transportation in Germany

Hi,

I am planning to travel Frankfurt-Koblenz-Hamburg-Berlin-(may be Munich)-Frankfurt in about a week in early March.

For a group of 3, are we better off with train? plane? rented car? Should we buy tickets now or once in Germany?

Thank you,

Mila

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That%26#39;s a lot for 1 week. Even without Munich.

I would suggest a German Rail Twin Pass plus a German Rail Pass

raileurope.com/us/��germany_index.htm

The rail pass covers also the boats in the Middle Rhine Valley from Bingen to Koblenz

http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/

http://www.k-d.com/

Car is not the best idea. In the big cities rather a hassle. And also the Rhine Valley is well connected by train. And on the boats you cannot take the car with you anyway.

Plane is for some relations not even an existing option

Frankfurt - Koblenz

Koblenz - Hamburg

Hamburg - Berlin

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Thank you for very useful info,

Are we better off buying the passes and reserving seats now or when we are there in 2 weeks?

Also, I did not think that there were boats until April?

Thanks, again

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%26gt; buying the passes

as they will need a few days for shipping you better order them soon

%26gt; seat reservations

.. are not compulsory. Seat reservations are also not directly connected with a ticket or rail pass. You can reserve a seat totally independently. Only when on board you need of course at ticket or a rail pass.

Reserve through the DB timetable - not with RailEurope.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

From: Koblenz

To: Hamburg

To: Berlin

To: FRA airport

(for Frankfurt - Koblenz a seat reservation makes no sense if you plan to take the boat or to make any other stopovers)

%26gt; boats in winter

limited schedule, but there is e.g. a daily boat

Bingen dep 10:10

St. Goar arr 11:30

k-d.com/englisch/��winterprogramm.html

%26quot;please do not forget to make an advance booking with KD��s Sales Service Team in Cologne, phone +49(0)221/2088-318%26quot;

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So,

buying the same tickets in Germany the day of or a day before is more expensive or less convenient? Someone on the post recommended waiting until we are there for local off-season specials?

What would you say?

thanks, again.

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%26gt; buying the same tickets

What do you mean with %26quot;same tickets%26quot;. You can even not buy many rail passes at all in Germany.

%26gt; in Germany the day of or a day before is more expensive or less convenient?

If you buy normal tickets from RailEurope you%26#39;ll pay premium prices.

When buying normal tickets through the DB timetable online or at the ticket counter there is no difference in price.

There are however special offers which are only available if you buy in advance.

%26gt; Someone on the post recommended waiting until we are there for local off-season specials?

No. This person meant something different. There are off-peak-times mini group day tickets on regional or state level. Covered are only regional trains and other local public transport. These tickets are typically valid

Mo-Fr: from 9am till 3am next day (off-peak-time = apart from the morning rush hours)

Sa,So: from midnight till 3am next day

The trips on your itinerary are however too far to make any use out of these specials.

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Thanks, again.

What if I fly into Hamburg, and take a train Hamburg(2days)-Berlin (2 days there)-Munich(2days)-Koblenz to see family for a day and fly out of Frankfurt. Is that much easier route?

What should I do about transportation (or still rail pass)if I only need Hamburg-Berlin-Munich-Koblenz transportation. Sounds like Koblenz-Frankfurt is not a big deal on the way to the airport, not timewise and not financially.

Sorry to multiply the questions as I go along--planning a trip with my older parents and trying to combine our interests is difficult. You have been incredibly helpful.

Thanks, again

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Munich-Koblenz

means Munich - Frankfurt - Koblenz

that%26#39;s not the most logical route

You could fly into Frankfurt and back from Munich.

I would suggest something like

Frankfurt - Koblenz - Berlin - Munich (- Frankfurt)

Frankfurt - Koblenz - Hamburg - Berlin (- Frankfurt)

You try to cover too much ground in one week.

Try to allocate 3 days for Berlin. 2 days is definitely too short.

A 4 days in 1 month passes would be an idea. There is no 3 days version. Thus you could also travel back to Frankfurt using the 4th travel days.

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