CehofskiMD

Thank you for your reply, fransknorge. The information is very useful. I will not hesitate to take the train then.

SunshineStay

A cab will be much more expensive. Between 30-35 Euros would be my guess. Taking public transportation would be much cheaper (4.90 Euro) and is perfectly safe. Take the S8 or S9 to Frankfurt main station and then switch to Tram 17 in front of the main building until the station "An der Dammheide". The website says, that overall this is about a 30 minute ride from station to station. Trains leave the airport every 15 minutes. From the tram station it is a 4-minute walk to the hotel.

CehofskiMD

Thank you so much SunshineStay. My fellow FlyerTalkers are saving me a lot of trouble and money. Thank you so much, indeed.

offerendum

I doubt it´s really unsafe at anytime, but at 20:30 it will be still relatively busy.

speed.skater

You will for the most part remain in the underground platform area of Frankfurt's main station. It's perfectly safe 24/7 IMO. Lots of security cameras and security personnel there.

I wouldn't recommend wandering into the more deserted areas of level B (that's the level on which you switch platforms). But you have no reason to go there. You just need to take an escalator up to level B and take an adjacent elevator back down to the other platform...

milepig

Perfectly safe. The biggest thing to watch out for is that you get on the train on the correct side of the platform. My issue was departing the HBf for FRA hotel late one night after an alcohol infused dinner. I boarded my train after checking at the head of the platform. Setttled in and was startled awake by the announcement that the next stop was Darmstadt!! A quick conversation with the conductor during which I think he said "stupid drunken American" made it clear that I would need to go back to the HBf and start anew. But he scribbled something on my ticket that meant I wouldn't need to buy a new one (or maybe it said "let him sleep, this could be fun"!) But, it was now late at night and no one checked my ticket. Lesson learned - check the train on the platform!!

Bearcat06

That reminds me of a story.....

Back in the 80s, one of my idiot Privates went from Aschaffenburg to Frankfurt Red Light District to have some fun on a night off.

About 0300 in the morning, we got a call from the German Police.

Knucklehead got drunk after having a rondevu with a lovely lady in one of cat houses, made it back to the last train to Aschaffenburg on time but passed out and was in Nuremberg when he was finally discovered.

DB service had stopped for the night so we had to call the MP Station at Nuremberg to go fetch him and do a run btwn MP Stations on the A3 to get him back to Aschaffenburg.

He's now the VP of Ops for a large Theater Chain based out of Austin...... and still remind him of that a time or two...

Flying Lawyer

Good story, but what the hell is a "rondevu" ?

Fireflyer05

Rendezvous i guess?

pbiflyer

My favorite German train story was when we had a global meeting in Germany. It was the first time in Europe for one of our employees. He dutifully studied all about the trip. He flew into another city and planned on taking the train to Frankfurt. This was before the proliferation of smart phones.
He got his ticket, reserved a seat and walked to where the sign said his train car would be. The train came in backward, so the actual train car was not where he was. He panicked, trying to figure out what to do. Meanwhile the train is about to leave and the conductor is shouting to him and waving for him to get on the train (in German). He tries to communicate back to him (in English) that he is trying to find his specific seat by shouting out the car number.
So, the conductor is telling him to just get on the train and he is shouting back his car number....which is number 9. Oops.
He finally realizes and jumps on the train.

Mict

Another question on flight to ICE connection:
Will be landing from SFO at around 9:55am on UA (in J) on a Thursday with a EU passport and need to take the train to BRU.
I have two options: one departing at 10.45am (~50 min connection) or 12.45pm (2h50 connection).
I know that I should probably plan on taking the 12.45pm but my question is, what are the chances I can make the 10.45am one (assuming no checked bags)? I am considering booking a seat in both trains just in case (still comes out way cheaper than a single flex fare).
I have transited through FRA plenty of times but never took a rail connection. Unfortunately, the next flight to BRU on that day is 6 hours after I land

EDIT: Well, never mind. After posting this, I saw P space open up on the MUC flight and immediately rebooked on SFO-MUC-BRU which gets me home before the 12.45pm train would have even departed from FRA. (And I get to avoid FRA madness)

notquiteaff

I realize you don’t need this anymore, but what I would probably do is

- try to maximize my sleep in J by skipping pre-arrival breakfast
- enjoy a leisurely breakfast somewhere at the airport after arrival (if flying J on LH, I have used the Arrivals lounge to get a hot shower before taking the train; not sure if it is open right now)
- take the later train and not worry about missing the earlier one

Mict

That was my plan if I were to stick with the FRA flight and later train. The arrival lounge in open until 12.30pm currently. Happy I was able to switch to MUC though, FRA is the airport I transit the most at and I hate it almost every time (rare exception when flying F )

sof_lance

All, planning a trip about a month out for a ICE from FRA to Köln.

How soon should I book online?

And is 2 hours between flight arrival and ICE departure sufficient?

Thanks very much.

fransknorge

Where are you arriving from and which airline (i.e. which terminal) ? That would help determine if 2 hours is enough or not.
You can book online as soon as you want. If you plan a non flexible cheap tickets the sooner will lock lower prices.