First visit to Germany Frankfurt - Berlin

I would not trade away your three nights in Berlin and would probably make it 4 nights. Berlin has a ton to see, including historical sites, museums, modern updates, and excursions to a nearby palace or to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. You could take a train the same day from Frankfurt airport to Berlin (4.5 - 5 hours with 1 connection). However, I would not feel confident enough of on-time flight arrival to lock in an advance-discount train ticket.

Some people contributing to this forum live in Frankfurt and can recommend it's highlights, or there's also a chapter in Rick's Germany book. If you're there in time, start with the 10:30 a.m. www.frankfurtonfoot.com walking tour.

If your trans-Atlantic airline also serves Berlin or has a code-shared partner, it often doesn't cost much more to fly there, but I assume your airline ticket is not changeable at this time.

Hi,

With such a tight schedule you could extend the visit in Berlin by an extra night. I did that flying from SFO to FRA this past trip, a 10 hr flight. You're doing it from JFK to FRA. When you arrive at FRA, plan to depart for Berlin that afternoon from Frankfurt Hbf. or even Fernbahnhof so that you arrive in Berlin by ca 1800 by train on Thurs, the same day you flew into FRA. A good number of historical sites and museums can be recommended in Berlin.

Yes, you can spend all 5 days in the Frankfurt area too, if you decide to drop Berlin, seeing towns/cities like Marburg, Wetzlar, Mainz, Wiesbaden, Friedberg, etc.

Hi Peter-

I second the advice of Laura and Fred- Catch a train from Frankfurt airport to Berlin on Thursday instead of Friday. It's only 4-5 hours. If you are going pretty quick, all of the cheap train tickets are probably sold out. So investigate the German Rail pass- it is 25% off right now and you can get a 3 day 2nd class pass (3 days is the minimum) for a little over $200 (dollars not Euros!!). Then you don't have to worry about your plane into Frankfurt being late. The pass is good on any train. You must make a seat reservation (about $7 for each way) but you can do that just before boarding the train. Since the pass is good for 3 days and you are using it for 2 between Frankfurt and Berlin, you could even use the pass to do a quick daytrip out of Berlin (Sanssouci ?)

You could check the weather and if it will be bad in Berlin, it may be better in another German city like Munich. With the rail pass you can go to either one (or both, although it would be a little tiring to do both Berlin and Munich in 5 days). And Berlin has more museums.

At any rate, have a good trip!!!

My wife and I visited Berlin and Frankfurt (both for the first time) last Spring (2013). Frankfurt was fine, but nothing to compare with the visit to Berlin. We arrived in Berlin in the evening. We stayed there 3 nights and slightly less than 3 days. We wish we'd scheduled more time; there's much to see and do. One evening we attended the Philharmonie for a sold-out performance--it was really something! We spent half a day at the Reichstag (couldn't have lunch there even though we purchased our admission tickets 3 months in advance). Assuming you arrive in Frankfurt in the morning, I'd suggest getting a flight from Frankfurt to Berlin and maximize your time in Berlin--at least get one more evening and one more night. See Frankfurt on another visit.