The famous flight of stairs between Marseille St Charles and the city

Frankfurt to Marseille by train

Take the daily direct train from central Germany to the south of France

This is the only direct train service from Frankfurt (Main) to destinations in southern France.

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Routes

From Frankfurt Main Hbf to Marseille-Saint-Charles

Travel Information

Final Destination: Marseille

The train is typically scheduled to arrive in Marseille at 21:49, too late for connections to be available into destinations on the Cote D'Azur including Antibes, Cannes and Nice, but it is usually possible to travel on to Toulon.

The train also calls at: Lyon Part-Dieu and Aix-en-Provence TGV

1 x train per day

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date

The train typically departs from Frankfurt (Main) Hbf at around 13:54, so target that departure time when looking up this journey,

Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey, but rail pass users will need to be pay a reservation fee prior to boarding.

When looking for tickets on Oui.SNCF tick the 'direct trains' box,
It can be worth comparing the prices between booking agents for this journey.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
DB Bahn from €35.90

DB Bahn Guide

DB is the national railway operator in Germany, so its website can be used for booking journeys by German express trains; the ICE and IC trains and it doesn't charge booking fees.
It also sells tickets for journeys by direct trains on all international routes from Germany regardless of whether DB is operating the train service.

It also sells an extensive range of end-to-end journeys which involve making connections both within Germany and in neighboring countries, but journeys between Germany and Britain cannot be booked on DB.

A key feature of DB website worth keeping mind is that it offers 1st class ticket purchasers complimentary seat reservations on journeys both within and to/from Germany.

Seat reservations for daytime in both 1st and 2nd class can also be booked separately from tickets.

SNCF Connect from €35.90

SNCF Connect Guide

SNCF is the national rail operator in France and not so long ago it recently simplified both the range of tickets and the term and conditions of using them.
Therefore the cheapest tickets also become more flexible too.

Other improvements included a simple integration of travelling with bicycles and rail pass users being able to book reservations for national journeys, without paying booking fees.

And it also recently launched SNCF Connect as replacement for its Oui.SNCF booking service.
You can set up a low price alert to let you know when the cheapest price is available for a future journey.

Something else to look out for is that simplest way of travelling with tickets is to use the SNCF Connect App, as booked tickets can therefore be stored on your mobile device, which can then be shown to the train conductors as proof of purchase.

SNCF Connect on Google Play

SNCF Connect in the App (Apple) store

SNCF also operates RailEurope, which is in effect a dedicated online booking service for making bookings from outside of Europe.
If you reside outside of Europe you may discover that SNCF Connect rejects phone numbers or card numbers, but RailEurope won't do so.
Though RailEurope will add booking fees when making a purchase

On this journey

Journey Features

High Speed (partial journey)

Good to Know

On some dates between Jan 9th to March 26th, due to maintenance works on the railways around Frankfurt (Main), these trains will be commencing their journeys at Mannheim, so direct journeys won't be available.
Connecting trains will be available from Frankfurt (Main) to Mannheim.

Journey description:

This routing is made possible by a network of high speed lines, but this train will actually spend a large percentage of the journey on conventional tracks.

The train will travel on these four high speed lines:

  1. On a short stretch of high speed route between Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden
  2. It travels the full length of the LGV Rhin-Rhone
  3. Between Macon and Lyon
  4. then on the final part of the journey from south of Lyon to Marseille.

The train will travel particularly slowly between the German high speed route and Strasbourg, but this is one of the most interesting part of the trip; see if you can spot when the train crosses the border.

Though it's not a particularly scenic journey, so having something to watch or read with you is recommended, the only wow factor on this trip comes from the speed.

The train will reverse direction on departure from Strasbourg.

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