Frankfurt area with kids - need help!

For a kid, I think, nothing could be as interesting as 1) Rheinfels castle in St. Goar. It's now a ruins, but enough remains to imagine what a real castle must have been like, 2) the Marksburg in Braubach, not as impressive as Rheinfels, but a authentic castle, never destroyed, actually used for hundreds of years.

Both are within an hour or two from Rüsselsheim by train. And just the train ride, so rare in our country, might be an adventure in itself.

• The Frankfurt Zoo is always popular with children and is quite good for a European zoo. Open 7 days a week.

• Kinder Museum (Childrens Museum) - This is located at the Hauptwache, but is closed until sometime in June for construction of a new exhibit.

• Communication Museum - This is a fairly interactive museum, with postal train wagons to climb in, various workshops to create and build things pertaining to communication and everything about the mail service, phones, radio and TV in Germany. If you go all the way to the top, they often have volunteers in this section showing how ham radios work. The museum does birthday parties with fun activities for the kids and "Das Cafe" will also do birthday parties if you reserve it ahead of time. Make sure you get some delicious brownies!

• Senckenburg Natural History Musuem - Better known as the dinosaur museum, this is always a favorite. One of the most popular displays is a giant boa constrictor swallowing a pig. The mummies are often a hit, as well as the many dino skeletons. One floor has row after row of glass cases containing stuffed animals from around the world in imitations of their natural habitat.There is a lot of other stuff there too and this is a perfect place to spend a rainy day. A big plus is that they are open 7 days a week.

• Palmengarten - Besides having all the lovely botanical houses, it also has a couple of great playgrounds, including water play (bring a towel and a change of clothes!), a pond with row boats to rent, and a small train to ride. Open 7 days a week.

• Antique Tram Museum - Lots of old trams to climb on and into. Fun for grownups and for kids. Some of our friends who have gone there with their boys have raved about this place. Any budding Casey Jones out there?

• Main Tower - I think most kids like going up in tall buildings and looking at the teeny tiny cars and people far down below. The view at night is spectacular. Open 7 days a week.

(to be continued)

Kids Activities outside of Frankfurt

• Kronberg - Visit the castle built here in the 1200's. Great view from the Taunus mountains and only 22 min. away from Frankfurt with the S-bahn.

• Hessen Park - This is a historical open air museum, showing how people lived back before modern technology. The buildings - many of which are the half-timbered style farmhouses, agriculture, and skills of the day are demonstrated along with workshops to participate in. This is a great place for grown-ups too! Near Bad Homburg

• Saalburg - The only reconstructed Roman fort in existence, created under the direction of Kaiser Wilhelm 100 years ago. Located in the Taunus mountains near Bad Homburg, this is where the Romans kept their watch on the Germanic tribes of the area. Trails lead along the old walls and fortifications and a "Taverna" offers typical Roman food. "Roman markets" are occasionally held here. (see events posts or website) This is a wonderful place for kids to run around and see how the Romans lived and worked in their daily lives.

• Lochmuehle - Combination of kids activities and rides, playgrounds, pony rides, picnic area.

• Opel Zoo - This zoo is located outside of Frankfurt so that the elephants would have more space than what was available in the Frankfurt city Zoo. Lots of play activities and playgrounds here. The bus stops right in front of it.

• Fun Forests - Several locations, between Bad Homburg and Friedrichsdorf, Wiesbaden, Offenbach and Darmstadt. Pretty much for any child over the age of 8-9 and great fun for teens and adults. You have to make your way from tree to tree on various elements, like logs, tires, nets, etc. but always safely cabled. Different courses available depending on size & ability. Lots of zip lines which the favorites for many people.

I have website links for all of these places if you are interested in any of them

1)Listen to Jo. She always has great suggestions on Frankfurt AND things to do with kids.

2)Castles are always good. Castle ruins are good, since the kids can roam around a bit. Mine complain about being taken to "broken" castles, but seems to enjoy them more than the ones that aren't.

3)Daily ice cream breaks. It's a cultural experience. Definitely try the spaghetti eis.

This is great advice! Thanks so much. The kids are starting to get excited now that they know what is available to them to do.

We just need to work on hotel accomodations yet and the trip will be coming together.

Thanks again!

Mainz would be a good choice. It's much smaller than Frankfurt - easier to get around on foot and to get to know, IMO, with its extensive network of pedestrians-only streets. The Opel S-Bahn stop is just 10 minutes from the first Mainz stop (Mainz Römisches Theater station) and this would be a good area to locate yourselves in - it's very close to the river, to Mainz's two most prominent parks (the attractive Stadtpark and the more recreation-focused Volkspark with open playing fields) and to the old town area where the main cathedral and the market square lie.

The Stadtpark has an aviary and an indoor flower/botanical garden. There's a farmers market on Tue Fri and Sat on the market square and others on the other days in the old town area.

Of course, there's the Gutenberg Museum, the Dom and the Augustiner church, as more traditional sights go. The MRT station mentioned above was constucted on the site of an ancient Roman Theater that is presently being unearthed. You can poke your nose through the fence there and have a look.

Mainz sends off trains regularly to Frankfurt, of course, for sightseeing there, and also north through the Rhine Gorge. It's a short trip up to Bingen by train, where you can catch a Rhine cruise boat through the most scenic part of the river.

Will you be there at the end of June? The "Johannisnacht" festival starts on June 25 and runs 4 days.