Frankfurt lodging near train station vs. airport, arriving at midnight

First of all, the train station and most of the streets around it, are just not that bad, nor unsafe, even at midnight. There are very nice hotels on the North exit of the train station and the South exit. Hotel Monopol and Excelsior are at the North exit. Very reasonable.

It isn't until you get to Taunsus strasse or the Mosel strasse that the red light district begins.

There are always tons of taxis out in front of the station, day or night. This is one of the largest train stations in the world, with 350,000 passengers a day flowing through.

We have always stayed at the Comfort Inn at Morfelden - Waldorff (probably spelled wrong) - you would take a train on to there - 20 minutes. It is very clean and has a good restaurant. We have always had a car though. They have a nice breakfast also.
Thanks - Bill

If Peggy is arriving by train into Frankfurt at midnight, her being able to catch a train onto Morfelden is slim and not really ideal.

The trains going out to the airport from Frankfurt the next morning will be easy and quick though and they start running about 04:30.

Thanks to William's post causing us to study the map and bahn.de further, we have realized that since we will be coming by train from the south, we can get off at the Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbf (figured out "flughafen" must mean "airport"!), and don't have to go all the way to the main train station. Yea (thank you, William).

We can't stay at the hotel he recommended because their desk closes at midnight. Anyone have other recommendations as to hotels near the airport?

Thank you for your efforts to help us, too, Jo!

Flughafen does indeed mean "airport" in German.

There are two train stations, or Bahnhofs (Bahnhöfe, actually) at the Frankfurt Flughafen (FRA). The Regionalbahnhof (Regbf) serves the S-Bahn and regional trains and is under the building across the street from Terminal 1 and accessible via a tunnel under the street from stairs and escalators in the great hall of the terminal.

The Fernbahnhof (Fern is far in German, so named because it serves long distant trains) is farther out, on the other side of that building across the street. You get to it from the second story of that building via a pedestrian bridge over the access road and a long hallway (actually an enclosed bridge over the autobahn).

If you want to stay in Frankfurt or Mainz overnight and come in on the train in the morning, use to: Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Regionalbf. I'm sure Jo and other can recommend hotels in Frankfurt. I always stay in Mainz before a flight out of FRA. I can recommend Hotel Königshof. There is also a Best Western in Rüsselsheim, closer to the airport but less expensive than hotels in the airport.

Lee,

Do you know how much it costs by train from Mainz to Frankfurt airport? We looked at bahn.de and it says fares are not available for local trains (RE and S). For IC, it is $15 Euros.

In addition, i am not sure if I need to buy the tickets now or can get on the day of travel. does it make a difference in cost?

Thanks
Sundar

To answer the question about going to Mainz. The fare does not appear on the DB site because the regular train is an S-bahn and part of the RMV site. The fare is just 3.80 € one way. A group ticket would be 14.30 €.
http://rmv.de/

The thing with staying at the airport is that unless you are staying at the Sheraton or the new Hilton that is supposed to open soon (both very expensive unless you have points) you will have to take a taxi or wait for a shuttle. I have no idea how long the shuttle buses to the various hotels run nor what they cost. If you get off at the Fernbahnhof, walk 15 min. to get into the main part of the airport, wait on a shuttle bus, find a taxi, etc, it is going to have taken you much more time, then if you would have stayed on your train for 11 min., got off at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, walked 2 min. out of the side exits to a hotel that is across the street. You can literally be checked into your hotel within 5 min. of getting off the train here.

This option saves you time, money, and hassle as opposed to staying at the airport.

If you didn't like the Hotel Monopol, or Excelsior, try the InterCity hotel, (not the one at the airport)
By the way, the InterCity also gives our free public transportation passes for Frankfurt.

Jo's right. The Bahn does not show the fares for tickets that they do not sell online, and that is any local tickets entirely within a Verkehrsverbund (metro district). You also won't find local ticket prices between two stations in the MVV (Munich, www.mvv-muenchen.de), VGN (Greater Nürnberg, vvv.vgn.de), etc. Unfortunately, the Bahn doesn't tell you where to find the fares, just that the Bahn doesn't show them.

Except to save a few minutes, there is no benefit to buying these tickets online (even if the VV will sell them). The price you find on the websites of the Verkehrsverbünde are the price you will pay at a counter or automat, and these local trains are not reservable.

I have links to some of these Verkehrverbünde, by state (Land), on this page of my website. Click on the name of the state.

Thanks to everyone. Jo, we got reservations at the Hotel Excelsior.