Frankfurt is the heart of central Germany and as such, it is one of the most important transportation hubs. It has excellent connections by rail, road and air. Reaching and leaving Frankfurt is easy.

By plane

Frankfurt Airport

1 Frankfurt Airport (FRA IATA) is among the busiest in Europe — fourth in passenger traffic after London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Frankfurt is the banking centre of Germany and hosts numerous international trade fairs. Therefore all major airlines and all airline alliances fly frequently to Frankfurt and connect it to every inhabited continent and all major cities in the world. The German flag carrier Lufthansa is the main airline in Frankfurt and offers most connections. Lufthansa also has several domestic feeder flights to and from Frankfurt that also serve business travelers.

The airport is connected to downtown Frankfurt by taxi, bus (line 61 to Frankfurt Süd(bahnhof) U1 U2 U3 U8 S5 S6 (Frankfurt South Station), and most easily by S-Bahn (fast commuter trains).

To get to the city by S-Bahn, take lines S8 or S9 in the direction of Offenbach Ost or Hanau at the regional train station, 2 Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Regionalbahnhof, on the lowest level of Terminal 1 (entrances in section A and B). If your plane lands or departs from Terminal 2, count in another 15 minutes as you need to move between the terminals with either the shuttle bus or the monorail Skytrain (both are free of charge, just follow the signs). If you want to go downtown, get off at Frankfurt Taunusanlage , Frankfurt Hauptwache or Frankfurt Konstablerwache , which are in the heart of the city. If you want to change to long-distance trains get off at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt Central Station). The ride from the airport to the central station takes about 20 minutes. You have to purchase a ticket at the vending machines in the train station before boarding the train. The adult ticket costs 6,60 €, and 3,85 € for children (June 2025).

If you want to go to the airport by S-Bahn, take the S8 or S9 in the direction of Wiesbaden. Don't take the S1 , since it does not stop at the airport.

Regional trains RB and RE to Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Hanau stop at the same place as the S-Bahn to Frankfurt.

Connections outside the Frankfurt region have a separate long-distance train station, 3 Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Fernbahnhof. Here, you can board high-speed long-distance trains (Inter-City and ICE) to Cologne, Munich and other national and international destinations. Local train tickets are not valid on ICE or IC.

Hahn Airport

The smaller airport called Frankfurt/Hahn (HHN IATA), mostly used by budget airlines, advertises proximity to Frankfurt. However, Hahn is far away from Frankfurt and it takes about 90 minutes to drive there from downtown to cover the 125 km (78 mi) distance. For that airport, if you have to use it at all, allow more time in your travel plans and budget. A bus from Frankfurt/Hahn to Frankfurt Main airport and on to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt Central Station) costs about €17.99 and leaves roughly every hour. Tickets are available from the kiosk outside in front of the main entrance.

Frankfurt/Hahn is not far (9 km) from Traben-Trarbach, which lies by the Mosel river and has a train station. The streets between the airport and Traben-Trarbach are not lit at night and have no sidewalk.

By train

Frankfurt has three major train stations: 4 Hauptbahnhof (main station), 5 Südbahnhof (south station) and the above-mentioned one at the airport (Flughafen Fernbahnhof). However, several inter-city trains that stop at the airport do not stop at Hauptbahnhof. Long-distance trains leaving from Hauptbahnhof do not stop at Südbahnhof, while a few long-distance trains pass by Hauptbahnhof and only stop at Südbahnhof. Check the timetable to make sure you are going to the right station!

Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof is one of the biggest and busiest train stations in Europe, so it's definitely worth a visit. Frankfurt has connections to most German cities - and neighbouring countries especially to the south and west - via InterCity and high-speed InterCity Express trains. There is no problem to get a connection to any train destination from Frankfurt.

Frankfurt train stations are very large, confusing, labyrinth-like places for newcomers. Allow extra time to locate the boarding area for your train. Don't hesitate to ask someone for help the first time. There is a large departures signboard above the main exit/entrance with destination and platform information, and you can also get information from the railway travel office in the station.

From the main ticket office at Frankfurt you can buy 5- and 10-day rail travel cards which allow you to travel around Germany using all train services, including the Intercity ones. These are a significant saving on individual train fares. The 5-day ticket costs €189 and the 10-day ticket €289. You cannot buy these tickets from regional train stations.

In addition to regular Deutsche Bahn trains and regional trains on which DB tickets are valid, Frankfurt is also served by Flixtrain. Tickets can be bought through Flixbus, but DB tickets are not valid and there is no BahnCard discount. That said, Flixtrain tickets are usually considerably cheaper than comparable DB tickets.

By car

Frankfurt is connected to several autobahns and can be easily reached by car. Try to avoid rush-hour and especially snowy days, as car traffic can easily break down. Parking is definitely a problem in most areas. Especially during big conventions—such the Internationale Automobilausstellung (International Automobile Exhibition) in September, or the Frankfurter Buchmesse (Frankfurt Book Fair) in mid-October—you should consider using the well designed park-and-ride system If you intend to stay mostly in Frankfurt and only make day-trips to the bigger cities in the surrounding area, consider leaving the car altogether and arriving by train, as Frankfurt has a superb public transport system (see below).

By bus

6 Fernbusbahnhof Frankfurt am Main. This new bus station opened in 2019 to cope with rising demand for intercity buses in the 2010s (updated Apr 2019)