Help with Train details/company/locations-Germany
 

Dear Fodorites,

We need the following train tickets for 6 people:

Sept. 16 - arrive from U.S.A. at 10:20 a.m. to Frankfurt Airport
Which train station do I use for a search for tickets departing from here to
Bad Kreuznach on the DB Bahn site? There are several for Frankfurt...which
is the International airport location? Is 12:30-ish a good departure time
considering pick up of luggage and getting through customs?
Is it easier/better to use the Rail Europe vs. DB Bahn even though they seem
much more expensive?
Sept. 18 - depart Bad Kreuznach by 7:00 a.m. to Cologne for a tour of the Cathedral and nearby area...stopover for 3-4 hours and continue to Berlin after lunch; arriving by 5:00 p.m. or so.

We'd like to sit together or near each other. Is 1st class really worth it? We don't need to use our cell phones or computers and don't care about food being served to us. Are seat reservations available in 2nd class?

We have definate travel dates, so point-to-point is our plan.

Anything I am leaving out in deciding these things?

Thanks in advance!

You use;

"Frankfurt(Main)Flugh"

which means Frankfurt on the river Main (as opposed to Frankfurt an der Oder - a different Frankfurt on a different river). "Flugh" is a search field truncation of "Flughafen" which means "airport". So, it is the Frankfurt am Main Airport rail station you will be selecting.

You have to consider that your plane may be late. If it is on time 2:10 is enough time to retrieve your luggage and get through customs. Maybe schedule something a little later.

I find the DB site very easy and have never used Rail Europe. DB is easy to navigate, reliable, and you can print your tickets instantly - all good.

I don't think you need 1st class on German trains. 2nd class is very comfortable and you can reserve seats in 2nd.

You probably don't need reservations on anything but the busiest routes during prime business commute times, but if 6 of you want to all sit together that is best accomplished through reservations.

Dear Aramis,

When I go to DB Bahn and start the process for 6 tickets, it wants me to choose between Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbf and Frankfurt Flughafen Regionalbf. What is the difference? Is it only the train company that is different with these two codes, or....?

The rest of the info you gave me is exactly what I was after, so thanks! :D

For some reason, Bahn.de is not autofilling all the station options on the English portion of the website. You will have to look at the German version.

It does appear there is luggage storage at the station in Cologne.

Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbf: long distance trains departing from a railway station just outside the terminal

Frankfurt Flughafen Regionalbf: regional trains departing below the terminal

Thank you! Thank you! Whew.... :)

Bad Kreuznach and FRA are within the RMV transit authority; the trip requires a "price category 6" ticket; you can buy a "group day ticket" for 31€ at price level 6 to cover 5 persons to Bad Kreuznach from FRA Regionalbahnhof using the regional trains.

http://www.rmv.de/en/Fahrkarten/Die_...geskarte_.html

Use the ticket at any hour.

A single ticket for the 6th person costs 10.50 at price level 6. If one or more of the persons is a child under 6 you can all travel on the group day ticket.

The 12:37 departure from FRA is direct and is a Regional Express train, one you can use with the tickets I mentioned above. The high speed (IC, ICE, EC) trains are not permitted with the RMV tickets.

You can buy these tickets at the FRA train station from a machine. No need to buy in advance for a specific departure time!

Great sites for oodles of great stuff on German trains - www.seat61.com - good stuff on online discounted tickets; and http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html and www.ricksteves.com. If traveling enough on trains look at the German Railpass that lets you just hop on any train virtually anytime - such fully flexible tickets can cost a ton - and IME of riding German trains for years yes first class has immense benefits over 2nd class - first class usually has lots of empty seats but not always so in 2nd class - could be or could be SRO - first class seats are bigger as there are fewer in each same-sized train car as in 2nd class.

Folks carrying luggage will find lots more room to stow it easily in first class - in 2nd class you may be fending for space in an already perhaps overcrowded overhead luggage rack - but again 2nd class can vary wildly - sometimes few folks but not uncommonly packed to the gills to IME. With the railpass first class is not all that much more than 2nd class so even a better deal.

It does appear there is luggage storage at the station in Cologne.>

no luggage lockers last time I was there a few years back but a novel totally unique at that time luggage storage - you put your bags in a compartment which sinks into the basement - presumably to be stored until it is perhaps automatically retrieved when you come back. Saves valuable space in this crowded station perhaps.

but be sure a station like Cologne Hbf does into have luggage stowage/storage.

According to bahn.de (th German Rail site), you can leave Bad Kreuznach at 06:31, connect in Frankfurt, and arrive in Koeln at 08:32. Leave Koeln at 12:48 and arrive in Berlin at 17:11. You can book this all on one ticket that includes the stopover in Koeln. The cheapest discount fare tickets are gone; but if you book today on the German Rail site, you still can pay less than full fare.

Continuing from my previous post. To order more than five tickets at once you'll have to click on the "More than 5 passengers" link on the home page. To be routed through Koeln you'll have to click on the "Enter stopovers" link and choose Koeln as a stopover point. Choose a stopover time of 04:00.

As of a moment ago I could have gotten six tickets for €81.00/person. FYI, booking as far in advance as possible (up to 92 days allowed) could have gotten you tickets for €40.50/person.