Getting from Frankfurt to Trier

It's probably best to take the regional trains from Frankfurt airport's Regionalbahnhof station (1 of 2 stations at FRA.) If you take any high-speed trains, your trip will be more expensive if bought at the airport (about €50 each.) Although high-speed train journeys can be pre-purchased online as "saver fares", these fares are train-specific, and if you miss your pre-scheduled train at FRA because of a flight delay or whatever, you lose the ticket. Stick with the regional trains. The regional train tickets/day passes can be bought at the airport whenever you arrive at the FRA train station - with these a couple should be able to do the 3-hour train trip for around €40-€50 total.

Normally it's best to buy a local RMV ticket for the trip to Mainz (€4.85 each) and a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket for two (€29) at the FRA airport ticket machine. The R-P ticket covers travel from Mainz to Trier (normally via Koblenz, along the Rhine and Mosel rivers - very scenic.

You can check train schedules yourself at the itinerary search link below.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

FRA airport station: Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Regionalbf
Destination station: Trier Hbf

BE sure to click on "only local transport" so that the regional train itineraries show up properly. Once they do, click on the arrow at the left to get trip details (transfer station, time, and platform number.)

You'll notice that most journeys have a change of train in Mainz, or pass through Mainz on the way to Koblenz.

Your departure by train from FRA will likely be an hour's time or longer after your scheduled flight arrival time. Remember that ANY of the regional train tickets available for purchase online are also available at the train station itself on your day of travel for the same price from ticket machines like these with an English language option. Pre-purchase = no price advantage on the regional train tickets, and no refund in the case of the day passes. Just buy them at FRA.

Last time I went between those locations we drove and we didn’t drive directly between the two places. We did some side trips.

I’ll just add it’s a bit of a hike from the train station to the Residenz am Zucherberg so take a taxi. I’d also suggest you print out the location on google maps for the Taxi driver (along with the complete address) as none seem to know where it is. It’s actually an Assisted Living facility with a separate hotel wing.

The rooms are huge, breakfast great and location is excellent.

I hope you’re going in a day or 2 ahead! Lots to see in Trier. This is a fabulous tour!!

PS I flew in to Paris so no further comments from Russ’ comprehensive answer.

There is a manned ticket counter at the airport train station you can use if you would rather not use the ticket machine.

You will get this info in your tour email closer to your departure. We go in May and got ours this past week and those directions we're included.

We're going on the same tour in June, so this is useful information for us.

We're thinking about staying in Bacharach for a night or two before the tour. Unfortunately the special GAS tour book that goes with the tour, which we received yesterday, has no information about Bacharach, so I'll have to get the hotel information from another source.

"We're thinking about staying in Bacharach for a night or two before the tour."

I would first take a look first at St. Goar, just 10 train minutes north of Bacharach; several inns there have rooms that take much better advantage of the river scenery (which is actually better in St. Goar as well.) It's a stunning view across the Rhine from St. Goar:

http://www.staedte-fotos.de/1024/sankt-goarshausen-altstadt-burg-katz-23553.jpg

As you can see in this photo, Bacharach is set apart from the river by open space and the railway:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Bacharach_Luftbild_01.jpg

Also, Rheinfels Castle (in St. Goar) is right in town and easy to reach on foot; take a tour whenever it's convenient:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85114404&x-yt-ts=1422579428&v=qxFF80wORNQ#t=32

(Bacharach's Castle cannot be toured.)

If you stay for a couple of days: St. Goar has a convenient ferry for crossing the river - you might want to do this to catch a train on the opposite side to Rüdesheim or to Marksburg Castle in Braubach (completely intact medieval castle.) (There's no ferry service from Bacharach.)

Are you thinking about a Rhine cruise? The Rhine cruise segment with the best scenery is Bingen > St. Goar. To get to the Bingen dock to start your cruise, catch a train from St. Goar and return to St. Goar by boat (and by all means stop off in Bacharach on the way to check out the handsome buildings there.)

The same cruise is possible if you end up staying in Bacharach - but then it's train from Bacharach > Bingen, boat from Bingen > St. Goar, then train again from St. Goar > Bacharach. (Be sure not to board the cruise boat in Bacharach, or you'll see only half the scenic part of the river.)

Thanks to all for the information and comments!

I would love to hear from anyone that has recently gone on this trip, or from those that are going in May or June after you return, on any tips for packing, things you wish you would have known or done differently for preparation or during the trip, etc... Any pointers, insight, etc... that would help is much appreciated.

Well, I went the end of August 2016. It was a heat wave. It was 95F in Trier. No kidding. It was hot and I wished I had packed another pr of capris. As it was mine dried overnight so I washed them out and wore them day after day, hahahaha!! I would see what the forecasts are right before you leave and decide. I generally wear a pr of jeans on the plane, pack 2 pr of long pants and 1 pr capris. I would have been better off on this trip to have done 2 pr long pants, 2 capris but you never know. (I had also been in Paris the week before where, yes, there was a heatwave! yikes!)

Switzerland was blessedly cool. Others had on fleece jackets but I was fine in a SS merino wool Tee and a cotton Lands End sweater. I suspect it was high 50s/low 60sF. BUT I'm from N. Idaho, I'm old, I'm overweight and I can tolerate cold better than some. I'm not sure where you are from, but if you get cold easily I would have either a puffy jacket that folds up to nothing, a lightweight polarfleece or a lightweight merino wool jacket or a puffy or polarfleece vest.

It did rain in Muerren (at night!!), Salzburg and Hallstatt. I ~always~ take a waterproof jacket on any Rick Steves tour or in fact any visit to Europe. Not water resistant, waterproof!

My main shoes are always athletic shoes. They were fine for the trails I did in Switzerland.

In Salzburg many went to the Mozart concert + dinner but it had a dress code - no jeans, no athletic shoes so I skipped it as that was all I had. If you plan to go to this, make sure you have pants other than jeans (travel pants would be fine) and at least leather looking athletic or walking shoes.

I do suggest you do research on what you want to do in your free time in Munich, Salzburg and Vienna. There is a free afternoon in Baden-Baden. Some did the baths, I strolled along the Lichtenthaler Allee and did some birding and people watching. Plus ate gelato, hahaha!!

I loved Trier and wished I had had another day there. I arrived 2 nights before but on my full day before the tour started it was so hot I was back in the room mid-afternoon to get out of the heat. If you have the time, you will want to get in to the Dom and the Konstantin Basilica on Saturday before the tour starts as the walking tour is Sunday morning and there are services thus not able to be toured.

I am NOT saying Trier is always hot - just something to have on your radar as your travel time draws closer.

There are some wonderful art museums in Munich. I enjoyed the Neue Pinakothek - very nice Van Gogh sunflower there!

Well, heck. Here is a link to my trip report, that will be easier!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/trip-report-8-27-16-gas-tour

I just returned from that tour, and it is well worth it. We were blessed with good weather the whole trip, except for Salzburg (which seems like the rainiest place in the world) and Hallstatt (cloudy). It was very warm when we were in Trier and during the day trip to Eltz Castle, and it was 40-50 deg. F. in Switzerland as expected. We were prepared for all weather.

We spent two nights in Bacharach before the tour. This is about an hour north of Frankfurt by train. Bacharach is tiny and pretty, a good place to recover from jet lag. We took the boat to St. Goar for lunch, and later walked around Bacharach. Took a photo from the tower on the edge of town, then noticed that the same photo is in the RS Germany tour book! (I chose Bacharach over St. Goar mainly because of the highly recommended Stüber's restaurant.)

We took regional trains, and did not buy tickets in advance. There is an information booth in the Frankfurt airport train station, although the man in the booth didn't speak English very well. (He did print out an itinerary with departure times on it.) We bought the tickets to Bacharach at the nearby office near the information booth, from a man who spoke better English than the information guy. We didn't have much luck with the ticket vending machines.

The Bacharach train station is unmanned, and there is no ticket machine. We had stopped at the TI to ask about tickets to Trier, and were directed to the post office (which is tiny and is more of a tobacco shop). The woman in the post office was kind and spoke decent English. She sold us "Rhineland-Pfalz" tickets at 12 euro apiece, and also printed out an itinerary. Trier is about two hours from Bacharach, and requires an easy change of trains in Koblenz. The ride is pleasant, much of it on the Rhine and Moselle rivers.

(By the way, we did not experience any problems with dress code at the Mozart dinner concert. I just made sure to wear a shirt with a collar.)