Budget Travel - Rome to Dortmund Germany advice

Looking for ideas about the least expensive way to get from Rome to Dortmund, Germany. Would appreciate any advice. Easyjet had a flight there but says it has been cancelled. Thanks!

Don't just look at Dortmund Airport. Cologne and Düsseldorf are both nearby, as is Weeze (Niederrhein)

If you are willing to forsake convenience, take a look at Wizz Air. Looks like you could get from Rome Ciampino to Dortmund for €33 including tax, via Bucharest (sample date I looked at was April 1st, not all dates are this inexpensive). With the connection and wait time, though, this will take the better part of a day.

The danger of booking two segments on one carrier like that, though, is that if the carrier changes the times of one of the flights, or cancels the route, your plan falls apart. I don't think that Wizz Air books two-part itineraries on one ticket.

Check out Air Berlin (AB).
They have non-stop flights Rome-Düsseldorf from 29,-EUR all incl.! But some flights are offered via their hubs (Nuremberg/Berlin)

From Düsseldorf (DUS) it´s easy and reasonably priced to get to Dortmund. (expect a trainticket DUS-DTM at about 10,-EUR at short notice if using local trains ... )

Truthfully, the cheapest way to get there would probably be by regional train, although I Doubt you want to spend 2-3 days to get there. If you're traveling on the weekend, you can get an unlimited regional train pass for something like EUR12

Truthfully, the cheapest way to get there would probably be by regional train, although I Doubt you want to spend 2-3 days to get there. If you're traveling on the weekend, you can get an unlimited regional train pass for something like EUR12

Dusseldorf-Dortmund is something like 30 mi !
So, journey time wil be about 1 h on a local train (RE takes 51 mins) without changing trains - IC/ICE will take 35 mins only but is priced at around 22,-EUR ...

Btw.: DUS airport has two different railway stations !!! (don´t know any airport in the world having 2 really separate railway stations being roughly 3 mi apart (maybe FRA will count as well up to a certain degree but those are within walking distance ... )

From both train stations at DUS airport leave local trains but only one has high speed/long distance services ! For Dortmund use the one with long distance trains only !!!

The unlimited weekend railpass (it is limited to usage of local trains, though) for one day will cost 37,-EUR and covers the whole of Germany but is only availlable for usage on either a saturday or a Sunday !
It is pretty useless for the OP since he´ll be travelling from Rome. In combination with his travel from Rome to at least Salzburg or Basel border points the total cost will be higher than an air ticket on e.g. Air Berlin.

A good alternate destination airport would be Cologne (CGN) served by GERMANWINGS from Rome if AB is too expensive !!!
The distance to Dortmund city may be 20 mi longer (CGN is just 40 mi south of DUS but DTM lies East of both ... ) and CGN has a railway station inside the airport as well and also frequent services to get you to Dortmund albeit with a train change at Cologne HBf (central station)

Fare info:
From DUS airport to Dortmund Hbf (central station) the price is 10,50EUR any time if using a local train (class: RB/RE/IRE/S-Bahn)
Tickets sold only at ticket machines (press button for distance level "D". Journey time by "RE" is 51 mins (the "RB type is the slowest = the "milk run" type).
You may check out the website of the transport co. "VRR": http://www.vrr.de/en/index.html

From CGN airport the ticket price is from 19,40 EUR (purchase anytime) and total journey time is from 1h47 mins (longer total time due to neccessarity to change trains at Köln HBf = "Cologne Central") Going "high speed" from CGN airport will take 1h 30 mins but is significantly more expensive (again roughly double price ... )

The danger of booking two segments on one carrier like that, though, is that if the carrier changes the times of one of the flights, or cancels the route, your plan falls apart. I don't think that Wizz Air books two-part itineraries on one ticket.

They did it before (booked/travelled it myself ... HHN-BUD-SOF vv.) and i think they still offer that posibility on certain - but not all - routings ...

They did it before (booked/travelled it myself ... HHN-BUD-SOF vv.) and i think they still offer that posibility on certain - but not all - routings ...

If they are themselves offering the routing, that certainly helps. But Wizz Air is not at all adverse to changing flights around significantly or cancelling them altogether. At least with one itinerary, the whole ticket would be canceled, which would be better than if you booked two tickets separately and were stranded half-way there.

Such great info--thanks a lot!