Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date
Book 1st class ticket journey tickets on DB Bahn and your seat reservation is included - but they're optional when booking 2nd class tickets, or if you will be travelling with a 1st or 2nd class rail pass.
On the DB Bahn booking site look for journeys that have:
0 in the Chg. column
EC IC or ICE in the Products column (see the note below)
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Our step-by-step guide to booking train tickets (and reservations) on the DB (German national railways) website is available HERE.
There's also a guide to booking with an independent ticket agent.
If you're new to booking tickets for train journeys in Germany, we also recommend taking a look at our guide to German train tickets - it should help you save time and money and confusion.
Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
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Choosing a journey:
There can be particularly large price differences between departures on this journey - the ICE trains can be cheaper than the IC/EC trains.
The train service between Frankfurt (Main) and Stuttgart is split between:
(1) ICE trains
(2) IC trains
(3) EC trains
The IC and EC trains have similar journey times and they're only around 15 mins slower than the faster ICE trains (that are marked ICE-S) on DB Bahn.
They are also slower ICE train that divert off the direct route to call at Frankfurt Flughafen.
The timetable is arranged so that in even hours there is an IC or EC train, but in odd hours there are 2 x ICE trains.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
DB Bahn | from €17.90 | |
Omio | from €17.90 | |
SaveATrain | from €17.90 | |
Happyrail | from €17.90 | |
Trainline | from €17.90 |
What may not be obvious when looking up this Frankfurt (Main) to Stuttgart journey by train is that there are three types of train service between the two cities
(1) Fastest of all are the ICE trains which take a direct route between Frankfurt (Main) and Mannheim and then the high speed line between Mannheim and Stuttgart.
ICE 1 trains are used for most of these departures.
(2) The slower ICE trains divert off the direct route in order to also call at Frankfurt Flughafen/Airport station, but they use the high speed line between Mannheim and Stuttgart.
ICE 4 trains are now used for most of these departures.
(3) The EC and IC trains take a different route between Mannheim and Stuttgart, but they do use the high speed line for the final part of the journey - though they don't match the speed of the ICE trains.
The timetable is usually arranged so that in even hours there is an IC or EC train, but in odd hours there are 2 x ICE trains - the faster train on the direct route and the slower train, which will be travelling via Frankfurt Flughafen.
Final Destination:
ICE trains* - Munchen or Stuttgart;
IC trains - Munchen or Stuttgart,
EC trains - Klagenfurt or Graz
What may not be obvious when looking up this Frankfurt (Main) to Stuttgart journey by train is that there are three types of train service between the two cities
(1) Fastest of all are the ICE trains which take a direct route between Frankfurt (Main) and Mannheim and then the high speed line between Mannheim and Stuttgart.
ICE 1 trains are used for most of these departures.
(2) The slower ICE trains divert off the direct route in order to also call at Frankfurt Flughafen/Airport station, but they use the high speed line between Mannheim and Stuttgart.
ICE 4 trains are now used for most of these departures.
(3) The EC and IC trains take a different route between Mannheim and Stuttgart, but they do use the high speed line for the final part of the journey - though they don't match the speed of the ICE trains.
The timetable is usually arranged so that in even hours there is an IC or EC train, but in odd hours there are 2 x ICE trains - the faster train on the direct route and the slower train, which will be travelling via Frankfurt Flughafen.
Final Destination:
ICE trains* - Munchen or Stuttgart;
IC trains - Munchen or Stuttgart,
EC trains - Klagenfurt or Graz
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This is one of more than 1000 journey guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.