I am having trouble deciding on a hotel in Frankfurt. We are staying in Germany for a week and would like to find a decent hotel at a reasonable rate ($80 U.S.) that is off the beaten path, but still within walking distance to shops and restaurants. I am considering staying in Wiesbaden instead of Frankfurt, because the pace seems slower and still close to the sites. Does anyone have any advice on this?
Wiesbaden is still a big city with the same traffic jams, etc. Once you walk a couple of blocks away from the city center in Frankfurt, you would never know you were in a big city. A lot of the architecture is late 1800's early 1900's, all kinds of nice shops (not chains, but unique places) neighborhood restaurants, cafes, pubs, weekly markets in the street, parks all over the place. It truly is lovely here.
Try the Ibis on the Friedensbruche. It looks out over the Main river and they may have doubles for about 69 euro per night. It might be a tad more, but look at these two places too, as they are quite pretty.
http://www.hotel-am-berg-ffm.de/
http://www.hotel-goelz.de/
or this:
http://www.bedandbreakfast.de/inn.php?id=118569&lang=en&rid=17
Frankfurt is very walkable and the river bank is lined with museums which makes it easy.
Thanks for the help. I think we'll be increasing our budget for the hotel. It seems like every hotel in our budget was either too far away from everything or right in the middle of it. Your suggestions were really helpful. Thanks!
I agree with James, check out Mainz. There are three reasonably priced hotels, Hammer, Schottenhof, and Königshof just across the Bahnhofsplatz from the Hauptbahnhof, from which S-Bahn goes FRA and Frankfurt.