I have a business trip to Giessen later this month. I saw posts from 2014 (topic closed). It talked about Marburg & nearby villages that are more interesting. Looks like Marburg is less than a half hour on the ICE, so it looks like a better place to stay than Giessen to enjoy free time. I'd like to stay in a hotel there, within walking distance of places of interest, or the lively city center. Please tell me if you have any hotel suggestions, perhaps in the Altstadt. Vielen dank!
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19399 posts
Marburg is less than a half hour on the ICE
Why take the ICE?
A long distance train (ICE or IC) comes every 2 hours and takes about 16 minutes. The walk-up, Flexi-fare is over 17€. With advance purchase (at least 1 day), you can get a couple of euro off that price for a ticket that is train-specific and non-cancellable.
There are two or three regional trains (RE or RB) per hour. The RMV (Frankfurt Metro) fare is 6,60€ for an open ticket. The hourly RE makes the non-stop trip in 15 minutes. The RBs make multiple stops and take about a half hour.
Posted by
Germany
237 posts
Why not stay in Gießen and do daytours to
Marburg,35 km north
Lich with Golf Club and Kloster Arnsburg Monastery and Landhaus Klosterwald Hotel Restaurant 20km south
Wetzlar and Naunheimer Mühle Hotel and Restaurant 15km west
Braunfels with Castle and Golf Course 30km west
Weilburg and Palace 40km west
Limburg and cathedral 60 km west
etc etc.
Posted by
OP
63 posts
I was hoping to find more within walking distance.
Posted by
San Francisco
15356 posts
Staying in Gießen is close to Butzbach, the center is worth seeing.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9349 posts
Giessen is also close to Büdingen and Gelnhausen, both of them on the regional train route that connects in Giessen. These towns have lots to see and are my personal favorite towns to visit from Frankfurt. Büdingen especially has almost all of its' walls intact and massive towers. Book a private tour to go inside the walls and towers. Gelnhausen has the ruins of a Barbarossa palace, but with quite a bit fairly intact. The church here is stunning.
Burg Ronneburg is also near-by, but harder to get to with public transportation.
https://www.stadt-buedingen.de/
https://www.gelnhausen.de/tourismus/gelnhausen-erleben/
https://burg-ronneburg.de/en/
Marburg is another favorite and I would certainly enjoy staying there. It is a university town, so there are lots of cafes and interesting little stores in the city center.
Posted by
Southeast US
4161 posts
I stayed in Gießen for a couple of nights last year to visit a couple whose wife was studying there. When a raised sidewalk nicknamed the Elefantenklo (elephant toilet) is #6 on a city's TripAdvisor "Things to Do List," you kind of know it's not a happening place. Of course, don't miss this Atlas Obscura site: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-wilhelm-conrad-roentgen.
I didn't think Gießen was necessarily a bad place, but there are certainly much more quaint places to stay in the area. Ms Jo gives good advice on those.