DaveB

Hi,
My daughter(age 20)is flying into Frankfurt Germany on Sept 7th and needs to take the train to Florence Italy. Where can I find out how much this will cost and how long it will take, and any other info she needs to know? Thank you in advance.

zooey91

A few options:

Raileurope.com
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
http://www.bahn.de/p/view/internatio...l_guests.shtml

fall06

I'm burnign with curiousity to know why she simply doesn't fly from the Frankfurt airport, either to Firenze, or Pisa, Bologna or Milano.

DaveB

Thanks zooey.
Fall06, flying is a possibility, flight to Frankfurt was booked based on $ from SFO. I've heard if you have luggage, flying between countries in Europe is not that cheap. True?

J62

I agree with fall06. Flying into Frankfurt then traveling by rail to Florence is roughly the same distance as flying into NYC to get to Charlotte, NC, or Portland OR to get to SFO.

It's at least a 12hr trek by rail, requiring at least one train change along the way.

She should fly, especially since she'll already be at FRA airport.

zooey91

Flights in Europe tend to be cheaper than U.S., unlike the trains, which can be fairly expensive. Would she be traveling round trip to nd from FRA?

But if she is traveling on an unlimited rail pass and is able to sleep on the train then then train could be a good option.

J62

If she is flying, for example, either Lufthansa or UAL from SFO to Frankfurt, and Lufthansa on to Florence she'll get boarding passes at SFO, and her bags will be checked all the way through - she won't see them until arrival in Florence and there will be no additional charge.

The best bet may be to check with your carrier and see if you can change the ticket to get her all the way to FLR or Pisa. She'll burn an entire extra day getting there by train.

zooey91

If she is returning to Frankfurt, flying would definitely be cheaper and quicker, but you might want to consider having her go into an alternative airport and taking the train into florence. E.g., flights to Bologna tend to be cheaper and more frequent, and it's a short train to Florence (although she'd need to get from the airport to the train station).

And if she's saving the night she'd have spent on the train, she could spend a night in Bologna (great food, and a college town).

fall06

We need to know more to advise.

Is this a student carrying three months worth of clothes?

What is the cost of getting into Frankfurt to take the train and what is the cost of the train, plus money to eat for the duration of the ride?

Also, does your daughter have any experience flying transatlantic? When I was young, jet lag absolutely wiped me out. I would have been a basket case if I had to get on a train for 12 hours after flying from SFO to Frankfurt.

If luggage amounts to another $200 bucks, I'd still go for it over a train.

smartcookie

That's a really long train ride, probably overnight and exhausting. It would make much more sense to fly via one of the low cost airlines in Europe.

I'm also curious if you've already bought your ticket to Frankfurt and if not, what other cities you considered flying into. Anywhere else in Italy? That would make more sense.

DaveB

Thanks for the replies.
Ticket to Frankfurt is already bought, it's a non-stop from SFO on US Airways.
Based on the forum's consensus, I think I'll nix the train and have her fly to Italy from Frankfurt. The only snag is she'll have to bus to the other airport in Frankfurt to catch the cheap flight to Pisa or Bologna and then bus or train to Florence. Thanks again everyone!

fall06

Go for Pisa if you can because it's much closer to Firenze than the Bolognese low cost airport, which I think is all the way east in Forli, not really in Bologna proper.

But look closely to make sure you can't get a cheap flight on a regular carrier. Don't fail to look at the cost of flying into either Malpensa or Linate in Milano. The train ride from there is just as good as Bologna, for sure. (here is another low cost airport near Milano, and I assume there is regular bus service to the Milano central train station, but I'm not sure).

fall06

I just did a quck look and found that Lufthansa and Alitalia fly out of FRA to Milan for just under $200 RT

They don't have the kind of serious weight restrictions that the low-cost carreirs do.

It costs about 15 euro to get from the Milanese airports to the Central Station. It's about a 3 hour trip to Firenze (and one hour from Malpensa to the train station).

When you compare costs, be sure to factor in the cost of the airport transfer, plus all the taxes the low-cost carriers add on, plus the additional fares if you fly into Forli or some other airport that means another connection to the main train station in Bologna or Pisa.

lovisa

Dave B:
I assume by "the other Frankfurt airport" you mean "Frankfurt Hahn". It's not remotely close, and I believe it would quite a trek to get from one airport to the other on public transportation, not just one simple bus trip. Much better to do as fall06 suggests and fly to Milan.

lovisa

Dear Dave: Just to give you one more thing to worry about: You indicate your daughter is taking a non-stop flight. U.S. Airways doesn't have any non-stops SFO to Frankfurt. Flight 702, for example stops in Philadelphia and changes equipment with arrival in Philadelphia at 7:30 P.M., and take-off on the next leg at 8:20 P.M. If the plane from SFO is late, do not assume the other plane will wait for the passengers from San Francisco even though it has the same flight number.

fall06

Yeah, but if you miss a plane, they put you on another one.

lovisa

Yes, they'll put you on another one, but if you've bought another plane ticket from FRA to somewhere in Italy, you may just lose it if you miss your flight. And when is another one?

lovisa

If she decides to take the train after all, on her day of arrival, I would take a train from Frankfurt airport to Munich (there are trains every 1/2 hour or so). Bahn.de shows the regular fare at 81 Euros, but indicates some seats may be available pre-purchased for Euro29.

She would have to spend the night in Munich near the train station, and the next day I would take EC 85, a nonstop leaving at 9:33 a.m., arriving Florence 17:53 p.m. (again Bahn.de shows regular fare at 98.10, but advanced purchase tickets may be available for 32.50 Euros