Frankfurt

If you base in Frankfurt, there are plenty of wonderful cities to visit from here using the train. My top choices would be Mainz, Buedingen, Idstein, Heidelberg, Bad Homburg, Wuerzburg, Michelstadt, Marburg, Gelnhausen, Kronberg, and of course the entire Rhine. If you stay in the state of Hessen, you can use a Laender ticket similar to the Bavaria ticket and the 3 of you can ride around on the Regional trains all day for 31 euro. If you want to go outside of Hessen, on weekends you can get a Happy Weekend ticket that covers the 3 of you all day long for 40 euro. Weekdays you can do the same for 54 euro. Frankfurt itself is worth at least 2 days, if you want to visit any museusms, of which the city has at least 20. If you are interested in Jewish culture and history, you are in the right place too. Make sure you visit the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, the Judengasse Museum and the Jewish Museum. Visit Hoechst while you are there, if you want to see 1 of the oldest churches in Germany, the Justinus church, built in 850. Kronberg has a lovely little castle built in the 1200's and has one of the best views from the Taunus. Bad Homburg has the palace of the Kaiser, the Redeemer church which will take your breath away when you enter, and the Saalburg, the only reconstructed Roman fort in existance. Buedingen is Rothenburg without the tourists, but is also all original having never been bombed in the war, nor burnt down by the Swedes in the 30 year war. Idstein is one of my favorites, being on the Fachwerk route and the Union church there is stunning with its' uniqueness. Mainz has one of my favorite cathedrals, the 1000 yr. old St. Martins, as well as St. Stephens. This church has all of its' windows made by Chagall and the beauty of it may bring tears to your eyes when you enter. I doubt Rick Steves has been in either of these churches or he would include Mainz in his guidebooks.

Jo has given you (as always) excellent advice. I will echo what I can from personal experience: Budingen is a must because it is not touristy and has lots to see. Frankfurt will take at least 2 days, and Mainz has several interesting museums as well as the cathedrals (I can't believe RS doesn't include them). I stayed at the Ibis Frankfurt Centrum Hotel - it is a 10-minute walk from the train station so a very good choice since you will be day-tripping. The hotel is very clean, the staff were friendly and helpful, the location is very good and the price is also. I also got a discount by booking 3 weeks (or more) in advance (€49 instead of €59). That is the rate for a room (double or single occupancy, no breakfast). In my experience hostels have no maximum age requirements these days. But I don't think you will do better for the price than the Ibis.

Thank you, thank you for the great info! I have been looking at your suggestions and am now more excited about planning our trip.
Neither of you suggested renting a car so if no one else posts regarding that we will stick to rail.

Jo, what town or city other than Frankfurt would you recommend as a base? I may rent a car for a day to Wurzburg(finally found it) & Nordlingen but will definitely use the train for a trip to Munich & Dachau. Will spend the night in Munich unless you have a better suggestion. I plan to visit Kronberg, Bad Homburg, Idstein, Mainz & Budingen, maybe others.
We can stay in Frankfurt but would like a more quaint town with multi-directional rail access.

Part 1 - It's 3.5 hours on the train from Frankfurt Airport to Munich, a few minutes less from Frankfurt (city). I think you will need 2 nights in Munich if you want to see both Munich and Dachau, and you will use about 1/2 day traveling in each direction. If Munich is a must on this trip, then go straight there from the airport, then return to Frankfurt for your remaining 4 nights. You could possibly rent a car in Munich, visit Wurzberg and Nordlingen for the day and continue to Frankfurt. If you don't go straight to Munich you will have to change hotels twice instead of just once. I don't recommend getting to Frankfurt airport from Munich - it is so far away, and any delays could mean missing your return flight.

Part 2 - Honestly, I think you are being overly optimistic about how much you will be able to see and do. I like to think I'm a pretty energetic senior and I'm exhausted by your plans. Here's what your itinerary looks like to me: Day 1 - Land in Frankfurt after all-night flight. Collect luggage (allow 1 hour) and take 3.5 hour train (run about every 1/2 hour during the day) to Munich. Go to hotel, check in and drop your luggage. If you land at 7 a.m. you could be sightseeing in Munich by 1 p.m. You probably won't feel like doing too much after the many hours of travelling and jetlag will be setting in. Day 2 - Dachau, evening in Munich Day 3 - Rent car, visit Nordling and Wurzberg, Sleep in Frankfurt. NOTE - all your remaining towns are quite close to Frankfurt, but in different directions. You probably won't find good rail connections from a small town and Frankfurt has a lot to offer. SECOND NOTE - If it takes 3.5 hours by train from Munich to Frankfurt, it probably takes at least that long to drive, so you are only going to have a few hours in each of these towns. Days 4, 5 and 6 - You want to visit FOUR towns that aren't easily connected by rail AND see Frankfurt in THREE days. Day 7 - See a little more of Frankfurt before heading to the airport (3-4 hours before your scheduled departure). I spent 5 days in Frankfurt, one of which was a day trip to Budingen. There was enough to see in Budingen for a whole day. And there was enough in Frankfurt to fill my 4 remaining days - and then some.

Chani, I do plan to go straight to Munich, see Dachau the next day & head to Frankfurt. My companions are not interested in museums so we will not be spending time in them. In fact, one has an interest in only taking photos of old German buildings & the countryside. I have not researched all the train schedules for the smaller towns but I guess I will need to omit a couple. Please tell me your favorite sites in Frankfurt.

If your friend wants to take photos of old buildings than visiting Buedingen and Idstein ought to satisfy those wishes. Both are on the Fachwerk Route. The little Staufen castle in Kronberg is a good one too. If she wants an old church, then the Justinus church in Hoechst will fit the bill as will the cathedral in Mainz. There are also some Roman ruins in Mainz or a visit to the Saalburg by Bad Homburg might be interesting. Much of the architecture in the neighborhoods of Frankfurt is turn of the century, (1870-1905) and the area around the train station as well as in the Westend, Sachsenhausen around the Schweizer strasse, and Bornheim have the most and the best examples. There are also 7 guard towers in Frankfurt that offer photo opportunities. Eschenheimer Turm, Friedberger Warte, Bockenheimer Warte, Sachsenhausen Warte, Gallus Warte, Kuhhirten Turm and the Renten Turm. These were all built 1400-1500.