Where did you look at flights? In case you didn’t know you can check cheap flight options at http://www.whichbudg…
Ryan Air flies from Frankfurt Hahn (may be far form where you’ll be staying in Frankfurt) to Prague for under 100 Euros roundtrip around your dates. Train looks to be about six to eight hours for this journey, and should be competitive with, if not cheaper than, flying if you can take advantage of any special fares. Factor in getting to/from airports, checking in, flight time, etc. and flying may not save you time. I’d probably opt for train to/from Geneva, since it’s about the same amount of time and there don’t seem to be any super cheap, or non-stop, flights.

I noticed the German rail website only has timetables and ticket sales through December 12 right now, but they should open up later dates soon.

Standard train fare from Frankfurt upon Main to Prague (via Wurzburg-Nuremberg-Pilsen) is 80 euros one way, 160 euros roundtrip, unless you find some kind of a special. There is no direct train as far as I know. Airline ticket should be cheaper with a little searching effort. Flights should be plentiful, as Frankfurt is the most common transfer hub for passengers from Prague changing for intercontinental and other long distance flights.

The D-bahn site only lists prices through December 12, but there are prices as low as 29 euros each way from Frankfurt to Prague.

Hey guys thanks. Yeah I looked at this Bahn website and couldn’t get any tickets for after December 12. I am actually not going to be staying in Frankfurt but in Mainz. So I think I would probably have to pay for a train fare from Mainz to Frankfurt but it is only about 30 minutes I heard.

Thanks for the whichbudget site. There seems to be fares for 98 euros from frankfurt to Prague. I am not finding anything to geneva though…

When do you think later dates will become available at bahn.de?

I think in December, fares going up on Dec. 13th:
http://www.thelocal….

That sucks but would I have to wait until december 13 to purchase my ticket? I can’t purchase right now?

You can usually purchase tickets from bahn.de (I like this link to the English page: http://reiseauskunft… ) up to 90 days in advance of your travel date. I found prices for Frankfurt/Prague in early January today. Try as soon as you’re sure of your dates to take advantage of any specials before they sell out. For some routes you may not be able to purchase tickets until 60 days in advance.

Last year there were some major schedule changes and certain schedules and prices for December didn’t show up until December 1. However, I think that was because Trenitalia, the Italian rail system, didn’t post or release the schedules. As I recall it only involved trains in Italy.

It looks like they updated the site, because the other day it would only let me look up prices through Dec. 12. Looks like there are some 29 and 39 euro tickets for Frankfurt-Prague.

December 12 (second Saturday in December) is the day when new edition of the rail timetable comes out in all European countries. The new edition, 2009/10, will be valid after this date. Maybe today they don’t know yet when exactly will the trains run, so they won’t offer tickets for later dates. Also, if they are going to raise prices, they are most probably going to do that with the beginning of the new timetable.

I got the ticket from Frankfurt to Prague at bahn.de for 29 euros. The only issue I have is the train going from Frankfurt airport to dowtown Frankfurt, then from downtown Frankfurt i have to get on another train to Nurenburg and from Nurenburg I think i will have to take a bus to prague from what I understood. Now the connections between these trains is just 15 minutes. Do these trains get there on time or do i have a high chance of missing one train or perhaps missing the bus in nurenburg. In frankfurt i checked i have to walk 5 min from where the train stops to get on to the other train for nurenburg. I hope these trains are right on time and in prague it stops at Praha hl.n.Wilsonova….from what i looked at google maps it didnt seem like a bus station :S.

German trains will be on time

1) Germans are punctual, trains will be exactly on time
2) the Nurnberg—Praha service is operated by German and Czech railways, but it’s a bus. Leaves from Nuremberg Main train sta., arrives to Prague main sta., which is situated at (surprise!) Wilsonova street.

Thanks a lot papyr. Im familiarizing myself with the stations in advance so i don’t have to run around. Do you have any idea if the bus from Nurenburg to Prague is comfortable ?