Koln to Koblenz

I think your best bet is either the Schoenes Wochende pass (Beautiful Weekend) or the Laender pass (State/Province pass).

[note: "oe" "ae" are my keyboard's way of typing an o or a with two dots over them (umlaut). Don't be confused when you see the words spelled with umlauts in Germany]

The passes run, I think, 28 Euros this year. The Weekend pass is good for one weekend day of unlimited travel on the regional trains (locals) for up to five people. You can get on and off as much as you want during that day. You don't need to reserve in advance, just buy them at the station from the automated ticket machine (I think it's a couple extra Euros if you buy from a ticket window).

The only difference between the Weekend pass and the Laender pass is the Laender pass is good on weekdays after the morning rush hour is over (I think 9:30 a.m.) through midnight and only covers travel within one state/province.

It's a short trip so you really don't lose any time by taking a regional train. Once there you can still take advantage of your pass for transportation to nearby sites.

If I'm a little off on my description, Lee will give you better details than me.

First question, are you now thinking of just Köln to Koblenz, or are you still going on to Bacharach that day?

I know you are not planning this for a weekend (or at least, weren't) so the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket won't work, and your trip is spanning two Länder (Rheinland-Pfalz and Nordrhein-Westfalen) Their Länder tickets are €28 and €33 respectively, €61, total. But Länder tickets require use of regional trains and you could get regional tickets for €17,10 pP for the hourly RE between Köln and Koblenz. So, €34,20 is kind of our baseline for point-point. The RE takes 1h10m.

For €20-€23,50 per person, you could go by express train (ICE/IC/EC). That would only save about 15 min and cost €6-€13 more.

If you don't mind pinpointing your travel dates and times, you can get an advance-sale ticket (Sparpreis) for 29 Euros for two, one-way. This allows you to use the fast trains and cover the distance in under one hour.

Regular tickets for two are about 40 Euros on the fast trains, 34 Euros on the regional trains. You can buy them anytime. The happy weekend (Schönes Wochenende) ticket for the same regional trains, is more expensive, a good choice Sat or Sun only if you plan to travel further that day. The "Länder Ticket" + regular tickets for Cologne to Bonn (where the "Länder ticket" begins) would also require regional train use (roughly 15 minutes slower on this route) but will save you little or no money since you need ticket (28 Euros from a ticket machine) + a Cologne-Bonn ticket for two; it's only a choice if you plan further travel that day beyond Koblenz.

There are restrictions and fees involved for a change of itinerary on the Sparpreis tickets.

If you can't pinpoint your travel times, I'd go with regular tickets bought onsite from a DB ticket machine at the station on the RE (regional) trains for 34 Euros total.

Russ, you posted while I was out checking prices on the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg website.

Regional tickets from Köln to Bonn, which is outside Rheinland-Pfalz but a border station for the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket, are €6,60 pP (VRS PS 4), so using them and a €28 Rheinland-Pfalz-Tickets would be more (€41,20) than the €34,20 for point-point regional tickets. However, if you are going on to Bacharach that day, it would still be only €41,20, less than two €24,70 pP regional tickets from Köln to Bacharach.

As Russ pointed out, a prepurchased, online, Sparpreis ticket would be as low as €29, but considering the time and train restrictions, and that they are generally non-refundable, I'm not sure saving €5 would be worth it.

Brad, ae, oe, and ue are actually historically accurate and perfectly acceptable substitutes for ä, ö, and ü. Just omitting the umlauts, a, o, and u are not acceptable substitutes.

But Wendy, what are you trying to do? You were previously looking at a low Europa-Spezial fare from Amsterdam to Bacharach, but then they changed the times on the ICE from Amsterdam to Köln so you had only 2 minutes for the ICE/EC connection in Köln and they wouldn't sell you the E-S ticket with that tight a connection. Are you now trying to ticket this separately so you can try to make the 2 minute connection?

Hi Lee,
Well we are coming from Amsterdam and ending in Koblenz for 1 night then on to Bacharach for the following 2. Date of travel would be 9-19-10, I know I can get a point to point "Europa Special" type of ticket from Amsterdam and use the VIA route for a stop in Koln. The thing is I don't know how much time we want to spend in Koln since we never have been and I thought it would be nice if we wanted to stop somewhere else enroute to Koblenz. Two things we want to see for sure are the Cathedral and the Gestopo Museum.

Once we get to Koblenz we most likely won't be using the train to anywhere else. Just looking for the cheapest route.

Thanks for the help,
Wendy

Wendy, here is something you can try.

Use Amsterdam to Koblenz with a via in Köln. Put in some arbitrary time (4 hrs?) for the via in Köln. Then go into Means of Transport and click on "Advance selection". Deselect ICE, IC/EC, and D for the Köln to Koblenz route.

Now when you search, you can find a Europa-Spezial connection using an ICE from Amsterdam and an RE to Koblenz. There is a provision of the AGB (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen) of the Bahn, called Vor- und Nachlauf (lit. before and after running) that says that only the booked train(s) of the Bahn (ICE/IC/EC) must be used exactly as specified. Any train(s) of the Nahverkehr (S/RE/RB/IRE) can be used on the specified route(s) from midnight (AM) of the travel day until 10 AM the next morning. So, you could decide to leave Köln an hour early, or stay an extra two hours, and use that ticket for any RE to Koblenz.

I know that Sparpreis tickets work this way, because it was printed right on my ticket. I would assume the provision also applies to Europa-Spezial tickets. I'll have to check further. I noted that the lowest tier price for Amsterdam to Köln was €19, but the lowest tier price from Amsterdam to Koblenz was €29, so you might not be saving that much by doing it the way I suggest. However, when I checked availability for a day in July, both tickets were at €49, so maybe it doesn't matter.

Thanks Lee,

This is exactly what I was looking for. Have you done this before? We won't get in trouble doing this? (I am a real worrier)

Wendy

That section in the AGB seems to have been removed. However, I just checked with DB and they assured me that you must use the specified ICE from Amsterdam to Köln, but you can use any RE that day to Koblenz.

I've not done this before, but I have purchased online tickets (Sparpreis, then called Dauer-Spezial). This is a scan of my ticket.

Up at the top you can read,
"DB: Gilt nur in gebuchten Zügen an angegebenen Reisetagen.
Im NV(S/RB/RE/IRE) auf eingetr. Strecke vor/nach den geb. Zügen am 1. Tag u. Folgetag bis 10 Uhr."

My translation:
"DB: Valid only in the booked trains on the specified travel days.
In the Nahverkehr[regional trains](S/RB/RE/IRE) on entered routes before/after the booked trains on the first day and following day until 10 AM."

DB (German Rail) runs the express trains. The regional trains are called the Nahverkehr (near traffic) and are run by subsidiaries in each state. These discounted offers are really about the trains of DB. A Sparpreis or Europa-Special ticket must include a specified express train. The regional trains are just the method to get to the specified express train.

Added If you do have an RE specified from Köln to Koblenz, you have to take the specified route. That is, you can't go to Cochem and then to Koblenz on the ticket, nor can you go all the way to Bacharach using the same ticket.

Thank you Lee,

This helps alot. This information maybe useful for another leg of our journey.

Wendy

Wendy, I don't know if you've noticed, but if you book early enough, you can get €19 pP Europa-Special from Amsterdam to Köln, but Amsterdam to Koblenz is €29 pP, at least. The fare on an RE from Köln to Koblenz is €17,10. So, if you just book the Amsterdam to Köln route with the Europa-Spezial fare and buy the regional ticket to Koblenz separately in Köln, you'll only pay €7,10 more per person. If you're worried too much.

I looked at a date several month out, and on that date the lowest tier ES ticket still available were the same price whether to Koblenz (ICE/RE) or to Köln (ICE only). In that case, I would just book all the way to Koblenz, and if you can't use just any RE, having to buy a different RE P-P won't cost you anything extra.

If you do book Europa-Spezial, Amsterdam to Köln by ICE and Köln to Koblenz by RE, I would still suggest that you ask at the ticket counter in Köln if you can, indeed, take any RE to Koblenz with the ES ticket.