Hawkeye79

My son (20) and I are taking a trip to Germany for 4 days before Thanksgiving. I need the miles and he wants to drink beer. I haven't been to Germany in 15 years and it will be my son's first trip. We both want to ride the high speed trains.

My itinerary changes daily, but this is what I thinking of:
Friday - arrive at FRA, take train to Cologne, spend night in Cologne
Saturday - take train from Cologne to Berlin, night train to Munich
Sunday - Munich to Fussen, see castles, return to Munich
Monday - possibly see Rothenburg and Heidelberg, spend night near FRA

We are looking at getting twin rail passes.
Is it worth it to get the first class pass for $120 more than the second class?

Will we need seat reservations for each train leg?

How much are couchettes? (guidebook says around $15, RailEurope says 29 Euros)

Will we see more scenery taking the RE, RB instead of the IC from FRA to Cologne?

Are there still lockers at the train stations for daily use?

What is the best Berlin train station for being near tourist sites?

Thanks,

YVR Cockroach

May I ask why bother going to Berlin for just a few hours? I'd consider not overnighting in Koeln but taking the night train to Berlin instead. The overnight trains have showers at least for the sleeper carriage. Might as well save time and some on hotel (though the sleeper supplement for 2 could eat that up).

As for FRA to Koeln, the long haul trains go up the west side of the Rhein. Commuter trains could go up either side.

FWIW, I think all long haul trains still call at the Berlin Zoo stop (relic of cold war/berlin wall reasons).

Aviatrix

I bought a first class rail pass in August. The reason I bought a first class one is that I wanted to be able to just hop on a train without having to worry about making reservations. Second class can be quite packed, especially on Friday and Sunday evenings, and you really do need a reservation to be sure of a seat in second class at peak times.

For overnight travel I'd go for a sleeper rather than a couchette (unless you need to travel cheaply). Couchettes are six-seat compartments where the seats get converted into bunks (three on each side) during the night. Sleepers are more like proper beds, and are far more comfortable.

Football Fan

Itinerary looks good, somewhat stressful, I think.

First class passes: Yes, I would say it is worth it. If possible, I would recommend to reserve seats (does it even cost extra? Not familiar with these passes).

Don't know how much couchettes are. Deutsche Bahn is probably the one company that has an even more messed up pricing policy than Lufthansa (and a more arrogant CEO).

You will not see more scenery taking RE/RB from FRA to CGN. The scenery you see from the ICE is quite nice, most of the trip goes along the Rhein.

Unsure about the lockers. I don't travel very much by train.

terenz is correct, Bahnhof Zoo is the train stop for long haul trains, and it is not very far from Kurf�rstendamm. The tourist attractions in Berlin (Brandenburger Tor, Reichstag, etc.) can be reached by taxi or metro. Not sure what the best stop for that would be.

bostonbali

Having lived in MUC for a year in 1996, I don't believe a 1st class ticket on the DB is worth it. The seats aren't worth the additional $120 in my opinion. And if seat space is a concern, you can always reserve seats pretty inexpensively. And I'd definitely stick with the ICE as much as possible - it's a new, clean bullet-train with a minimal amout of stops, unlike the RB, which stop at every small village...

Non-NonRev

On the ICE trains many of the 1.class seats have power ports (standard German outlet, only requires an adapter for use with US plugs). I'm not sure if 2.class has them. The outlets can come in handy to recharge devices such as digital cameras, video cameras and Ipods (as well as laptops).

Several of the ICE trains stop at Ostbahnhof on the way to Zoo. Because of the S-Bahn in the same station, and depending where in the city they are going to as their first stop, Ostbahnhof is an alternate place to disembark the ICE train and change to the Berlin transit system:

http://www.bvg.de/e_index.html

Aviatrix

I expected to find power ports on my trip in August - but of all the ICE trains I travelled on I only found them on one, and that was the very last one I took, the short journey from Mannheim back to FRA. Maybe I was just unlucky.

The seats themselves probably aren't worth the extra money... but knowing that you are going to get a seat even if you haven't reserved can be quite an important bonus as it means you can change your plans at short notice and hop on a train whenever you feel like it. Also, travelling on a packed Friday night ICE, even with a reserved seat, can be quite an uncomfortable experience, especially in an open-plan coach - you'll have people standing everywhere and fighting each other for seats at every stop.

Seat reservations are included in the price of certain tickets, but you always pay for seat reservations with a pass.

Oh, and I forgot to answer the locker question - still there last time I looked.

There is a lot of general information on www.bahn.de which may provide answers to some of the questions we haven't been able to answer here - such as the one about the price of couchettes.

Hawkeye79

Thanks a lot for all of the great information. The reasons I am looking at going to Berlin for 8 hours are: taking the ICE, catching a sleeper to Munich, and I've never been to Berlin.
I think we'll go with the 1st class. If we can get by without seat reservations, that saves us $45. It also sounds like 2nd class RB from Munich to Fussen on a weekend might be something to avoid.
Thanks again

USAFAN

As mentioned before, you will probably arriving in Berlin at "Bahnhof Zoo". That is in/near the Center of former West Berlin. You can walk to Kurfuersten Damm, Gedaechtnis-Kirche and may be visit the department store KADEWE.
Than you should take U-Bahn or Taxi to Berlin Mitte: Potsdamer Platz, Brandenburger Tor, Unter den Linden, Museumsinsel, Hackesche Hoefe...

Did you think about going some routes by plane? Cologne and Berlin have plenty of "Low-Cost-Airlines".

daysleeper

May I suggest to add Dresden, Hamburg and a 3-day Rhine river cruise to your 4 day-itinerary?

ROTFLMAO.

McKaye

Please be aware of this:
The ultrafast ICE trains vom FRA to Cologne (the ones that need about an 1hr 15m) DO NOT take you through the beautiful rhine valley. Most of the time the track is along the autobahn A3 and you won�t see the rhine river till you reach Cologne. These ICE trains travel with 300km/h so if you and your son are into HighspeedTrains this is the one to choose.

There are several IC (Intercity) and and some older ICE trains that are going trough the rhine valley. They need more than 2hrs for the distance. If you�re into castles and scenery this is the one I recommend. But these trains travel about 120 km/h so its definitely NO highspeed experience.

Hawkeye79

Well, there's one in every forum and two in every deck.

McKaye, thanks for the information. It will definitely avoid a disapointment.

If anyone is looking for good information links for German trains, here's what I found:
http://www.cometogermany.com/ - click on Transportation Map - Train
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/bhftafel.exe/en? - DB Arrival/Departures
http://www.bahn.de/pv/view/int_guest...national.shtml - Happy Weekend ticket
http://www.bahn.de/pv/view/int_guest..._tickets.shtml - L�nder-Tickets
http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm - Rail passes
http://www.ricksteves.com/home.htm - Rail passes
http://home.att.net/~texhwyman/bahn.htm - Riding the Rails in Germany

McKaye

You�re welcome! If any questions appear - feel free to ask.

Just one more information on HighSpeedTrains in Germany: We got only two real Highspeed tracks that were built for that reason. Besides the brand new FRA-Cologne connection it�s the track between Hannover and Wuerzburg which was built in the 90s. The trains there go about 250-270km/h. All the other ICE routings are on old or renewed tracks and travel about 180-220km/h.

chtiet

Not if you take the direct FRA to Cologne high-speed - these trains go on a separate, more direct track away from the river. Make sure that your train is not one of these, and you'll go through prime castle-viewing country between Mainz and Koblenz.