Roobidoo123

Four of us are arriving in September arriving at 730 am from the US. We want to take the KD to Cologne, where we will spend the night. What is the fastest way to get to a KD line departure on the Rhine from Frankfurt airport?

neckervd

Impossible to make a proposal without knowing your exact dates. Some boats run only on certain days of the week.
https://www.k-d.com/en/downloads/

Macross

Rent a car and drive or else take the train from the airport.

Macross

Wish oh wish for an edit button. If you rent a car from the airport, do get gas right before bringing back and bring the dang receipt if it is only for a euro or they will try and get ten euro out of you. It is a total scam. My husband went back out and put a euro in over flowing it and then they didn't want receipt.

dfourh

I would look at train schedules to Bacharach on https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml .

Bacharach is small and easy to negotiate, and also very pretty; it's an 8 minute walk from the train station to the KD ferry; if you have to wait any length of time for a ferry, it's a super spot to do so. There are direct trains that take an hour from Frankfurt Flughafen (airport), or you might wind up changing in Mainz.

Fussgaenger

"We want to take the KD to Cologne, where we will spend the night."

It is impossible to cruise that distance in one day.
What you need is a 1.5-hour cruise through the best part.

Do NOT go to Bacharach by train. That trip will bypass half of the most scenic cruise segment.

Take the train from FRA's Regionalbahnhof station to Bingen Rhein Stadt station (1 hour.) This station is the closest Bingen station to the KD docks - you can walk there if your bags aren't too heavy in less than 10 minutes.

Buy a cruise ticket at the KD kiosk to St. Goar. (1.5 hours.) Your train ticket will earn you a 20% discount on the cruise - show it to the KD agent. Fare will be €16 each to St. Goar.

In St. Goar, get off the boat and walk to the station (2 blocks.) Catch a northbound train to Cologne from there.

Train schedule sample:

8:59 from FRA
9:25 arrive Mainz
9:32 depart Mainz
9:59 arrive Bingen Rhein Stadt
10:30 cruise departure
11:55 cruise arrival in St. Goar
(Quick lunch in St. Goar)
13:00 depart St. Goar by train
15:02 arrive Cologne (no change of train)

It is in fact perfectly possible to know when the daily KD boats are running throughout September. The 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 14:30 and 16:30 boats from Bingen run every day. Schedule:
https://www.k-d.com/fileadmin/katalo...ntern_2017.pdf

What you do NOT know now is exactly what time your flight will arrive at FRA and what time you will arrive at the FRA Regionalbahnhof station.

If you arrive on Sat or Sun, buy a Weekend ticket (a day pass) for the regional trains to Cologne. It covers all the trains named above. It's good at all hours. Cost varies by # of people.

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/...-germany.shtml

On a weekday, buy the Day Ticket for Germany (also a day pass.) Cost varies by # of people. It's valid after 9 am only.

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/...LINKS-QDL_LZ01

The high speed trains (ICE, IC, ICE) are verboten with these day passes. Ride only the S, RE, RB, MRB, or other regional trains.

Fussgaenger

(cont.)
On a weekday the 8:59 train from FRA doesn't qualify for use - it leaves one minute too early to use the Day ticket.

But if you want to get on at 8:59, you CAN use the Day ticket from Kelsterbach (the first stop this train makes after leaving FRA.) So you need the Day ticket for Kelsterbach onward, plus a RMV ticket for FRA to Kelsterbach for each passenger. Buy these for €3.15 each at the same time you buy the Day ticket from a ticket machine at the FRA Regionalbahnof station. Use the English language option:

https://www.rmv.de/linkableblob/Zent...utomat_neu.jpg