Getting There By Air:Flughafen Frankfurt/Main (FRA) Tel: (069) 6900.
Website:
www.frankfurt-airport.de Frankfurt Main airport is located 12km (8 miles) southwest of the city center. It is the largest airport in continental Europe, handling some 50 million passengers traveling on over 100 airlines every year and serving 296 destinations. It is a major European transport hub alongside London, Paris and Amsterdam. Terminals one (concourses A, B and C) and two (D and E) are linked by free
Skyline shuttle trains.
Current expansion includes a new runway and a third passenger terminal.
Airport facilities: Numerous banks, bureaux de change and ATMs are available in both terminals and in the Frankfurt Airport Center (FAC1). The airport facilities include travel agencies, shops, duty-free outlets, restaurants, bars, pharmacies and post offices (mostly located in terminal one). 3C Communications provide 24-hour credit card telephones, faxes and Internet access. Car hire is available from
Alamo, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and
Sixt.
Transport to the city: The airport has two railway stations and one bus terminal; the Sky Line people mover connects passengers to both terminals.
Deutsche Bahn (tel: 11861
or (0800) 150 7090
or (01805) 194 195; website:
www.bahn.de) city trains (S-Bahn) run to Frankfurt’s main railway station
(Hauptbahnhof) from platforms one to three of Frankfurt Airport station (journey time – 10 minutes). Tickets must be purchased beforehand at the blue RMV ticket machines. There are also local trains to Mainz, Wiesbaden and other destinations.
ICE, InterCity and
EuroCity trains to national and international destinations depart from platforms four to seven, at the AIRail Terminal (see
Getting There By Rail).
The bus terminal is situated in front of the terminal one arrivals hall. The public bus no. 61 for Frankfurt Südbahnhof runs daily. Hotels often arrange a free shuttle service for their guests, but taxis are readily available outside both terminals (journey time – 20-30 minutes).
Frankfurth Hahn (HHN) Tel: (06543) 509 200.
Website:
www.hahn-airport.de Frankfurt Hahn airport is located 120km (75 miles) west of Frankfurt, in the Hunsrück area. The airport serves as a hub for budget airline
Ryanair with daily flights to destinations throughout Europe. The airport continues to expand – the new passenger terminal opened in June 2005 while a new access road improves accessibility.
Airport facilities: Facilities include restaurants, bars, shops, duty-free, a pharmacy, telephones, a travel agent, newsagent, banks and ATMs. Car hire is available from
Alamo, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and
Sixt. Transport to the city: There is a daily direct bus service operated by
Bohr Omnibusse (tel: (06543) 50190; website:
www.bohr-omnibusse.de), which runs from Hahn airport to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (journey time – 1 hour 45 minutes), stopping at Frankfurt Main airport. Buses depart from in front of the terminal building; a new bus station is slated for completion in October 2005. Taxis also are available in front of the terminal building.
Approximate flight times to Frankfurt: From London is 1 hour 30 minutes; from New York is 7 hours 15 minutes; from Los Angeles is 14 hours 50 minutes; from Toronto is 7 hours 20 minutes and from Sydney is 25 hours.
Getting There By Road:Germany has an excellent network of major ‘B’ roads
(Bundesstrassen) and ‘A’ motorways
(Autobahnen). Generally, there are no speed limits on Autobahnen but individually marked speed limits appear on a large percentage of motorway miles. A maximum of 130kph (81mph) is recommended. Speed limits are 130kph (81mph) outside built-up areas, 100kph (62mph) or 50kph (31mph) in built-up areas. Traffic drives on the right. The minimum age for driving is 18 years. Seatbelts must be worn at all times and children under 12 years can only travel in the front seat with a child restraint. The legal maximum alcohol to blood ratio for driving is 0.05%. Foreign drivers require their national driving license and proof of insurance – third party insurance is mandatory but a Green Card is strongly recommended. A country identification sticker must be displayed on the vehicle.
Mitfahrzentrale are ‘car sharing’ agencies that link drivers with travelers heading to the same destination. In Frankfurt, these include
CityNetz Mitfahrzentrale, Hamburger Allee 37 (tel: (069) 19444; website:
www.citynetz-mitfahrzentrale.de), and the online company
Mitfahrgelegenheit (website:
www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de).
General information on traveling by car in Germany can be obtained from the
Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil Club – ADAC (tel: (0180) 510 1112; website:
www.adac.de), which also provides breakdown services throughout the country.
Auto Club Europa – ACE also provides information on their info-service (tel: (0180) 233 6677; website:
www.ace-online.de), as well as a breakdown service.
Emergency breakdown services: ADAC (0180) 222 2222
ACE (0180) 234 3536
Routes to the city: The Frankfurter Kreuz (near the airport, to the south of the city) is the most important junction in the German Autobahn network, where the A5 and A3 motorways connect. The A5 is the motorway to Frankfurt from the north (Hanover and Berlin) and the south (Karlsruhe and from across the border in Basel). The A3 connects Frankfurt with the east (Nürnberg) and west (Düsseldorf and Cologne).
Approximate driving times to Frankfurt: From Munich – 3 hours; Hanover – 3 hours; and Berlin – 4 hours 30 minutes.
Coach services: Deutsche Touring GmbH, Am Römerhof 17 (tel: (069) 790 350; website:
www.deutsche-touring.com), operates international services between Frankfurt and numerous destinations, including London, Paris, Rome, Moscow, Copenhagen and Budapest. They also operate regional services; destinations on the ‘Romantic Road’ route from Frankfurt include Munich, Würzburg, Augsburg and Schwangau. All buses depart from the
Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof Omnibusbahnof, at the main railway station. Tickets can be purchased at the station or on the bus.
Getting There By Rail:Deutsche Bahn – DB (tel: 11861
or (0800) 150 7090
or (01805) 194 195; website:
www.bahn.de) is the national railway provider. The network is modern, extensive and highly efficient. Services include high-speed
InterCityExpress (ICE) trains (between major cities in Germany),
InterCity (IC) and
EuroCity (EC) trains (serving German and European cities respectively), and
InterRegio (IR) and
InterRegio Express (IRE) trains (linking different regions of the country).
The
Hauptbahnhof (main railway station), Am Hauptbahnhof Strasse (tel: (069) 2653 4581), is the busiest in Germany and a major junction on the network, with 350,000 passengers using the station every day. Facilities at the station include tourist information, a bank, ATMs, a chemist and many other shops and eating outlets.
Rail services: There are IC and EC services to destinations throughout Germany and abroad, while ICE trains travel to a number cities, including Basel, Bonn, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. The ICE Cologne-Frankfurt link is the fastest on the network, at just 70 minutes (58 minutes to Frankfurt Flughafen). There are also night trains on some routes, including the
CityNightLine service (tel: (01805) 121 244; website:
www.citynightline.ch) from Vienna West, Basel and Zurich. IR, IRE, RE (Regional Express) RB (Regional Bahn) and S-Bahn trains serve regional and city destinations.
Frankfurt airport has its own long-distance train station in the
AIRail Terminal, with regular direct ICE services to Basel, Hanover, Amsterdam, Stuttgart and Munich.
Getting Around:Public TransportPublic transport within Frankfurt is run by the
Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt-am-Main – VGF, Kundenzentrum, Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse 10 (tel: (069) 19449; website:
www.vgf-ffm.de). VGF is run by the larger organization, the
Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund – RMV (tel: (01805) 768 4636; website:
www.rmv.de), which also provides excellent public transport information.
VGF consists of seven
underground (U-Bahn), eight
tram (Strassenbahn) and over 40
bus lines, including a weekend night bus service. These are supplemented by an extensive network of
city trains (S-Bahn) operated by
Deutsche Bahn (tel: 11861
or (0800) 150 7090
or (01805) 194 195; website:
www.bahn.de).
There is a VGF information pavilion at the Hauptbahnhof, which is open Monday-Friday 0800-1200.
The entire VGF network is divided into zones (one to seven), which determine the price of tickets. Various
passes, such as the one-day pass (
Tageskarte), allowing unlimited travel within zones one to three during a 24-hour period, are available. Single, short-journey, group and day tickets can all be bought from automated RMV ticket machines (
card-o-maten), which have instructions in English. There are also ticket machines for weekly, monthly and yearly passes, although these can also be purchased from VGF and DB sales points. The
Congress Ticket must be purchased in advance from
Frankfurt Tourist+Congress Board (tel: (069) 2123 8703
or 0396 or 0776) and entitles the holder to one full day’s travel throughout Frankfurt, including the airport. It is only available for those attending a conference or similar event.
TaxisTaxis are usually beige Mercedes and they can safely be hailed on the street. They can also be ordered from the central issuing agency
Taxi Zentrale (tel: (069) 230 001
or 250 001; website:
www.taxi-frankfurt.de). A tip of 5-10% or rounding up of the fare is normally expected.
Driving in the CityDriving in the center of Frankfurt can be stressful, as it requires a good knowledge of the one way system. It can be heavily congested, especially during rush hours (0800-0900 and 1700-1800), when it can be even more confusing. Furthermore, German drivers are not known for their patience. The
Strassenverkehrsbehörde, Mainzer Landstrasse 323 (tel: (069) 2124 2636; website:
www.svb.frankfurt.de), provides up-to-date information on the traffic situation in the city.
Drivers should note that trams always have priority in the city, although driving on their tracks is permissible and usually unavoidable. Buses also have priority when leaving stops.
Parking on the street is rarely available and being towed away can be very expensive. Street parking is by meter and is quite expensive, as are car parks, which also get congested very quickly. There are many covered car parks in Frankfurt. The following are open 24 hours:
Hauptwache, Kornmarkt 10;
Schiller-Passage, Taubenstrasse 11;
Junghofstrasse, Junghofstrasse;
City-Parkhaus, Querstrasse;
Börse, Meisengasse;
Alte Oper, Opernplatz;
Alt-Sachsenhausen, Walter-Kolb-Strasse 16;
Konrad-Adenauer-Strasse, Konrad Adenauer-Strasse 15;
Mousonturm, Waldschmidtstrasse 6;
Congress Center Messe, Theodor-Heuss-Allee 3-5; and
Westend, Savignystrasse 58.
Car HireRegulations vary depending on the company but drivers generally must be at least 19 years old and have held a full driving license for at least one year (an International Driving Permit is needed if the national license is not in roman script). Providers include
Avis, Schmidtstrasse 39 (tel: (069) 730 111; website:
www.avis.de),
Budget, Schulstrasse 7 (tel: (069) 614 004; website:
www.budget.de),
Hertz, Hauptbahnhof (tel: (069) 230 484; website:
www.hertz.de) and
Sixt, Allerheiligenstrasse 52 (tel: (01805) 252 525; website:
www.e-sixt.de).
Bicycle HireBicycles can be hired from
Call A Bike (tel: (07000) 522 5522; website:
www.callabike.de). Customers telephone, give their credit card details and receive an electronic code, which unlocks a bike from one of the depots situated at major crossroads throughout the city.
Rebicycle, Töngesgasse 23-25 (tel: (069) 4080 7436) also offers bicycles for hire. A range of bicycles, including trekking bikes and mountain bikes, are available; a deposit is required. See also
Bicycle Tours in
Tours of the City.
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