Hello all!
We are visiting our son in Saarbruken and then we are visiting the Alsace region in France. After that, we are looking for a place to spend two to three days in Germany before flying out of Frankfurt. We are looking for something train-accessible, possibly in the Black Forest. Someone directed us to Freiburg but it would be nice to hear other thoughts. Thank you for any help you can give!
Posted by
Paradise
7072 posts
Spend 3 days here instead.
It's easy to reach by train from Saarbrücken, and it's much, much closer to FRA airport than the Black Forest. Take a Rhine River cruise, tour Marksburg Castle, visit some wineries, hike along the Rhine Gorge clifftops for views, take walks through the old-world towns of Braubach, Rüdesheim, Oberwesel, Bacharach, and Boppard; the city of Mainz could be a good destination for your final day - it's only 25 train minutes from FRA airport and full of things to see and do.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187393-Activities-oa0-Mainz_Rhineland_Palatinate.html
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8022 posts
When I went to the Black Forest in 2022, I stayed in Gengenbach for 4 nights and absolutely loved it. It's the perfect base for the area. It was easy to get to other places by train, and Gengenbach itself is very charming - it's been called a "chocolate box" village. It has a beautiful Altstadt and I could easily have stayed longer.
If you stay there, you receive a free KONUS card from your hotel that entitles you to free public transportation through most of the Black Forest. And there are plenty of other charming villages to see. Gengenbach has the advantage of being on the main train line. If you are coming from Alsace, it's a quick 40 minute train ride from Strasbourg.
There are many interesting things to do in town. The church is lovely and the historic sites very interesting. And there are a lot of hikes available in the area as well.
The town has quite a few very nice restaurants and cafes and I had some excellent meals while staying there. I stayed at the Stadthotel Pfeffermühle, which was a comfortable hotel with a very large room, and reasonably priced (good breakfast, too!). It's about a 2-3 minute walk to the town center and a quick 10 minute walk from the train station. I would also recommend visiting the wonderful Open Air museum nearby. It is very easy to get to by train and it makes for a very enjoyable excursion. https://www.vogtsbauernhof.de/en
Posted by
San Francisco
14980 posts
If you have 3 full days prior to arriving in Frankfurt for the return flight, then I would suggest the following: Limburg and near by Bad Ems, very historical if you're interested in the Franco-Prussian War, the French label that as "the War of 1870"
Several pertinent historical sites attest to that in Bad Ems. See also Limburg an der Lahn, a town well worth your time.
There is a direct train line from Limburg to Frankfurt Hbf., (Destination: Gießen). These two places are my choices plus the added
factor of being train accessible, exactly the route I took back from Bad Ems in June.