How to take a train from Salzburg to Frankfurt

Hamburg to Frankfurt by train

How to take the rail journey Hamburg to Frankfurt (Main)

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Routes

From Hamburg Hbf to Frankfurt Main Hbf

Travel Information

Departing from Hamburg:

Most of these trains commence their journeys at Hamburg-Altona station and they all call at Hamburg-Dammtor before they arrive at Hamburg hbf.

So it can be a good idea to look up the starting point of your journey and then book tickets from the most convenient station; only Hamburg Hbf has connections with the U-Bahn (subway).

Final Destination: Basel or Interlaken or Zurich or Stuttgart

A variety of different types of ICE trains are used on this route.

Most of the trains heading to Zurich or Chur, the departures in the even hours, will be the newer ICE 4 trains.

However, most of the departures heading to Stuttgart, the departures in the odd hours. will be by ICE 1 trains.

The Sprinter service:

A newly added departure on Mon-Fri at 06:06 will race to Frankfurt (Main) hbf in only 3hr 21min, thanks to it making only one intermediate station call at Hannover.

The alternative route:

In most hours there are also now other ICE trains between Hamburg and Frankfurt (Main), but they are around an hour slower than these trains because they don't use the high speed line.

As a consequence DB doesn't sell tickets for journeys by those slower trains.

But if you will be travelling with a rail pass take care to avoid those trains

1 x train per hour

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

On the DB booking site look for journeys that have

  • 0 in the Chg. column
  • ICE (and only ICE) in the Products column.

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day - so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
Use the earlier/later buttons to search for the cheapest ticket prices.

Reservations:

Book 1st class ticket journey tickets on and your seat reservation is included, but they're optional when booking 2nd class tickets, or if you will be travelling with a 1st or 2nd class rail pass.

Opting to reserve is particularly recommended for a long journey such as this one, at busy times you'll be fortunate to be able to remain in the same seat all the way from Hamburg to Basel if you don't reserve.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
DB Bahn from €17.90

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.

Omio from €17.90 (in £s)

Omio Guide

Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.

The three key advantages of using Omio are

  • it offers prices in multiple currencies
  • it usually offers price comparison with other modes of travel including flights and buses
  • when visiting Europe, you can book journeys in multiple countries in one transaction.

The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.

Happy rail from €17.90

Happy rail Guide

Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.

HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.

Save A Train from €17.90

Save A Train Guide

Save A Train from €17.90

Save A Train Guide

On this journey

Journey Features

High Speed (partial journey)

Good to Know

Due to maintenance work on the high speed line from April 1st until December 9th typically used by these trains between Kassel and Fulda, the trains on this route will be diverted on to the slower, older railway.
As a result journey times will be extended by around 40-45 minutes.
Therefore during this period the journey times will temporarily only be around 20mins slower than the alternative route taken by the non-high speed ICE trains that take a route through Marburg.

It's a pleasant, easy and comfortable by train from Hamburg to Frankfurt (Main)

It's not a journey packed with wow moments, but the train will be on a high speed line between Hannover and Fulda; and this line is more scenic than most high speed routes.
Look out for the views across the countryside between the many tunnels.

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