Cheap way to get from Germany to France

Hello everybody.

This summer is going to be the first I am traveling alone. So I am asking your help because I simply have less experience that any of you.

I have to get from Frankfurt-Hahn airport (I think I can go to Frankfurt city which is 120km away, if it‘s better) to Neuville-sur-Ain (France, 65km away from Lyon and 22km away from Bourg en Bresse). Date is 2009.07.15 23.30 (frankfurt-hahn).

What is the fastest and the cheapest way getting there? I have to be in my destination on 2009.07.17.

I thought about TGV, but it is very expensive. I would greatly appreciate any tips and any of your help.

Thank you for your time.

Quoting lindatt

Hello everybody.

This summer is going to be the first I am traveling alone. So I am asking your help because I simply have less experience that any of you.

I have to get from Frankfurt-Hahn airport (I think I can go to Frankfurt city which is 120km away, if it‘s better) to Neuville-sur-Ain (France, 65km away from Lyon and 22km away from Bourg en Bresse). Date is 2009.07.15 23.30 (frankfurt-hahn).

What is the fastest and the cheapest way getting there? I have to be in my destination on 2009.07.17.

I thought about TGV, but it is very expensive. I would greatly appreciate any tips and any of your help.

Thank you for your time.

I looked through the various options, but there's no easy answer to your question as far as I can tell.

The least troublesome way of doing it would be to hire a car at Frankfurt-Hahn. The autobahn is close by and although it may not be the cheapest route, it will certainly be the most convenient. You can check the route by car by going to Google Maps and then click the link to Get Directions top left in the navigation menu. The bottom field will display Neuville-sur-Ain already, so just type in "Frankfurt-Hahn" in the top field and then click the "Get Directions" button. The software will then plot the route for you on the map. It's 5 hours 55 Minutes driving time according to Google.

Unfortunately, the airport doesn't have a railway station and the nearest one is Bullay some 15km distant. Neither is there a direct service to where you want to go from there as far as I can see: European Rail Network

You could consider transferring to Frankfurt Am Main airport and then taking a flight from there to Lyon. But the cheapest flights all go via London Heathrow or Brussels and cost between €128 and €154 for the total three hours journey time. Alternatively, there's a direct flight by Lufhansa which takes 1 hour 15 mins, but costs €508. But both of those still leave you with having to get from Lyon to your final destination.

Maybe some other member will be able to offer a better suggestion.

Thanks for reply. Sadly, I don't drive so I can't rent a car.

OK, I think you can do it this way. Take the RegioLinie 100 bus from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport to Trier Hauptbahnhof (change the date/time to your estimated arrival time at the station) and then take the train to Bourg-en-Bresse which is 23km from Neuville-sur-Ain.

From there, there's a bus service to your destination. Transbus services the region and should be able to get you to Neuville-sur-Ain.

Try EasyJet. They have some cheap flights from various airports in France to several in Germany.

Quoting Redpaddy

Try EasyJet. They have some cheap flights from various airports in France to several in Germany.

Some research needed on your part there Redpaddy! Easyjet doesn't fly to Frankfurt-Hahn and the nearest airport to Neuville-sur-Ain is 65km distant at Lyon.

Frankfurt-Hahn is actually an old NATO military airfield which probably explains its isolated location.

According to www.jizdenka.cz Trier to Bourg-en-Bresse is approx. 64 EUR.

I think you might be able do this cheaper if you travel on the German side of the Rhine. There are special tickets that are valid in the individual Länder (federal states) in Germany that allow you unlimited travel on regional trains. The most interesting ticket for you would be the Baden-Wurttemberg Single Ticket or the Rhineland-Palatinate Single Ticket.

You should also avoid the TGV in France, it is relatively expensive.

I played around with www.bahn.de for you, I found a connection using regional trains that goes Thu, 16.07.09:

(Trier Hbf dep 06:21
Saarbrücken Hbf arr 07:31)

Saarbrücken Hbf dep 07:45
Strasbourg arr 09:27

Strasbourg dep 10:13 4213
Bourg-en-Bresse arr 14:43

It is the only connection from Frankfurt Hahn to France that doesn't use the TGV.

With that connection I would catch the bus to Saarbrücken from Frankfurt Hahn (price 16 EUR), the bus leaves 00:30 and 04:40 from Hahn Airport. You need to prebook the bus, you can find more info here:

http://www.hahn-airport.de/

From Saarbrücken to Bourg en Bresse the train ticket should be around 61 EUR.

I did some more digging, but so far this seems to be the least complicated method of getting to your destination. Using the above mentioned tickets would involve going via Heidelberg and Basel, with a quick guesstimate you'd end up paying more and changing up to 10 times.

Post #6#.... I'm not sure in my Post where I suggested EasyJet fly from Frankfurt at all, as you quote. If you care to read my post - I advised the enquirer that EasyJet fly from various airports in France, to several in Germany. It would maybe work out just as cheap to use them and get road transport once landed. Some of their fares in either direction are as low as €15 one way and it would take no more than around an hour and a bit to get from A - B.

Quoting Redpaddy

Post #6#.... I'm not sure in my Post where I suggested EasyJet fly from Frankfurt at all, as you quote. If you care to read my post - I advised the enquirer that EasyJet fly from various airports in France, to several in Germany. It would maybe work out just as cheap to use them and get road transport once landed. Some of their fares in either direction are as low as €15 one way and it would take no more than around an hour and a bit to get from A - B.

Yes, but isn't it the intention to get from A to B by the quickest, yet cheapest route? In that respect, all you needed to have done was to check the Frankfurt-Hahn airport site in order to determine what destinations it services. From there you could easily determine if both airports were serviced by Easyjet.

Just saying "...various airports in France, to several in Germany" is a bit too vague and serves no useful purpose other than sending somebody off on a wild goose chase. It would be much more helpful to choose the closest airports served by Easyjet and then explain how you would get from the arrival point to the next airport and onwards to the final destination.

I'm not into explanations. I'm into giving A-1 travel advice and help (based on travel experience I've had while travelling across France and Germany in both directions, for many years). All the criticism - I'll leave to you.

[ Edit: Edited on 04-May-2009, at 08:45 by Redpaddy ]