Cochem to Frankfurt Airport

Posted by
19052 posts

Seat reservations in Germany are only possible on long-distance trains (ICE, IC, & EC). I don't see much of your routes utilizing many long-distance train sections.

For the first day (FRA to Strasbourg) you could use an ICE, either all the way (change in Mannheim) or to Offenburg, but I would not advise using a Saving Fare ticket (requires at least one leg on a long-distance train) because those tickets are train specific and nonrefundable if the flight is late. However, if you use a participating airline (Lufthansa is one), you can book a rail&fly ticket for about 33€ per person, which will give you an open ticket (no specific train) on the day of arrival to any station in the Bahn system.

For Strasbourg to Schwalmstadt, I see plenty of Savings Fare tickets for 58,00€ using a TGV to Frankfurt and regional trains from there. Since you will have been in Strasbourg for several days, you should have no problem making a specific TGV.

Schwalmstadt to Bacharach is best by regional trains (no reservations) using a Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket (52€ for two, weekdays) or a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket (50€ for two, weekend day).

Bacharach to Cochem is by regional trains using a Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket (29€ for two).

Cochem to FRA is also best by regional train (2 REs with change in Koblenz). Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket to Mainz, then RMV local tickets to FRA at 4,90€ per person.

What time is your flight out of FRA on the last day? Do you really plan to come all the way from Cochem to FRA that day?

Posted by
19052 posts

Hiint: it might help you to detail your itinerary by days,

Example:
Day 1: FRA to Strasbourg (2½ hrs, 66€ w/ Rail&Fly)
Day 2: in Strasbourg
Day 3: Strasbourg to Schwalmstadt (5 hrs, 58€ w/ Savings Fare ticket)
Day 4: in Schwalmstadt
Day 5: Schwalmstadt to Bacharach (3 hrs, 52€ w/ QdL-Ticket)
Day 6: in Bacharach
Day 7: Bacharach to Cochem (2 hrs, 29€ w/ Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket)
Day 8: in Cochem
Day 9: Cochem to FRA (2¾ hrs, including 15 min stopover in Mainz to buy ticket to airport, 38,80€)

or are the travel additional days not shown on your itinerary? It looks like you have five days of travel and only four full days in towns. Although you travel days are not all day on the train, by the time you pack, check out, get to the station, travel, get to your hotel, check in, and unpack, it will take most of the usable day.

I get a total of 243,80€ for five days of travel. A German Rail Twin pass for 5 days is $460 from RailEurope.

Look up schedules, find fares, and buy advance purchase ticket using the Bahn Query website.

Posted by
24 posts

Lee

Thanks for the info. I've got the DB Bahn app and based on time of departure, the travel times are a not too bad for the most part. We are fairly seasoned, so packing & getting to the train stations shouldn't be too much a problem (less than an hour at most both ways).

The travel times per the App are:
Friday - Frankfurt Flughafen to Strasbourg Bahnhof is 2:03 (leaving at 8:09)
It's ICE TGV so we probably will reserve seats (some are actually required)
Monday - Strasbourg to Schwalmstadt is 4:33 leaving at 9:09 - this is the question about reserving seats for the German portion of the trip
Tuesday - Schwalmstadt to Bacharach is 3:16 leaving at 11 (regional so we can't reserve - thanks didn't know that)
Thursday - Bacharach to Cochem is 1:20 leaving at 8:21 (again regional)
Saturday - Cochem to Flughafen is 2:15 leaving at 15:44 (has an InterCity so should we reserve?)

Posted by
19052 posts

I see your connection is by RE from Cochem to Koblenz, and then the IC from Koblenz to the airport. Book in advance for a better price. The Savings Fare ticket with the IC is currently 39,80€, only 1€ more than with a RL-P-Ticket and a local ticket to the airport. Since the ICE part of the trip takes an hour and ten minutes, I would reserve seats. That's kind of a long time to stand. The IC goes without stopping from Koblenz to Mainz, but it undoubtedly follows the same tracks as the RE, along the Rhein gorge via Boppard, Bacharach, and Bingen.

That connection gets you to the airport at 6 PM. Do you really have that late a flight, or do you intend to stay over at the airport and leave in the morning?

Posted by
19637 posts

It occurs to me that it might be more efficient, both time and money, to go Schwalmstadt to Cochem to Bacharach to Frankfurt Airport.

Schwalmstadt to Cochem is about the same time, although one more train change, as going to Bacharach with the same QdL ticket. You shortcut passing through Frankfurt as there is a train from Giessen to Koblenz.

Cochem to Bacharach is an RP ticket.

Bacharach to Frankfurt Airport is a 12.20 EUR per person RMV ticket and there are direct trains that will get you there in 1 hour in the morning.

Posted by
24 posts

Thanks to all, we'll use your input to plan it out....the basic answer is to reserve seats when you can just to be safe!

Posted by
19052 posts

For 4,50€/seat, it's pretty cheap insurance against having to stand, but you have to look at things like the date and the length of the trip and decide.

In 2001, we went from FRA to Karlsruhe on an ICE on the 26th of December, which is a national holiday, the Second Day of Christmas. The ICE was standing room only. Fortunately, after only half an hour, we stopped at Mannheim and many people got off. Before more people got on, we took the empty seats. Two years later, in March, I made the same trip. When I asked the ticket agent if I should get a reservation he very coyly said, "you can if you want". I decided not to and I was on of only three people in the entire car. So, a reservation is not always necessary. The Bahn website often suggests when reservations might be necessary.

Last October we went from Bacharach to Pfronten with a 3 hr segment from Bingen to Ulm by IC. Just to be sure, I reserved seats on the IC. I don't think they were needed, but there was some security knowing I could not have to stand.

Posted by
14481 posts

If you plan on taking the ICE trains, spend the 4,50 Euro to reserve a seat. On the regional trains (RB and RE), forget it. No seat reservations sold. If you board and see no seat is available, you stand or sit on the stairs. If you're lucky, you'll find a fold out seat in the bike area.

There have been times I stood the entire one hour plus journey on the regional train,... so did everyone else. The possibility of not getting seat on a regional train is very good if the area served is popular, visited by tourists, and locals getting off work plus lots of kids. This is what I've seen and experienced in the summer since I'm there mostly in May and June.

Posted by
19637 posts

One thing to look at is where the regional train originates. For instance Schwalmstadt to Cochem, the 10:05 train originates in Kassel going to Frankfurt and you are picking it up mid trip, it could be crowded, I have no idea. But the connecting train to Koblenz originates in Giessen, so with a 25 minutes change time in Giessen, you will be the first one on the train if you are on the platform when they spot it on the platform 10 minutes or so before departure. Same situation in Koblenz, although less time, only 8 minutes there, but the train originates there, so it will be as empty as it can be.