sbruner

OK-places to stay are set except for week-end travel with daughter who will have a car and we will let her figure that out. Now for day or short overnight trips from Worms.

1) Know there is a Rhineland Pfalz Ticket to cover area along the Rhine but not sure where would have to go from Worms to connect with this--into Meinz? Then hope there are connections from Worms to Meinz.. Tried to figure this out on the suggested web site but did not maneuver through it successfully.

2) In the other direction--to Heidelburg and Speyer---does one go into Mannheim and is there train connection to Worms--although daughter had said she might be able to drop us at Mannheim train station before heading to the office. Should these two places be separate day trips or could they be combined?

3) If wanting to go to Cochem would one venture there from St. Goar? Koblenz?

Wish I could figure out the train system by myself.

4) Think there is train connection from Airport to Mienz without going into Frankfurt??--picked that up from someone's note on forum. Where does one go after landing to make this train connection?

Thanks in advance for any help. The forum has guided our decision making except for the stay at Worms where daughter has apt. for the week.

DalaiLlama

Look them up at www.bahn.de

But make sure you get the spelling right before you input the names:

Sankt Goar (or abbr. St. Goar) not Ste
Cochem not Cochan
Heidelberg not -burg
Mainz not Meinz or Mienz

After landing in Frankfurt (M) airport, you follow the concourse to the Grenzpolizei immigration officers where you show passports then to the carousels and you exit the green door at customs (Green = nothing to declare) and follow signs to trains.

The huge train station down below has the Fernbahnhof tracks (abbr. Fernbhf) for long-distance trains and the Lokalbahnhof for local trains.

www.bahn.de will show you what trains there are to where you want to go - input the correct names and take note of any intermediate stations where you may have to get off and switch trains.

Note that most cities have more than one station.

The most important station is usually called Hauptbahnhof and abbreviated Hbf., as in "Mainz Hbf" for example.

There are lots and lots of trains from Frankfurt (M) Flughafen (that's the name of the airport train station) to Mainz Hbf that go direct, it only takes less than a half hour.

Also note that Frankfurt usually has the (M) after it, or is called Frankfurt am Main - Main is the river, and there is another city of Frankfurt much further, in former East Germany, on another river called the Oder, hence that distinction with the M.

A good map always helps, of course, like http://maps.google.com

Hope this helps you look up what you need.

sbruner

Thanks-and apologize for failing to check spelling but pulling from some notes and misreading the map with small print. Will be careful.

DalaiLlama

No worries - give the above resources a go, and if you get stuck, click on your name to bring back this discussion and add another post, it will go back up to the top and we'll see it.

sbruner

Thanks--think I am finally getting the rail schedule and how to input--understand a little more each time I maneuver in it. Another question--for Rheinland Pfalz Pass or ticket, will we need to purchase ticket, Worms to Mainz and then purchase Rheinland Pfalz ticket for our trip along the Rhein down toward Bacharach? I am not quite sure what area is ecompassed by the Rheinland Pfalz and Saarland. And the directions for getting to Mainz from Frankfurt Airport put my uneasy mind at rest. I have more or less figured out how to work out transportation from Worms to Heidelberg and Speyer.

DalaiLlama

I'm not sure where exactly the "border" of the pass and its validity is. I hope someone here knows and comes to tell us.

All else fails, go see an agent on arrival below the airport in the station.

wanderfrau

I always consider the "border" of the ticket to be the border of the state e.g. Rheinland Pfalz, Baden-Württemberg etc. I'm not sure that is exactly correct.

According to bahn.de "Travel can be on any day of the week within one of the German states. The ticket can be used on all local trains (RegionalExpress, RegionalBahn, S-Bahn) and several other transport systems."

Worms, Mainz, Speyer are all in Rheinland-Pfalz. You could easily spend a day in each of these towns, depending on how much you want to see.

Remember if you are on the north side of the Rhine, you are in the state of Hessen. The river is the border between the states.

Heidelberg is in Baden-Württemberg.

Don't let traveling between states discourage your train travel. You won't be traveling far and even if you just buy a point to point ticket, it won't be too expensive.


Have fun!

Russ

sbruner: Below is a map of the rail lines in Rheinland-Pfalz. The eastern border of R-P in your area of travel is basically the Rhine River itself. But there are a few towns outside R-P called "connecting stations" that you can reach on the R-P ticket too. For a trip to Heidelberg, you can take the train as far as Mannheim, for example, from Worms, even though Mannheim isn't in R-P. There are also certain lines that you can travel on with a R-P ticket outside of R-P - like the east/right bank of the Rhine between Wiesbaden and Lorchhausen - even though the tracks are in Hessen.

http://www.bahn.de/regional/view/mdb...dwest_2010.pdf

sbruner

Again, many thanks--Find, as I spend timee ach day either on language tapes, on Fodors or exploring suggestions posted, that I am becoming more comfortable and questions are being answered. Thank you all.--now to go pull my magnifying glass to review the train route map suggested by Russ.

PalenQ

All train trips in the OP are very EASILY done - don't fret just print out sample schedules from www.bahn.de - lots and lots of trains - with the Lander ticket however be sure to stay off the faster trains as the pass covers regional trains mainly and not ICE trains.

violetduck

When printing our train schedules I include the intermediate stops. You click on show intermediate stops for them to come up. It is nice to know when our stop is coming up(especially helpful if train is a bit off schedule) and just assuring to see you are on the correct train.

sbruner

Great, violetduck--I did not know how to find the intermediate stops. Everyone is such a wealth of helpful information.