In June we are visiting friends who recently moved to Frankfurt. Our teenaged daughters and sons are the same age. The boys want to spend the weekend bonding over video games (same thing as here, just a different view) and the girls want to go to Paris. Our friends have a car, or we could take the train from Mainz. Would it be worth it to leave on Fri. afternoon (after school) and come back Sun. evening? Or would that be too much travel time for too little sightseeing. I'm guessing they would want to do Notre Dame, Tour Eiffel, Louvre, and Versailles. I'm thinking Eiffel and a Seine cruise Fri. evening, Louvre and Notre Dame and I want Sacre Cour Saturday, and Versailles on the way home Sun??
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Kelley, if you book early you can get the special of €39 one way on www.bahn.de, which means by rail. There is a new bullet train link between Frankfurt and Paris which takes just over 3 hours one way! By car it's definitely going to be in the 5-6 hours range. The train only leaves from Frankfurt or Mannheim which both are around 40 mins from Mainz. Check for the best connection on www.bahn.de. The pros about car is you could stop at Reims, capital of the Champage region or at the Zweibrücken outlet shopping mall, if that's what the girls are into. The cons for car is very high gas prices, very high freeway toll fees in France, at least twice the travel time. Plus where would you want to park a car in Paris? You'd have to take motel in the periphery and travel in and out of town every day/night by rail.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
The special 39€ fare is available all the way from Mainz to Paris.