Transportation Clarification Frankfurt/Mainz/Bingen

I don't know how you found ½ hr trips between St Goar and Oberwesel and between Oberwesel and Bacharach on the Bahn website unless you used the KD docks endpoints and it included walking to the rail stations. I get 4 or 5 minutes, station to station, for either trip.

TransRegio is a private company running trains on German Rail tracks, on the German Rail schedule, and at German Rail fares. Just consider them DB trains.

The Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket, an all-day pass for regional trains in that state is, indeed, 24 euro for the first person, but if that is all the travel you will do in Rheinland-Pfalz, there is a cheaper way. If it is just you, a Bahn ticket from St. Goar to Mainz would only cost 19,90€ and allow you to make stops in Oberwesel and Bacharach. You could also buy a 4,10€ ticket to Bacharach in St. Goar, go to Bacharach with a stopover in Oberwesel, then purchase a RMV ticket in Bacharach to Rüsselsheim for 12,20€. You don't have to go all the way to Rüsselsheim; get off at Mainz Hbf.

Those trains do take 5 minutes each, departing from the regular, town-center train stations. However, if you choose a station name with "KD" after it, that indicates the boat dock and the schedules reflects walking time between station and dock. Try a clean start on the DB site.

Pages 462-3 of Rick's Germany book describe the Rhineland-Pfalz Ticket as a good value for a longer day, such as roundtrip between Bacharach on the Rhine and Burg Eltz on the Mosel River. You must have missed some punctuation in that sentence - it is one person for €24 and up to 4 additional people traveling together pay an additional €5/each.

"We arrive early in Frankfurt and have a hotel booked in Mainz."

2 persons, right?

The Rheinland-Palatinate ticket doesn't cover the trip from FRA aiport to Mainz Hbf. You will need a RMV ticket to reach Mainz (€4.90 ea.) bought at a ticket machine at FRA airport's Regionalbahnhof station.

"We will take the train from Mainz to Bingen to board the KD cruise to St. Goar. We plan on heading to Oberwesel and possibly Bacharach before heading back to Mainz."

Train trips: Mainz Hbf to Bingen Rhein Stadt + St. Goar - MainzHbf (with stops in Oberwesel and Bacharach by train)... All of this is covered by the Rheinland-Palatinate ticket. Buy at the station from a ticket machine. Be sure you don't use any of the IC, ICE or EC trains - only regional trains.

The DB itinerary page should yield all your trips. Click "only local transport" under "Connections" to make sure only the regional train options appear.

Greetings to all and thank you for the quick responses.

Yes, there are 2 of us. I think I have it straight now. I must have used the wrong station in the DB query because I tried it again and got the 5 minute trip.

The only remaining clarification I have is regarding the Rheinland-Palatinate pass. I understand I can’t use it for the Frankfurt-Mainz trip, thank you Russ for explaining that, but can I purchase it at the Frankfurt station so I’m all set for the day?

I’m sure after a day or 2 into our trip, these questions will seem silly but just want to start out on the right foot. I have a nervous husband! 😃

This covers only the first 2 days of our trip. I’m sure there will be plenty of questions forthcoming so again I appreciate your help. All of you have been just so generous with your time and responses.

You can buy a Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket out of Deutsche Bahn vending machines, but be careful. You have to specify the date of validity, otherwise it will be for the date of purchase. If it was me, I would just buy them out of the machine on the day I needed them. Takes about 30 seconds. If you buy them at a ticket window, they cost 2 EUR more. Write both your names on the back of the ticket in ink.

If you intent to use them on the day you arrive at Frankfurt, then yes you can. But as I said, from the Deutsche Bahn machine. I believe you have to buy the ticket to Mainz from an RMV machine, but I could be wrong on that one.

As Sam indicates you can buy the R-P ticket at the FRA airport station. If you are lucky there will not be a line-up at the ticket machines there. It can get very crowded. You may find the ticket machines fussy about the kinds of bills they will accept. Your bank card may give you trouble. The machines have an English-language option but the purchase process may not be very transparent to you at all for either the RMV or the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket. I've used ticket machines for decades in Germany and normally things go quite well but between waiting in line and playing with my bank cards and hunting down change and the proper bills it took closer to 30 minutes than 30 seconds for me to purchase two RMV tickets two months ago! So I would not expect smooth sailing there necessarily. Take some deep breaths and take your time.

Thanks to everyone for all your advice. And thanks Russ for mentioning the hold up with the tickets...we'll do an ATM withdrawal prior to getting the tickets in the hope that paying with cash may help expedite the process. I feel pretty confident about this leg of our trip...

Warning...this won't be the last you will hear from me!

Make sure you have a variety of COINS as well when you use the ticket machines!

Will do...and thanks!