Lodging in a quaint village the night before our flight out of Frankfurt ???

That's a pretty early flight if you have to be there 3 hours ahead after driving and then returning a car.

Deidesheim - one of my favourite little towns. Where are you staying?

With a flight at that hour I'd stay near the airport for simplicity's sake.

Nigel - do you have any suggestions for Deidesheim?

We are doing a 10 day circle drive from Frankfurt - up the Rhine, down the Mosel to Trier and then into the Deidesheim/Grunstadt area with a possible drive into Heidelberg - we haven't been to Heidelberg in 20 years !

If we drive further up from the Heidelberg/Deidesheim area the night before the flight to get closer, is there a town/city/village on the way up to FRA that would be close yet fun ?

I have the booking.com map open and I just don't have a clue. We could just stay AT the airport, but it would be so fun to stay one last night at a B&B instead.....

We just choose the simplicity of walking from the airport Hilton Garden Inn ... Have a dislike of anxiety about making a transAtlantic flight.

Mainz is nice is a 20 minute train ride to the airport - you could get rid of the car the day before saving you from that on travel day.

There are a couple nice hotels across the street from the Hbf and it is a very walkable city.

Neckarsteinach is very attractive, but not well located for a 10:30 flight. You would have to negotiate through Heidelberg's urban morning commute to reach A5 (the Autobahn you would need to take to the airport). One little problem or unexpected Umleitung could throw off your timing significantly.

I would suggest going a little further north. Some of my favorite towns that would provide a very easy jump-off to A5 include Heppenheim, Weinheim and Bensheim. I wouldn't describe any of them as "villages", but they have very pleasent old centers that will each give you several dining options. You could also consider Lorsch, which boasts the partially preserved remains of one of Germany's oldest monasteries. When I lived in the area, I called this 'Ice Cream Town', because for some reason, the Markt has three Eiscafes (Heppenheim has an actual ice cream factory on it's outskirts, but that's probably not of any interest).

Excellent suggestions ! Thanks for responding.....

Thanks for sharing !

Once, when I had an early afternoon flight out of FRA, I stayed in Bad Herrenalb, in the Black Forest, and came in on an ICE from Karlsruhe. There is a connection leaving Bad Herrenalb at 6:03, getting into to FRA at 8:06, another leaving at 5:00, getting in at 7:06. You take the streetcar 50 minutes to the Karlsruhe Hbf, then it's an hour by ICE to the airport Fernbahnhof.

Bad Herrenalb definitely meets the description of a cute Black Forest village.

It IS a cute village !!

Have a look at Dreieich, which is not that far from the airport/Frankfurt. Part of the Half-Timbered route and the Appelwine route.
http://www.dreieich.de/c501/default.html

Thank you !

I am native German..check out the town of Fulda http://www.fulda.de/buergerservice/webcam.html ..its close to Frankfurt about 1 hour.. Our flight usually leaves around the same time you can catch a train very early that will bring you into the airport directly. Or if you have a car you can leave around 5am due to traffic. The place to stay is http://www.platzhirsch-fulda.de/ middle of town and brand new. Visit near by Coffee shop Ideal for me :)