FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Make the most out of your rail travel in Germany
Old Jan 14, 2008, 3:24 pm
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Flying Lawyer
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Frankfurt Airport Station

Frankfurt Airport is conveniently linked to Bahn's network. Frankfurt Airport has two railway stations. The long-distance railway station (for ICE and IC/EC trains) or Fernbahnhof in German is at the AIRail Terminal, right next to Terminal 1. Trains arrive at and depart from platforms 4 to 7. Upon arrival at long-distance train station, passengers of certain airlines can even drop off their flight baggage immediately at the “Baggage check-in at the AIRail Terminal”. In addition, there is a local railway station, called Regionalbahnhof in German, for S-Bahn, regional and suburban trains at Terminal 1, Level 1. Trains arrive at and depart from platforms 1 to 3. Both railway stations are linked to Terminal 2 via buses and the Sky Line. This is how you get there from Terminal 2: From the platform (Level 0, Area B) go one floor higher up, following signs to Terminal 2. When in Area B or C, get on a free Shuttle Bus to Terminal 2. The service runs between 05:00 and 00:30 hrs (5am to 12:30am). Alternatively, follow signs to the Sky Line in Hall B. This service to Terminal 2 runs at 2-minute intervals. Please note: You are not permitted to take trolleys onto a Sky Line train.

From Fernbahnhof you will have in general hourly services on ICE trains to Munich (via Mannheim, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg), to Wiesbaden (via Mainz), to Dresden (via Frankfurt Central, Fulda, Eisenach, Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar, Leipzig), to Dortmund (via Cologne, Düsseldorf, Essen, Bochum), to Stuttgart (via Mannheim), to Essen (via Cologne Fairground, Düsseldorf, Duisburg), to Hamburg (via Kassel, Göttingen, Hannover), to Basel (via Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Offenburg, Freiburg). Certain services continue to Amsterdam and Brussels. For services to Berlin you have to change either at Frankfurt Central, at Hannover or at Leipzig. For services to Hagen and Wuppertal you will have to change at Cologne.

From Regionalbahnhof you have the S-Bahn to Central Frankfurt (via Taunusanlage, Hauptwache, Konstablerwache), further S-Bahn connections to Mainz, Wiesbaden, Offenbach and Hanau, a regional train line going to Koblenz (via Rüsselsheim, Mainz, Ingelheim and Bingen), a regional train line going to Saarbrücken (via Rüsselsheim, Mainz, Ingelheim, Neuenkirchen), a regional train lines to Frankfurt Central and to Hanau.

From the luggage reclaims area you will need about 5 minutes to Regionalbahnhof (trains to Central Frankfurt depart most likely from platform 1, very few from Platform 2, check the indicators). You MUST buy a ticket before boarding the train. From the luggage reclaims area you will need about 10 minutes to Fernbahnhof. Southbound trains (incl. Frankfurt Central) depart from platforms 4 and 5, Northbound trains depart from platforms 6 and 7. You may buy a ticket on the train (however, you can only unrestricted tickets and have to pay a small surcharge). Conductors accept credit cards.

To get to Frankfurt hotels: Take the S-Bahn local train (lines S8/S9) from FRA into the centre and get off at Konstablerwache for the Westin Grand. Its a two minutes walk. Get of at Hauptbahnhof for the Steigenberger, InterConti, Le Meridien and several others. They are in two to five minutes distance. Get of at Hauptwache for the Hilton. Take the Schillerstrasse exit from the station and walk straight up that street to the end, cross the road and the Hilton is down to your left. For the Mariott and the Hessischer Hof you need to get of at Hauptwache and take the subway (I do no recollect the line) to the fairgrounds. One way price €3.60 each adult.


Düsseldorf Airport Station

Düsseldorf Airport is conveniently linked to Bahn's network. Düsseldorf Airport has two railway stations. The long-distance railway station (for ICE, IC/EC and regional trains) or Fernbahnhof in German is in a separate building linked with the terminal via the Skytrain. In addition, there is a local railway station ("Flughafen Terminal") only used for the S-Bahn to Düsseldorf Central Station and further on to Solingen.

From Fernbahnhof you have an hourly ICE train to Berlin (via Duisburg, Essen, Bochum, Dortmund, Hamm, Bielefeld, Hannover), an two-hourly ICE service to Cologne Airport and several regional trains covering the Ruhr area, Paderborn, Hamm and Minden (Eastbound) and Cologne, Bonn and Coblenz (Westbound). However, you can easily connect to all other long distance services either in Düsseldorf Central, Cologne or Duisburg. Remember: You MUST buy a ticket before boarding any regional train, tickets are not sold on regional trains in the region. You may buy a ticket on the ICE train (however, you can only buy unrestricted tickets and have to pay a small surcharge). Conductors accept credit cards. To get to the Fernbahnhof you need to follow the signs to the Skytrain. In general, you should calculate 15 minutes to get from the luggage reclaims area to the Fernbahnhof. Be aware: In principle you need a ticket for the Skytrain. Any valid Bahn, VRR or parking ticket will do the trick. In practice nobody ever checked my ticket.

From small S-Bahn "Terminal Station", which is located under the Terminal building, you have a comfortable, quick and easy connection into central Düsseldorf leaving at -03, -23 and -43 and arriving at the central station 12 minutes later. It should take you no more than five to seven minutes from the luggage reclaims area to the platform. Follow the signs S7. You have to buy a ticket from a vending machine on the platform. If you only want to get to Düsseldorf Central or continue your journey on any public transit within the city borders, you need a Ticket "A".


Cologne Airport Station

Cologne has a small and not too busy airport station. The most frequent train is the S13 departing to Cologne Central at -04 -24 and -44. It takes 15 minutes to Cologne Central. BEside that you have a few IC/ICE trains to Frankfurt, Munich, Essen, Wiesbaden, Berlin. You need to check the time tables, there is no real system in it. Local trains depart to Coblenz (via Bonn and Neuwied) at -50 and to Moenchengladbach (via Cologne Central) at -08. For the S-Bahn to Cologne you need to get a ticket from the vending machine at price level 1b (currently 1.2008) at 2.30 Euro.


Dresden Airport Station

Dresden Airpost has its own rail station taking you into Dresden Neustadt Station (good for the Westin), Dresden Internationales Handelszentrum (good for the Maritim) and Dresden Hbf (good for most other places). The ticket is bloddy cheap (1,80 Euro) and the train departs at -07 and -37 past the hour. The trains from, Hbf depart -48 and -18 past the hour, the trains from Neustadt at -52 and -22 past the hour. The train ticket is good for busses and trams too and there are plenty of trams providing excellent connections within Dresden. Check at http://www.vvo-online.de/en/index.aspx


Munich Airport Station

Munich has an airport station with to suburban lines (S1 and S8). Details can be found at http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/index.html. The S8 goes around Munich in the east and departs at -02, -22 and -42, the S1 goes around Munich in the west and departs at -11, -31 and -51. In general, S8 is the by far better train to all station between Ostbahnhof and Hauptbahnhof. The easiest hotel is the City Hilton build on Rosenheimer Platz Station. Tickets are in the range of 10 Euro. If you plan to do more than one journey, get a day ticket "Gesamtnetz". It is only one or two Euro more expensive than the single ticket. If there are at least two of you travelling the "Group Day Ticket Gesamtnetz" is a steal.

Last edited by Flying Lawyer; Dec 14, 2008 at 11:58 am
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