Drive from Dus to Fra, sights?
 

Arriving in Dus at 7am from Ord then driving to Fra for the night. Where should I stop along the way, I'm interested in WW2 camps but I can't find anything in that part of Germany? But, I Would be open to any sights along the way. thanks!

No WW2 camps and the like, at least to my knowledge. The shortest way is via A3. You might want to spend a little time in Cologne, if you like cities, or Montabaur (well worth a visit as well). It's also worthwhile to take slight detour, getting off the A3 at Montabaur and then drive from Koblenz to Bingen in the Rhine valley. Great sights, tons of castles, etc.

For a fraction of the cost, you could take the train and see generally what little there is to see in the area. Assuming you are arriving after an over-night flight from the US, you could also take a nap and catch up on your sleep. Doing that on the road could lead to serious problems.

Thank You! It looks like both 9 and 42 run along the river, which is better, and is there anywhere along the way that you recommend for lunch?

Hundreds of places, just pop in any nice looking Castle or Abbey. However, be Award that both, the B9 and the B42 will be a several hour drive.

Don't think trains are cheaper. DUS to FRA train is comparable to car rental if more than two people are involved and car rental is only marginally more expensive if one person is involved. Driving is even cheaper with more than two people.

You may be correct that auto rental prices may be cheaper than a train ticket for two people, however, you are ignoring the price of energy to make the auto move. According to this site (http://www.clever-tanken.de/statistik6.asp), you will pay (on average in Germany) €1.60 per liter of fuel. So, that comes to about €6.40 per US gallon. The auto price is not the rental cost alone.

Secondly, depending on how far in advance the OP is booking, he can either get a discount fare as low as €29 (less than the cost of the auto rental alone, I'll wager) or he can buy a "Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket" for €44 for one person, €50 for two people (ie, €25 each) or €56 for three people. Children to 14 years can travel free with these tickets.

If you just walk up to the train-ticket office at the last minute and buy a first-class ticket on a high-speed train, you could be correct, however, with even a little advance planning, the train tickets would cost a fraction of an auto rental.

Also the train ride will take less than 2 hours from DUS to FRA. FRA autobahn can be a nightmare as well, too many interchanges and too much traffic at all times.

If he travels in the summer, the autobahn will not be a nightmare, it will likely be a parking lot! And if he sticks to the smaller roads, it could be at least a half-day driving through farms and woods.

Drive from Dus to Fra, sights?
 

The discount fares offered by DB comes with restrictions where if you don't take the reserved train, you end up paying the walk up fare. So one flight delay is all you need to end up with transportation cost more than car rental and fuel.

Diesel driving from DUS to FRA is about $35 USD in a 5-series averaging 160km/h.

Either that or built in enough wait time between flight arrival and train departure.

The car option gives you more flexibility at similar cost. If OP is going to several places, one delay will throw all the train schedule planning out the window.

The larger the traveling party, the more it makes sense to take the car.

Traffic can be an issue in the summer. Last summer it added about 30 min from DUS to FRA.

Not true. It depends what kind of ticket you buy.That's based on what?

There is about 30 minutes between trains. Doubtful you'll need to wait more than 15 minutes.And autos don't have delays? How many hours have you sat on an autobahn on a hot summer day motionless? It happened to me often enough that I now sit in an airconditioned train that takes me where I want to go at a reasonable cost, high speed and without delays. Secondly, do you know what direct connection means? Train schedule planning? City to city?Weren't you the one who said only two people in an auto makes it cheaper? Of course if you squeeze five people in an auto, you may save a few Euros, but how comfortable is that? You were exceedingly lucky. In the past, I travelled on the autobahns in summer and I would have been overjoyed if delay was only 30 minutes.

Travelling city to city in most of Europe by auto makes virtually no sense. Most European cities were built long before the auto was developed and relatively few have been modified to make it easier. If you have unlimited time, driving in the countryside can make more sense, but not if your auto is filled with people. Generally, but not universally, there are enough trains and buses that the extra cost of an auto is very rarely necessary.

Where can you get discount tickets on the intercity train without the reserved train and/or no change to ticket on day of departure restriction?

As for the gas price, that is based on first hand experience. Picked up rental car, drove to Frankfurt and refilled.

Without knowing when OP is traveling, how many people in the party and exactly what places they want to see, no point speculating further the pro/cons.

It seems to me that you really have very little understanding about European/German trains, yet you are making claims about their cost.

You do realise that the basic concept of public transport is that a group of people can be moved at a lower cost (more efficiently) than a single person (or small group of people) using personal transport?

This is general wisdom about macroeconomics and does not answer the question where to buy flexible ICE train tickets with a discount. The only option I am aware of if the BahnCard the OP obviously does not have available.

What about a rail+fly ticket, if the OP's airline participates?

http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/pr..._and_fly.shtml