Please sign in to post.
Holiday Sale! Save 20% Storewide!

Help with Day Trips from Kaiserslautern

Posted by (New York State, US) on

I was hoping you could help me with some day trip ideas from Kaiserslautern as I am crashing my husband’s business trip. Here are the details:

  • Arrive Frankfurt on Friday April 5th. We are set for the weekend (quick trip to Nuremberg and Rothenburg odT by car). We will be staying Sunday night in Mainz.
  • Monday April 8th I am planning to go back to Frankfurt by train to take the Frankfurt on Foot tour. In the afternoon, I will meet up with my husband and his coworker in Wiesbaden and we are going to Kaiserslautern.
  • Here’s where I need your help as I have three days to entertain myself in Kaiserslautern (Tues-Thurs 4/9-4/11). I have been there before for work but not as a tourist. Of the three days I will probably spend one of those in town but am looking for day trips that are easily doable from Kaiserslautern by train. I can leave fairly early (8ish?) but would need to be back by 5 or 6 pm.

Trier looks interesting but it’s probably on the limit for distance (looks like about 2 hours by train). My searching of this forum found Speyer as a possibility but I thought I’d ask for other suggestions. I’m game for just about anything but maybe not a lot of museum time. Walking is fine. The only place I have already been is Heidelberg.

What would you suggest?

Posted by
21184 posts

Trier is doable. Leave after 9 am to use a Rhineland-Pfalz Ticket for 25 EUR will include local transport in Trier and the return trip. If you want to get started earlier, buy a ticket to Saarbrucken for 16.20 EUR. Train leaves at 8:31 and by the time you get to Saarbrucken, it will be past 9 am and the R-P ticket will be valid.
Taking the 9:31 train will give you 4 hours in Trier if you want to be back by 5:30 pm.

Speyer, use a VRN (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar) day ticket for 19 EUR and you are good for the day.

Posted by
57 posts

Speyer has a lovely downtown and an absolutely amazing Technical museum ... full of every moveable machine you can imagine. Look it up...I am not mechanical, but found it fascinating. Cathy

Posted by
8082 posts

I recall that you can get to the Rhine by regional train, maybe Bingen, and then do some stuff along there on a major train route.

The Mosel is popular from Kaiserslautern, but easier with a car, otherwise you could head up to Trier and then down the Mosel, but the round trip might be a bit long

Posted by
268 posts

Speyer is a good idea, and would be my first choice. Others are:

  • Hambacher Schloss, if you are interested in German history (not sure whether the exhibition has English explanations, though)
  • Völklinger Hütte (former ironworks, now a UNESCO world heritage site)
Posted by
26 posts

Thank you all for taking the time to reply!

I am now leaning toward going to Speyer one day and to Völklinger Hütte on another. Would I want a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket for each trip? Do I buy that at the train station?

Thanks again.
Courtney

Posted by
21184 posts

As I said earlier.

Speyer, use a VRN (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar) day ticket for 19 EUR and you are good for the day.

For Voelkingen Huette, you will need a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket. Travel after 9 am. The VRN ticket is not time restricted.

You best buy these out of ticket machines at the station. Buy at a ticket window will cost you an extra 2 EUR service charge.

Posted by
26 posts

Thanks Sam! I think I have the train thing straight now. I appreciate all of your help (and willingness to answer the same question twice! - Sorry about that).

Courtney

Posted by
26 posts

I just returned from my trip and wanted to report back to let you know what I ended up doing and to thank all of you for your help! I'll do an actual trip report later.

My first trip was from Mainz into Frankfurt and back to Wiesbaden. That was pretty easy and the Frankfurt on Foot tour was great!

The next two days I was based in Kaiserslautern. The first day I went to the Voelklingen Ironworks. It was a drizzly sort of day and that ended up being a perfect thing to do. I had no trouble getting my Rheinland-Pfalz ticket from the machine at the train station and figuring out the trains. The DB app was particularly helpful. I had a great day but someone else did not as I found someone's credit card in the ticket machine! I turned it in at the info desk. The second day I had been planning to go to Speyer, but my husband ended up having a business dinner that night. Since I didn't have to be back as early, I went to Trier. I enjoyed that as well.

I had a great time in Germany and hope to see more of it someday! Thanks again!

Posted by
9224 posts

Glad to hear you enjoyed the tour in Frankfurt. :-)

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.