Is it better to go ahead and purchase our train ticket from Frankfurt to Munich (landing in Frankfurt early in the morning, taking the train to Munich immediately) now or should we just buy it when we arrive in Frankfurt? Looking at one on bahn.com for about 100 euros. Is that a standard price or should I expect to pay more if we purchase it at the train station?
Thanks all. The help you all provide is invaluable.

If you book ahead the E100 ticket will be E39, E49, E69, depending on what train you take (time of day) so it's much cheaper to buy ahead. If the standard fare is E100 then that is what you'll pay at the station.

Standard fare is about €100. If you want to pay that much you can just buy it there. If you want an advance-sale savings fare, there may be some in a separate column for your date - or there may not. Problem with those is that you lock in travel at a specific time - and who knows if your flight will be delayed or exactly how quickly you'll exit customs and passport control.

If you want to pay less, there are other ways. Provide the number of passengers, your arrival date, and expected arrival time, and you'll get some suggestions. Also whether you MUST make it to Munich that day. Also whether you might take a long-distance bus (perhaps very cheaply.)

It depends on the metric used to define <u>better.</u>
better flexibility: buy after arriving
better price: buy web discount tickets before.

Thanks Adrienne and Russ-2 people, expect to land at 6:30 am on May 10 and we must make it to Munich because our accommodations are already paid. Prefer not to take a bus.
How long does passport control/customs typically take?

Customs is non existent in Europe unless you're bringing in contraband. Immigration should not take long, neither should collecting your baggage. It's pretty smooth going in Frankfurt. If your plane is on time then you should be through everything and at the train station within the hour.

Did you know that you can go directly from the airport?

Best deal with your circumstances is €52 for two using the regional trains on a "Quer durchs Land" ticket - a daypass good after 9 am. Your train leave FRA Regionalbahnhof at 9:02. You arrive at 14:58 in Munich. You switch trains 4 times. You can also leave at 10:02, 11:02 etc. if your train is late and it takes about the same amount of time. You can buy this ticket at the airport too.

The fast train option takes 3.5 - 4 hours and costs €202 for two. You can leave earlier if you wish at a variety of hours and you'll have either a direct train or one change of train. These trains leave from FRA's other station, the Fernbahnhof.

To Munich? I was under the impression that we would board a train at the airport that would take us to the main train station where we would get on our train to Munich. Are you saying that we don't have to do this? That would be great!

Hey. Disregard most of my last post. I looked at the wrong date.

The fast train info is correct.

The first option: You can travel on a "Happy Weekend" ticket using the regional trains at any hour that morning for €44 for two from the Regionalbahnhof. Buy from a ticket machine at the airport. Trip still takes about 6 hours and 3-4 changes of train. You could probaly make the 8:02 and arrive at 13:49.

Looks like on May 10 you're already looking at 69 Euros minimum per person for a saver fare, for a direct train from Frankfurt Flughafen (airport station) to Munich. To play it safe you should probably pick a train at least an hour or two from departure; if you miss the train, the saver fare is worthless and you'll have to buy a new ticket at the 101 Euro price.

I wouldn't want to take a long bus ride the first day upon arrival in Germany either - but FYI, if money is an object at all, you can take a direct bus from the airport to Munich for only 17 Euros; see www.MeinFernBus.de . It is 5.5 hours vs. 3.3 hours on the train. I took one of these buses last month and it was fine for a 2.25 hr day trip each way. 5.5 hours is a long bus ride at one shot, though.

With the fast trains some are direct from FRA to Munich.

If you don't take Russ's Happy Weekend recommendation then you could take the 8:37 train from the airport (current price E69) or the 8:53 for E79 or the 9:37 for E69.

These trains take 3.5 to 4 hours with no changes.

@adrienne: problem with those departure times at those "savings fare" prices is that they are inflexible - a delayed flight might mean he forefeits the tickets entirely and has to buy new ones - at full price - or use the Happy Weekend

Russ - I do know that.

Why the name change?

Hi dugi_otok!!! My laptop was stolen--had to deactivate all my accounts (fb, bank, email, library, etc... and I got worried about this one in particular because I had travel details in my posts and because I had this account set to "remember" me, I was worried someone could use that info in some way (figure out when we would be gone, etc)...--lesson learned there! This has been a mess and I doubt the change helped much but it made me feel better at the time. I looked for a private message feature to let some of you know but I couldn't find one--didn't want to post this on original acct...

Thanks for the help everyone!

Glad to hear that you are OK. Have a great vacation!

Are you doing any other train trips - if so look at the IMO bargain German Railpass (Twin if two folks traveling together) and that pass lets you hop on any train anytime with very few exceptions that you will never encounter.

If taking a handful of iner-city trips the pass per day can be as cheap as those deep discounted tickets and again you can hop any train anytime - a key for me when landing as you never really know when you will be able to take the train.

Discounted tickets I believe are train-specific and cannot be changed nor refunded so when landing you have to build a lot of fudge factor time because if you miss your designated discounted train then you lose that ticket and have to pay full fare as you see can be dauntingly high.

So for complete flexibility to hop any train anytime check out the pass - that is if you are doing more than just the Frankfurt to Munich train.

For loads of great info on German trains and passes check out these IMo superb sources: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

or use the Happy Weekend>

would that now mean hours more travel time than on ICEs - I think flying to Munich as and add-on could be a viable solution as well?