Getting to Germany
GETTING THERE
Arriving by plane
Germany is served by over 100 international airlines. The national airline Lufthansa (LH) alone (Internet: www.lufthansa.com) connects Germany with more than 160 cities worldwide. Thanks to the global route network and coordinated flight schedules of the Star Alliance, travelers from Germany can reach more than 720 destinations worldwide.
From Austria: Lufthansa (LH), Eurowings (EW) and Austrian Airlines (OS)fly to German airports in regular service. From Vienna there are direct connections to Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Hamburg, Cologne / Bonn, Leipzig / Halle, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt / M. Additional connections: Linz – Düsseldorf, Salzburg / Linz – Berlin, Graz / Innsbruck / Klagenfurt / Linz / Salzburg – Frankfurt / M. as well as Linz – Leipzig / Halle.
From Switzerland: Lufthansa, Eurowings (EW) and Swiss (LX) offer scheduled flights from Zurich to Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Munich, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne / Bonn, Leipzig / Halle, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt / M. at. Additional connections: Basel – Berlin, Basel – Dresden, Basel / Geneva – Frankfurt, Basel / Geneva – Düsseldorf, Basel / Geneva – Munich.
air Berlin flies from various major German cities to Vienna and Zurich, among others.
Flight times
Vienna – Frankfurt: 1 hour 25 minutes Zurich – Frankfurt: 1 hour
Arrival by car
A first-class road network connects Germany with all neighboring countries.
Long-distance bus: Numerous coach companies regularly travel to Germany. Ua Euro Lines (website: www.eurolines.com) and Flixbus (website: www.flixbus.de) drive from Austria and Switzerland to Germany.
Arriving by train
There are excellent rail connections between the Federal Republic of Germany and its European neighbors.
The most important train connections are listed below:
There are fast EuroCity and InterCityExpress connections from Deutsche Bahn (Internet: www.bahn.de) every 1 or 2 hours to, among others, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Prague, Brussels, Paris, Budapest, Vienna and Zurich.
The French high-speed train TGV (Internet: http://www.tgv.com/) connects Stuttgart with Paris (journey time: 3 hours 40 minutes) and Frankfurt with Paris (journey time: 3 hours 50 minutes).
ICE -Trains with tilting technology (ICE T) run from Zurich to Munich and Stuttgart.
The Austrian Railjet (Internet: www.oebb.at) runs five times a day, the ICE-T once a day between Vienna and Munich. The Railjet also connects Munich with Budapest via Vienna.
EuroNight trains run to Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, Warsaw, Bologna, Florence, Naples, Rome and Paris, among others.
The Nightjet – night trains (website: www.oebb.at/de/angebote-ermaessigungen/nightjet) drive, inter alia, Austria and Switzerland to Germany:
Vienna – Linz – Frankfurt – Cologne – Düsseldorf;
Vienna – Linz – Hanover – Hamburg;
Innsbruck – Munich – Hamburg;
Innsbruck – Munich – Cologne – Düsseldorf;
Vienna – Dresden – Berlin and
Zurich – Basel – Berlin – Hamburg.
Thalys – high-speed trains (website: www.thalys.com/de/de) operate daily between Cologne and Aachen to Liege, Brussels and Paris. There are tiered tariff offers on Thalys trains as well as special offers for senior citizens and young people. There is a Thalys ticket sales point in Cologne Central Station, which also sells tickets for Eurostar, TGV, Lyria, Italo, Renfe and Elipsos trains.
From Brussels and Paris there are connections with the Eurostar (Internet: www.eurostar.com) through the Channel Tunnel to London.
The ICE International Amsterdamconnects Amsterdam (Netherlands) with Frankfurt / M. via Cologne and Amsterdam with Berlin via Hanover up to seven times a day every two hours. The ICE International Brussels connects Brussels (Belgium) with Frankfurt / M three times a day. in 3 hours 30 minutes.
Tickets and discounts for rail travel in Europe:
The most important economy / combination tickets and special offers for rail travel from Germany to other European countries are listed below. Detailed tariff / timetable information is available from the DB information centers.
InterRail: Children (4-11 years), young people (12-25 years) and adults (from 26 years) who have had a permanent residence in Europe, the former Soviet states or Turkey for at least 6 months can use InterRailuse.
The InterRail One-Country Pass is available for travel in almost 30 European countries including Macedonia and Turkey and is valid for 3, 4, 6, 8 days within 1 month in one country. Children aged 4-11 travel at half the adult price.
The InterRail Global Pass enables travel through several countries and is offered with different periods of validity. Either 5 days out of 10 days total validity or 10 out of 22 can be selected. A continuous period of 22 days or 1 month is also possible.
RAILPLUS:As an addition to the BahnCard, RAILPLUS enables a reduction of 25% on cross-border rail travel to 29 European countries, but not on purely domestic transport in the destination country.
SparNight: Limited offer for overnight trips through Germany, Denmark, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Applies to travel on EuroNight trains.
Eastern Europe saver fare: Under certain conditions, you can travel with this offer to the following Eastern European countries at a discount: Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Poland (not on the trains of the Berlin-Warszawa Express), Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus. Further information is available at http://www.bahn.de/p/view/angebote/international/sparpreis.shtml.
Motorail trains
A car train will connect Lörrach with Hamburg from May 2017 (Internet: www.urlaubs-express.de).
An ÖBB car train (Internet: www.oebb.at/de/leistungen-und-services/mehr-als-zug/auto-motorrad-am-zug) runs on the routes
– between Vienna and Hamburg, Düsseldorf and
– between Innsbruck and Hamburg, Düsseldorf.
Arrival by ship
The Danube (Internet: www.danube-river.org) connects Germany with the Danube countries. A wide variety of shipping lines offer regular ferry connections to Germany. The most important of these are:
Bodenseeschifffahrt (Internet: www.bodenseeschifffahrt.de): Romanshorn / Switzerland – Friedrichshafen; Bregenz / Austria – Constance.
Color Line (Internet: www.colorline.de): Oslo / Norway – Kiel.
Krantas Shipping (Internet: http://www.randburg.com/li/krantas.html): Klaipeda / Lithuania – Kiel.
DFDS Seaways (Internet: www.dfdsseaways. Com): Klaipeda / Lithuania – Kiel.
Scandlines(Internet: www.scandlines.de): Rødby / Denmark – Puttgarden / Fehmarn; Gedser / Denmark – Rostock; Trelleborg / Sweden – Rostock; Trelleborg / Sweden – Sassnitz / Rügen; Ventspils / Latvia – Rostock.
Stena Line (Internet: www.stenaline.com): Gothenburg / Sweden – Kiel.
TT-Line (Internet: www.ttline.de): Trelleborg / Sweden – Rostock; Trelleborg / Sweden – Travemünde.
Finnlines (Internet: www.finnlines.com): Lübeck / Travemünde – Rostock – Gdynia / Poland – Helsinki / Finland).
Further information is available from the Verband der Fährschiffahrt & Fährouristik eV, Esplanade 6, D-20354 Hamburg (Tel: (040) 35 09 72 33. Internet:www.faehre-vff.de).
