Travel plans with Trains and Europe, my eyes are starting to glaze over.

Where are you getting the Mannheim to Caen info ??? Check bahn.de for any trip that starts or ends in Germany. There are trips that take 6-7 hours. Sme programs have insane routings. I once had a London to Dublin trip that suggested going via Helsinki !

If I were doing the Mannheim to Caen route, I would break it up but you don't have to.

Take the TGV or ICE train Mannheim to Paris Est.

To get to the train station in Paris that goes to Caen, you need to get to Gare St Lazare. You have two choices here barring a taxi.

Catch the bus # 26 at Gare du Nord which goes to Gare St Lazare, or take the Metro at Est to St Lazare.

With luggage in tow I much prefer the bus ,if possible , over taking the Metro and getting caught in that squeeze.

The other solution is to spend the night in Paris near Nord or Est (I know far more about the hotels in Nord than Est). Take the bus or the Metro the next morning Gare St Lazare for the train to Caen.

Both legs are pretty straight-forward, depending on how you want to do this.

First of all, just cool your jets, take some deep breaths and relax. Sounds like this is your first kick at the cat when it comes to European travel.

Second, spend some time reading up on European trains on the Man in Seat 61 website https://www.seat61.com/ It's about THE best site to learn all the ins and outs about how the various trains run, tickets, passes, etc. There is also a section on trains and passes on this website under Travel Tips : https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains

Have a firm itinerary so you know exactly which towns you will be in and where you will go next. By and large, you buy a ticket from the city you will be in to the city you want to go to. It may involve changes of trains, or it may be direct. The website of the train company should spell out what those changes involve. Usually you would buy the ticket from the train company of the country you are starting out in, even if your destination is a different country. There are exceptions (Switzerland/Italy is one) but if you run into that situation, someone here can help you out.

There is not a one size fits all train line or pass. And Eurail passes are no longer the bargain they once were, since some lines limit the number of passes per train, and some require seat reservations whose fees are not included with the Eurail pass. You need to compare the cost of that vs the cost of individual tickets.

Once you've soaked up the information in the seat 61 website, come on back with any specific questions you have.

Bacharach is about 10 min. on the train from St. Goar. What kind of Rhein castle tour are you doing here?
If you want to see all the castles, train down to Bingen and take the ship to St. Goar. Then you see all the castles. If you are doing this ship ride from Bacharach to St. Goar as recommended by Rick, you will only see a couple of castles and miss 90% of the rest. This is one of his less helpful tips in his guide book.

To add my 2c worth:
The biggest mistakes people from overseas make when planning train travel in Europe are i my opinion:

1) Trying to book to early. Trains are not like planes. In many cases (like in Spain) tickets only go on sale a few weeks in advance. If you try to look up train times to far in advance you run in to weird stuff, as the computer will mindlessly find a route for you, even if that involves sending you via London in a Germany - France trip...

When planning trips that are far in the future, just pick a date in next week. Pick a same day of the week as your planned travel date. This will give you an idea of wether getting from A to B by train is actually practical. Train schedules do not as a rule change a lot over time.

Trains are used by normal people, going about their normal daily business. That they are convenient to tourists as well is just a nice bonus. And just like you do not plan grocery store runs months in advance Europeans do not plan train trips months in advance either...

2) Overthinking things. Trains are not planes. Traveling by train is not like travelling on an airline. Most trains are just mass transit. In many places taking a train is as trivial as taking a subway in New York. Advance planning is only needed on longer trips. Amsterdam to Rotterdam? Just go to the station, tap your CC and get on the next train. Amsterdam to Paris? Book in advance to get a discount.

3) The X-Y problem. To often I see people do things like book a ticket from Paris to Zurich and then ask how to get from Zurich to Interlaken. But they are asking the wrong question. Just ask how to get from Paris to Interlaken. Railways can take care of you end-to end. You can book a trip from any station in Germany to any station in Italy, if you know how, and let the system figure the best route out for you...

4) Booking via odd third parties. Book as much as possible via the railway operating the train. You can use the Europe-wide timetable that DB has on its website to plan trips. You can then look up under the train details who is actually operating the train. Book the trip with that. It is usually possible to book trips involving multiple operators, so a good place to start is indeed the operator of the first train you will board.

Trainline however is useful for European trips (avoid the UK version though).. Especially if travelling across the Latin/Germanic Europe divide. Avoid Rail Ninja at all costs. Those are scammers.

5) Worrying to much about connections. Short connections are common, and are no big deal. In Switzerland you will be offered trips with connections as short as 2 minutes. When the official train planner offers you a connection, you can assume it is possible. And if you miss a connection you just take the next train. Sometimes you need to exchange your ticket to do that, but often even that is not needed. Just talk to the on board staff on a train if you have any doubts on what to do.

However I do advise not to plan to arrive somewhere on the last train of the day. Start early.

I use the Senior Eurail Global Pass, the 10 or 15 day/2 months, also for zipping back and forth, day or night.

With your itinerary getting the Eurail Pass would not be my advice, certainly not for 5 travel days.

So much of your travel (12 days Munich and surrounding areas) is on regional and city transport in Germany that if it is still offered, the Deutschland Ticket , or “D” ticket is likely to be your best choice for everything but high speed trains in Germany. It costs 49 euros and covers everything for one calendar month except high speed trains.

Caen sticks out like a sore thumb on this itinerary, but I see from your other post that it is an important part of your trip. But your are going from a location on the Rhine River to Caen on the other side of Paris, then through Paris again to go all the way to Zermatt.

Is Amsterdam an important destination, or just your entry point to Europe? A more logical route would be to fly into Paris, do Caen and Normandy, then travel to Cologne (or Amsterdam) and work your way down to Mannheim, then to Zermatt. Is Mannheim important? Not much of tourist interest in that city.

I'd agree for all that German time a 49€ Ticket would be a great investment. It gets everything, buses, trams, trains, the lot - for a whole calendar month (will you be be crossing months during the Germany bit? ) - on everything EXCEPT the high speed and long distance trains. Everything Regional.

Can't beat the price for as many days as you will be there.

The Germany ticket cost may increase before your trip, but it still seems like a smart buy for you.

I agree that things would be smoother--and cheaper--if you tweaked the itinerary. That detour to Caen is really unfortunate. I'd want to make Caen the first or last stop, either beginning or ending the trip in Paris. I don't suppose your airline ticket is changeable? Are you flying into Amsterdam to visit the city, or just because you got a great airfare?

How many days are you allowing this Mannheim to Caen route? Is visiting Caen a day trip from Paris (that can be done too, ), it all depends on how you time it.

Getting from Mannheim to Caen is quite doable in one day, if you mind arriving there in the evening. assuming you intend on staying there a couple of nights. Those visits I did in Caen were done as day trips from Paris.

I want to thank everyone for your replies, help and information. I was hoping to reply to each of you individually, but it is not letting me do this, so I will try this in one reply.
1st I figured out the Eurail issue of sending me to London and as someone pointed out, checking train schedule to far in the future makes the computer do strange things. I checked for January and it is a normal 6-7 hour trip. Thank you.

2nd, Normandy is out of the way, but with the 80th anniversary next year and due to my Grandfather (that gave me a love for history) being there 80 years ago, it has been on my wish list for many decades and is one of my main driving forces for this trip.

3rd, Amsterdam gave a combination of the least expensive 1st class flights and gave me a relatively short train trip to Cologne where I finally get to meet some relatives that I met through genealogy 2 decades ago and we will be going to the place that my family lived for hundreds of years dating back to the early 1400's and most likely longer.
Of course there is the option of changing to another entry location, but the purchase price for the tickets are already close to double what I paid and will be more than double for other locations. By the I start the trip, the ticket price will be mid to upper $9k, almost 4x what I paid, so changing will not be an option for me.

4th, Not really my first trip to Europe, but close to it and the train travel is most certainly a brand new thing for me and I am actually looking forward to seeing Europe through the window of the trains. I was last in Munich in 2008 when I won a trip there at a local Oktoberfest in Puyallup, Washington and while there we just used the subway.

I am in the process of booking hotels and part of the getting the times close includes getting an idea of train travel times. My plan from the beginning has been to book a hotel for a few (3-5) days, see the sights and move to the next location. Due to the fact that my friend came up with 13 museums and such that he wanted to see, that will involve several 1 night hotel stays, when we leave Amsterdam he will be heading to Hamburg and I will be going to Cologne. While he is bouncing around Northern Germany, I will spend a few days in Cologne, then a short train ride to St. Goar and now, due to a recommendation here, instead of Bacharach I will be taking the boat to Bingen.
My friend will meet me in Mannheim where we will get a hotel and rental car and drive to the Technic museums in Speyer and Sinsheim, drive back to the Mannheim hotel and drop off the rental car and catch the train to Caen.

Question about Glacier Express. I am wondering about the wisdom in taking the long train ride down to Zermatt and then taking the Glacier Express in May. If the mountains are socked in with clouds for the train ride, well, that would suck. Living most of my life near Mt Rainier I realize that there are no guarantees about weather and visibility, but I am guessing that we would be very lucky if we were not socked in with clouds that time of year.
I am guessing that adding a couple more days to Bayeux trip and then taking the train to Salzberg and spending 3 days there before going to Munich might be less of a gamble, will cost less and will be less stress.

5th, Considering cost, passes, and least likely to miss transfers, If you were to make the choice between Eurail or DB for this trip, which would you choose for your mode of transportation?
We will most likely be traveling 1st class on the trains if that makes a difference and I would prefer High Speed trains for as much of the trip as possible.

6th, Most of our trip is in May, so the D Ticket for Munich sounds like a great idea, but it is looking like they can be a hassle to get for someone that is not living in Europe.

Thanks again for your help

Getting a d ticket is not a hassle. The hassle comes when people post 25 different sets of directions on how to get one😀. I can guide you in just a few steps! Someone will chime in with different ways-it always happens-just follow one set and don’t get distracted.

It would serve for many of your trips throughout Germany. You should stop and determine how many high speed trains you will be on and how many regional trains you will be on. It covers, buses, trams, etc.

Directions:
1. Add the MVV app to your phone (green with circles on it)
2. Sign up for an account
3. The month prior to your trip start and pay for a subscription for the month you have chosen,
4. Receive the acknowledgment email which also includes a link to cancel your subscription. Wait 5 minutes and use link to cancel subscription.
5. You will have a D ticket for the month you subscribed for.

Thanks for clarifying - that really helps.

It all starts to make sense and hang together now.

5th, Considering cost, passes, and least likely to miss transfers, If you were to make the choice between Eurail or DB for this trip, which would you choose for your mode of transportation?

Eurail is not a mode of transportation - they don't run any trains and they don't have any rail or staff on the trains. All they are is a travel agent who only sells train passes and some train tickets, usually at rack rate or higher.

DB runs all the trains, even the international ones, within Germany, controlling the rails and directly or indirectly the train crew, regardless where you got your ticket or pass.

They are the mode of transportation (including the small privatized bits), and they provide the definitive schedule (and one for most of Europe even if they don't run those trains).

My choice - DB, for the amount of high speed journeys you plan, and a D ticket.

Thank you Carrol and Nigel you both have made 2 of my concerns very easy to understand.

Carrol, I will get MVV app on my phone.

Nigel, thank you for explaining DB and Eurail. I now fully understand, what a relief.
So as I get closer to my travel date I will compare the DB ticket prices to what the Eurail pass would cost me.

The more I think about this trip, I believe that it may not be worth the trouble of doing the trip from Caen to Zermatt and the Glacier Express and just add a few days to the stay in Bayeux and go from Caen to Munich. This will give more time to relax and take away the chance of disappointment caused by bad weather if the mountains are socked in by clouds, not to mention a couple single nights in Switzerland and packing luggage around.

I want to apologize for some confusion that I may have caused by the trip from Mannheim to Caen. I listed Caen instead of Bayeux because I will be picking up and dropping off the rental car in Caen. We will be staying in Bayeux.

Thanks again for all of your help, it has relieved some concerns that I have had.

I will be spending 12 days in Munich and surrounding area
(Neuschwanstein, Dachau, Salzburg, Eagles Nest, Salt mines, BMW etc.)
and will be using Trains, Subways and possibly some Busses. What type
of pass will work best and save me money for the different modes of
transportation in and around Munich?

In Munich: Dachau and BMW are within the MVV (Munich metro district), and there are tickets (for which I won't go into here) for travel in Munich.

Around Munich: Your other venues, Salzburg, Füssen, Berchtesgaden are outside Munich but within Bavaria (Salzburg Hbf is a "border station" for German Rail, and included for Bavarian travel). A Bayern-Ticket is the best option for travel to these venues.

OK, flying into Amsterdam in those circumstances is very reasonable. But there is a slight change to consider.

Take the Eurostar from Amsterdam to Paris (a 3 1/2 hour train), then Paris to Caen. Rent a car there for Normandy. The train from Paris to Caen is a regional train and does not need to be booked in advance. Then back to Paris and spend a little time there. Then take the Eurostar back to Cologne (a 4 hour train).

Everyone says to go to Bingen and travel down river (north) to another location. This is only because the down river trip with the current is faster than against the current. But if the purpose is to see the castles, up river is just as good and ies you more time to see the castles as they go by slower. What is the difference between a 4 hour boat ride or a 3 hour boat ride? south is your general direction of travel. That said, take a train from Cologne to Boppard and spend the night, then take a direct boat at 11 am (per the 2023 schedule) to Bingen, arriving at 3 pm, then train to Mannheim. BTW, the train from Cologne to Boppard and Bingen to Mannheim can be done with the Deutschland Ticket with no loss of time.

You can get an EC train direct from Mannheim to Visp where you change to the narrow gauge line to Zermatt. If I could tell you what the weather would be like on a specific day in May in the Alps, I would be a billionaire and fly to Europe in my private jet. If yiu want to do it, plan it and hope for the best.

You can get a Swiss Travel Pass for your time in Switzerland. You will get credit on the train from Mannheim when you buy the ticket.

You can get from Lindau, just across the border in Germany to Munich using the Deutschland ticket. And Lindau would make a nice stopover if you like.

What "salt mines" are you referring to? Halstatt? You can buy Austrian train tickets out of pocket.

Are flying home from Munich? With a connection in Amsterdam with 1st class?

Thank you Lee and Sam,
The time with the cousins in Cologne has to be Friday through Sunday or Monday due to planned trip for them. I was definitely kicking around the idea of Amsterdam to Caen, but it just wasn't going to work.

From Munich we fly directly to Detroit and then Seattle. I would have preferred Munich to Amsterdam and then Seattle but for some reason they feel that is worth a lot more $$$ and I have heard that many flights from Europe to Europe can be limited for carry on space. I will have no checked baggage, unless I find some things in Munich that I just can't live without and it merits the purchase of a suitcase.

The Zermatt - St Moritz - Munich trip would be rushed, overnight hotel stays and a lot of carrying baggage around that won't make for a leisurely trip, so maybe it would be best to tie that into a possible future Italy trip.

Checking train schedule from Caen to Munich works out perfectly for our Hotel Check in time.

Thank you so much for all the help and information everyone has given, I really appreciate it all.

Now I need to figure out cell phones in Europe. My verizon plan will be limited especially with the few short hours it would give to talk to my wife back home.
I have been thinking about buying a SIM Card for an old iPhone 6, but I am having doubts how well that will work out.

I use T-Mobil, so i don't have any communication problems. Have you looked at an upgrade of your Verizon service, at least on a temporary basis?

Back to your trip, I will only stand by my advice on your Rhine journey. You can take a regional train departing Cologne at 7:56 am and arriving Boppard at 9:49 am. Walk to the K-D dock and take the 11:00 am boat, arriving at 3:00 pm. walk 10 minutes to Bingen Stadt station and get a regional train to Mainz departing at 3:27 pm, arriving Mainz at 3:55 pm connecting to a regional train to Mannheim departing at 4:17 pm, arriving Mannheim at 5:15 pm. These are the schedules currently, so check again in the spring to insure they are still valid.

If you have a D ticket, you will not need the tickets Lee described. Don’t over purchase.

The question is, will they still have D Tickets next year? The D Ticket was created last year (I think I remember it was 9€ last year) to get people back to riding trains after Covid.

I don't expect the D Ticket to last forever. The Bavarian ticket (Bayern-Ticket), on the other hand, has been around, in some form or other, for about (?) twenty years, and will most likely be around next year.

The first "regional pass" was the "Schönes Wochenende" (beautiful weekend) ticket. I know I used one in 2002. It was for all of Germany, like today's QdLT, except only usable on weekend days and only valid for up to 5 people for the same price. Then, to fill in the time gap, Bavaria came out with their own pass, valid on week days (after 9AM), but just in Bavaria. Other Länder (states) soon followed suit.

And Eurail passes are no longer the bargain they once were, since some
lines limit the number of passes per train, and some require seat
reservations whose fees are not included with the Eurail pass.

In 1988, I bought a German Rail pass for a two week trip in Germany. It was, as I remember, $160 (from DER) and good for all German trains in 2nd class for 16 days. It was very worth the price; used it for 13 days ($12/day).

My next time in Germany (2000), I bought another GRP, a Flexi-pass, from Rick, this time about the same price, $160, but for only 5 days. I used it for my longest 5 days of travel on faster trains and bought less expensive regional tickets for short distances. When I got home I looked up on the Bahn website the walk-up ticket prices for the trains I had actually used, and calculated that I had just about broken even with the pass.

Since 2000, I've made ten more trips to Germany, and for every trip I've compared the price of a pass to what I actually paid for tickets using Saver Fares for long distance trains and regional passes for shorter distances. In every case, a rail pass has not come even close to being competitive to what I actually paid. (And, by the way, neither has renting a car.)

BTW, in Germany, a rail pass is valid on any train, even the ICEs. Seat reservations are optional and a nominal 4,50€ (as I remember). In a few other countries (Italy and France, as well as on Thalys) high speed trains are considered "too good" for rail pass holders and are only available for those travelers if they pay a surcharge. Since tickets on these trains are only available with a seat reservation, you get a seat reservation along with paying the surcharge for the ticket, hence they call the surcharge a "passholder reservation fee", but these surcharges are significantly higher than the seat reservation fee on German trains.

To make matters worse, the rail lines limit the number of pass holder reservations available on each train. You could be required to wait for days to use your pass, even with the extra surcharge. I remember years ago, someone posting on this website who was "trapped" in Brussels. They wanted to go to Amsterdam, but all of the pass holder reservations were booked for days. Their only options were to buy a full fare ticket on Thalys (even though the had a rail pass) or to take significantly slower local trains with many changes.

Thank you to everyone that has posted their advice and knowledge, I really appreciate all of your help.

Cell Phone
I have Verizon and they offer a 30 day International upgrade that allows around 4 hours total talk time to the USA from Europe or vise versa for $100. Certainly will not be much help in keeping in contact with my wife.

I have been checking out T-Mobile, because their plans, especially International are very good.

The problem where I live is that cellphone reception is really spotty here. 1 carrier may work good at a home and none of the other carriers will work there and yet a few hundred feet away the carrier that works can be completely different. For me, Verizon originally worked and no other carrier that friends and contractors used would work at all, then 4-5 years ago Verizon signal started getting weaker and weaker to the point that they finally gave me an antenna that gives Verizon phones 4 bars, but it doesn't seem to work for any other brand.
If T-Mobile would give me a free antenna if their signal would not work at my home, it would be worth switching.

I have been considering buying a SIM card for an old iPhone while in Europe, but I don't know if they will work for an iPhone 6.

As far as the different train passes go, it sounds like I may want to see what is available next year before making my decision.

After talking to my friend and considering the mad rush and high cost of keeping Switzerland and Glacier Express on our list, we have decided to drop it and add more time in Normandy, giving us 6 full days with a fully furnished 3 bedroom 2 bath house with great reviews and rating in the 9's, southwest of Bayeux. minutes from the beaches and many museums and sites for a great price, much less than Amsterdam and Munich prices for a hotel room. Time to start making the rest of this vacation a relaxing vacation.

RENTAL CARS IN CAEN?
When we get to the train station in Caen, we will need to rent a car.

Any advice on which company to use, that is walking distance from the train station, is reputable and reasonably priced?
I have read that it is wise to get the extra 0 fault insurance because the cost of any damage, my fault or not can get very expensive. I have checked with my Insurance Company and I'm not covered in Europe.

Thanks again for all of your help

I haven't rented a car anywhere in Europe but recall reading here that many French rental-car agencies close for lunch and aren't open Saturday afternoon or Sunday. Be careful about scheduling your time in Bayeux to be sure you have will have access to a car when you need it. It's a short train trip from Bayeux back to Caen, and there's probably about a day's worth of sightseeing you can do on foot in Bayeux (the museum alone is probably a 2-3 hour affair), so you could perhaps hop back down to Caen on your second day in Bayeux and get the car then.

If you aren't an expert on the Normandy invasion, I recommend starting your exploration of the invasion sites with at least a one-day small group tour. The driver/guide will provide much useful background information and move your around very efficiently. I struggle to imagine how the typical, non-expert visitor could use his or her time productively by simply driving around the area, unless the desire was only to visit large, easy-to-find, well-signed things like museums and cemeteries.

A less-frequently-mentioned WWII-related sight in Normandy is the Falaise Memorial-Civilians at War, which has a different focus from the other museums I visited. In addition to covering civilian life during the war (rationing, etc.), it delves into the activities of the Resistance. https://www.memorial-falaise.com/. For the benefit of others: It's possible to reach Falaise from Caen by public bus. Buses don't run frequently, but it might be possible to day trip to Falaise from Bayeux by starting with a train from Bayeux to Caen.

Thank you acraven,
I'm sorry about the late reply, the past couple weeks have been really busy for me and I have been out of town.

I want to thank you for help and information.

We will be renting a house 4 or 5 miles from Bayeux, so for us it will work best for us to rent the car when we get to Caen.

I have been looking for a group mini van tour for our first full day in Normandy and have even reached out to one, but they no longer offer a group mini van tour because of Covid and a private mini van tour is expensive for just 2 people.
I will keep checking around.

Thanks again
Ken

The question is, will they still have D Tickets next year? The D
Ticket was created last year (I think I remember it was 9€ last year)
to get people back to riding trains after Covid.

What? No, this is incorrect, and the Deutschlandticket will assuredly still be around next spring, although it may get more expensive in the future. There are already planned price rises to keep up with inflation, but the terms can also be renegotiated at specific points--I think the first planned one is in 2025, but I am sure they have a way to do it sooner if they need.

The programme has nothing to do with Covid--it was developed as a way of relieving high prices in the first summer of the Ukraine war. And already more than 11 million people (in a country of 84 million) subscribe. It will not simply disappear quickly, althought the price is sure to rise. It has quite reshaped transportation politics in Germany.

I have been checking out T-Mobile, because their plans, especially International are very good. The problem where I live is that cellphone reception is really spotty here. 1 carrier may work good at a home and none of the other carriers will work there and yet a few hundred feet away the carrier that works can be completely different. For me, Verizon originally worked and no other carrier that friends and contractors used would work at all, then 4-5 years ago Verizon signal started getting weaker and weaker to the point that they finally gave me an antenna that gives Verizon phones 4 bars, but it doesn't seem to work for any other brand.

Ken, you might want to consider getting an eSIM from T-Mobile to use in the states so you can check coverage. T-Mobile offers this for one month periods, and it's a really good way to see how the coverage works. You can find more information about it here. https://www.t-mobile.com/support/plans-features/t-mobile-esim-app

FWIW, I live in a rural area with crappy cell coverage and T-Mobile has worked as well as Verizon did, which for the most part is pretty well. And as you mentioned, T-Mobile has that wonderful and free international plan. I used it in Scotland this year for 3 weeks and it was great!. I was charged a total of $1.20+ for 2 phones I made. Definitely was worth the change!