My husband and I are arriving in Frankfurt at the end of August. We will immediately travel to Cologne via train. From there we are planning to travel to Belgium (Ghent and Bruge) overnight and then return to Cologne for several more days. Then back to Frankfurt to catch a plane to Budapest. We are wondering whether we should buy a pass on German Rail (Bahn.de) or Rail Europe. Do they travel on the same tracks? I notice they both have fast trains on some of their routes. We do not want to make a reservation at this time because we understand that they are not refundable if our plane arrives late and we are unable to catch our reserved train. We can buy a pass here in the states making our purchase less money. I have been to two triple A offices and neither of them has an employee who is very familiar with European train travel. I was told that they only sell Rail Europe there. Can anyone help me with this?? Thank you for your time and attention.
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Rail Europe is not a train company. It is a company that sells overpriced tickets to tourists in America. Therefore they do not have any trains.
All of the trains in Germany belong to the Deutsche Bahn and you can purchase your tickets from them on line. You can also purchase your tickets at the train station when you arrive, so not sure if it is worth it to buy a pass. For travel from Frankfurt to Cologne, I do recommend riding the regional train rather than the ICE, even though it takes 2 hours to get to Cologne rather than 55 min. The ICE spends a lot of time going through tunnels, so you don%26#39;t get to see much. The regional train runs right along the Rhine river and it is a wonderful, lovely ride. You could even purchase a Rheinland-Pfalz Länder ticket for something like 27 € and this will get both of you to Cologne. You would only need and S-bahn ticket from the airport to Mainz. Total ticket prices for the two of you will then be around 39 € or so. Abalada is the train expert, so you will get some good tips from him. These tickets can be purchased at the airport when you land.
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What a fast reply with wonderful information - thank you so much! Yes, I thought I could purchase the tickets there and maybe even at a lower cost. The ICE recommendation, I have already heard; however, we are trying to get to Cologne quickly. We thought that we might take that train to Cologne and then return to Frankfurt on the regional train when we will have more time. From California, the ICE is quoted as $100 USD each way per person. Does that sound about right to you? Also, when we go to Belgium from Cologne, we see we must transfer in Brussels and change trains before continuing on to Ghent and Bruges. Will we then be on a different line - in other words, NOT the German rail because their trains do not travel in neighboring countries? One last question, is there a pass that would allow travel between the 2 countries for 5 days that are not consecutive? I see Rail Europe sells such a pass for about $325 if 2 people travel together the entire time. Can we buy something similar from German Rail when we get there?
Once again, thank you for your time and assistance.
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%26gt;From California, the ICE is quoted as $100 USD each way per person. Does that sound about right to you?
Why don´t you look up for yourself?
www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml
%26gt;Also, when we go to Belgium from Cologne, we see we must transfer in Brussels and change trains before continuing on to Ghent and Bruges. Will we then be on a different line
You should use the national railways authority of the country you are traveling in. For Belgium it is SNCB:
www.b-rail.be
%26gt;in other words, NOT the German rail because their trains do not travel in neighboring countries?
As soon as a German train crosses a Belgian border it becomes a Belgian train. It is not like with airlines where each airline has their own planes on the same route.
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a) if flying with Lufthansa (and probably also other airlines of the Star alliance) you can %26quot;fly%26quot; to Cologne Hauptbahnhof (airport code: QKL). You fly to Frankfurt and than by ICE train to Cologne. Your luggage will be checked through to Cologne. This service is called AIRail
bahn.de/international/…airail.shtml
b) with other airlines you can check if you can get a Rail%26amp;Fly ticket from them
bahn.de/international/…rail_fly.shtml
c) you can buy through the DB timetable discounted specials for Frankfurt Airport to Cologne.
Problem: these specials are only valid for the connection bought for. No change. No refund. Thus not without risk if your plane arrives late.
DB timetable
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
From: FRA
To: Cologne
d) Standard fare tickets are EUR 60,00 for the ICEs on the highspeed route to Cologne. Such tickets are flexible. You can buy them in advance or on spot.
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Cologne to Belgium
You can check again with the DB timetable, there are specials including the ICEs to Brussels to Gent or Brugge from EUR 19,00. Or check with www.thalys.com for the offers including the Thalys trains from Cologne to Brussels.
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You don%26#39;t have to use regional trains for the route through the scenic Middle Rhine Valley from Cologne to Frankfurt Airport. They would also need 3,5 hours instead of 2 hours. There are also IC/EC and ICE trains on this route. Just give at the DB timetable
Via: Koblenz
to enforce the route along the Rhine.
http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de
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Thank you Altamira and Abalada for such helpful information. I have already looked on the bahn.de website and knew the 100 euro price from the airport on ICE; however, some of their information was %26quot;lost in translation%26quot;. For instance, I did not understand the bahn card 25 or 50? I appreciate both of you sending all the appropriate websites to me. I should have been able to find them (as I did the German one) however I was thrown off when I went to our auto club and they directed me to Rail Europe without much more information.
We are flying an American airline and I was told they do not have the rail-drive option, so I already checked that one out. I will definitely look on the website for airport specials. And I really appreciate the explanations and time both of you spent. That%26#39;s why I am such a fan of Traveladvisor. Thank you again.
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False Alarm! I just found the 25 and 50% requirements on their website. It doesn%26#39;t seem that it would be a good thing for me between Frankfurt and Cologne because the plane could be late unless I booked it several hours after my arrival into Frankfurt. Even then, that could be %26quot;iffy%26quot;.
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%26gt;I just found the 25 and 50% requirements on their website. It doesn%26#39;t seem that it would be a good thing for me between Frankfurt and Cologne because the plane could be late unless I booked it several hours after my arrival into Frankfurt. Even then, that could be %26quot;iffy%26quot;.
You mix BahnCard 25/50 with SparPreis 25/50. The latter locks you to one specific train and is indeed not the ebst idea after a transatlantic flight. The former are discount cards that you buy once for a yera and which give you 25 resp 50% discount on all tickets (including fully flexible ones)
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Hi again, Altamiro, I went online to Bahn.de and could only find %26quot;spar preis%26quot; in the german translation of the website. There is no translation for that in english. I don%26#39;t quite understand what you are suggesting I do. It sounds like I should buy an annual pass that gives an additional discount? Is that correct? Sorry for my confusion.
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He isn%26#39;t suggesting buying bahn cards, just telling you that was what the DB site was offering.
Honestly, your best deal is to use the Länder card for Rhineland Pfalz. It is soooo much cheaper and only adds an hour and 15 min. onto your travel time to Cologne. Comparing the price of 200 euro for the 2 of you to get there using the ICE against 39 euro riding the regional train, I know which one I would choose.
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Rhineland-Palatinate Ticket is no real option for using regional trains in this case. It covers the bulk of the route (Mainz to Bonn), but neither Frankfurt Airport nor Cologne.
Cheapest option will be the Einfach-Raus-Ticket using regional trains. EUR 34,00 for the 1st person. EUR 5,00 for the 2nd (to 5th) person on this ticket. Thus EUR 39,00 for both of you. Not a limited offer, i.e. you can buy it on spot. This offer is new and only available from 1st August on. It is not yet considered by the DB timetable as a savings fare option.
DB timetable
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
From: FRA
To: Cologne
and select as means of transport %26quot;only local transport%26quot;.
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