We are flying into Dusseldorf and will be taking the train into Frankfurt. When I looked at the train tickets, the destination had 3 stops in Frankfurt. 1) Frankfurt Main, 2) Frankfurt main hbf, and 3) Frankfurt Ober. What are the differences in names? What does hbf mean? Our hotel is the Ramada Frankfurt Meese. Oeserstrasse 180. Tom
I would hate to think we will get on the wrong train and get lost or something. (stress level up 4 points lol)
For ticketing purposes, #1 and 2 are essentially the same thing. "Hbf" is an abbreviation for "Hauptbahnhof", which in German-speaking cities, refers to the city's main rail station.
"Frankfurt Oder" is a completely different city on the border with Poland. You don't want this one, obviously.
Most trains coming from the northwest will stop at the airport station ("Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof") before the downtown station. Don't get off here, you want the next stop.
Frankfurt has a metro, but I'm not sure if any lines go from the Hauptbahnhof to the Messe (longtime poster Jo from Frankfurt can probably answer that question). At least one surface tram line goes from the Hbf to Frankfurt Messe. Or, just catch a ride with one of the dozens of taxis waiting outside the station.
Is there a link to the train stations and metro stops for us to get a better view of the area?
The trip to Frankfurt is a fairly dull 1.5 hours. If you have an extra hour or so in your day, you may wish to take a scenic alternative route through the Middle Rhine Valley, one of the most scenic train rides in Europe. Trains run right along the river almost the entire way to Frankfurt. Just route yourself via Koblenz by entering "Koblenz" under "enter stopovers" at the DB itinerary page (don't enter any stopover time if you aren't stopping):
Based on my knowledge of Frankfurt, and knowing how so many of the chain hotels advertise their hotels as "name Messe" and stick them miles away from the actual Messe, I had a look at their website and see
"right next to the Frankfurt Messe exhibition grounds:
Our 4 star hotel is quietly located in the middle of the woods and is yet only 2 km away from the exhibition grounds." which is quite contradictory. Right at the Messe, yet 2 km from the location?!?! It really looks like it is in the middle of nowhere.
Their official pdf for location http://www.ramada.de/fileadmin/userupload/downloads/hotels/frankfurtmesse/AnfahrtsbeschreibungFFMMesse_EN.pdf
hedges its bets with 20 to 30 minutes by public transport, using a bus and an S-Bahn. I'd add a few minutes to that....
Nigel brings up a good point. I had Ramada confused in my head with Radison. The latter you can see prominently as you drive into Frankfurt and it sits very close to Messe. Looking on Google maps for the former, however, it's on the west side of the A5 Autobahn, which roughly demarcates downtown Frankfurt from it's immediate western suburbs. Your Ramada is definately not within easy walking distance to Messe.
Yep, Nigel hit it on the mark. This hotel is located next to the Griesheimer Forest. Great for hikes on a summer day.
You might want to get off of the train at the airport, as they have a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel.
This is a real pain in the neck hotel to get to with public transportation, you are either walking a lot or transferring from train to tram to bus.
Can you switch to the Ramada in the city center, on Weser strasse?
"Is there a link to the train stations and metro stops for us to get a better view of the area?"
Yes. Try VGF.
The layout of Frankfurt Hbf is fairly simple. All the long-distance and regional trains arrive on parallel tracks that dead-end in the station. Walk straight ahead out of the building and you'll see the waiting taxis and a tram stop. You'll also see stairs and signs pointing you to the U-bahn (subway) station, which is below the main station.
"When I looked at the train tickets"
You can't mean at actual train tickets. If you are arriving in Frankfurt on an ICE, there are only the stations at the airport (Flughafen Fern) and the Hauptbahnhof. No other stops, and I can't find any station in Frankfurt am Main called "Frankfurt Ober".
You must have been looking at some ticketing website (not the Bahn or RailEurope).
If I put Frankfurt Hbf to Frankfurt, Oeserstrasse (Öserstrasse)180 on the RMV website, it gives me 23-25 minute connections, the shortest of which is every half hour, by S-Bahn (S1) 6 minutes to Frankfurt Nied Bahnhof, then eight minutes later via bus 59 6 minutes to Frankfurt Neufeld bus stop, then a 3 minute, 205 m walk to the hotel.
The trip from the hotel to the Messe (24 min) uses a bus, streetcar, then an S-Bahn.
The Messe is actually 4 minutes from the Hbf on a route taken by S1 - S5.
Here is the commuter train (S-/U-Bahn) map of Frankfurt.
Now it is possible that those of us with a bit of experience with Frankfurt and its fairs may be assuming that because thomas 27 has a hotel called Messe that he is going to a fair there. Maybe not. Maybe he is only going to Frankfurt and has found a hotel which he thinks meets his (maybe free points stay, maybe brand name recognition) needs.
@thomas 27
it would be helpful to the helpers here if you were to fill in some of the spaces you have left, and perhaps feed back to the group...
thomasgs, it's a little late in the thread to point this out, but it will help your future planning: "Main" [ spoken: mine ] is the name of the river near the Frankfurt that you're visiting, not the one on the "Oder". You are going to see "Frankfurt Main" or "Frankfurt am Main" again and again and again. It has nothing to do with the English word "main". As noted, Hauptbahnhof means "main train station". When you get out into the countryside, you'll find that, just like here, every town has a "Hauptstrasse", or Main Street!
Hi,
At Düsseldorf (DUS) airport you have a choice of taking the U-Bahn, S-bahn, or Regional Express train to Düsseldorf Hbf, then transfer to Frankfurt (Main) Hbf. on an ICE train, direct connection.
One more thing: There is no stress level, no need to worry about that, and you won't be taking the wrong train or going in the wrong direction, such as going to Frankfurt/Oder. To do that you would have go through Berlin Hbf and then to the eastern train station, (not an unpleasant station) Berlin Ostbahnhof, no way around it.
