Rhine Valley train info

You do get free passes for the district (called a VRM pass), but it's a lot more limited than you might think. For example, Bingen is outside of the area, and if you were taking the train from Boppard to Bingen, you would have to purchase an extra add-on ticket to get there. I don't think it would be worth it for longer travels, and you definitely wouldn't be able to use it to get from Cologne to Boppard.

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're asking? It sounds like you're talking about buying a ticket from Amsterdam to Cologne and then hoping to use the VRM pass to get from Cologne to Boppard. Is that not correct?

At any rate, here is a link to the VRM site and a PDF that shows you the full range of the VRM ticket.
https://www.vrminfo.de/en/
https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data_vrminfo/PDF/Gaesteticket/Infoflyer_Gaesteticket_englisch_2022.pdf

There are regional train passes that you can purchase, but they are not free; just discounted and the times are restricted. Those are for specific regions. Most well known is the Bayern Pass, but there is one for the Rheinland-Pfalz region.

Thank you, that is helpful. What I’m trying to figure out is if I need to purchase advance reserved tickets for all of our travels from Amsterdam to Frankfurt or if we can just buy tickets as we go not knowing if seats will be available. Appreciate your input.

OK, so Boppard is a great choice on several grounds. But may I ask...

Are you absolutely locked into a 2-night stay? Your 2nd sentence makes it sound like you might have a river cruise in mind for your departure day. What sightseeing plans / activities do you have for arrival day and Day 2? Burg Eltz? Bacharach? Cochem? Marksburg Castle? Rüdesheim? Biking? Chairlift/cable car rides? The time you have on arrival day might be very limited since you are traveling all the way from Amsterdam, and to see the things most people want to see, you might need to spend another night in Boppard or to give up some of those things.

Ticket from A'dam to Boppard: The VRM is not available to you until you have checked in. You should probably pre-purchase an Amsterdam > Boppard ticket for this journey. Very often, the regional trains will be your option for the Cologne > Koblenz > Boppard segment, but with BOPPARD as your named destination, travel on those trains will of course be included in your ticket.

Alternatively... You can buy a A'dam > Cologne ticket PLUS a "Day Ticket for Germany" for the Cologne > Koblenz > Boppard segment (€75/3 adults, less if daughter is not an adult.) This Day ticket does not need to be bought in advance. You can buy it on the day of travel using the DB app or at Cologne station. It is good at any hour on your day of travel but only for the regional trains. So you need to check the schedules carefully so that you do not board any IC or ICE trains that travel this route.
Of course, you would only use this alternative ticketing strategy if it ends up being CHEAPER than the single A'dam > Boppard ticket option.

CRUISE: You need to make a point of cruising the entire segment between St Goar and Bingen at a minimum, or possibly the longer Boppard - Bingen segment, to make the cruise worth your time.

Your VRM GUEST CARD is valid north as far as Remagen, south as far as Oberwesel, and up the Mosel River to Cochem and beyond... and in other places too. It's a great advantage for your Day 2 travels (and any extra days you might be able to add.) You should get back to us with your intentions for sightseeing if you want some help organizing those things. Most people do need some help fitting in everything in an efficient way.

Day/Night 3, Auf Schönburg: This is going to be a pretty special experience, so you will likely want to check in as soon as possible and spend the remainder of your day on the premises / on the clifftop. Not sure how much time that leaves you beforehand for sightseeing, but it may be possible to fit in a cruise on this day prior to check-in. Cruise with KD, Boppard > Bingen 11:00 - 15:00 with bags - then hop a train to Oberwesel?

You will need a taxi/transfer to reach the castle... or if you arrive conveniently at Oberwesel station for the scheduled buses from Oberwesel station to the castle (15:42, 16:46, most days of the week) you can take the 8-minute bus ride to the castle stop.

I’d take an ICE or IC train from Amsterdam to Boppard ( actually the fast train will take you to Koblenz and then the local to Boppard, but you purchase the ticket to Boppard). You should be able to purchase it soon, if not already, depending on the actual date. The sooner you buy, the cheaper it will be.

... actually the fast train will take you to Koblenz...

This is no longer the case. Please have a look at the August schedules for A'dam > Koblenz. The ICE trains from A'dam will drop passengers heading to Koblenz or Boppard at Cologne Hbf because they leave the Rhine in Cologne and take the alternative high-speed route to Frankfurt. Passengers must then board a REGIONAL train in Cologne to reach Koblenz and eventually Boppard.

If you cruise from Boppard to Bingen you need to remember that's the upstream trip, and twice as long as going the other way. You need to use the regional trains between Boppard and Oberwesel, those are the only kind. You can easily buy those tickets the day you travel as they don't change price, and they're cheap. The same hold true if you take the train all the way to Bingen.

Remember that with the regional trains you don't have a booked seat, and the ticket is good for any train on the route during the day you buy it, so you can stop and get off in one town, get back on the train an hour later, and no problems.

If you cruise from Boppard to Bingen you need to remember that's the
upstream trip, and twice as long as going the other way. You need to
use the regional trains between Boppard and Oberwesel...

Moving yourselves and your bags from your Boppard digs to Auf Schönburg in Oberwesel complicates the logistics on this day if you hope to cruise on this day. The upstream cruise simplifies things. Cruising in the faster direction creates complications...

In the first place, taking the train only to Oberwesel will not get you to the right starting point for the recommended minimum cruise - which, in the downstream direction, is Bingen. If you drop bags at Auf Schönburg, you will be transitting 3 times on this day between the clifftop castle and the town itself down by the river:

https://www.weinhaus-weiler.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/DSC_2434_1920.jpg

Once you are back down at the Oberwesel train station, you would need to board another train to reach Bingen and get there in time for the 11:15 cruise. This cruise takes you in the "faster" direction (north/downstream,) with the 11:15 cruise, but you won't save any cruise time over the southbound Boppard > Bingen cruise... it still takes 4-4.5 hours to reach Boppard thanks to the necessary boat layover in St Goar. You'd be back in Boppard at 15:30, then board another train to Oberwesel and possibly get back to Oberwesel by 16:30 or 17:00. Then transfer back up to the castle on the clifftop after that. This is a lot of backtracking.

Now, you could leave your bags at your Boppard hotel that morning and take the train straight to Bingen... then fetch them after your boat drops you back in Boppard... but you may end up even later at Auf Schönburg.

Alternatively, you could start out an hour earlier that morning... take your bags with you on a train that morning (9:44-10:28) straight to Bingen, do the shorter & faster 11:15 cruise only as far as St Goar (13:15), then take a second train ride (13:56 - 14:01) to reach Oberwesel (then bus or taxi up to Auf Schönburg.) But alas, check-in time there isn't until 15:30.

The other downstream options from Bingen are at 14:30 and 16:30, but of course with these, you will end up at the entrance door to Auf Schönburg quite a bit later in the day, whether you cruise to Boppard or only to St. Goar.

It might be possible to fit in a cruise on another day if you have limited expectations for sightseeing. A lot depends on your priorities. But if the cruise is a priority, and if cruising on this particular day makes the most sense, I would keep it as simple as possible... two basic moves... Cruise with bags to Bingen, train north to Oberwesel.

Jo, KGC wrote this:

"...the ticket is good for any train on the route during the day you buy it, so you can stop and get off in one town, get back on the train an hour later..."

I don't think KGC was implying that you can go back and forth on a given stretch of track all day long, like you can on a day ticket.

The context here, I think, is making a Boppard > Oberwesel stopover > Bingen trip in one direction for the purpose of boarding a cruise that returns north. And this is of course possible with a one-way DB ticket from Boppard > Bingen, which is likely what KGC had in mind. With a DB ticket, you can get off the train for whatever time you need in Oberwesel, then get back on and continue to Bingen later the same day. Regional-train-only tickets from DB are completely flexible in this way.

Of course, since the OP will have a VRM Guest Card, she can use it for the first part of her trip, Boppard > Oberwesel... so the additional train ticket she needs is for **Oberwesel > Bingen," which the Guest Card does not cover. This is also a DB ticket, and it's also time-flexible. for Oberwesel > Bacharach stopover > Bingen, one can stay as long as needed in Bacharach, hop back on and continue to Bingen at a later hour.

A single, one-way ticket is only valid for a certain amount of time,
going in only 1 direction. Once you buy it, you need to use it soon,
not 3 hours later.

This advice applies only to one-way tickets for journeys inside the transit authority zones - like the RMV for Frankfurt. When you have a one-way DB ticket, yes, it is one-way, but you can wait to use it 4 or more hours if you wish, and you can use it at any hour of the day, and you can break up your journey in any way you like as long as you are riding the regional trains in one direction on the specified route.

This is no longer the case. Please have a look at the August schedules for A'dam > Koblenz. The ICE trains from A'dam will drop passengers heading to Koblenz or Boppard at Cologne Hbf because they leave the Rhine in Cologne and take the alternative high-speed route to Frankfurt. Passengers must then board a REGIONAL train in Cologne to reach Koblenz and eventually Boppard.

There is still an ICE connection between Amsterdam and Koblenz every two hours. You have to change trains in Duisburg or Cologne, but I would still prefer this connection. Since the introduction of the Deutschlandticket, the regional trains between Cologne and Frankfurt have been so crowded during the holiday season that there is no guarantee that you will even be able to get on the train (this happened to me twice last summer). The journey from Cologne to Boppard by regional trains takes almost two hours, and under these circumstances, that can be two very unpleasant hours. Switching to first class is not a solution, because when second class is bursting at the seams, people simply storm into first class.

Indeed it's a bit of a trade-off to go with the ICE to Koblenz...

DB does not show these ICE to ICE connections by default because the whole journey ends up being longer than if you use the regional trains from Cologne. You have to specify ICE travel all the way to Koblenz in order to locate these longer trips with the ICE only options to Koblenz.

You might make this ICE to ICE connection, but ICE trains are only on time 50% of the time during peak travel periods, so who knows. And if you do miss the 2nd train, your seat reservation no longer applies.

Also, the ICE train doesn't stop in Boppard, so you have another required connection in Koblenz to the regional train in order to reach Boppard. So 3 trains instead of 2.

DB does not show these ICE to ICE connections by default because the whole journey ends up being longer than if you use the regional trains from Cologne. You have to specify ICE travel all the way to Koblenz in order to locate these longer trips with the ICE only options to Koblenz.

I'm not sure where you looked, but the DB website offers connections betweeen Amsterdam and Koblenz (where one has to switch to local trains) out of the box like the following for August 12, for example:

Amsterdam departure: 8:31 a.m. ICE 225
Duisburg arrival: 10:32
departure: 11:12 ICE 29
Koblenz arrival: 12:46

The connection using RE from Cologne is 44 min longer:
Amsterdam departure: 8:31 ICE 225
Cologne arrival: 11:11
departure: 11:56
Koblenz arrival: 1:30 p.m.

Similar departures from Amsterdam at 10:31 a.m., 12:38 p.m., 2:38 p.m., 4:38 p.m.

The ICE connection is always 30-40 minutes faster. And the transfer times are generous at 35-40 minutes.

Fritz: Aug 12, 8:31... You are correct that the 2-train ICE sequence appears with the default settings. Arrival in Boppard at 13:15.

I think my error resulted from my failure to return to the default settings after checking the travel schedule needed for regional trains (for possible travel with the QdL ticket) between Cologne and Boppard. This is why I had to force the stopover in Duisburg. Thanks for making me look twice.

And yes, the layover in Duisburg is generous.

Still... that journey adds a 2nd change of train (in Koblenz) so depending on the OP's preferences, the one-change option in Cologne to the regional train might still be advantageous... Besides changing trains just once, regional trains offer flexibility. It's not uncommon for visitors on this route to make a stopover in Cologne to tour the Cologne Cathedral (Germany's most-visited landmark, right next door to Cologne's main station.) And if they have ticketed Cologne > Boppard using Nahverkehr (regional trains), they will have a completely flexible schedule after arrival in Cologne. They can stay 1 hour, 2 hours, whatever length of time they wish, and hop on any regional train to Boppard whenever they are ready to leave. The ICE connection to Koblenz OTOH is train-specific and inflexible.

Thanks everyone. Russ what you suggested is exactly what we are hoping to accomplish… stop in Cologne to see the cathedral, have lunch, then take the regional train on to Boppard. Just to clarify, does that mean that I reserve tickets in advance from Amsterdam to Cologne, and then purchase regional tickets once we arrive in Cologne for the rest of our journey to Boppard? Fritz, your comment about the regional trains filling up is my concern.

"Just to clarify, does that mean that I reserve tickets in advance from Amsterdam to Cologne, and then purchase regional tickets once we arrive in Cologne for the rest of our journey to Boppard?"

No. You CAN purchase one ticket which covers both travel segments. That is the simplest way to do it.

From: Amsterdam Centraal
To: Boppard Hbf

Let's say you want to travel on 08/12 and leave at around 8:30 ICE from A'dam. You will see TWO itineraries with departures at the same time.... 8:31...

- ICE 225 + ICE 29 + RE2: Click on "details" to see the change of train in Duisburg Hbf. (This would put you on the ICE trains all the way to Koblenz. This itinerary will get you to Cologne, but it forces you to change trains before you reach Cologne in Duisburg to the ICE 29. AND, it will not permit a stopover period in Cologne since the 2nd ICE train to Koblenz is must be used at 11:12.)

- ICE 225 + RB26: Click on "details" to see the change of train at Köln Hbf. (which of course is Cologne.) Using the same train from A'dam, this itinerary takes you all the way from to Köln Hbf, with arrival at 11:11. The 2nd train on your schedule, the RB26, leaves at 11:56, but you are not required to ride this particular train. At 11:11, you can stow your bags in a locker and go about your business in Cologne for as long as you please, and when you are ready to continue your train trip to Boppard, just hop on any regional train that takes you there later that same day. There are RB trains at 12:56, 13:56, 14:56, etc. that will take you directly to Boppard. Or you can leave at :32 after the hour on the RE trains to Koblenz, then change trains in Koblenz to a subsequent regional train.

This second booking is of course the one I recommend. I do not at all doubt that the regional trains can get very busy, and regional trains do not allow for seat reservations. But you cannot "miss" your train this way... using the regional trains from Cologne onward gives you the flexibility to linger over a meal, to get lost, etc. without stressing over missing a train that can't be missed. And if you arrive early on the platform, you will probably find seats without too much trouble - the RB trains should not be packed to the gills when they arrive at Cologne's Hbf station because they were entirely empty one stop earlier (at Cologne Deutz station) before passengers boarded at that station. Also, passengers will be getting off in Bonn or at one of the other 6-7 stops your train makes prior to Bonn on its way south from Cologne Hbf. Those passengers will get up a minute or two before each stop, so if you are seatless or want to change seats, just move into one of those empty seats when they get up.

I don't know your exact date, desired travel time from A'dam, or what the prices will be. I mentioned the "Day ticket for Germany" for Cologne > Boppard only in the event that prices have climbed and it might be cheaper to go with two tickets. But I suspect that the saver fare prices for the whole route are still pretty reasonable at this point.

Please feel free to PM me if you want further assistance with ticketing or have questions.

I mentioned "lockers" but Cologne in fact has an automated luggage storage system.

https://www.seat61.com/stations/cologne-hauptbahnhof.htm#Left_luggage

Thank you everyone, you are all so helpful and I love this forum. Extra special thanks to Russ for knowing what I was asking even though I probably didn't articulate it correctly. Living in the U.S. does not give us much practice with train travel unfortunately and so I really appreciate the feedback. We're so excited for this trip.

Note: When you buy tickets at DB, seats on the ICE trains are not automatically included. You will need to reserve seats with an additional step and possibly pay a fee for these.