We will be visiting relatives in Frankfurt for several days, but can't be together 24/7 so we are interested in some day trips we can take on our own. We will not have a car, so prefer organized group travel, or possible by public transportation if we can figure it out. Any suggestions for places to see? Either within the city, or outlaying areas.
Posted by
Green Bay
20977 posts
Take a train to Bingen Stadt (Rhein) and ride one of the K-D boats down river through the Rhine Gorge and gawk at all the castles. When you get to St Goar, take the train back to Frankfurt.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Thank you, Sam. Are those connections easy to manage? We are in our late 60s and so unable to walk for miles between points.
Posted by
Green Bay
20977 posts
Both the walk from Bingen Stadt to the K-D dock and the St Goar K-D dock to the station are shown as 10 minutes on the Deutsche Bahn journey planner. That means they are under a half mile. At Bingen its downhill to the river, the opposite at St Goar, but more like 200 yards.
In general, you change trains at Mainz to and from. That also depends on where exactly in Frankfurt you are staying. You can take local transport to Frankfurt Hbf (main station), or maybe even be able to by-pass it depending on where you are.
K-D boat schedule, http://www.kdrhine.com/rhineschedule.htm
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9150 posts
Lots of day trip options from Frankfurt, depending on your interests. All within one hour by train, using cheap group day tickets
Limburg - beautiful half-timbered houses. Cathedral built in the 1200's
Marburg - old university town, with a castle and lots of half-timbered houses. St. Elizabeth Church
Saalburg - reconstructed Roman Fort near Bad Homburg
Hessen Park Open Air Museum - near Bad Homburg
Büdingen - Think Rothenburg but without the tour buses and souvenir stores. All original, not bombed in WW2
Gelnhausen - Near Büdingen, once home to Fredrich Barbarossa
Seligenstadt - Einhard Basilica and Abby. Lots of half-timbered houses
Worms - oldest Jewish Cemetery north of the Alps, Heilige Sands. Trial spot for Martin Luther. Lovely cathedral
Mainz - almost 1000 year old cathedral. St. Stephans Chagall windows, Isis Temple ruins, Guthenburg Museum
Bad Homburg - only original palace from Kaiser Wilhelm 2. Kurpark, site of the first casinos in Germany. Thermal baths
Eltville and Eberbach Monastery - one of the loveliest towns on the Rhine with a river promenade minus the trains. Church built in the 1200's, dry moat filled with rose bushes, lots of half-timbered buildings, and no souvenir stores. The monastery is almost 1000 years old. The Name of the Rose was filmed here. Their vineyards produce excellent wines and the wine tastings are reasonable.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7766 posts
More options: Page down to Fachwerkestrasse in this thread. Trains serve most German cities well, you just have to learn the DB website:
Posted by
San Francisco
14795 posts
As correctly pointed out above, lots of day options from Frankfurt.
I would suggest a few more, Koblenz, Wiesbaden, Kaub am Rhein, Rüdesheim am Rhein, Wetzlar, Bad Ems,,,all have a historical and cultural connection, if you want that.
The Elvis museum is in Friedberg/Hessen, if I recall correctly.