Planning Train Travel in Germany

The only tickets that you should get in advance (for a discount) are Rothenburg to Oberwesel, Traben-Trarbach to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Berlin. The rest with either Bayern Ticket, or Rheinland-Pfalz (or possibly a VRM) Ticket.

If you are open for night trains there is one between Amsterdam and Berlin. Landscape is widely not especially scenic.

If the towns you will stay in are mostly set in stone, then you can purchase saver fare train tickets at DB for...

• Rothenburg > Oberwesel
• TT > A'dam
• Adam > Berlin

These non-refundable tickets will be least expensive the sooner you buy them.

(The other trips are possible using one type of day pass or another.)

Auf Schönburg, Oberwesel: You have just 2 nights on the Rhine now, but 4 nights together for Rhine and Mosel, which is a nice amount of time to do some things there. Right now, I only know about the wine tour. Which day is that? How much time does your wine tour require?

Coming from and going to other places from this castle hotel high atop the clips is a pain. My suggestion is to re-allocate your nights... 8/15 for one night at Auf Schönburg. Then split up the remaining nights as is convenient for the other things you probably want to see and do (Burg Eltz/Marksburg/Rheinfels castle tours? river cruise? cable car lifts? hiking, biking?) so maybe that will be 3 in T-T, or 1 in T-T + 2 in Boppard or Cochem, or...? Just depends on what else you want to do. Both rivers are chock full of nice options!

8/15 train to O'wesel: Lv R'burg 9:03, ar O'wesel 13:34 (current ticket price €28 ea.) Have lunch in O'wesel if room is not yet ready. Catch a taxi to the hotel and spend all of the next 18 hrs or so on castle grounds. Dinner there. Breakfast there. On 8/16, Check out, taxi back down.

For €49 each you can bypass purchasing the individual day passes we previously suggested (which come with travel-hour restrictions) and save some cash by subscribing to the Deutschland-Ticket plan for one month. Travel on the regional trains at any hour with these month-long tickets. This ticket also handles all your public transport needs within Munich and your train/bus outings in the Rhine/Mosel area.

Thanks everyone. So would it make sense to skip the Bayern pass and the Rheinland-Pfalz pass and instead get a Deutschland ticket for each of us? Based on my research, that would mean we could use the Deutschland ticket for all of our travel except on an ICE from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to Berlin.

Does that seem right?

Be aware when buying the Deutschland ticket - it is a monthly subscription which needs to be cancelled until the 10th of a month for the following month. See faq #3: https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/regional/deutschland-ticket

Long-distance train types ICE, IC and EC are not supported / paid by Deutschland ticket.

In DB journey planner choose "local trains only" as "Mode of transport" to find connections supported by Deutschland ticket.

Got it, thanks. Do I need internet access to access the pass on my phone or can I print the pass or use a screenshot?

The D-Ticket replaces the Bayern Ticket, the R-P Ticket, the VRM Ticket, and similar day passes. It also offers you other means of public transport, and with no hours restrictions.

"...we could use the Deutschland ticket for all of our travel except on an ICE from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to Berlin."

That's about right. The D-Ticket is not valid for travel within the Netherlands.

Inside Germany, it covers everything those day passes cover and more. But never the ICE and other long-distance trains.

Sam and I recommended a saver fare (using the ICE for a third route also... Rothenburg > Oberwesel. However, you can in fact use the D-Ticket for that trip provided you use only the regional trains (no IC, ICE, etc.) as long as you are content with the travel schedule and the additional changes of train that are sometimes required for regional-train-only journeys. There are no ICE-only journeys to Oberwesel from R'burg - regional trains are always needed for part of the trip, even when ICE's are included. So check out the journey by regional train only to see if it works for you. Nothing wrong with "free" on the D-Ticket if you like the journey.

(One could use the D-Ticket if one wanted to even for a long trip like Berlin > Munich. But the regional trains would take vastly longer and the trip would require many changes.)

I will be using a D-Ticket for the third time around the same time you are visiting. I know that on a couple of my trips I will spend a little too long on trains and may have a few over crowed cars to contend with, but I am spending just over $50 for three weeks in Germany.

Definately get an ICE ticket on your long legs to & from Amsterdam.

And, I highly recommend Paulaner Nockherberg in Munich. Make a reservation to sit inside. Food and beer are excellent.

Do I need internet access to access the pass on my phone

No, the app shall show it also offline.