Peter Greenberg: Traveling from Frankfurt to Kiel, Germany

By: Peter Greenberg | Source: AARP.org | 2009-02-16

For our first time traveling outside of the United States, we will be traveling to Germany in 2009. After the tour, we plan to do a side trip from Frankfurt to Kiel, Germany. This part is for family heritage. I need advice on the best way to travel to Kiel.
–Barbara, Valley Bend, W.V.

There are a number of options to travel from Frankfurt to Kiel, Germany, including by train, car, or plane. First, by car, Kiel is about a five to five-and-a-half-hour drive from Frankfurt, via the cities of Hannover and Hamburg. As a general rule, German roads are well-maintained and well-marked. The only drawback (and this could be a plus, too) is that German autobahns can be intimidating to some American drivers.

Kiel's airport is quite small, and flights there are expensive and irregular. Instead, consider the airport in Hamburg. Once you've landed in Hamburg, there's an easy-to-use shuttle bus that runs between Hamburg and Kiel's railway station called "Kielius." They also offer a Kielius-Kombi-Karte, which combines the shuttle service with taxi service to take you beyond the train station. Family passes are also available. Visit http://www.kielius.de/en/timetable.htm for more information and timetables.

But perhaps the best way to journey from Frankfurt to Kiel is by train. On this route, you can take Germany's high-speed ICE trains that run between the cities. The journey takes roughly the same amount of time by train as it does by car. Tickets are available for as little as €29 (about $35) one-way if you can get a "Dauer-Spezial" rate on second-class fares. Even if they sell out of these special tickets, the full fare is €117 (about $150).

To search for available routes and times, use http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en.