Help with trains from Nuremberg to Frankfurt

People suggest not buying tickets ahead for arriving planes, not departing ones. There's no reason not to buy the ticket in advance. Whether you think 2 hours is enough time, that's up to you.

Are you sure that train arriving at Frankfurt airport at 11.04? When I checked at the Bahn's website it shows 11.20 as the arrival time.

Personally I wouldn't cut it that close even for a departing flight. It appears there is a train at 8:00 that gets there at 10:22 which would make me feel more at ease. And, if purchased now, it's cheaper than the 9:00 train.

Thank you all. It is so comforting to get others' feedback

I'm confused. Where does Frankfurt(Main) come in? And Geneva?

Are you flying from Frankfurt to Geneva?

Have you checked the hours of opening of the Christmas Markets that close to Christmas?

Have you checked the hours of opening of the Christmas Markets that close to Christmas?

The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt is open till dec. 24, 2pm.

Please note that public transport from the Saxx to the train station is not the most convenient one. You have either to take bus #36 (departs right from the Saxx) and transfer at the Plärrer station to U2/3 (direction Airport or Ziegelstein, resp.) or to drag your luggage over cobblestones for 300m to reach U1 (direction Langwasser Süd) at the Lorenzkirche station.

Lastly, is there a particular website that you would recommend I use to purchase the tickets

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

(choose the print at home option).

The webpage I prefer for looking up schedules and booking tickets is

https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de//bin/query.exe/en.

The page linked by SLA gets you to this page eventurally. Why not start here.

And, SLA, have you noticed that a few month ago, if you had put in Hotel Saxx, Nuernberg, the Bahn website would have given you the VGN transit to get to the Nuernberg Hbf. Now they just say it is an 18 min walk. Just like they don't tell you what the fare would be for travel in a Verkehrsverbund, now they don't even tell you what conveyances to use. You have to go to the local VV website.

But if you put in the bus stop name, Hauptmarkt Nürnberg, it does give you all of the transit segments to the Hbf.

Both extreme weather conditions (which may or may not occur, but are a possibility this time of the year) and full trains (meaning many inexperienced travellers with lots of luggage who take a long time to enter and exit the trains) can lead to delays, so I would definitely want to have more than 2 hours between scheduled arrival at FRA and departure time of your plane (for "important" flights, I try to pick a connection that lets me reach the airport in time even if one train is cancelled and I have to take the next one after that; your risk tolerance may vary, and I have also violated my rule on occasions).
You should also factor in about 10 minutes to get from the long-distance train station to Terminal 1, and another 10 minutes if you depart from Terminal 2; that is in addition to security checks and potentially long ways within the respective terminal.

I agree that 2 hrs is cutting it pretty close. Last October, we came into the Regionalbhf at FRA 2½ hrs before our flight departure and made it.

Chris, Thank you! Your answer really helped me understand why I should take the earlier train. I will!
Lee - as always you always get right to the heart of it. Thank you. do I want Frankfurt Main? or is there a different one that goes specifically to the airport?
sla019 - thank you for the detailed information on how to get to the train station. It looks like gobble di gook right now, but I will bring it with me and when I am there, looking at the signs, I'm sure it will make perfect sense and be a life saver! We have very large suitcases as we will be heading to the Alps to ski for a week and all those ski clothes are bulky. Do you think it would be too expensive to take a taxi to the train station (Frankfurt)? or the Lorenzkirche station? Any idea what time we should leave the hotel to get to the Frankfurt station? I've dragged suitcases all over Europe, but I don't usually take a large one, so I'm not so sure this time.

The trip is at the end of our time at the Christmas market and our departure was timed to leave when the market closed
Lori

Frankfurt (Main) is the name of the city (abbreviation of "Frankfurt am Main"). There are two Frankfurts in Germany, the other one is Frankfurt an der Oder, abbreviated as "Frankfurt (Oder)".

Frankfurt (Main) Hbf is the main station in the centre of Frankfurt am Main, Hbf = Hauptbahnhof, and main stations in Germany are always called "Hbf".
Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen is the station at Frankfurt am Main airport. Flughafen = airport.
There are actually two stations at the airport, but both are a short covered walk to the terminal. The DB website will route you to whichever one your train stops at.

Have you also considered flying from Munich, which is as close if not closer to Nuremberg than Frankfurt am Main is.
Or even a train all the way from Nuremberg to Geneva? That would take about 8½ hours. You say you are going to the French Alps, so I guess Geneva isn't really your end destination.

Any transport on 24th December may be very full. I would ensure you have all transport booked and seats reserved. Personally I would not have left it this late.

Now I am really confused. I was going to book the 8am train from nuremburg to Frankfurt, but only see Frankfurt MAIN or Hbf. I don't see any that go to Flughafen. Rail Europe shows a train from Nuremberg at 8am and it goes to Flughafen but it doesn't arrive until 11:20am. I afraid I will be booking the wrong train.

OK. I figured out how to find Flugenhafen. It leaves at 8 and arrives at 10:22am. Am I good???

Yep

Nürnberg Hbf dep 08:00 platform 7 ICE 728
Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Fernbf arr 10:22

Tickets currently available at € 39.90. Buy now before this cheap price sells out.
It goes via the Hauptbahnhof. Intermediate stops are as follows:

Nürnberg Hbf arr 07:55 dep 08:00
Würzburg Hbf arr 08:52 dep 08:55
Aschaffenburg Hbf arr 09:32 dep 09:33
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf arr 10:04 dep 10:10
Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Fernbf arr 10:22

Chris - I found that and have been booking it and getting an error at the end! Ack! should I keep trying???

error 3 more times! getting frustrated!!

bilezmom, have you told your bank you will be using your credit card in Germany?
This transaction will be booked in Germany (in Euros), and your bank may well flag it as suspicious. Banks are like that.

Got it!!! You're right. It was my credit card company. (They have the most stringent fraud protection)

Thank you all so very very much!!!! you are the best!

Thank you all so very very much!!!! you are the best!

Have you reserved seats? In 2nd class, seat reservations are not automatically included. If you haven't already, you can still reserve seats now. It is not a requirement, but if the train is full, you may have to stand if you do not have a reservation.

Rail Europe shows a train ...

Never use Rail Europe. The Bahn webpage is easy to use, more accurate, and almost always less expensive. Rail Europe doesn't show all trains, just the ones for which they want to sell you tickets.

Yes Chris, I did see that! We have assigned window seats in a quiet area. Thank you for mentioning that!!!
Thank you, Lee. I remembered that you had advised against Rail Europe in the past. I hadn't figured out how to find the airport station on Bahn yet. But I'm good now.

Again, I could never have done it without all of you. Thank you so much!!
Lori

Do you think it would be too expensive to take a taxi to the train station (Frankfurt)? or the Lorenzkirche station?

You certainly don't want to go to Frankfurt by taxi (€400+) ;) OTOH, a taxi ride from the Saxx to the Nuremberg main station won't break the bank. The taxi fare calculator gives a basic fare of €9; add €2 for an oversized bag and €2 sunday supplement and deduce €6 bus / underground fare (for two): 7 euros is a good investment for a huge gain in comfort.

Any idea what time we should leave the hotel to get to the Frankfurt station?

The taxi ride takes approx. 10 min. You need another 10 min. to orientate you at the station (locate the track your train departs from at the big overhead displays in the central or in the eastern hall (the taxi will drop you off at one of the two). So you should leave the hotel at least 30 min before depature.

BTW, have you booked a room with view on the main market? There is no better view of the chrismas market at all.

sla019, thank you so much! What great information!!! I feel a lot better now and have saved your instructions for that morning. I will ask the front desk to have a taxi there at 7am. That gives us an extra 30 minutes to find the right track and relax knowing that we are where we need to be.
I haven't asked for a view of the market yet. I will send off an email today. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Lori

sla019 has already factored in the time reserve that you need, even for someone who does not know the station and does not frequently travel by train. Railway stations, at least in Germany, are not really designed to accomodate waiting passengers anymore (except with lounge access, which you would only have if you had booked first class tickets). Adding almost another 30 minutes is not necessary in my opinion. It is not an airport, but a train station with a rather simple layout.

I guess you have already bought your airline tickets, but it seems like a lot of hoops to jump through to get to Geneva airport, where I assume you are getting one of the ski-resort shuttle vans to your destination.

You could have taken a train from Nuremberg at 7:39, and with transfers at Karlsruhe, Basel, and Biel and be at Geneva airport by 15:54. Taking the airplane from Frankfurt does save you about 1 1/2 hours. If you have a flight at 13:00, you should be on the curb with your luggage looking for your shuttle at 14:54. I just accept a little longer train ride to avoid having to take a plane, but that's just me. 2 ticket Saver fare is 110 EUR. You'll spend 80 EUR just to get to to Frankfurt airport if you buy Saver tickets today.

Thanks Chris - I will leave later.
Ah Sam, where were you when I was booking this - :) ;) I can't tell you how much time I spent trying to figure this out. I really should have come here first. Lesson learned for next time. Thank you for the heads up for future reference. (BTW - you have the scenario exactly correct)

Lori