Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt is Lufthansa’s principal hub and one of Europe’s great connecting airports, and its single best feature is one many travelers miss: you can board a long-distance train straight from the airport and be in another German city without ever going into Frankfurt.

The terminals

There are two passenger terminals, with a third now coming online to add capacity. Terminal 1 is Lufthansa and its Star Alliance partners, spread across concourses A, B, C, and Z. Terminal 2 handles many of the other airlines, on concourses D and E. The Sky Line elevated people mover connects Terminal 1 and Terminal 2; there is also a shuttle bus. If your itinerary crosses terminals, use the Sky Line and leave time — the two are a few minutes apart and a Lufthansa connection within T1 can already involve a long walk between concourses.

Trains, not just the airport

Terminal 1 has two railway stations. The regional station handles the S-Bahn (lines S8 and S9), which reaches Frankfurt’s main station, the Hauptbahnhof, in about 15 minutes. Separately, the long-distance station (Fernbahnhof) is served by ICE high-speed trains, so you can travel directly to Cologne, Stuttgart, Mannheim, and beyond without a stop in the city. For onward travel across Germany, this often beats a connecting flight.

Getting into Frankfurt

The airport is about 12 km southwest of the center. The S-Bahn is the quick, cheap way into town; taxis are available but rarely necessary given the rail links.

Worth knowing

Frankfurt is a serious transfer machine, which means big banks of connections and, at peak times, long security and passport queues — particularly moving between Schengen and non-Schengen areas. Give a short connection more room than the terminal map implies, and know your concourse letter before you land.