Prague to frankfurt by train
 

Dear Fodorites,We [ 3 adults ] need to travel by train from Prague to Frankfurt to board an Emirates Flight to Dubai leaving Frankfurt at 8.15pm on 22 December 2008.We have never travelled by train in Europe. Any ideas? Comments? Assistance?
Thankyou one and all.

It's not a difficult proposition, because there are many trains on that route each day. You could, for example, catch an EC leaving Prague at 1036, arriving at Dresden at 1246. At Dresden, you change to an ICE which arrives at Frankfurt Airport at 1748, giving you about 2h27m to complete the flight formalities. If you think that you would more time, then take a slightly earlier train. The fare is about €100 pee person. Train services are generally reliable and frequent in Europe.

I took this trip last December and it was easy. I changed trains in Dresden. The train from Prague was late, so I missed the connection I was supposed to make. This isn't a crisis, though---just catch the next train bound for Frankfurt.

In terms of advice, the best piece I can give you is to keep your luggage to a reasonable amount: if you can't carry it up and down stairs you don't need it.

You can check the train schedules at http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en

where the en means English version.

Your best schedule is to leave Prague Holesovice station at 8:36 and arrive in Frankfurt Airport at 15:48. (Note the Holesovice part, it is NOT, repeat NOT, Prague Hlavni nadrazi - the main station.)

If you want to get off at the main Frankfurt station, you may do so because the train stops there before continuing to the Frankfurt airport.

You have one change on this connection in Dresden.

In my experience, German trains are very good. Czech trains can be crowded. I suggest a seat reservation because they are cheap to buy and ensure that you have a good seat.

We recently took a train from Prague to Munich, and I was very, very glad I had seat reservations.

Let me suggest that you book your Dresden - Frankfurt and Prague - Dresden sections of the trip
separately.

IF you will buy in advance, and do it early enough, you can get the Dresden Frankfurt leg for €29 rather than the normal fare of €83 euro.

Otherwise the 2nd class fare from Prague to Frankfurt airport is €103.
The cost of the Prague Dresden leg is €26.30 on the German web site.

You can save about about $225 doing it that way. (Asumming 3 people traveling.)

Now one hitch. The reduced fare is for a specific time and date.
On the normal connection from Prague to Frankfurt, you have only 9 minutes between trains. If trains are on time, 9 minutes is sufficient, but even 5 minutes late could be most inconvenient.

So as a hedge against a late arrival from Prague, you might schedule a longer layover in Dresden. Trains requiring no changes between Dresden and Frankfurt am Main leave Dresden hourly most of the day. At worst you would have a 69 minute layover while you enjoyed saving money.

For the Prague - Dresden portion, you can get the tickets in advance delivered to your hotel from Cedok Travel. I suggest contacting [email protected].

For the German part, you can print your own ticket at home on A4 regular typewriter paper directly from the German site. You will need a credit card of course for the transaction.

I have done this self printing twice. Deutsche Bahn's computer sends you a pdf file which you download and print. Your credit card becomes your verification! So have the same one to show to the conductor. Your passport will not help you here.

Notice the am Main part of Frankfurt because there is a Frankfurt am Oder in the eastern part of Germany.

More than one innocent abroad traveler has gone to the wrong Frankfurt!

Dear adeben, therese and bob-brown, thankyou for all the help. Its amazing assistance.

One more comment. When I made the separate booking suggestion, I was assuming the lower advanced fare.

If you have a normal ticket, it is good for a period of time. If you arrive late in Dresden, you simply wait for the next train.

If you have an advanced ticket, you are left holding the bag. I suggest going to the Imbiss, getting a pretzel with some Löwensenf (fiery mustard), put a little of it on the ticket, and throw it in the trash.

My experience with Czech trains is very, very limited. Other comments on this forum indicate that timeliness is often a sticking point. All I can say is that our train from Prague to Munich was just a little late in arriving. We were behind schedule when we got to the border, but the crew changed, a different locomotive was attached, and the rate of speed increased considerably.

With a 9 minute connect time, however, even 5 or 6 minutes late can be a real problem, particularly if you have a lot of luggage.

I don't know the configuration of the Dresden station at all, but if you had to go up and down steps battling 55 pounds of trans Atlantic luggage, it could be a problem.
Toting that load up a flight of stairs is not something I do at full speed these days.

I'd give myself more than 9 minutes. The long haul trains can run late.

There is a sleeper that runs from Prague to Franfurt. You leave Prague around 9 PM and arrive in Frankfurt around 6 AM. No transfers. More money, but you get all day to explore Frankfurt.