Bus, train or plane

How long is the bus ride? I think I would prefer the train ride.

Any interest in a night or 2 in Paris? I did a sort of similar trip last year to get to the start of the RS GAS tour in Switzerland. Flew in to Paris, stayed a few days to adjust and then took the TGV to Saarbrucken, then a local train up to Trier. The journey was very easy (I'm still kind of a novice with trains). One of my choices was going via Strasbourg.

If you are needing to do this all in one shot, I'd see how many flights/trains/bus connection choices there are after your flight arrival in case you are delayed either with the flight or at Immigration. How long are each giving you for a transit time?

I'm inclined to go with Air France and the comfortable and impressive TGV rail. Walk down to the bar car and have your first glass of champagne as you speed past the very vineyards where the grapes were grown at 200 mph.

Frank, the Lufthansa bus from FRA is 2.5 hours, with 3 hours to find our way from the plane to the bus.

Pam, we are not planning on staying in Paris this time. We have been before and want to get straight to new places. We are also pricing it out as separate tickets. Paris flights are often very reasonable from Toronto, so it might be worth doing it this way.

Sam, the bar car idea sounds wonderful! We connected at CDG to the TGV when we started a trip in Lyon back in 2011. It was very easy, and the only thing that made me second guess a similar plan is that on that occasion, I had to stay awake to make sure we didn't miss our stop while DH promptly fell asleep! I'm hope if I take him to the bar car he'd stay awake.

Thanks to everyone.

Fortunately, the two likely direct TGV's from CDG to Strasbourg, the 11:21 and the 12:45 terminate at Strasbourg, so you can wake hubby up when you arrive. Oh, there is also an 8:59 that terminates in Strasbourg. Don't know if you will land early enough for that one. And of course, that is the current schedule. Don't know about next year.

It really depends on your favorite modes of transport. Personally, the bus would be my least favorite because you are stuck in your seats for 2.5 hours. On the train, you can get up, move around, go to the bar car as mentioned, and so on.

However, after a long overseas flight, I might want to take the quickest and easiest way to my first destination and that could be the connecting flight.

Weigh the pluses and minuses of each and go with the one that sounds best to you.

I would never opt for a bus so, for me, the options are between KLM and Air France.

How long is the layover between flights at AMS? How much time is there between your arrival time at CDG and the train's departure from CDG? Those things I would need to know first.

We recently flew KLM through AMS with connecting to Transavia. The flights went well. AMS was efficient and a pleasant place to stay for a 2-3 hour connection. KLM's staff and food were a step above Delta.

"KLM's staff and food were a step above Delta."

sl.wolf....that's good to know. I'm taking that KLM operated SLC->AMS flight this week.

I took Lufthansa and their dedicated bus. It worked fine, and being tired after arrival, I didn't mind being in a bus instead of a train. The Lufthansa bus stops right at the Strasbourg train station, so getting to the rest of the city is easy (I took a tram to my hotel).

I'd go with the bus or train, because with the flight, you then have to get in to Strasbourg's center from the airport, which will take longer.

Thanks everyone. I will update when I finalize the purchase.

If you go from FRA to Strasbourg, you don't have to take the special Lufthansa bus; it's just the fastest, most efficient, and probably the least expensive way.

There are train connections, with changes; there is no dedicated, direct train from Frankfurt airport to Strasbourg. And until October 7, you will have to take a substitute bus, SEV, over the damaged line between Rastatt and Baden-Baden.

The bus, on the other hand, goes directly from the airport to Strasbourg.

Just thought I'd update you all. We are booked!

We had a hiccup in planning this because we are flying on points, and they wouldn't apply points on a ticket to Strasbourg. Then as we mulled over options, prices started going up.

In the end, we got (on points) a flight into FRA. We will have to take the bus (pay more) from FRA to Strasbourg. We were able to get our return flight from our chosen destination on the points without problem (Florence).

At the time of booking, landing in Amsterdam or Paris were several hundred dollars more, notwithstanding the onward travel required.

past the very vineyards where the grapes were grown at 200 mph.

Sam, I know what you meant, but I have this picture in my mind of some really odd grapevines :-)

I found ICE/ICE or ICE/TGV connections from FRA Fernbahnhof with one change in Karlsruhe. That trip takes 2:20.

I'd rather take the trains than a bus.

If you fly Lufthansa, you should be able to get a Rail&Fly open ticket through Lufthansa for about 33€/person. Since DB sells the ticket from FRA to Strasbourg you should be able to get it from Lufthansa. But check with them. This ticket has the advantage that you can use any express trains whenever you arrive, not wait for a reserved train or pay full fare.

Just thought I'd post the update. We ended up booking the train because it was €19 pp and the bus was €49 pp. Not thrilled with having to make two changes, but for savings like that we will persevere.

The transaction is over but others might be interested in knowing that the fast train has killed off air connections to Strasbourg (and elsewhere). Skyscanner shows no non-stop flights from CcG to Strasbourg. Enjoy the train ride, assuming the strikes are finally resolved by then.

Southam, my train originates in Frankfurt. Would it not go at all in case of strike (thought that was in France) or would they take us to the closest German stop and make us get off the train?

May I ask the date and time? Was this a Fly-N-Rail or Sparpreis ticket?

It is a Sparpreis. It departs Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday Sep 4 at 08:09.