We thought since we've just passed through Frankfurt so many times, we should stop and explore it. We get in the afternoon of the 8th and leave on an early flight on the 12th. We figure we will stay at the airport the night of the 11th to make our flight, but are open to staying in the city the other nights. Does that make sense? What area of town should we stay in if doing airbnb? Hotels? Should we go elsewhere for a couple of days? Thanks for all thought!
Posted by
Paradise
7590 posts
Should we go elsewhere for a couple of days?
There are multiple nice "elsewheres" near Frankfurt that you might head to if you are not firm about Frankfurt. Nothing wrong with a few nights in nearby Bacharach or one of the other attractive old-world villages that line up along alongside each other in the Rhine River. It takes just one hour to get there from FRA airport, and direct train service from the airport makes it easy. Tour some castles, take a hike or a bike ride, hop a day cruise boat, hit some wineries, enjoy the views.
https://www.expedia.com/Bacharach.dx6048652
https://www.weinhaus-weiler.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/DSC_2434_1920.jpg
https://www.deutschland-luftaufnahmen.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Marksburg.jpg
https://www.deutschlandgourmet.info/bilder/gross/5710-Restaurant-Weinhaus-Heilig-Grab-Boppard.jpg
https://fewoboppard.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Sessellift.jpg
Posted by
Freedonia
17733 posts
I will suggest you plan on taking the Frankfurt on Foot walking tour. I, along with many others on this forum, recommend it.
Posted by
9148 posts
Frankfurt is OK, but there are more interesting places along the Rhine Valley.
Consider Rudesheim, Mainz, Heidelberg and more.
Posted by
Paradise
7590 posts
Here's a train-line map showing the locations of some of the towns near FRA that have been mentioned.
Keep in mind that larger places like Frankfurt, Mainz, Wiesbaden and Koblenz were hit pretty hard in WW II; the smaller towns often escaped bombing raids and tend to retain their old-world charm more completely. Braubach (home of Marksburg Castle, not on map but just south of Koblenz) and Bacharach are especially attractive.
What time is your flight? I often overnight in Mainz, where trains to FRA airport run constantly; you can catch a direct jtrain at like 4 am if you must and get to the terminal in 25 minutes.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9501 posts
What kind of things are you interested in seeing? Which month? There may be some great festivals here.
If you like history, Frankfurt has multiple layers of it, going back to Roman times. Jewish culture plays a large part in the history (Anne Frank and the Rothschilds were born here) as well as being the location for the 1st freely elected parliament, & the election city for the Holy Roman Emperor since the 1300s. One of the oldest churches in Germany is located here, the Justinus church, consecrated in 830. Wonderful farmers markets, medieval churches like St. Leonhards, Alte Nikolai, the Kaiserdom, and the Deutsche Ordens Church. The Palmengarten and Botanical Garden are lovely, and so is Bethmann Park in Bornheim. There are dozens of museums here, catering to all types of interests. If you are here on a Wed. or Sun. you can go visit a WW2 bunker that has some wonderful exhibits in it, including the virtual reconstruction of about 25 Synagogues.
Don't believe the comments that the city was wiped out by bombing, only the inner city was affected. All the neighborhoods surrounding the inner city have beautiful, old architecture. Even the neighborhood around the train station has gorgeous buildings, all built around 1895.
Nearby towns that I enjoy visiting - Büdingen (massive stone walls, towers and 100s of half-timbered buildings) Gelnhausen with some really good ruins of Barbarossas' palace. Nearby is the Ronneburg Castle, which is an original and quite interesting. Bad Homburg with the only original palace of Kaiser Wilhelm 1 and 2, plus the nearby Hessen Park Open Air Musuem and the Saalburg Roman fort are all worth a visit. Limburg, Marburg, Idstein, Eppstein and Seligenstadt are all within one hour by train. If you use www.rmv.de to find trains, you can use group day tickets.
Rüdesheim is fine, but it is all reconstructed and frankly rather tacky with all the souvenir stores selling Chinese knock-offs. The gondola is nice and so is Siegfrieds Musical Cabinet. I much prefer Eltville and Eberbach Monastery for a day trip. Of course, you can ride one of the ships from Rüdesheim up to St. Goarshausen and come back. This lets you see a lot of castles in one swoop.