Going from FRA (Frankfurt) to Amsterdam

Actually, you don't have to get to the Frankfurt main train station - there's an airport train station too, and that same direct train goes from Frankfurt to FRA Airport on to Amsterdam Centraal. In fact, after leaving downtown Frankfurt, it stops at the airport a few minutes later - at 16:43 picking a random day this week on Bahn.com, and gets in to Amsterdam Centraal at 20:26.

You'd basically arrive in Amsterdam at about two hours later, when you factor in baggage claim and then getting from Schiphol airport into Amsterdam - even though it's a quick train ride to Amsterdam Centraal, it is one more mode of transportation, one extra connection, etc. On a train, at least you could get up and walk around, use your phone the whole time, etc.

I've had to deal with this kind of thing a few times too. Tough call. I'm also pretty frugal, so I'd lean toward the cheaper option, except that I'd be tired after the long flight.

The question is, how cheap is the early flight? Is it worth booking it anyway? Could you get some sort of trip insurance that might cover the cost of a delay? (Assume KLM wouldn't put you on the next flight at 4:25 you miss the earlier one...but you probably could for the extra cost.)

Have you tried booking FRA-AMS as a round trip flight instead of a one-way and then throwing away the return? Sometimes that can be cheaper than booking a one way, based on weird fare rules.

If you have to interline, no, even if you only had carry on luggage, you will have long walk from the area where planes arrive from outside Schengen Zone, pass through Schengen Immigration and get your passport stamped, then get to your KLM gate, which could still be a ways away.

That direct train to Amsterdam leaves from the airport long distance train station at 4:43 pm, no need to go into Frankfurt city. Just follow the signs with "train" icon and "Fernbahnhof". The walk-up price is 124.40 EUR.

Frankfurt airport has its own railway station where your train stops on its route from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. On the website of the German railways you have to select »Frankfurt(M)Flughafen« to find the departure time.
The train looks the safe way. Unless your flight is very much delayed, you'll have ample time to get that train.

When we landed in Frankfurt on 8/29/17, automated EU immigration moved fast. But there was only ONE officer doing "All other Passports." So we waited in a long line (and we got off the plane first ...) The OP have will have immigration in Frankfurt, where walking distances are large.

I have often saved award miles on United by accepting two-segment Lufthansa flights as Award Travel. That would get you more certainty,

Have you thought about spending the night in Frankfurt and booking an early morning train for the next day? Solves many of your problems and removes the stress of not knowing if you will make that train. Plus, the idea of sitting on a train for a few more hours after a trans-Atlantic flight isn't much fun. Add in the time you will spend sitting in the airport waiting for said train. You will be so exhausted!

Enjoy a relaxing evening in Frankfurt, perhaps a stroll along the river with some sightseeing to get over the jet lag, have a nice meal, early to bed, and you can be in Amsterdam the next morning.

Ms Jo took the words out of my mouth (keyboard). You could get a hotel room by the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Station), recover from jet lag. There is a direct train from Frankfurt at 5:39 if you're like me and wake up at 3 am your first night, or later trains. But you can buy tickets now for as low as 59.90 EUR to Amsterdam.

My wife and I have talked this over and we'll take the advice from Ms.Jo and Sam and overnight at Frankfurt airport hotel. As many of you have said, the tight connection is not practical and why sit around in the airport for hours after a 13 hour flight from home even in business class. We'll take a train the next day at our leisure from the airport to Amsterdam although we'll likely opt for one with a minimum number of connections. I haven't seen any fares as low as 59 euros but I am aware that there are cheaper fares using a Fly/Rail program offered by most airlines.

Once in Europe, we do prefer to get around by train even though the low cost airlines are making it quite competitive. The lack of airport security and the ability to view the countryside does offset the speed. Thanks, everyone, for your advice on this matter. I'll likely be posting more questions as I get more into planning for thsi trip next year.

But why stay at the airport in Frankfurt? Why not take an airport train into town and stay there? I haven't visited Frankfurt, but I can't imagine wanting to be stuck out at the airport. But, I do tend to hit the ground running after a transatlantic flight, and I stay up to normal sleep time on my first night to try to adjust to the local time zone as quickly as possible, vs taking a nap as soon as I land in Europe and then not being able to sleep the first night.

You can of course stay at a Frankfurt Airport hotel or in Frankfurt if you wish, but IMHO the best place to overnight near FRA is in the Rhine River town of Mainz. It's a direct 25-minute train ride from FRA, and if you are taking the scenic route from FRA to Amsterdam, you will pass through Mainz anyway. Mainz has a small, attractive old town zone, enveloped by a large pedestrians-only zone, and some fine things to see.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8517/8466997951_748e0b61f0_b.jpg
https://www.familyadventureproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_4192.jpg
http://www.neumainzer.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Besuch-auf-dem-Mainzer-Wochenmarkt.jpg
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187393-Activities-Mainz_Rhineland_Palatinate.html

Next morning travel to Amsterdam via the MIDDLE RHINE VALLEY, Germany's most scenic train route. You'll pass attractive old-world towns and dozens of castles:

http://www.bahnbilder.de/1200/der-nahverkehr-auf-rechten-rheinstrecke-987170.jpg
https://deeleea.com/wp-content/uploads/EUR2016-0013935.jpg

If instead you take the direct route to Amsterdam from Frankfurt proper, you will not see any of this.

You can find train schedules for this scenic route by simply entering "Koblenz" as a stopover station (with no stopover time, just to get the proper routing.) Advance-sale tickets for this route tend to be less expensive than the high-speed route from Frankfurt, as I recall.

I wouldn't stay at the airport either. You are in one of the most historic cities in Germany, so why not spend a couple of hours walking around, having dinner, sightseeing. The hotels are cheaper too and it is only 11 min. from the airport.

Direct, fast trains to Amsterdam leave the main station.

Weekdays, the ICE trains to Amsterdam go every 2 hours (give or take a minute or two) starting at 5:29 am, until 1:29 pm, then 2 more trains at 4:27 pm and 7:29 pm. You don't say when you are going, but the first and last trains of the day are the cheapest when bought 2 or 3 months in advance, the most expensive are the 7:27 am and 4:27 pm, as you would expect as they are "business man specials". Mid day are also reasonable priced.
Its a 4 hour train ride, and you will hit 200 mph in stretches between Frankfurt and Cologne.

Just to be clear - Jo and Sam's tips refer to the fastest, most direct route on the ICE trains between Frankfurt and Cologne from Frankfurt's main station. The DB itinerary search page will turn up all the trips for that high-speed route very readily. You can see that route in red on THIS MAP.

The same map also shows the traditional Frankfurt-Cologne "scenic route" (in black.) Several years ago, this was the only train route. Tracks hug the Rhine nearly the entire way via Mainz, Koblenz, and Bonn and you pass through the same territory that attracts so many European river cruise enthusiasts. The Bingen-Bonn segment is peppered with castles.

Entering Koblenz as a stopover will bring up all the schedules for just this route. Travel time to Cologne from Mainz (instead of Frankfurt) is 1:45 (vs. around 1:15 from Frankfurt on the high-speed route.) Not bad. Trains are direct from Mainz too - IC trains leave as early as 4:17 but you're more likely to want some breakfast before boarding - 7:17, 8:20, 8:48, 9:20, 10:20 are the current options, and all of these trips show a current "Sparpreis" fare for the date I checked (Dec. 6) of €25 - €40 for the entire Mainz - Amsterdam journey.

I am getting more feedback on this forum than I expected (I have not used this site for several years) - thank you all. However, your comments would be easier for you to make and more helpful to me if I provided more detailed information on our planned trip. You should also know that we are a retired 76 year old couple who have been to Europe before, mostly Italy, and we are reasonably fit and healthy. We have passable, tourist French, Spanish and Italian but not German.

We plan to fly from Victoria to Seattle to Frankfurt on Condor Airlines. After this long trip, we will stay overnight in Frankfurt (at the airport or in the city) and then go on to Amsterdam by train as Condor, in conjuction with Deutsche Bahn, has a inexpensive Fly/Rail program. We have booked a river cruise from Amsterdam to Strasbourg, departing on a Wednesday. We've never been to Amsterdam so we'd like to spend 3 or 4 days there with perhaps a day trip to Bruges.

Since we arrive at FRA at 1:35PM, staying in the city does make more sense than at the airport as there is much more to see and do and eat before retiring in the evening to better adjust to the new time zone. I assume train or bus service from the airport is good. We plan to stay in a private apartment in Amsterdam so arrival there in the afternoon makes most sense. Fortunately, there seems to be many trains between Frankfurt and Amsterdam although we would prefer to minimize the number of transfers.

With this additional clarification of our plans, I look forward to reading your comments. I will continue to use this Forum for more feedback on the other segments of our holiday - we have a second river cruise booked from Passau to Budapest several days after leaving Strasbourg. Thank you all for your suggestions. Gerry

That is helpful to know the details.

Since you will be on a cruise that will pass through the Rhine Gorge, there is no reason to go out of your way to see it from the train on the way to Amsterdam.

The Rail and Fly program is a really good deal. One thing that is not clear is whether or not you must travel from Frankfurt Airport. If you do, it would complicate things regarding staying in Frankfurt city. So I'd make inquiries. Otherwise, it is 14 EUR per person just to ride the ICE from Frankfurt Hbf to Frankfurt Airport Fernbahnhof. With a price of 29 EUR per person for the Rail and Fly to Amsterdam, doesn't make much sense.

There are cheaper ways to travel from Frankfurt to Frankfurt Airport, but it is another transfer you'd probably like to avoid. You can go into Frankfurt from a hotel at the airport, using the S-Bahn trains. They go every 15 minutes and its only a 10 to 15 minute journey and you can get a Gruppentageskarte that will cover both of you for 16.40 EUR into the city and back to the airport in a single day, plus any transport within the city itself.

So see if you can travel from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof to Amsterdam with the rail and fly. It is 4.80 EUR per person to ride the S-Bahn from the airport into the city.

When time comes, you might consider purchasing seat reservations for the train to Amsterdam, they are only 4.50 EUR per person (2nd class) and you can pick exactly what seats you from the on-lone train seat map and be guaranteed of having them. The 9:30 train will get you to Amsterdam by 1:30 pm, or the 11:30 by 3:30 pm. I assume this trip is for next year, so there may be some slight changes in the schedule.

Rail&Fly is indeed usually the best option; however, if I understand Condor's website correctly, their Rail&Fly tickets are only valid within Germany, so you would need an additional ticket from the Dutch border to Amsterdam. Also, the biggest advantage compared to saver fares is the flexibility of Rail&Fly tickets which allows you to take a later train in case of a delayed flight. However, as you will spend a night in Frankfurt, I guess you may not need this flexibility; if you are willing to commit to a particular train connection (meaning the ticket will be worthless if you miss your train), a saver fare booked on www.bahn.com might be the better option in your case; you should check that for your particular travel date.

The DB Rail and Fly flyer indicates that you can go to Amsterdam as long as it is on a German ICE, IC, or EC train.
https://www.bahn.de/p/view/mdb/bahnintern/services/mobilitaet_service/rail_fly_airrail/mdb_252614_20170719_reisendeninfo_railandfly_englisch.pdf
Look at the right hand side about half way down under "Collecting your tickets"

For Rail&Fly to/from Amsterdam and Zurich the pickup at the vending machine
is not possible.
Please find detailed information about the print-out-procedures on the right
hand side.

So you must use the print-at-home option.

Sam, not sure if this conclusion is valid. On https://www.bahn.de/p/view/service/buchung/flug/rail-and-fly-english.shtml , it says "from/to each of the ofer 5,600 DB train stations" and "Some airlines also offer Rail&Fly services to the airports Zurich and Amsterdam" - maybe the paragraph you are quoting only refers to trips to/from Amsterdam Schiphol airport with certain airlines. I hope I am getting it wrong, but if I were the OP, I would probably ask the airline just to be sure.

The documents state only "Amsterdam", nothing about Amsterdam Schipol, and in the English document says in two places "to/from Amsterdam" and the German language document says "nach/von Amsterdam".

Nonetheless, best to clear these details up before purchasing. And they also seem to be saying to deal with the airline you are booking the Rail and Fly ticket with.

After numerous emails to/from Condor and Deutsche Bahn, I still don't have a definitive answer on whether or not I can buy a Rail&Fly ticket from Frankfurst to Amsterdam. I have given up on this method of communications. If I am able to get an answer by speaking to someone on the phone, I will post it here. Other wise I am done with this topic. Thanks for all the comments and advice.

As said above - if you spend the night, a saver fare (bound to a specific train) should not be so problematic and can also be cheap if booked early enough. (Also note that I am not saying Sam is wrong, just that I am not as certain as he is).

If you are staying overnight in Frankfurt, you don't need the Rail and Fly option. Just get your saver ticket as soon as possible before the prices increase.

I would take the long layover after a flight over from the west coast if I chose to fly....makes no difference if I am not pressed for time. In this situation, however, once landing at FRA, I would stay at a hotel near Frankfurt Hbf, certainly not at FRA, various price ranges available, then take the direct ICE the next morning to Amsterdam.

After several uninformative emails, I have had two phone calls with Condor respresenatives and it does seem that the Rail&Fly offer applies only to DB destinations within Germany. It may be different with other airlines. Since I also wanted to visit Bruges, I have decided to take the train there first from Frankfurt and go on to Amsterdam later.

I will be travelling elsewhere in Europe so I'm going to look into a Eurail pass for these and other trips. Rick Steves has some excellent information on rail passes and how to compare them to point to point tickets.