Florence to Frankfurt? Train, plane or other ideas?

Ryan Air is reliable, and the bus from Hahn to Frankfurt stops right outside the terminal and costs 12 euro. It is very easy to do this. Depending on what time in the evening your flight lands at Hahn, either stay there (it is in the boonies, so nothing much to see there) and take the bus in the morning to Frankfurt airport, or take the bus that evening to Frankfurt. If you stay in Frankfurt itself, near the train station, you can catch an S-bahn to the airport and be there in 11 minutes. I for one, cannot sleep on the night trains. That train trip sounds absolutely exhausting. Ride all night from Florence, rush to catch the next train in Munich, ride 3 and half hours to Frankfurt, arriving 3 and half hours early for your flight to the US. Add in the cost, compared to taking a flight to Frankfurt from Florence and for me this would be a no-brainer. If Ryan Air does not appeal to you, have you looked at any other flight options, flying straight from Florence to Frankfurt?

Thanks for the advice. The only direct flights from Flornce are all around $700 + per person. If I don't sleep on planes or in cars, then likely I won't sleep on a train. Great advice. I like your idea of taking the Ryan flight out of Pisa, then taking the bus from Hahn to Frankfurt and spending the night. Where does the bus drop off in Frankfurt? How late do the buses run? Is there a web site?

The Ryan Air website lists the bus company (Bohr) and there you will find a schedule of the buses going to Frankfurt. The bus stop in Frankfurt is right past the South exit of the main train station. Have a look at the Hotel Excelsior or Hotel Monopol for a decent, budget room. They are about 100 feet from where the Bohr bus stops.

I suggest you go to www.airlinequality.com and read the airlines rating per category and customer reviews. Ryans is rated 1 star out of 5 at handling cancellations. Ryan is one of two (along with Bmibaby) two-star rated mainland European airline. US airlines (United, USAir) all get 3 stars, European airlines (Lufthansa, Air France) mostly have 4 stars. In my experience, German trains have been pretty much on time, but this train starts in Italy. I don't know if they would hold the ICE very long if the CNL train were delayed since there are two ICEs per hour from Munich to FRA. Twenty minutes is plenty of time for a 5 platform change in Munich. There is no tunnel; it's all on one level.

As much as I like trains (including night trains), in this case I recommend that you fly to Frankfurt the day before you leave for home. Too many things can go wrong getting from Florence to Frankfurt (including bad weather). It's wise to spend the night before an overseas flight in your departure city and it's good to have more than one way to get from Frankfurt to the airport (train or taxi). If you don't want to fly Ryanair from Pisa, buy a roundtrip ticket for Florence-Frankfurt on Lufthansa and throw away the return portion. That ticket will be a lot cheaper than a one-way ticket.

Great idea on the round trip on Lufthansa and using only the outbound half. $372 for two round trips. Cheaper than train, flies out of florence, and gives us multiple flight options, and greater reliability and I know what we are paying for.