I thought I have been very well organized planning my stay in Frankfurt am Main the fifth largest city in Germany with one of the biggest international Airport bases and train station platforms as well as counting to the financial center of Europe.
I was very surprised to acknowledge that the way to the hotel is another story. There are several options one can make, first travelers to Frankfurt like me have on their first day of arrival not very much luck to save money, this is what happened to me.
My flight to Frankfurt Germany was a transit flight through Cyprus from the early morning 5th October 2012. I had to wait 2 hours in Larnaca but I used my time wisely and didn’t feel bored at all. Just look at my breakfast, it was a delicious memory, I can still taste. Love everything sweet.
Yet the flight was very tiring and when I arrived at Frankfurt international airport only one thought was in my mind, to arrive at the hotel in a short, inexpensive way. I wanted to save so I could use the money for tourist attractions, refreshments and so on.
There are several ways to reach your destination. Mine was to use the train or subway railway station to the main train station. A decision wisely taken as I learned to know.
Between the airport and the main train station is an approximate distance of 15km calculated, when you decide to take a taxi from the airport you need to know that the basic charge starts now at 6,00€ (~ $ 7.70) and for every consecutive km in the day you pay 1,38€ (~ $1.78) extra charges apply for night trips and in case of booking ahead waiting time and cancellation. Day trip fee amounts to 26,70 € (~ $34.60).
To reach the railway station from the Frankfurt airport is very easy, you hardly get lost since there are so many information billboards around and friendly airport staff to help you around once in need.
Also Frankfurt railway route search is very easy and is available for various languages. Furthermore having some German language knowledge is very advantageous. I am glad to see that even driving in the night time doesn’t change the fare of the ticket: 4,10 €. This search resulted in a one-way travel per person. When driving by night this is the best option to take. Driving by day you could save an extra 2,30. (~ $3) in case you take the day ticket for Frankfurt. The day ticket provides you with unlimited drive times from 9am till midnight with public transportation, these are underground railway,subway railway and bus within Frankfurt City. The Frankfurt day ticket which includes the Airport costs 8 €. Normal Frankfurt Ticket without Airport 6,20 €.
Short way ticket from the main train station Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof via subway railway to my Hotel in an area called Galluswarte costs 1,60 €. Sadly I didn’t use that option. Instead I drove the rest of the way with a taxi. Taxi charge 6,50 €.
Specially for tourists there are Frankfurt Card tickets available at train and airport stations which include free and unlimited public transportation system within Frankfurt City and Frankfurt Airport for either one or two days, 50 % price reduction on admission to selected Frankfurt Museums and attractions, and other various discounts as well.
This was my choice.
Frankfurt City has so much to offer yet I didn’t have all the time to see everything. Follow these links to amazing pictures and information around sightseeing in Frankfurt.
http://terencesjones.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/downtown-frankfurt-a-one-day-trip/
Picture Blog Sky view from the top
http://aicer01.blogspot.de/2012/09/germany-tour-day-7-22nd-sept.html
http://theglamnomad.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/frankfurt-germany/
Tips and Sightseeing in Frankfurt
I decided to make my own city tour through the shopping districts and city sights and see to where it carries me on then.
Left to right: Old opera house nighttime, view opposite opera house, Shopping center Zeil, Frankfurt main train station shot from driving subway.
The next day I selected two museums of my own choice.
Botanical Garden – Palmengarten
I love parks because you see the effort and detail spend to present numerous galleries, greenhouses and colorful landscape design which present to me a peaceful and tranquil environment to spend the day out in nature away from the hectic and crowded city-life. The park can be enjoyed year round even in my case on cloudy days. Since there were some reconstruction work still going on the normal price was reduced to 5€ and I entered with 2,50€. Here are some of my good shots.
ExperiMINTa ScienceCenter Frankfurt Interactive museum for young and old to experience different aspects of science first-hand in an easily understandable way and create a bond to bring kids nearer to science in a fun and creative way. It is a wonderful idea to combine playing and learning at a young age. Right now more focus is placed on the German kids and children, since I didn’t find any explanatory boards in English. So there is a space for improvement necessary when also foreign visitors are targeted or foreign tourist decide to visit this facility. I took the liberty to make some pictures of me and other voluntary children (many thanks to them) who helped me in this interactive hands-on project. It was a successful approach. What is your opinion?
from left to right: ExperiMINTa building; entrance bracelet; mirror distortion; giant spoon a) front b)back; slitted mirror; artificial Tornado; bridge building; book bridge with PC bridge Simulator; Soma cube dissection puzzle; Giant water soap bubble
I am actually not the backpacker type of traveling person, I like to travel comfortable staying in hotels, sightseeing and tourism but to save on money that can be spend on other attractions in town is and will be always a priority for me. This trip has given me a memorable stay with many lessons learned on the way, hoping also YOU will profit from.
A student thoughts on life 