Hello, my wife and I will be arriving in Frankfurt in September at noon. We are taking the train to Paris. I'd like to find a nice little town to stay outside of Frankfurt on our first night that is on the way to Paris.
Thank you for any help you may provide.
Tom B.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
A few possibilities that are not what you requested:
Staying in Frankfurt itself would be simplest, with more atmosphere than staying at the airport. S-Bahn into the main station (HBF) takes 12 minutes and Rick's Germany book recommends several hotels near that station.
The faster trains on the Frankfurt-Paris route don't make many stops: Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern, and Saarbrucken are all served by a few of the fast trains. If you like one of those, then check the departure options for the next day. Smaller towns would require an additional connection. Cologne is also a natural change point if you'll connect to a Thalys train (via Belgium) instead of a TGV train.
How to Look Up Train Schedules Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. It shows border crossing points and stops en-route, after you get detailed schedules.
Posted by
OP
51 posts
Thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate your help.
Have a pleasant day.
Tom
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
A very nice, beautiful small town would be Schwetzingen. It's about a 45 minutes train ride in the right direction and the next day you would catch your ICE or TGV to Paris in nearby Mannheim.
In Schwetzingen have dinner on the square in front of their baroque palace. You can really walk everything in Schwetzingen. Best Hotel to stay: Zum Erbprinzen. Second best: Adler Post.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33851 posts
Just a short train ride from Frankfurt-am-Main and a short ride, too, from the FRA airport is Büdingen (shout out to Ms Jo who introduced my wife and myself to this fabulous town) which has a good English language website at http://www.buedingen.info/en/ which will give you a few photos to make your mouth water.
It is a nice little town (about 20,000 folk) which still has its medieval walls and towers intact and most buildings are half timbered (Fachwerk in German), and they even have a Nightwatchman's tour. It has virtually everything that Rothenburg odT has except it is still lived in, has few tourists and no (that I remember) Christmas stores.
Instead of being remote in the wilds of northwest Bavaria it is very convenient to Frankfurt with super easy access off the autobahn network and a train station with fast frequent trains right in town.
Have a look and see if it ticks any boxes..
Posted by
OP
51 posts
Andreas and Nigel, thank you so much for your suggestions. I really appreciate your help. I'll check it out.
Tom
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Wiesbaden is also right by the airport. It's a very elegant town, and if you want, you can start off your trip with a world-class spa treatment. Although it's not directly on the way to Paris.
I live close to Mannheim, and although you could do far worse, it really isn't the type of city that tourists usually go out of their way to visit. But if you have a bit of time and you find yourself in Mannheim, check out Luisenpark. It's one of the most beautiful urban parks I've seen anywhere.