Travel from Toronto to Dortmund, Germany

February 9, 2006 4:09 PM

How can I get from Toronto to Dortmund, Germany in as little time and for as little money as possible?

I'm about to graduate college and am planning to spend 6 weeks kicking around Europe this summer, and I was fortunate enough to get tickets to a World Cup game on June 19th in Dortmund, Germany. My plan was to fly into a big European city and then get around by train, eventually making my way there.

However I found out recently that my convocation ceremony in Toronto is June 17th, two days before the game. I'd like to attend both if I could and start my vacation with the game. But I'm not sure if that's really feasible.

Can someone tell me what major cities near Dortmund are likely to offer frequent flights to other major cities, and how to get to Dortmund from these cities, and how long that would take, and how much money that would cost?

So far I've been looking at cities like Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Frankfurt. What's my best bet?

posted by PercussivePaul to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

Dude, talk to a travel agent.

(I would guess you can find a charter flight to Frankfurt from Toronto; I got one a few years back)
posted by dobie at 5:35 PM on February 9, 2006

Frankfurt (Lufthansa's hub) then train seems smartest: it's around 3 hours, depending on when you travel, and trains run very frequently. You might need to book a ticket now, though. Alternatively, it's about five hours on the train from Schiphol to Dortmund.

Remember that you'd probably have to fly on the evening of the 17th to arrive mid-morning on the 18th.
posted by holgate at 5:44 PM on February 9, 2006

Düsseldorf and Cologne both have relatively big airports and you can get to Dortmund from there in about one hour by train which costs about 20 Euro.
posted by snownoid at 6:01 PM on February 9, 2006

fly air canada from yyz to fra on flt 872 departing 17:15 ( checkin an hour before plus travel time from downtown t.o. means you gotta leave the ceremony by 3:30 0 then arrive fra at 7:00 am on the 18th and catch the train from the flughafen ( airport ), there's a station attached to the airport. or leave on the 18th and arive the mornin of the game, take the train...
posted by dawdle at 6:31 PM on February 9, 2006

Dawdle's got a nice itinerary there.

Here's a map showing all of Dortmund Airport's nonstop destinations.

Frankfurt and Amsterdam seem like the closest hubs. Paris, Vienna, Zurich, Brussels, Munich, Copenhagen, and maybe even London also seem feasible via air or train.

If you can get to Paris, Easyjet's got a flight from Paris to Dortmund for 50 euros before tax that would get you in around 10 in the evening the night before the game. Air Berlin has a Vienna-Dortmund flight as well, and Austrian flies from Toronto to Vienna. The train would probably be less hassle, especially with places like Amsterdam Schiphol and Frankfurt where the train station's in the airport.

There might be a disconnect between "cheap" and "World Cup," though - so flying to a non-German city and connecting the dots might save you some money. YMMV.
posted by mdonley at 10:56 PM on February 9, 2006

You can catch the train directly from the Duesseldorf airport, they built a nice new train terminal at the airport a few years ago. There are some direct international flights to Duessledorf, but those may not be especially cheap.
posted by Goofyy at 5:39 AM on February 10, 2006