train vs rental car

Frankfurt Airport to Wurzburg is 90 minute journey via direct trains every 30 minutes or so. To St Goar it's a three hour journey with one change..departures every hour. When traveling city to city in Europe it's usually cheaper and faster to go by train. You can check schedules at the German Rail site: http://www.bahn.de

If you book early enough, you can purchase cheaper tickets via the website which are non-refundable/non-changeable.

I would also take the train. If I had a group of four or five, I might consider a car rental. As Michael said, booking early can save - be sure to give yourself time to catch your trains.

There are discount programs for the local trains that are great for groups of people. Lander tickets probably won't help because you are crossing between three Lands (states). Schoenes Wochende tickets might help depending on when you are traveling. You will need a local train to stop in St. Goar so consider it as an option.

Ah, but there is the new ticket available now in Germany, the "Through the whole country" ticket. First person pays 34 euro and each additional person pays 5 euro. Good 7 days a week, but weekdays only after 09:00 if I am not mistaken. Good on all the Regional trains, so not the ICE, fast trains. That is ok though, cause the ICE spend a lot of time in tunnels and you don't get the best scenery when going along the Rhine or along the Main river to Würzburg from Frankfurt.

I recently took 3 friends round-trip to Würzburg from Frankfurt and back. Cost? 51 euro. I purchased a local group ticket good from Frankfurt to Kahl for 23 euro and then the Bavaria Laender ticket for 28 euro. We got on the train at Frankfurt Main station at 08:30 and rode straight thru to Würzburg. The Frankfurt ticket was valid beginning at any time and by the time we got to the Bavarian border 40 km away, it was 09:00 and the Bavaria ticket was now valid. Took 1 hour 50 min. We were also able to use the buses and trams in Würzburg too, which was handy.

Got both tickets from 2 separate automats at the Frankfurt main station, but if I would have wanted to pay 2 euro more, could have gotten them at the counter. The ticket machines switch to English and are fairly easy to use.

Thanks everyone but my husband just informed me that we need to catch the train from the Frankfurt airport to Wurzburg and back the following day to downtown Frankfurt "not" St. Goar. Should we purchase ticket ahead of time on line before our trip or just wait until we arrive in Germany?

Thanks again.