How to take a train from Salzburg to Frankfurt

Paris to Frankfurt by train

How to take a train journey from Paris to Frankfurt (Main)

What won't be obvious when looking up the train journey from Paris to Frankfurt (Main) is that the trains between the two cities take two different routes.
But it makes little difference to the journey times or ticket prices.
The route via Kaiserslautern involves travelling through valleys in a forest to the east of the city, but aside from that it isn't more scenic than the route via Strasbourg.
The route via Strasbourg is longer in terms of distance travelled, but the train travels further on the high speed line.

What gives this journey its wow factor is the speed, the trains will travel at more than 300 km/h on the fastest high speed line in France.

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Routes

From Paris Gare de l'Est/Paris Est to Frankfurt Main Hbf

Travel Information

Final Destination: Frankfurt (Main)

All trains also call at: Mannheim

Some trains also call at: Kaiserslautern

Some trains also call at: Karlsruhe

Note that these trains depart from Gare de l'Est in Paris.

Until 2016 all trains between Paris and Frankfurt (Main) travelled via Kaiserslautern, but now the high speed line from Paris has been extended to Strasbourg, some trains take that route.

Whether the train travels via Kaiserlautern or Strasbourg, doesn’t make such a significant difference to journey times to make it worthwhile to choose one departure over another – particularly if the cheapest possible price is a factor.

The trains via Strasbourg also call at Karlsruhe.

Mon to Friday: 6 x trains per day
Sat/Sun: 5 x trains per day

Tickets

These trains now take one of two routes; (1) via Kaiserlautern, (2) via Strasbourg - but that doesn't tend to impact on ticket prices, what matters more is the departure time and how popular a train is likely to be.

Book early and save: Yes

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

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.

On the DB booking site look for journeys that have 0 in the Chg. column

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.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
DB from €39

DB 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.

Two types of ticket have recently been made available;

  1. Cheaper 'Young' tickets which can only be booked by those aged 15-26 on the travel date.
  2. Flexi Plus tickets, which are now the most expensive type of ticket, but they're the only type of 2nd class tickets which DO include a seat reservation.
SNCF Connect from €39

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

Trainline from €39

Trainline Guide

Save A Train from €39

Save A Train Guide

Happy rail from €39

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.

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - NoHigh Speed (partial journey)

Good to Know

The morning  departures are scheduled to be TGV trains, while the afternoon/evening departures SHOULD be ICE trains.

Not much to see from the high speed line Not much to see from the high speed line

Via: Kaiserslautern

This is a journey of four distinct phases.

  1. Around 13 minutes after departure the train will move on to the high speed line, on which between Champagne-Ardennes and Lorraine, it should travel at more than 300 km/h (faster than the speed achieved by ICE trains in Germany).
  2. Shorty after passing Lorraine TGV station, the train will move on to conventional tracks.
  3. Between Kaiserslautern and Neustadt the train will travel through a series of forests in the valleys, this is the most scenic part of the journey.
  4. After passing through the cities of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim, the train will pass through the commuter towns to the south of Frankfurt.

Via: Strasbourg
This is a journey of three distinct phases.

  1. The train will take the same high speed line from Paris, but will remain on it until around 5 minutes before arrival in Strasbourg.
  2. On departure from Strasbourg the train will travel fairly slowly on a route it will share with local metro trains.
  3. Then it will speed up, but remain on conventional railway tracks as it passes through Karlsruhe and Mannheim.
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