Our itinerary is set, and I have booked the Eurostar trips (London -> Cologne and Brussels -> London). I am ironing out the Rhine and Mosel plans - we are hitting Cologne first for 2 days, 3 days in Boppard, and 3 days in Traben-Trarbach. We would like to visit Burg Eltz, and I am thinking this would be a good activity for our travel day from Cologne to Boppard since we have to change trains in Koblenz anyway and can't check in until later in the day. We are a family of 6 with 4 kids (12, 11, 9, 7) traveling in early June.

The plan for our Sunday would look like this:

• Early train from Colgone to Koblenz
• Store luggage in Koblenz - we will have 6 small carry-ons (potentially only 4)
• Train to Moselkern then hike to Burg Eltz (should arrive at castle around noon) and spend a couple of hours at the castle
• Hike back to Moselkern for train to Koblenz where we will pick up our bags and train to Boppard, arriving around 5pm

Questions:

1. Does this day sound reasonable? The alternative is spending a day traveling from Boppard to Burg Eltz (without luggage to worry about), but there are other things we want to do/see on the Rhine.
2. Is 30 minutes enough time to figure out storage lockers and change trains in Koblenz?
3. Looks like I can book the Cologne -> Koblenz portion now since it is an ICE train and possibly save some money versus waiting, correct?
4. Am I understanding correctly that a VRM ticket is the way to go for Koblenz -> Moselkern and Moselkern -> Boppard? It would be 1 adult, a 2nd discounted adult and the 4 kids will be free...looks like it 42 Euro total. I can wait to book this until we are there, correct (just in case we decide we don't want to hit Burg Eltz on the way after all)?

Thanks in advance!!

In my previous post, I meant to say Rheinland-Pfalz ticket instead of VRM for the trip from Koblenz -> Moselkern and back - it is my understanding that kids under 14 travel free with their parents on this ticket. I know up to 5 people can travel on this ticket, but is there a limit to the number of kids under 14...do they count as part of the 5?? And does this ticket include all train journeys for that day within the region? Thanks!!

Hi sessa, the Köln - Koblenz leg can be booked early, although you don't have to take an ICE. I also saw an EC (Eurocity) train to Interlaken Ost which was much cheaper than both the ICE and the slower RB trains, and not appreciably different in terms of time to the ICE. But yes, there are savings to be made if you book early. Oddly enough the RB trains seem to be more expensive so obviously you go where the savings are to be made.

Up to 3 children between 6 and 15 can travel along on the Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket, so I guess they are part of the 5. The ticket can only be used on local trains and the VRM network, but you can take as many trains as you want. It would not include trips on the ICE / IC / EC trains. Here is the link, you just need to change your browser to English:

https://www.bahn.de/angebot/regio/la...d-pfalz-ticket

Lavandula

Thank you so much, Lavandula, that’s very helpful!