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Büdingen, Germany tour

I had a terrific tour in the town of Büdingen, Germany, which is about an hour train ride from Frankfurt. It was recommended on this website by a traveler, who suggested that we ask for the same tour guide whom she had. We did so, & I am so glad we did! The guide's name is Heide Diana Massakas. Her last name sounds Greek, but she is German. She is a terrific person who is very knowledgeable about the history of her town. She speaks English very well--she lived in the U.S. for several years a while back. She has a lovely personality and wants the people she is guiding to have a good experience--she takes photos of you with your camera, helps to find you a lunch location, etc. Büdingen is a very worthwhile place to visit because it was built in the 1300's & was not damaged in WWII. It is not crowded with tourists, as some of the other towns are. There is a terrific old town with lots of old, half-timbered buildings surrounded by a wonderful reddish sandstone wall complete with cylindrical towers. My husband and I don't usually take tours, preferring independent exploration, but I'm glad we did in Büdingen. We got so much more out of our visit than we would have without the wonderful guide. Heide had keys to unlock several of the towers in the wall, so we got to go inside a dungeon, walk on top of the wall, etc. And we understood more about what we were looking at because of Heide's explanation. For example, the walls don't look very tall, but that is because the land is 4 or 5 meters higher than it was in the 1300's, when the walls were built.
My husband and I paid 51 euros, plus a tip (not necessary) for a 1.5 hour tour in English. It's cheaper in German. We were the only people on the tour. We walked to the old town from the Büdingen train station, which is in a modern part of town--it was not hard to find the old town, & the walk took about 15 minutes on level ground. There is no direct train from Frankfurt to Büdingen--we changed trains in Geinhausen.

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14 posts

I forgot to say that we booked the tour of Büdingen through the tourist office, requesting Heide as our guide. We did this on line in advance of our trip but didn't have to pay until the day of the tour.

Posted by
8941 posts

Glad to hear you enjoyed Büdingen and your tour. This is the guide that I always recommend as I find her tours to be so informative and fascinating. The woman has lived and traveled all over the world, but she really knows her town and also specializes in Fachwerk (Half-timbered buildings). I think for the price, it is a bargain.

Now, if we can only get Rick to visit this gem of a town. Or maybe not. Would hate to see it turn into a tourist trap.