Customs into Germany (FRA)?

Technically, passport checks are done through the Immigration checkpoint. It can take anywhere to an hour to just a few minutes depending on depending on how many flight have landed at the same time to how many inspectors are on duty. Customs, which deals with the stuff you're bringing into the country, is usually nonexistent when entering Europe-just random checks. There will be no passport check between the three countries you listed.

Going through "customs" for most visitors involves declaring nothing on their travel forms, and that's about it. As the other poster noted, this is separate from Immigration control, which is where your passport is actually stamped. How long it takes in Frankfurt depends on what time of day you arrive. If early in the morning, it should not take much longer than 10 minutes.

Germany, Switzerland and Italy are all members of the Schengen zone. Unless you pay attention, you won't even know you've crossed the border by train.

Germany, Switzerland, and Italy are all signees to the Schengen Treaty, which means that there is free movement of people between those countries. You will go through immigration (passport check) when you enter the Schengen Zone from outside it, like when you arrive in Frankfurt from the U.S., but once inside the Schengen Zone, you can go from Germany into Switzerland and from Switzerland into Italy without having to show your passport again (except in special circumstances).

Germany and Italy are both members of the European Union, which has a free flow of goods between countries, i.e., no customs at borders, but Switzerland is not an E.U. member, so there could be customs entering and leaving Switzerland, but in actual practice, there probably won't be.

If you went from Germany to Italy via Austria, which is also a Schengen and E.U. country, there would be no immigration or customs.

Thank you all very much this information is exactly what I was looking for!

We've flown into FRA several times and have NEVER seen anyone at customs. There's signs, but we've just walked on through. Passport control, though, can be a huge mess, depending on how many flights are coming in when yours is.

went through customs in frankfurt in september and it took about 5minutes, this could be longer depending on the time of day. on the train therb are no customs checks. only at the airport.

Getting through customs quickly is another reason to stick to a carry on. While others are grabbing bags you can get in line. Of course, you'll have passengers from earlier planes but being in front of the 250-300 people on your plane sure makes for quicker processing.