Help with trains from Frankfurt airport to Trier

Look at the details of the departing trains. If it is an IC or ICE train, it will leave from the Flughafen Fernbahnhof (long distance train station), if it is a Regionalbahn, Regional Express, or S-bahn, it will leave from the Flughafen Regionalbahnhof (self explanatory). At Trier, there is Trier Hbf (Hauptbahnhof or Main Train Station) and Trier Sued (Trier South Station). Normally, the Hbf is the one you want as it is close to the center of town. Suedbahnhof would be the one if it was actually closest to you destination hotel. Not likely if it is a RS tour, as they generally use hotels closest to the things you want to see.

One thing to be careful of is that those cheap tickets (Sparpreis) with IC and ICE trains are train specific. If you flight is late and you miss your train, your ticket is no longer valid and you will have to buy a new full fare (Flexipreis) tickets.

On the other hand, using the regional trains from the Regionalbahnhof at 43 EUR, you can travel to Trier on any regional train for the rest of the day. If there are more than 1 of you, you can also travel using a "Quer durchs Land" ticket, which is 44 EUR for the 1st person, and 8 EUR for each additional person traveling with you, up to 5 people traveling together. Using any regional trains and you can buy the ticket out of a kiosk automat at the station. No need to commit to a specific train. Look at your options by clicking on the "Local Transport Only" button in the details page.

Thank you Sam,
The first one says ICE, RE and is 3:38 long (29 euros). The second one says VIA, RB and is 4:26 long(44 euros). The third one is ICE, IC, RB is 3:37 long and is 19 euros.
I would rather take the 3 1/2 hour train than the 4 1/2 hour train. I will wait until I get there to purchase the ticket, but do you see any reason why I shouldn't go with the first one?

Thank you for letting me know about the train station. I did Hbf or main for both cities. And I am traveling alone.

Lori

Take the bus. Cheaper, no changes, and just as fast. Leaves from Terminal 2, goes directly to Trier.
3.25 hours, prices as low as 13.00
€https://shop.flixbus.de

Heed Sam's advice on avoiding the saver fare (Sparpreis) tickets using long-distance/high-speed trains... your flight is SUPPOSED to arrive at 10:55. Delays may render such tickets useless. (Full Fare tickets on these trains are valid at any hour that same day and start at €51.)

For FRA airport you can use "Frankfurt(M) Flughafen" in order to look at departures from both the Fernbahnhof and Regionalbahnhof stations. (The exact station will appear when the itineraries appear.)

Clicking on "only local transport" as Sam instructs will yield journeys by regional and local train only. (However, some results will include buses, with a "partial fare" notation - the bus fare isn't included.) For those trips that are train-only, the price shown should be €43/1 for a full fare "Nahverkehr" (local transport) DB ticket. (2 passengers? Then you will be seeing the "Day Ticket for Germany" or "Quer durchs Land" ticket - €52 - on the same local transport trains.) Both the full fare local transport ticket and the Day Ticket are valid at any hour of the day. You can buy them at the station on the day of travel for the same price that you see them online. (Please note, however, that the Day Ticket is NOT refundable if you have a change of plans or your flight is cancelled. Also note that these are NOT the cheapest option for these trains...the DB webpage does not include tickets sold by the local transit authority in Frankfurt, the RMV...)

You can in fact travel by local/regional train on any of these train-only itineraries for €28.85/1 person (or €38.70/2.) At FRA, buy a RMV ticket to Mainz (a city en route to Trier, €4.85 each) + a Rhineland-Palatinate ticket (day pass for Mainz onward, €24/1 or €29/2.) Buy both at the FRA station from a ticket machine. Ticket machines will look something like these and will have both the RMV and DB logos. (You could buy the R-P ticket online, but again it's not refundable.)

The only flixbus option to TRIER for your date is at 15:35.

You should make the 12:37 trains-only departure from FRA if your flight is on time, or maybe the 13:23 trains-only.

Wow Russ!
Thank you so much. It's so difficult to wrap your head around all these words when you aren't familiar with the language. I did see one fare that included a bus. I tend to avoid that, it seems to make it all so much more complicated (in my head, at least).

I've looked at the website again (for the fourth time - lol) and now understand what you both mean by saver fees. I need to purchase the price to the right, not the first one.

Thank you Ms. Jo,
I will definitely consider the bus. Unfortunately, I have heard anecdotes of the buses running exceedingly late. (and I do Iike my trains ;) )

Thank you so much for such for such specific advice!!! I was looking at the 11:23 train, but will take your advice and aim for the two you specified.
thank you thank you thank you!
Lori

"I need to purchase the price to the right, not the first one."

It's your choice, but to be clear, I did not recommend that...

The best price is the final option - the RMV fare + the Rhineland Palatinate Ticket at €28.85 That's the option I'd recommend. You cannot buy the RMV fare at the DB site. You will not find the R-P ticket at the DB site either by searching itineraries from FRA. (That's because the R-P ticket would depend on the RMV ticket.) You will in fact find only the more expensive ticket options at the DB site. However, the DB site provides you with local/regional train itineraries that you CAN use to plan your trip to Trier. Use any of those trains-only trips to map out your day. Both the 12:37 and the 13:23 departures from FRA arrive in Trier at about 16:30 The 13:23 option IMO is the best because it follows the Rhine Valley route to Koblenz - Germany's most scenic train route.

Just DON'T TRY TO BUY the recommended tickets online. Buy the RMV and the R-P tickets I told you about at the FRA airport station. If you really, really want to buy the R-P ticket from home, go ahead - but it's not refundable. You'll need to search an itinerary from Mainz to Trier to pull that ticket up. But you'll need to buy the RMV ticket at FRA anyway.

I know, it shouldn't be this complicated. Sorry.

Russ,
I can not thank you enough. I have taken a photo of your last reply and will wait until I am there. If I can't figure out the machines I will show someone your reply. I have traveled via train in France, Spain and Italy. There is always room for one more ;) so I have no problem waiting until I'm there. I know I will be okay now. I can't thank you enough for taking your personal time to help me with this.
Lori

No problem, Lori. I'm home nursing an injury... thanks for the sedentary diversion.

Hey, Lori... If you're like me after a nasty international red-eye flight and you just want to get somewhere you can relax - and if you don't HAVE to be in Trier that first day - you could make it easy on yourself. Buy the €4.85 RMV ticket and you'll be in Mainz in 25 minutes. Grab a room there and relax enjoy the town. It's a lovely place around the Dom and the old town. Then leave Saturday morning on the R-P ticket for Trier.

http://georg-dahlhoff.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/200509184372-mzmitte.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8517/8466997951_748e0b61f0_b.jpg
http://georg-dahlhoff.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/201104020978.jpg
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187393-Activities-Mainz_Rhineland_Palatinate.html
http://www.master.economics.uni-mainz.de/augustinerstrasse-abends.jpg

I would think you would want to catch the 4 PM (16:00) welcome meeting at the hotel in Trier. It's going to be difficult to make it by train, impossible with the bus (which doesn't get to Trier until 7 PM).

It looks like the latest train departure that will get you into Trier before 4 PM would be the 11:29, S-8 connection to Mainz. That only gives you 34 minutes to get to the Regionalbhf and get your tickets. Since you are coming from another Schengen country, you won't have to go through passport control, but if you are not carrying on, your wait for luggage would probably keep you from making the connection. I saw somewhere that your flight, I believe from Linate, uses gage B-10, which should not me a long walk to the Regionalbhf.

After the 11:29 connection, you have three before 13:23 that all get you into Trier between 16:11 and 16:30. Maybe you an catch the last part of the meeting. All of the above connections would cost you just under 29€ for a Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket and a local RMV ticket to Mainz. It actually doesn't matter if you take an S-Bahn to Mainz and a regional train from Mainz to Koblenz or a direct RE from the airport to Koblenz, as long as your train stops in Mainz (even though you don't change there).

Sorry to hear that you're under the weather Russ. I am actually flying into Milan on Saturday and then flying from Milan to Frankfurt on Tuesday morning (you got it, Lee!). I loved Milan so much last year that I opted to do my 2-3 day pre-tour there instead of Germany. So I will be rested up and past my jetlag by the 13th. I had thought that arriving in Frankfurt before noon would give me enough time to get to Trier for the group meeting. I guess I was wrong. It's too late to change this (not that I'd want to) and I'm okay with missing some/all of the meeting if it comes to that. I will still make every effort to get to the meeting, but ....

Thank you for your advice, Lee. I am doing just a carry-on. The only thing that ccould hold me up from there, would be finding the train station. (that is amazing that you can tell at which Gate I will arrive this far ahead of time). You used the word, "Regionalbhf". Is that the train station? It sounds like it. I'm not sure what the S-8 connection is, but my understanding is that you want me to take the 11:29am train to Mainz. What do I do once I get to Mainz? Or are you saying that the train to Mainz goes to Trier?

I would like to get to the meeting and if this can help, I would like to give it a try. As I mentioned above, if I miss the meeting, it's okay, but I'd prefer to be there. When I did the math in my head (and the ignorance that came with it), I thought I had allowed enough time.

Thanks so much for your help.
Lori

Regionalbhf, or Regionale Bahnhof, is the train station for local trains. It is under the building across the access road from Terminal 1. If you come out of Concourse B it's a short walk across the hall to the outside wall. Just inside the outside wall are steps and escalators leading to the passage under the access road to the top level of the station. There should be signs.

There will be ticket counters and automats on that level. The trains are on the next lower level.

The Fernbahnhof (station for long distance trains like the ICE, IC, and EC) is farther from the Terminal, on the other side of the Autobahn.

I can't say for sure that you will come into gate B10. That's just the gate the flight from Milan Linate used a couple of days ago, but I think it's an indication.

There are a number of connections to Trier in the hours after you arrive, but the S8 S-Bahn, which uses the Regionalbhf, leaves every 30 minutes and goes to the Mainz Hbf. From Mainz Hbf you catch a regional train to Koblenz where you change to another regional train to Trier. There are also direct Regional Express (RE) trains from the Regionalbhf to Koblenz. They go through the Mainz Hbf, but you don't have to change trains there.

There are two S-Bahn (the S8 and the S9) through the Regionalbhf. The S8 goes to Mainz, from which you go down the left bank of the Rhein to Koblenz. The S9 goes to Wiesbaden, from which you would go down the Right bank to Koblenz.

Thank you so very much, Lee!!
I have printed your reply to carry with me when I get to the airport.

Thank you Russ and Lee,
you have each made this experience much less stressful and helped me feel like I won't get lost. It is much appreciated!!!

Lori

Is this your first RS tour? I hope you can make the meet up as that is where introductions are done and the choosing of your buddy. Your tour buddy is someone who looks for you as the group meets up so the guide does not have to count noses. The guide says * buddy check*, you make eye contact and anyone who doesn't see their buddy speaks up. You don't actually spend time with this person unless you want too, it's just a method of checking.

You will all walk to dinner together afterward.

I do recommend you print out a googlemap of the location of the accommodation in Trier. I can almost guarantee your taxi driver from the station will not know where it is. It is actually an assisted living facility that also has hotel rooms. They are huge and pretty nice.

This tour is wonderful. I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you Pam,
I am trying to do my best to get there on time. This is my second RS tour, so i know what they do during the meeting and I assumed they would walk to dinner afterward. I thought that I had left plenty of time to get to the hotel by leaving Milan early in the morning, but evidently I was wrong. With the kind guidance of Russ and Lee, I am hoping that I will make it there on time.

As far as buddies go, if you don't make the meeting they will assign you a buddy, so don't stress about that. As for the cab to the hotel, some cab drivers may not know the hotel, others will. I took the GAs tour last year ( loved the tour, would not mind doing it again) and my cab driver knew it and I did not need to give her my instructions. Don't stress on that either. Before you get into the cab show the driver your hotel address, if they don't know it, then go to another cab.

Getting from Frankfurt to Trier is not too difficult. I did it and asked along the way. I found the ticket office in the Frankfurt airport where a very nice man who spoke perfect English sold me the two train tickets for the two trains, told me where to take the esclator down stairs to get to the train. I found the train platform and boarded the train ( the trains are on time and there are signs). When the train pulled into the station, I asked and found the right corrider to go to and there was an elevator in the wall where the sign was to board the next train. I took the elevator up to the platform and waited. Other trains use the same tracks so don't jump onto the first train you see. The train will arrive at the correct time, I boarded the train and on each train it has a sign showing the stops as they come up. It took 3 hours to get to Trier from the Frankfurt airport. The tour meets at 4PM, correct. Even if you miss the meeting, they know your coming. The hotel may even be able to tell you where the tour is dining to meet them for dinner. Trier is lovely, small city and all walking. No transportation is used to see Trier. I did not go on websites, did not know the names of the trains, I really knew nothing, but buying the tickets from the man at the ticket booth in Frankfurt airport, he explained it all to me and it really was ok and I found both trains. The second train, I needed to ask someone who worked there where to go to find the train platform and he told me to go down the long corrider ( not train platforms there) and I found my sign was at the very end of the corrider with a elevator in the wall and I took that evevator to the top to the train platform.

The whole thing is a stress, but doing it, you realize you are going in the right direction and it is fine.

The train rides are nice and the views the river and countryside are very nice. Have a wonderful trip!!

Thank you Ann,
Your reply was both informative and comforting. I will bring it with me and review it while on the plane from Milan to Frankfurt.
Thank you to everyone for your help. I no longer feel like I'm "flying blind". I'm sure I will make it there as soon as possible and will have no trouble connecting with the group.

Lori

Dear Lori: I am very glad I could be of help. I really do hope that helps you when you go. I know it can be stressful! But have euro with you to buy your tickets, ask workers when needed and it will work out. I was so worried about doing that, I actually took the Ireland tour first before taking the GAS tour. Just so I did not have to take the trains. Loved both tours. But the GAS tour really is worth the pain to get to Trier!! I would love to hear from you ( good or bad) on how it works out. But I know it will be good, trust me if I can do it, so can you!! Have a wonderful safe time.

Great info! Thanks all.