Pam09

I will be arriving by international flight on a Thurs at 10:30 a.m. and wish to take public transportation to Freiburg. It looks like 3 or 4 train changes. Is there anything better?? Is there a bus?

quokka

??? There are hourly connections from Frankfurt Airport to Freiburg on ICE trains which take about two hours - every two hours there is a direct one, in between it's with one change in Mannheim.
Where did you look up connections? Did you by chance misspell one of the city names or tick "only local transport"?

Pam09

I LOVE Fodorites!! That's exactly what I did - hit "only local transport. Let me try again!

quokka

Okay, second try! ;-)

bigtyke

Depending on when you are going, you may wish to purchase a ticket in advance. If you buy 92 days in advance, the tickets are very cheap - 70% off on the ticket I purchased. www.bahn.de

These tickets are for one specific train. If you miss the train (such as when your plane is late), then you are out the money. I gambled on my last trip and lost - my plane was about 4 hours late.

One advantage of purchasing in advance is then you can reserve a seat on the train.

Cowboy1968

Actually , you can reserve a seat until 10 minutes before departure - either at the ticket machines or at staffed counters.

PalenQ

yes you can reserve a seat just before the train if such seats are available and IME they usually are but not always - but then you just can board and sooner or later someone will get off, etc.