Frankfurt Airport ground transport

Frankfurt is a transport interchange that happens to have runways attached. The airport has two separate railway stations and the distinction matters: the <em>Regionalbahnhof</em> under Terminal 1 handles S-Bahn and regional services, while the <em>Fernbahnhof</em> a short walk away is a full long-distance station where ICE trains stop on their way across Germany. That second station is why a great many passengers never see Frankfurt at all — you can land, walk to the platform and be in Cologne in an hour, Stuttgart in an hour and a half, or Munich in three, without a taxi or a city transfer. For the city itself, the S8 and S9 run from the regional station to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof in eleven minutes, every five to ten minutes, for roughly €5.35 to €6.90 depending on the ticket. Eleven minutes is the shortest journey time of any major hub in this guide. Buy from the RMV machines on the platform or the app; the ticket covers the whole trip into the city zone and there are no gates, but inspections are routine and the penalty is real. A taxi costs €35 to €45 on the meter and takes twenty to thirty minutes, which is slower than the train in traffic and only worth it with heavy luggage or a very early flight. Frankfurt itself divides opinion: a small medieval-style old town rebuilt after the war, a skyline of bank towers that no other German city has, and the Museumsufer strip of galleries along the south bank. Wiesbaden and Mainz are both half an hour by regional train, and Heidelberg is an hour.