FRA to Trier by train

These will be Regional trains, so if you arrive on a weekend, you could buy a Happy Weekend ticket for 41 euro and this will be valid for both of you all day long. Just stay on the Regional trains. If it is a weekday, you could buy a Quer Durch Deutschland ticket, which will cost you 48 euro. The cheapest though, if it is just 2 people, is a Rhineland Pfalz Länder ticket for 25 euro, and 2 one way tickets to Mainz, which would cost you 8.20 euro total. A simple one way ticket would, cost you 37.50 euro, per person,bought on the day of travel. You can get all of these tickets at the Regional train station located in Terminal 1, on the lower level. The trains going to Mainz, leave from track 3. Some of the trains, might only need 1 change, while others will need more. No food or drink on Regional Trains. Buy some snacks and water at one of the grocery stores in Terminal 1, or one of the cafes / bakeries, like Kemp, Marche', Dean & Daves', etc. There is quite a large food court near the Regional Train station.

Thanks, Jo. I should have specified: the two of us land on a Friday morning. So no Happy Weekend for us! ;) Trains aren't much of a "thing" here, so let me make sure I'm understanding your advice: Our cheapest option from FRA to Trier is probably the Rhineland Pfalz Länder ticket for 25 euro. So, we just need to buy one ticket and it will cover both of us? Additionally, we will need to buy two one-way tickets to Mainz for around 8 euro total. So I guess the Rhineland Pfalz Länder ticket covers our journey from FRA to Koblenz, where we use our one-way tix to Mainz, and then the Rhineland Pfalz Länder ticket kicks in again for the journey from Mainz to Trier? Is there no way to use the Rhineland Pfalz Länder ticket to get from Koblenz to Trier, skipping Mainz? If we don't absolutely have to go through Mainz, then I'd just as soon skip it. And now I know to stock up on snacks at FRA. Thanks for that info!

I'd say you 1) need a good map of Germany, and 2) need to learn to use the German Rail (Bahn) website. With or without changes, you go from FRA to Mainz to Koblenz to Trier. Or, there are trains that go from FRA to Mainz to Bingen where you get another train to Koblenz. There are some regional trains that go directly from FRA to Koblenz, with no change in Mainz, and there are some routes that go through Saarbrücken to Trier. Most, if not all, connections will go through Mainz, whether you change trains there or not. Same with Bingen. Mainz, Bingen, Saarbrücken, Koblenz, and Trier are all in Rheinland-Pfalz, so you can use the RL-P Länder Ticket for travel beyond Mainz. The RL-P-Ticket will cover your travel from Mainz onward even if you don't change trains in Mainz. FRA and the track segment from there to Mainz are in Hessen, and you will need a local, RMV, ticket to Mainz. In 2008, I went from FRA to Treis-Karden, which is just before Cochem on the way up the Mosel to Trier. I bought the FRA to Mainz RMV ticket and the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket in the Regionalbahnhof at FRA, took the S-Bahn to Mainz, changed there to a Regional Express (RE) to Koblenz, and picked up another regional train up the Mosel in Koblenz. That day I had enough time between trains in Koblenz to catch a quick meal at one of the food counters in the station.

Thanks, Jo and Lee. I think I have a better handle on the route now. I'm still concerned about missing a connection though. Presumably the Laender ticket doesn't rely on specific times (i.e., can hop on a train at any time) so it's no big deal if we "miss" a connection. I appreciate your help.

You shouldn't have to worry about missing a connection, especially if you take one of the RE direct from FRA to Koblenz (no change in either Mainz or Bingen). That will give you about ½ an hour in Koblenz to change from Gleis (track) 1 to Gleis 9. From Gleis 1 there are stairs down into the Bahnhof building from which there is a tunnel out to the other platforms. There will be large number for the tracks hanging from the walls. At the bottom of the stairs from track 1 is a small kiosk where you can get some sandwiches, pastry, etc. Here, www.germantravel-info.com/bahnhöfe/koblenz.pdf, is the layout of the Koblenz Bahnhof. The direct REs run every other hour. If you miss one, there is an S-Bahn to Mainz 35 min later. There you catch an MRB on Gleis 11. Track 11 is not in the normal sequence of platforms, ie, out beyond 8, but shares the platform next to the station building with track 1. It's a stub track that ends against the station building on the side away from the end on which you came in. Just get off the S-Bahn and head to the left along the platform to the end of the building. You will have 5 min in Mainz and 21 min in Koblenz. The third alternative is the RE direct to Saarbrücken. It leaves on the alternate hour from the RE to Koblenz, but because of a longer route, only saves you half an hour getting to Trier.