Train in and around Germany

Yes it was a long and fascinating day. The boat is a floating bar-restaraunt. Met lots of interesting people, not the least of which was an elderly German gentleman. It turns out that any German Social Security recipient (OK, the German equivalent) can travel free on any train or boat in Germany on his or her birthday. So he was getting his. Rode down early from Dusseldorf and got on at Bingen, had a big lunch and an even bigger dinner (he did have to pay for that). Any way, very relaxing day, wonderful scenery, and we covered some miles.

There's a biking/rollerblading festival that attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the Rhine Valley on the last Sunday in June every year. It's called "Tal Total" and means that the main roads along the Rhine are closed to car traffic so that human power can take over. I've participated and found it quite a fun event. Villages are within easy biking distance of one another and refreshment stands and tented bistros with food, wine and beer are set up along the way; there are even bike repair stations and live music in some towns. It's good to know about this whether it sounds like fun or not. Avoid the place if not. There are extra trains to compensate for the ban on cars and the extra people and bikes. You will need to book well in advance if you're seeing the Rhine on that weekend. If you want to participate, inquire in advance about reserving a bike with your hotel or innkeeper (many have bikes on hand for guests, often at no charge.) See photos here: http://www.rheingau.de/veranstaltungen/feste/taltotal

Just a suggestion. Since you must fly into Munich. Munich - Rhine Valley - Paris - Brugge, Belgium - A'Dam - then head north.

That sounds like a great event, i will look into it further, thanks. Our plans are in the early stages so who knows. As for needing to start in Munich, it is an option, would you do otherwise? If not, would you train direct to Dusseldorf? visit Rothenberg ob der tauber on the way? Any thoughts on going place to place VS. Finding a base for several days and day tripping out? Where would the bases be in such a trip? What would be your stopping places if traveling strait through?

Here is a suggestion, we did this leg heading north. Intead of taking the train north from Franfurt area, take the K-D boat. Everyone must have a Rhine cruise on a visit to Germany, and this way you kill 2 birds with one stone. If you take the boat originating in Mainz in the morning, you have the whole boat to yourself until you get to Rudesheim, when the hordes of tourists get off their tour buses and load her up. Travel down through the Rhine Gorge and they get off at the same place, St Goar. You can get off at Koblenz and continue by train up the Mosel, or on to Dusseldorf, or stay on the boat to Cologne. Cologne is a good jumping off place to head for Belgium and Paris, being the terminus of the fast Thalys trains. Cologne is a great town to spend a day or two, although if your friend is from Dusseldorf, I understand these two are like Yankees and Red Sox. You can find discounts of 50% off K-D's list prices if you snoop around the internet.

Look at the schedule on the K-D site. There is only one boat per day that goes all of the way from Mainz to Köln. It leaves Mainz at 8:45 and gets to Köln at 20:00, and doesn't stop long enough en route to allow you to visit a town. I don't know about you, but I would not want to spend that much time on the boat.

That does sound like a very long day. We had planned to do the KD line to some extent though. Any thoughts on the train route? The Bayern tickets, Eurail passes? Great places too focus?

A couple of points about the Rhine Valley: The cruise is pleasant if the weather is dry and not too warm. But I would keep it to 2-3 hours in the most scenic part - most people board in Bingen because the Mainz-Bingen segment is relatively dull. Cruise north from there (much faster than cruising southbound) no further than Braubach (home of Marksburg Castle - www.marksburg.de If you plan to hop off in a village or two and look around then reboard to continue north, try to be on the first morning boat (9:30) since there aren't that many boats per day. LUGGAGE: There aren't any lockers in the stations between Bingen and Koblenz, making hopping off and looking around problematic. If you stay in one of the villages between (Bacharach, Oberwesel, St. Goar, Boppard, Braubach)- and you should if you want to see anything - it might be best to cruise with your luggage to the town where you're staying, drop bags at your hotel front desk, then continue your cruise or travel to some other villages by train.

I'm really trying to nail down a general framework, working out the details afterward. I'd be interested in How you would plan such a trip? What did you see that you just loved? What towns did you run across unexpectedly. how would you break up this amount of time? Have you done a similar trip? Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.

Get "Europe Through the Back Door" read the early chapter "Itinerary Skills". This is really an excellent primer on trip planning. It has three parts, "When To Go", "Itineray Skills", and "Prioritizing Your Time". Sounds like you already have the first one down. These are excellent tools, because as you say, "now I need to put it all together".

Thanks for the advice, I do have Rick's latest through the back door, as well as Amsterdam, Brussels, and Bruges. I need to get a copy of Germany, but haven't found it as an e-book yet. I guess through the back door seems too general to help me with a specific route, or what is important to see.

Aha! If you already have a wish list for Germany, pull up a railmap of Germany, and work your way south to north. The DeutscheBahn website can give you ideas of frequency of trains, how much time and even idea of cost. You might just take a gander at Rick's tours on this website. All the itinerary ifo is there, and though they use buses as a rule because it more cost effective for a group, you can get within 10 miles of anything on German trains, and closer if you'll take a bus (but info is a little harder to dig up).