Looking for travel suggestions from Frankfurt

Bamberg. It's a beautiful town with a village feel. Hike the seven hill surrounding to a scenic beer gardens. We stayed at Brauerei Spezial which was great unique experience except there was no air conditioning and it was a September heat wave. www.brauerei-spezial.de [email protected]

The Mittelrhein is very accessible from Frankfurt; the Mosel almost as much so.

I happen to like the northern Black Forest, too. Heidelberg and Baden-Baden not so much. Parts of Bavaria (Bamberg, Würzburg, Rothenburg, maybe Nürnberg) are certainly accessible from Frankfurt.

9 nights is about right for the Rhine/Mosel region and the northern Bavaria towns Lee identified (a sub-region called Franconia.)

Sept. 8-11: Oberwesel's Wine Market festival, with fireworks on Sat. St. Goar and Boppard are nearby towns that make good travel bases for a few days. Book your rooms soon. These small towns all fill quickly when there's a wine fest.

Many thanks for your suggestions. Based upon your suggestions and after doing some online reading, I came up with this itinerary. What do you think?
September 4 Arrival in Frankfurt and overnight
September 5, 6, 7 by train to Munich. Visit Munich with a side-trip to Salzburg, Austria
September 8, 9 by train to Nuremberg. Side trip to Bamberg
September 10, 11, 12 train back to Frankfurt. Side trip to The Mittelrhein
September 13 Fly out of Frankfurt

Thank you for looking at my itinerary!

jaime, here's how I'd do it. Fly into Frankfurt: same day train to somewhere on the Rhine - Bacharach, Rudesheim, St Goar, etc. The reason is that you might as well burn the rest of arrival day getting somewhere you want to be. After a few days there, rail to Munich. Then Bamberg etc., on way back to Frankfurt. In other words a counterclockwise circle.

Interesting, Stan. My itinerary is based on the fact that Oktoberfest starts on September 16. I would rather stay away from Munich during the days that lead up to Oktoberfest because of the crowds and higher prices. Hence my itinerary starts in Munich. Does this make sense to you? Are my concerns warranted? Thanks!

Just my opinion, but as long as you can book a hotel room, I wouldn't avoid Oktoberfest. More people in town, but the festival itself is held outside of the core area, and its worth experiencing anyway.

Certainly, you can start in Munich and travel in the other direction. You don't have much time wherever you start, so you're cutting off time in either the Rhine area, or Bavaria, whichever you decide. I prefer Rhine area, and since its closer to Frankfurt, I suggested starting there, for efficiency. You'll probably get lots of other input.

I suspect no one suggested Munich or Salzburg - or Frankfurt itself - because you seemed interested "in the areas around Frankfurt" and mentioned specifically that you "don't want to stay in Frankfurt." But I guess now you do - you have four nights there.

Your itinerary looks semi-doable if Frankfurt, Munich and Salzburg are musts. However, it's all pretty snug and involves a lot of ground travel time.

• Your day trip to Salzburg will mean 3.5 hours on the train round trip.
• Your visit to the Middle Rhine will be the Cliffs Notes version; from Frankfurt, the train trip alone to Braubach (Marksburg Castle) and back takes 4 hours. But most visitors want to see the west-bank towns, do a river cruise, maybe set foot in two castles... it takes more time than you've allowed.
• Nuremberg too is pretty tight.

Does your flight arrive in the late afternoon? Unless that's the case, you might consider getting on a train after landing to either Munich or Nuremberg on 9/4. Staying in Frankfurt that night and then again later seems inefficient, considering the pace you've set.

I recommend sticking to the Rhine/Mosel area, maybe venturing into France or Strasbourg and Colmar. Trier looks like another god stop, based upon my research. (My wife and I only stayed in Bacharach for a couple of days upon arrival, we ventured into the Mosel with our rental car and wish we had spent some more time there). Munich has some nice art museums but in my opinion is overrated. I prefer Nuremburg, maybe a day trip to Munich (easy and cheap with the Landes ticket). Munich hotels are expensive for what you get even outside of Oktoberfest. If you do go to Munich though, I recommend the Nymphenburg Palace, Dachau, and the Alte Pinakotek.

Away from Frankfurt...I suggest Marburg, Bad Ems, Wetzlar, also Rastatt if it's not too far for you.