Travel information

ADFOCS 2014 takes place at the campus of Saarland University, in the building of Max Planck Institut for Informatics (MPII) and the Computer Science Building.

Traveling to Saarbrücken

You will probably try to reach Saarbrücken by train. If you have a flight to Frankfurt, this is extremely easy. There is a train station right in the terminal building. Trains run frequently. You have to buy a ticket before you board the train, and there you can also ask which trains to take.

If you are a group of people, note that there is a special offer called "Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket" (nice week-end ticket) for sundays and saturdays. It costs 44 Euros (or 42 at the machines) and entitles up to 5 people to travel a whole day on all local trains ("S-Bahn" (S), "Regional-Express" (RE), "Regional-Bahn" (RB)). Several such connections to Saarbrücken only use such trains, so this is not a real limitation. For week days, there is a similar offer called "Quer-durchs-Land"-Ticket.

If you arrive at some other airport, things are not that simple, but still easy. From Frankfurt-Hahn, served by Ryanair and other cheap airlines, there is a quite regular bus-service. From Stuttgart, Cologne or Dortmund you would also take the train, but this might take a good three to four hours.

From Saarbrücken main train station ("Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof") to your hotel

From the train station to your hotel you can use public transport: Buses and a tramway that is called "Saarbahn".

The Hotel B&B Saarbrücken is located directly at the main train station.
For Hotel Madeleine and the Hotel Fuchs, you take the tramway S1 with destination "Sarreguemines", "Brebach", or "Kleinblittersdorf" and get off at the stop "Johanneskirche" (two stops). You can also walk (15 minutes).
For Hotel Weller, you take bus 124 with destination "Universität Busterminal" and get off at the stop "An der Trift" (five stops).
For the Youth Hostel, you take bus 124 with destination "Universität Busterminal" and get off at the stop "Prinzenweiher/DJH" (six stops). On Sunday, bus 124 does not operate. You can travel either to Ilseplatz by Bus 102 (11th stop), and walk from there (about 7 minutes), or you may check other options here: www.saarbahn.de (von: Saarbrücken Hbf, nach: Saarbrücken, Europa Jugendherberge).
For Hotel Kaiserhof, take the tramway S1 with destination "Sarreguemines", "Brebach", or "Kleinblittersdorf" and get off at the stop "Uhlandstrasse" (five stops).
For the Etap-Hotel, take the tramway S1 with destination "Sarreguemines", "Brebach", or "Kleinblittersdorf" and get off at the stop "Kieselhumes". (six stops).

Specific bus queries (using the names of the bus/tram stops) can be entered here (enter the name of the origin bus/tram stop in the "von" field, the destination in the "nach" field, and in the next two, date and time).

Getting to the MPII and back

Your ADFOCS name badge entitles you to free public transport in Saarbrücken from August 13 to August 17. All busses to the MPII will have "Universität" as part of their destination sign. You get off the bus at the stop "Universität Mensa". The MPI building is located on the left side a bit further down the street (Building number E1.4). You can also look at the map below. On the way back you depart from the same bus stop (other side of the road).

From the main train station and from Hotel B&B Saarbrücken, take bus 124 with destination "Universität Busterminal" and get off at the stop "Universität Mensa (12 stops). On the way back, the destination is "Betriebsbahnhof".
From the city center ( Hotel Madeleine and Hotel Fuchs are located here) several buses to the MPII (stop "Universität Mensa") start at the bus stop "Rathaus": bus 101 with destination "Dudweiler Dudoplatz" (10 stops), bus 102 with destination "Dudweiler Dudoplatz" (13 stops), bus 109 with destination "Universität Busterminal " (13 stops), and bus 150 with destination "Neuweiler Sternplatz" (10 stops). On the way back to the city center you get off the bus at the bus stop "Johanneskirche". The destinations are "Füllengarten Siedlung" for bus 101, "Altenkessel Talstrasse" for bus 102, "Saarcenter/Goldene Bremm" for bus 109, and "Saarcenter" for bus 150.
From the Hotel Kaiserhof (tramway stop "Uhlandstrasse") or the Etap-Hotel (tramway stop "Kieselhumes") take the tramway S1 back in direction main station (destinations "Siedlerheim" and "Riegelsberg Süd") and get off at the tramway stop "Johanneskirche" (three/four stops). Walk over to the bus stop "Rathaus" and proceed as above.
From Hotel Weller (bus stop "An der Trift") or the Youth Hostel (bus stop "Prinzenweiher/DJH"), you enter the bus at the same stop you left when coming from the train station and go on to "Universität Mensa" taking bus 101 with destination "Dudweiler Dudoplatz", bus 124 with destination "Universität Busterminal", or bus 150 with destination "Neuweiler Sternplatz" (seven/six stops). On the way back, the destinations are "Füllengarten Siedlung" (bus 101), "Betriebsbahnhof" (bus 124), and "Saarcenter" (bus 150).