Train from Paris to Koblenz- Tickets question

There is just my husband and I and we will travel on from MoselKern to Koblenz where we plan to take a KD cruise downt he Rhine. We realize this is the slow route but we will just sit back and enjoy the scenery and make a stop at St. Goar. I know there are other castles that some feel it is a must to see. We already will have seen several and two more up ahead so we feel this is enough...for us. So, we want to rent a car at some point along the Rhine and then carry on to the Romantic Road and visit Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau castles. before heading to Munich to fly home. If there is a point to point type ticket from Paris... I'll be doing that. We will be doing that in northern England and it is a great value and flexible times...i believe. Is this what you were referring to. I must admit the whole train travel is intimidating to me. Each time I read more, I learn more but I value your opinions as some of you have done it multiple times...us first time. I wish the Flex passes were still available but with France opting out I have to figure it out differently. Thanks

Since you are traveling (or can travel) on regional trains from Saarbrucken onward, just buy tickets as you need them. They are not that expensive, no need to throw money away on a pass.

How many are in your group? A Rheinland-Pfalz day ticket (Mon- Fri after 9 am) will cover up to 5 traveling together over the entire region for a day for 22 Euro 1st person + 4 Euro each additional person. So that covers Saarbrucken, Trier, Moselkern, and Koblenz, plus up to Bonn and west to Mainz, Mannheim, Worms, and Karlsruhe.
https://fahrkarten.bahn.de/privatkunde/pauschalpreisbuchen/pauschalpreis_start.post?angebotsgruppe=10&returnurl=http://www.bahn.de/regional/view/regionen/rhldpfalz/freizeit/rhldpfalz_ticket.shtml&scope=standalone&

I travelled that route in reverse( Koblenz to Paris ) and while I can't remember if we changed trains at any point, we definitely travelled on the same train from Saarbrucken to Paris. We had a Eurail Flexi Pass at the time( this was 2006) and had to make a reservation ( and associated fee) for that trip. I wouldn't bother with a pass, just purchase Point to Point tickets...

Shelley: You're on the right track (pardon the pun.) What are you up to after Moselkern? It's very unlikely that the cost of a Paris-Germany ticket will be greater than the cost of an additional day on whatever railpass you might or might not be contemplating for Germany. With no further information about your travels after Moselkern, it is impossible for anyone to advise you about tickets or passes after Moselkern. PARIS-SAARBRUECKEN-TRIER-MOSELKERN: You won't have a lot of sightseeing time in Trier, but some, and Trier station has lockers for your stuff. Tickets: The German Railways sells discounted advance-sale tickets for as little as 29€ for this route; whether you buy a ticket from Paris to Saarbrücken or Moselkern, THE PRICE IS THE SAME, so you might as well buy it to Moselkern and forget about the R-P ticket (good deal though it might generally be.) These tickets incur penalties for changes and are train-specific - but the deals are terrific. Buy them 92 days in advance (when they first go on sale) for the best deal. At the DB itinerary page, search for a Paris-Moselkern itinerary for the travel date you have in mind; schedule a stopover for whatever period of time you wish to allot for Trier. Then see what the price is: DB ITINERARY PAGE.

"...we will travel on from MoselKern to Koblenz where we plan to take a KD cruise downt he Rhine... make a stop at St. Goar... So, we want to rent a car at some point along the Rhine..." So if I understand correctly, your plan is to travel from Paris to Trier (sightseeing) then on to Moselkern, and spending one night there. Then on Day 2 you're (maybe?) seeing Burg Eltz (the only reason for staying in Moselkern as far as I know) then moving on by train to Koblenz, and cruising from there to some undetermined destination for overnight? Are you just "stopping" in St. Goar, or spending Night 2 there? If not there, where? Somewhere you can pick up a car? You can't get one in St. Goar. You will probably want the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket discussed above for Day 2 for train travel from Moselkern to Koblenz. There is nowhere to pick up a car in the small villages south of Koblenz. The core area of scenery on the Rhine continues south to Bingen. If you plan to cruise from north to south through the whole scenic part, then pick up a car the same day, you will need to get a train after the cruise to Bad Kreuznach or Mainz (about 20-30 minutes.) The same R-P pass that gets you to Koblenz will be good for this trip too. I would suggest Bad Kreuznach over Mainz (it's smaller.) Mannheim offers car pick-up at the train station - not sure about the others, where you might have to taxi or bus to the rental agency. The problem with starting a cruise in Koblenz is getting from the train station to the docks. You'll have to walk, bus or taxi with luggage along distance. Also, you'll have an hour of weak scenery on the boat as you leave town. It's smarter to catch another train in Koblenz south to Braubach (which takes 11 minutes and costs nothing extra with the R-P ticket) and start your cruise there.

The problem with starting a cruise in Koblenz is getting from the train station to the docks. You'll have to walk, bus or taxi with luggage along distance. Also, you'll have an hour of weak scenery on the boat as you leave town. It's smarter to catch another train in Koblenz south to Braubach (which takes 11 minutes and costs nothing extra with the R-P ticket) and start your cruise there. Thank you for this information Russ. I never thought of that.... Might just catch the train on to ? Not sure where right now. It depends how I figure out my days. As for staying over, depending on the time, we might stay in Trier one night and then go on and visit Burg Eltz. I had planned to stay there too because of the quiet and I want to explore more of the area, just walking around. A down day. But that was before I'd put Trier into the mix. I have to see how my days work out...onward.
I will look into the Mannheim car pick up. So, your thinking just do the KD cruise for part of the time from ? - ? I do want us to get off and explore St. Goar. After that not sure. Do you know if that R-P ticket also covers the cost of the KD cruise ticket? because i believe that the German Pass does cover that cost. Thanks for your help. Thanks everyone.

So, I did a search and found that we could leave Paris EST at 9:10am, get to Saarbrücken Hbf at 10:55. Gives a 9 min. transfer time and onto Trier at 11:04 Arriving Trier @ 12:11. What we wanted to do was get off for a few hours and wander around, see the sights and get back on for MoselKern, where we will spend the night. It will only give us 1 hour 12 min. to tour Trier ... as that's as long as the transfer is for. This I found on the DB Bahn site.
As far as the Rheinland-Platz tickets are you able to stop off or ? I guess I was hoping for a type of Hop on Hop off type ticket. This could be done if you have a German Rail Pass? I'm still confused. :(

"So, I did a search and found that we could leave Paris EST at 9:10am, get to Saarbrücken Hbf at 10:55. Gives a 9 min. transfer time and onto Trier at 11:04 Arriving Trier @ 12:11. What we wanted to do was get off for a few hours and wander around, see the sights and get back on for MoselKern, where we will spend the night. It will only give us 1 hour 12 min. to tour Trier ... as that's as long as the transfer is for." Shelley: If you arrive in Trier at 12:11, you have the whole afternoon to see Trier. There's no reason at all that you must board a Moselkern-bound train 1 hour and 12 min. later. I think you're just going through a learning curve at the DB website. There are trains leaving at 17:23, 18:23, and 19:23, for example - to find these trains, try this... Enter your start (Saarbrücken Hbf) station and your destination (Moselkern) then click on "Enter stopovers"; enter the town (Trier Hbf) you wish to stop in, and enter the amount of time (05:00 for 5 hours, for example) that you wish to stop over. Then hit search. THEN - when the itineraries pop up, click on the white-on-red arrow at the left of any itinerary; the train times and platforms will appear just below. DB itinerary page

"As far as the Rheinland-Platz tickets are you able to stop off or ?" Yes. It's a regional daypass (not a multi-day pass like the German Railpass.) Buy it at any station ticket machine in Germany. Hop off and back on all you like using the regional trains. You can travel as much as you like FOR ONE FULL DAY (AFTER 9 AM WEEKDAYS) WITHIN THE STATE OF RHEINLAND-PFALZ AND THE NEIGHBORING STATE OF SAARLAND (you are within this area once you cross the French/German border, and as you travel the Mosel and Rhine.) The area covered by the R-P ticket is on THIS MAP.

"So, your thinking just do the KD cruise for part of the time from ? - ? I do want us to get off and explore St. Goar." Here's a doable outline for your first two days: Let's say on Day 1 you leave Paris, stop over in Trier for several hours, and move on to Moselkern that evening. On Day 2, you leave bags at hotel and visit Burg Eltz in the morning (opens 9:30) - then get your bags and move on to the Rhine by train (R-P ticket, 26€ for two.) It would make sense to stay in St. Goar. If you catch the 12:42 train out of Moselkern, you'll be in St. Goar at 14:19. Check in and drop bags. Get the 15:19 train south to Bingen Rhein Stadt (15:56, no added cost with the R-P ticket!) Walk to the KD dock for the 16:30 northbound boat and cruise back to St. Goar (17:55, time for dinner.) Bingen-St. Goar is the most attractive segment of the river. Remember also that you already will have seen the area north of St. Goar since you traveled from Koblenz to St. Goar that morning by train (the train hugs the river bank the whole way.) "Do you know if that R-P ticket also covers the cost of the KD cruise ticket? because i believe that the German Pass does cover that cost." Cruise fare for Bingen to St. Goar is 18.70€ each; show your R-P ticket at the dock and you get a 20% discount, so figure 15€. Now MAYBE the German railpass is a good idea based on the REST of your travels within Germany. But a 5-day pass will likely cost around $500 for 2 adults, and I understood that you were planning to rent a car right after the Rhine anyway. So I don't think saving 15€ each on a cruise ticket justifies a railpass. If you decide NOT to rent a car, then a railpass might be an option - but p2p tickets and regional daypasses will probably be cheaper.

(It would make sense to stay in St. Goar. If you catch the 12:42 train out of Moselkern, you'll be in St. Goar at 14:19. Check in and drop bags. Get the 15:19 train south to Bingen Rhein Stadt (15:56, no added cost with the R-P ticket!) Walk to the KD dock for the 16:30 northbound boat and cruise back to St. Goar (17:55, time for dinner.) Bingen-St. Goar is the most attractive segment of the river. Remember also that you already will have seen the area north of St. Goar since you traveled from Koblenz to St. Goar that morning by train (the train hugs the river bank the whole way.) Thanks Russ. I'm inclined to think that instead of dropping bags and rushing off to catch another train. We might just want to drop bags, explore the castle and the area and then the next day head out on the 10.50 KD cruise. it gets to Bingen by 1:15. Perhaps we could do the car rental from there.
Thank you for all your advice. You have the info I've been needed. :)

That plan should work too. It's about an hour longer on the boat from St. Goar to Bingen than from Bingen to St. Goar (the current is strong) and you'll need to shuttle your luggage to the St. Goar dock and from the Bingen dock to the Bingen station, but the distances aren't too bad. Use the Bingen Rhein Stadt station (not HBF) and your walk to the train in Bingen should be a little shorter. You can use a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket for regional train travel from Bingen south to Mannheim. But buy that ticket in St. Goar before you get on the boat - that way you should get the 20% discount at the KD dock.