Frankfurt Stays

I've stayed three times in the airport area before a morning flight out of FRA. All three times I stayed near the Hbf in Mainz. The last time I stayed at Hotel Königshof and would recommend it. It's right across the plaza from the Mainz Hbf and the S-Bahn to the airport, is reasonable priced, and has a great breakfast included with your room.

Kellie,

Would you be interested in a genuine walled town with towers and cobbled streets, lots of fachwerk (photos of examples at the wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_framing )? Büdingen is an easy train ride. Ogle the juicy photos at https://www.buedingen.info/en/

Alternatively you could go on either a private walk or group walk with Frankfurt on Foot. https://www.frankfurtonfoot.com/ I recommend them highly - I know the folks well and respect them for the job they do. They are very used to first time visitors.

Hello, I am a country girl, live out of the towns so maybe thats why every hotel I look at is just another concrete box, and the city isn't appealing to me....I will look into a train trip out of the city to a nice timbered town. That is what I came for in the first place....never rode on a train either! Thank you for the suggestions, Kellie

Hey Kellie,

Here are some links that may help you out.

https://www.timeout.com/frankfurt/hotels/where-to-stay-in-frankfurt

https://www.thehotelguru.com/en-us/best-hotels-in/germany/frankfurt

Since you are country girl and looking to visit a nice timbered town from Frankfurt, then perhaps Rothenburg Germany can be your ideal Medieval Timbered town. 2 hours and 30 minutes train ride from Frankfurt.

https://www.rothenburg-tourismus.de/en/

A second option can be Strasbourg France, a short train ride from Frankfurt.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/alsace-and-lorraine/strasbourg

https://www.forbes.com/sites/irenelevine/2018/09/25/6-reasons-to-visit-strasbourg-france-cradle-of-alsatian-culture/#76c746a45539

Sometimes, small, family-run hotels don't show up on the major booking sites because they don't want to pay the (often quite significant) commission. You can find those through the tourist information of the respective city/town/county.

Kellie, if this is your first trip to Europe, you should read our host’s book on Germany for his general guidelines. You are planning too much for your first 24 hours with public transportation. If you describe your personal interests better, we could give you more choices that would work for a 24 hour span.

Do you like art museums? History? Religion? Food? Music?

Edit: This is a long thread, but page down to "Fachwerkstraße":
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/baltic-germany-fachwerke-landesgartenschau

Basically I am in frankfurt from 1 pm Friday to 3 pm Saturday when I would pick up my car then we are driving to Wurzberg and down the romantic road and finishing back in Frankfurt on Oct 2 from there I am back on my own until October 11 when I fly back to Canada. For that stretch I was hoping to go to Bacharach and explore the area; Mosel, Burg Eltz and up the Rhine to Cologne. See what I can in a leisurely way.

For the first 24 hours of my enitire trip I would love suggestions on where to stay etc, when I arrive at 1 pm local time it will be 3 am for my body clock so I don't want it to be too difficult to navigate trains etc.....would love a family run inn or the like? My interests are culture, food, the people.

thanks Kellie

Someone posted a request similar to yours a couple of months ago -
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/recommendations-needed-for-safe-inexpensive-hotels-frankfurt-and-munich-early-july-2019
The Motel One hotel is close to the historic city hall area & close to the main shopping areas.

Look at the wikitravel site for things to do - https://wikitravel.org/en/Frankfurt

There are many lovely hotels in Frankfurt that are not boxes or chains and are located in beautiful residential neighborhoods.
Hotel Beethoven https://www.hotelbeethoven.de/en/home/
Hotel Goelz https://www.hotel-goelz.de/?page_id=72&lang=en
Hotel Nizza (near the train station, but so very charming) https://www.hotelnizza.de/eng/index.html
Hotel Villa Orange https://www.villa-orange.de/home-en-gb
Hotel Cult https://www.hotelcult.de/home-en-us

There is no need to ride trains for 3 hours to Rothenburg to see quaint. You can go to the neighborhood of Frankfurt Höchst and see one of the oldest churches in Germany as well as about 400 half-timbered houses, a palace, a Schloss with a walkable dry moat, and great restaurants.
If you want a walled city, Büdingen is the town for you.

Frankfurt has plenty of sightseeing options, but I need to know what you like. This is what is happening the 2nd half of Sept. and first week of Oct.
* 13-15 Sept. Medieval Fest, Marburg
* 13-15 Sept. Wine Market, Seligenstatdt
* 19-21 Sept. Harvest Fest, Frankfurt Hauptwache & Roßmarkt
* 21-23 Sept. 688th Gallus Market, Büdingen
* 28 Sept. SaTOURday, Frankfurt Free Museum day
* 28-29 Sept. Medieval Fest, Heidelberg, Sunday Shopping
* 3 Oct. 50th German Jazz Fest, Frankfurt Various Locations

Thank you! I do have the Germany 2019 Guidebook too!

For 24 hours, I'd stay in Frankfurt. It's one of the most underrated cities in Europe. I've been twice and stayed at the Ibis Frankfurt Centrum. It's clean, modern, inexpensive and less than a 10-minute walk from the train station, on the river. If you are unsure, just take a taxi for a few euros, it's worth the peace of mind. It's about a 20-25 minute walk or a quick tram ride to the historic center with its beautiful churches, city hall, and half-timbered buildings.

You're probably going to be jetlagged on arrival anyway. Don't try to go off to another city and then have to go back. You don't have time. You'll have plenty of time to visit all the lovely places mentioned above - and spend more time in Frankfurt itself - at the end of your trip, when you're no longer feeling like a fish out of water.

Hi,

Sachsenhausen is a very nice area, well worth going to.

I stay in a hotel, very reasonably price, actually cheap, and quite satisfactory located a couple of minutes from the central station, Frankfurt Hbf. Going into the Zentrum, I do that from the Hbf.