Germany train travel questions

Last question first. The fastest way from St Goar (or Oberwesel) is on regional trains. It is 20.50 EUR and no reservations are taken and no advantage to buying in advance. Buy out of the ticket machine at the station. make sure to take only regional trains or S-Bahns, No ICE, IC, or EC trains. It is a 1 1/2 trip from St Goar.

First question. I see you can buy a single ticket from Muerren to Gengenbach for 35 CHF from SBB. This is an advance purchase nonrefundable ticket that is train specific. You must travel the trains listed on the ticket, like an airline ticket. So if you can commit to that, it is the cheapest way. Otherwise, with a Half Fare card to Basel Badischer Bahnhof for 42.50 CHF, then a 24 EUR Baden-Wuerttemberg Ticket to Gengenbach.

Second question. The KONUS Card is good on regional train to Karlsruhe. The you can use a Rheinld-Pfalz ticket to travel to St Goar for 24 EUR on regional train through Mainz.

Third question. In St Goar and Oberwesel, you can get a 3-day VRM Tageskarte for 40 EUR. But note that it is not valid south of Oberwesel. So to go to say Bingen for the down-river KD boat, you would need to buy a separate ticket. That is just a 6.20 EUR ticket from Oberwesel. But to the north and the Mosel Valley, it works great.

Oct 15-19: Stay in Oberwesel and St Goar... I plan to use KD and trains to sightsee in the area.

The KD boats themselves ARE a sightseeing experience. They don't usually work out well as transportation to towns where you intend to do other sightseeing, however - and they tend to be expensive. You'll be able to cross the river by FERRY boat from St. Goar (runs all day, cheap, free with the VRM day pass) and then use the trains to explore the opposite river bank towns.

The VRM ticket Lee suggests is a good deal. But it might be overly restrictive - it depends on the size of "the area" you have in mind for sightseeing. Besides the possible train to Bingen... Will your sightseeing include additonal destinations outside the VRM? Bacharach? Or Rüdesheim? Will you be venturing up the Nahe River to Bad Sobernheim or to Idar-Oberstein? What about Trier? All these places lie a little outside the VRM zone and will not be covered by the VRM ticket - don't allow yourself to be on a train outside this zone without a proper ticket or day pass as fines are steep. This map shows the VRM zone and all the other transport zones within the states of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland. In some cases, add-on tickets will be cheap and might work well - Bacharach for example - and Bingen is one of those as well since the fare is low and you will only travel one direction (then back by cruise boat.) For other outings, you may find the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket day pass handy - it's €24/day for one and covers everything on the map by regional train without any VRM ticket coverage.

Note that the VRM also has a one-day pass for €20. If you will have outings completely within the VRM for one day only, that might be the way to go. If you have 2 of those VRM-only days, just get the 3-day pass (the same price as two 1-day passes, and no after-9-am restriction.)

The cruise: One way to avoid the extra train trip to Bingen for the cruise is to do it on your way to St. Goar from Gengenbach. Get off the train in Bingen at the right time, and you can actually use the cruise boat as transport to St. Goar (1.5 hours cruise time.) This is the best part of the river, and seeing this part the first time by boat is a special way to do so. And this strategy MIGHT save you a little money on the train trip from Gengenbach as well... Right now I see a saver fare of €19.90 for Gengenbach to Bingen at DB for some trains on October 15 (€10 more for St. Goar however.) That's cheaper than the Konus + Rheinland-Pfalz ticket... (but you should do that only if you're comfortable making a firm commitment to train-specific travel. ) Whatever ticket you use to arrive in Bingen, show it at the KD kiosk for a 20% cruise discount.

Thanks Sam and Russ. This information is very helpful.