Frankfurt Airport to Bacharach

The 1-way fare is 10.50 each. The local transit authority, RMV, sells this ticket. Buy your ticket at the airport Regionalbahnhof station from a RMV ticket machine. Trains depart from this station. (A second station at FRA, the Fernbahnhof, sends off fast trains to more distant cities.) Here's the webpage for RMV itineraries: http://www.rmv.de/en/ You'll see that there are trains all day long that will get you to Bacharach, normally with a change of train in Mainz or Bingen. Use this station name for your starting point: Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Regionalbahnhof

I only buy tickets in advance when there is a price advantage so to do. Here there is not. There is also no risk to buying a ticket in advance if you buy one for a regional train because they are open tickets, usable on any regional train. It doesn't take much time to buy the ticket from an automat, but if you can't figure out the automat, there is no price disadvantage to buying it from a ticket counter.

Vincent, As the others have mentioned, it's very easy to buy rail tickets when you arrive in Frankfurt. It's a Regional train and there are frequent departures. Some have a change at Bingen, and Lee can provide information on the "quirks" of the station there. The trip to Bacharach is about an hour (I went in the other direction last year). Note that there are two stations at Frankfurt airport, so it's important to use the correct one. The station in Bacharach is not staffed, so when you arrive there it will probably seem deserted (although there is some kind of staffed "dispatch office" or something at one end of the station). The only option for buying tickets there is a Kiosk. Which Hotel are you staying in? Happy travels!

Thanks everyone. If we don't buy a ticket in advance, do you think that there is a chance the trains will be sold out due to it being a Saturday in August? I assume it won't be an issue but thought I'd ask. We are staying at the Hotel Zur Post. I wanted to stay at the Malerwinkel to be away from train noise but it was completely booked when I inquired back in late March. Hotel Zur Post seems to get good reviews on Tripadvisor so hopefully it will be a good place.

The fastest route from FRA to Bacharach is showing on the German Rail schedule as all regional trains (S/RE/MRB). For sure Mainz to Bacharach is only by regional trains. In Germany, regional trains do not have reservations. If the train fills up, you might have to stand, but you can get on. In ten years the only times (2) I've seen SRO regional trains were afternoon rush hour. The only leg you could even reserve is FRA-Mainz, and then you would have to walk the extra distance out to the Fernbahnhof to catch an IC for the 20 min trip to Mainz. There are about three trains/hr (2 S and 1 RE) between the FRA Regionalbf and Mainz. Only MRB stop at Bacharach and there is one of those every hour. Unless it is something unusual, like "Flames over the Rhein" those trains won't all be full.

Even if that train is very full it can't sell out as the tickets are not related to specific trains. You will probably get a seat but the worst that could happen is that you can stand for some or all of the journey (very unlikely).