Travel to Paris from Frankfurt
 

I'm going to be traveling to Paris in a couple of weeks and I'm trying to find low cost air fare out of Frankfurt to get there. Neither EasyJet or RyanAir fly from Frankfurt to Paris. Any other suggestions? or Any idea how much train fare might cost? I'm just trying to avoid driving. Thanks!

The website www.railsaver.com says 101 USD, 2nd class. By contrast, www.raileurope.com shows a bewlidering spectrum of options (presumably for over night travel - - it IS an 8 hour trip), ranging from $50 (child) or $75 (youth) to $85 (senior) or $100 for a full-fare adult "reclining seat" - - or from $56 (child) to as much as $236 for various sleeper options.

It might be worth your while to look into train to Cologne/Bonn airport, and then www.germanwings.com to CDG. Their evening departures are as low as 29 euro.

I didn't try plugging in train schedules to see if there would be any real time savings to do this or not. I wouldn't be surprised if total time (to a hotel in Paris) might still be 6 hours or more - - despite the flight time only being 70 minutes.

Best wishes,

Rex

Schedules are on www.bahn.de. The fastest journeys are via Köln then by Thalys high-speed train; the fastest journey takes about 5 hrs 20 mins. There is a direct Eurocity train, taking 6 hrs 23 mins, with a one-way second-class fare of 80 euros.

According to applefares.com and skyscanner.net-2 search engines for low cost inter europe flights, there is no low cost airline service between the 2 cities. They list most if not all low cost carriers.

YEARS ago I flew Swissair from Paris to Frankfurt & had a most memorable (wonderful) flight. I'm sure Lufthansa must have service too.

IF you follow the www.bahn.de route to book an itinerary, be extremely wary of any connections that have less than 15 or 20 minutes between trains. On some of my more recent trips to Germany (several trips over the last two months), the trains have often been late. When I have an hour between trains, no big deal. But on our return to Brussels from Baden-Baden (an ICE train that stops at Frankfurt airport then to Koln for the Thalys), bahn.de recommended a route that had only 6 mintues between trains. Our train into Koln arrived late, leaving us only ONE minute to make the Thalys train several platforms away. We missed it, of course. We tried to rebook on the next Thalys and the guy at the ticket desk in Koln was very hostile and said we had to buy new tickets. I went over to the information desk at the entry of the train station and complained; the people there were very apologetic and said of course we should not pay for new tickets when we missed our connection due to a late train arrival.
Bottom line: don't take a train route with less than 15 minutes between trains. It's too stressful and the chances are good that you might miss your train. I love riding German trains, but they simply aren't as punctual as the Swiss.
MaryPPP, this won't do you any good now, but next year, Deutsch Bahn wants to open a direct Frankfurt to Paris ICE route. Can't wait!

Thank you all for the information. I think we may just drive it after all, provided I can find out some info about parking in Paris. I know most hotels don't offer it and when they do it's for a fee. Does anyone know anything about parking garages in Paris? Are they really expensive? Thanks again for your help!

Frankly, I don't understand why you now want to drive? Will it be faster? I doubt it. Do you need the flexibility of a car to get between the two places? Also doubtful from what you've said. And now you have to consider parking, too. Cost? Perhaps cheaper unless you add the cost of insurance, petrol, and, possibly, tolls on major French roadways. If you changed your mind simply because ONE person had an experience with late trains I think that is foolish. And the fares are not that "bewildering" when you consider the ones Rex looked at are for various levels of NIGHT service, not daytime service.
Driving? OK, WHO is going to be doing all the WORK of that driving? Who will get and read the maps? Will you have to stop for petrol, etc., etc.
I think I'd reconsider once more.

JonJon, it's true I am only ONE person, although I'm usually traveling with other people and I take trains to/from and within Germany about every two weeks. Those trains have been late more often than not. Not very late, usually 5 minutes or so, but when bahn.de suggests a route with only 6 minutes between trains, those 5 minutes do become a problem, especially if you have luggage. Which doesn't mean don't take the trains, just plan your route so that you have 15 minutes or more between trains.

If you're worried about changing trains, take a direct Eurocity train from Frankfurt to Paris.

Mary if you type paris AND parking in the text search above you'll find some threads with good info. One thread is only a few days old & has info on hotels with parking facilities. There's another thread that says paris and parking? which should also have info. I'd provide the links but I'm having computer problems.

I'm pretty sure there are also park & drive areas on the periphique from which you can train into central Paris.

Hi Mary

Here is another person who has had trouble with German train connections. Btilke has given you good advice.

If I unduly influenced you with my use of the word "bewildering", then I would probably choose to retract it.

However, I think driving would be near the top of my list of options. But it would all depend on what ARE the true total costs - - in particular, is this a one-way rental, for one day that could end up costing $200-300, with the drop charge?

Driving will not take you MORE time than train or plane, and it could take you less. And nothing gives you as much control over your own timetable as having a car.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll look into taking a train a little more, but it looks to be more convienant and less expensive to drive. I actually live about 1/2 from Frankfurt so by the time I were to drive there or elsewhere, pay to park my car for a few days, and pay for round trip train fare for two it seems it just might be cheaper to drive. It also might be nice to take a detour or two into the countryside along the way. Thank you for the info about parking mclaurie, I will look into costs. Again, I appreciate everyone's advice.

Hi Mary, We had the same dilemma over Thanksgiving... we also live near Frankfurt and found the train to be too expensive compared to what it would cost us to drive. We are military and used gas coupons in Germany just before crossing the boarder and only filled up once on the way down and once on the way back (just to be sure we didn't run out of fuel). We stayed in the 6th and our hotel was right across the street from a parking garage. We paid just under 60 euro for nearly 3 days of parking. We had a city map of Paris prior to arrival and found the streets easy enough to navigate without losing our minds! Driving was a fine choice for us and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Good luck to you!

There are overnight buses that are operated by Deutsche Touring between Paris and Frankfurt. You depart Frankfurt's main train station and arrive at Bagnolet in Paris. The round trip is 81 Euros, about half that if you book more than 30 days in advance, lesser discounts for shorter-termed advance booking:

www.deutsche-touring.com

Gottatravel-
Thanks for the info. We're military too and that's really nice to know about gas. Did you end up having to purchase gas in France? Was it really expensive? It's nice to hear you were able to drive completely into the city and find semi-affordable parking. Any problems with vandalism? I'm assuming you have the USA USAEUR plates. I've heard it can be a problem for some people. Thanks again!

I was using my Mom's screen name when I posted this, so I just wanted to thank everyone in person for their help. We had a great time. We ended up driving, which only took 5.5 hours. The tolls were a little pricey, about 25 euros one way, but we still saved a lot more than if we would have flown or taken a train. I wanted to highly recommend the hotel we stayed in, Hotel Malar (www.hotelmalar.com--95 euros/night). It was very, very charming, and the staff was WONDERFUL. It was about 3 blocks from the Eiffel Tower on a quiet little street. There were plenty of cafes and shops around the hotel, and a parking garage a few blocks away (23 euros/24 hours). If you're traveling to Paris, I highly recommend this as the perfect place to stay.