Last Night in Germany

I would not attempt seeing Rothenburg and Wurzburg in the same day. I believe you should pick one and concentrate on that. IMHO the best time of day in Rothenburg is the evening when all of the day trippers have left.

Thanks Jill,

So you think we should also sleep in Rothenburg that night as well? then drive to Frankfurt in the morning? Or should we edge our way towards Frankfurt?

Do you really want to travel for over 3 hours on a day when you are going to sit in a plane for another 8-11 hours? I know I wouldn't. What if you get stuck in a traffic jam? Plus you will have the extra headache and time spent returning your car. All of that on the morning you fly?

You could also stay in a medieval, walled town like Büdingen which is only an hour from Frankfurt and you don't have to wait til evening for the buses and tourists to leave.

Have you considered just staying overnight in Frankfurt? It is a beautiful, historic, lively city with lots to see and do.
Or at least stay some place like Mainz, Wiesbaden, or Bad Homburg.

Hi Ms. Jo

We were considering staying in Frankfurt the night before. What we've read is Frankfurt isn't really worth staying. Its a busy area with not much to do/see. Its more of a transportation hub... Which is why we brought up this whole question. I've personally flown through it a few times. Never visited. Just making sure we utilize our time as best as possible.

We will look at your suggested places.

Thanks :)
Chad

Sorry to hear that someone told you there was nothing here to see. It is certainly so much more than a transportation hub.
We have 4 medieval churches just in downtown, a beautiful river bank, dozens of museums, lots of Jewish Cultural sites, a neighborhood that is on the German half timbered route, fabulous Farmers markets, an applewine pub district in buildings dating from the 1600's, and they just finished building our new Alt Stadt last month.

Agree with Mrs Jo. I doubt you'll find parks like this in daytripland. Same for apple wine pubs, farmer's markets, or other tourist activities, like the apple wine express.

Also, this guide from the Guardian newspaper may be helpful.

We will discuss our newest information :)

Thanks for this. We may end up staying in Frankfurt!

Chad odd consideration but I like to sleep in as late as possible on the day I'm returning to the USA to get a jump on recovering from the time change. Up at 5 or 6am for a long drive to the airport is less gentle on the system than I am nowadays.

Frankfurt is a nice enough city - spent many day trips - but it doesn't throw itself in your lap as a tourist site. You get to walk through some seedy red light streets that smell like pee (it's a big city in character even though it's not that big) and the beautiful buildings are a bit lost in the faceless modern stuff. It's not un-likeable but it's not a fully relaxed 360 degree delight either.

There are some charming villages not too far from FRA if you want to split the baby and get some half-timbered fairyland while not having to drive too far to the airport, an hour maybe. Heidelberg is also reasonably short drive to FRA for a 2pm flight, pleasant town for a last night.

Also, to me your itinerary looks like a lot of driving and standing in lines with hordes of tourists. Maybe cut some of the more time consuming attractions, let some of the places breath around you a bit more? It's easy to say when one's been on many trips - I used to jam from one place to the next too. There is though something to be said for the a little more open time to sit at a cafe with an insanely great slice of cake and a great cup of coffee and watch Germany live its life ...

We flew out of Frankfurt earlier this month. We stayed in Mainz (for the second time). If you check the car in the night before, you can catch a train into the airport in about 25 minutes. We like Mainz and find it very handy for this purpose.

Frankfurt is a nice enough city - spent many day trips - but it doesn't throw itself in your lap as a tourist site.

Which is exactly why I liked it, although I can certainly recognize that it's not what everyone is looking for.

You get to walk through some seedy red light streets

If you take the U-bahn and S-bahn to neighborhoods like Sachsenhausen or the Westend, you can go right to nice areas without having to see the seedy streets.

You only walk through those seedy, red light streets that smell like pee, when you follow that awful walk that Rick has in his book. I really wish he would redo it. He misses half the good stuff.

Today the city was hopping, with the fest all along the Fressgasse, grill and wine party behind the Klein Markt Halle, the riverbanks covered with people having picnics and just sunning themselves, and the market on the Konstablerwache was filled with Frankfurters drinking wine, eating brats, cheese, and Frankfurt green sauce.
Rick has never been here for one of the many city festivals, has never visited the charming neighborhoods that surround the inner city.