frankfurt 6hr layover whilrwind tour suggestions
Feb 28th, 2009, 10:00 PM
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frankfurt 6hr layover whilrwind tour suggestions
ok masters of frankfurt. My wife and i will have a layover in frankfurt on our way to italy for 6hrs. maybe it's enough time to wet our appetite for germany or not, but we were hoping for some suggestions on ideas to get out and back before our flight.
bus tours, city tours? something at least to get out and stretch our legs on?
we come in at 5 in the morning which does put a damper on some venues obviously, but if we can at least just see some sites externally, that'd be awesome.
share share share please.
bus tours, city tours? something at least to get out and stretch our legs on?
we come in at 5 in the morning which does put a damper on some venues obviously, but if we can at least just see some sites externally, that'd be awesome.
share share share please.
Feb 28th, 2009, 10:44 PM
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Ok, here goes. You will need to be back to the airport by 0930. It takes about 15 min. to get into town by S-Bahn and back. If your flight is on time, you will be on your way by 0530 or so, and will be in the city center by lets say 0600?. The alternative is to take a cab into town which will be easier, but will cost you about 30 €. So, you have about 3 hours. If you are lucky, your flight will arrive early too.
Taking the S-8, I would recommend getting off at the Hauptbahnhof, walk out through the middle doors and walk straight to the trams stopping out in front. Staying on the same side of the street as the Hauptbahnhof, get on tram #11 and take it 3 stops. This is the Römer / Paulskirche stop. Get off and walk into the old town squareon your right. Up to your left you will see the cathedral, in front of you is the Alt Nikolai church, built in 1290, the Römer is the city hall on your right, built in 1322, if you walked through the square, you would see the Main River. If you go up on the pedestrian bridge there, you can get a good view of the city. All the museums are across the river. Come back down and walk to the cathedral. You will pass the Roman bath ruins out in front of it. It probably will not be open, but there is usually mass at 0800 and the organ they have there is fantastic. If you are standing in front of the main door of the church looking at it, turn around and walk out to the main street. This is Braubach strasse and the tram that you got off of, goes down this street. Turn to your right and walk about 3 blocks. You will come to the Holocaust Memorial Wall that surrounds the medieval Jewish cemetery. The Memorial has the names of 11,200 people on it. These are the Jewish citizens of Frankfurt who lost their lives at the hands of the nazis.
You can catch the tram back to the Hauptbahnhof from here or walk some more. Take a walk down the Zeil, our shopping street. They just finished a new building there that is amazing. It stops people in their tracks and inspires lots of photos. If you have time, keep on walking down this street til you get to the Alte Oper. Turn around and go back to the Hauptwache where you can catch the S-8 back to the airport. The Hauptwache is on the corner where a large dept. store is - Kaufhof. Make sure you look down the street there and see the Eschenheimer Turm, which was built in 1425. You will also see the reconstruction of the Thurn and Taxis palace next to the Kaufhof.
I would buy a "gruppen karte" for your excursion into the city, for 14€. This is good for up to 5 people and is good for the entire day, going into the city from the airport and back.
sorry this was so long. Wanted to be specific about where to walk, etc.
Taking the S-8, I would recommend getting off at the Hauptbahnhof, walk out through the middle doors and walk straight to the trams stopping out in front. Staying on the same side of the street as the Hauptbahnhof, get on tram #11 and take it 3 stops. This is the Römer / Paulskirche stop. Get off and walk into the old town squareon your right. Up to your left you will see the cathedral, in front of you is the Alt Nikolai church, built in 1290, the Römer is the city hall on your right, built in 1322, if you walked through the square, you would see the Main River. If you go up on the pedestrian bridge there, you can get a good view of the city. All the museums are across the river. Come back down and walk to the cathedral. You will pass the Roman bath ruins out in front of it. It probably will not be open, but there is usually mass at 0800 and the organ they have there is fantastic. If you are standing in front of the main door of the church looking at it, turn around and walk out to the main street. This is Braubach strasse and the tram that you got off of, goes down this street. Turn to your right and walk about 3 blocks. You will come to the Holocaust Memorial Wall that surrounds the medieval Jewish cemetery. The Memorial has the names of 11,200 people on it. These are the Jewish citizens of Frankfurt who lost their lives at the hands of the nazis.
You can catch the tram back to the Hauptbahnhof from here or walk some more. Take a walk down the Zeil, our shopping street. They just finished a new building there that is amazing. It stops people in their tracks and inspires lots of photos. If you have time, keep on walking down this street til you get to the Alte Oper. Turn around and go back to the Hauptwache where you can catch the S-8 back to the airport. The Hauptwache is on the corner where a large dept. store is - Kaufhof. Make sure you look down the street there and see the Eschenheimer Turm, which was built in 1425. You will also see the reconstruction of the Thurn and Taxis palace next to the Kaufhof.
I would buy a "gruppen karte" for your excursion into the city, for 14€. This is good for up to 5 people and is good for the entire day, going into the city from the airport and back.
sorry this was so long. Wanted to be specific about where to walk, etc.
Mar 1st, 2009, 09:27 PM
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Yes, it is a group card and is good for up to 5 people, and is good for the entire day on any of the S-bahns, U-bahns, trams and buses in Frankfurt and includes the S-bahn going into Frankfurt and the one coming back.
Mar 2nd, 2009, 07:13 AM
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beautiful. thank you so much for this intinerary. we'll let you know how it goes. we didn't expect to see anything besides italy, but now, we get a little germany on our layover, hehe.
May 7th, 2009, 04:20 PM
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I too have a 7.5 hr layover en route to Amsterdam from Houston. Would like to get out and see something in Frankfurt or it seems Mainz is a good option too. Good info on here about how to get there and what to do-- my question is how does passport control/ baggage/ and checking in for flight to amsterdam work?? I know when we go to leave the airport we will first go through passports- do we not have to worry about grabbing our bags? What happens when we come back to the airport? We just go straight to security with boarding passes that shows both legs of the trip (print an extra copy from the states?)?
Been to Europe (including Germany) before, but never tried a quickie trip from the Airport!
Thanks so much in advance!!
Been to Europe (including Germany) before, but never tried a quickie trip from the Airport!
Thanks so much in advance!!
May 8th, 2009, 01:27 AM
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If you check your luggage in Houston all the way to Amsterdam (final destination, you don't have to pick them up till you land in Schiphol. We've done so twice and we never had to do anything with our luggage during our transfer stop in Frankfurt. It's not like in the US where we're required to pick up the luggage for custom in Chicago or NY before relinquishing them back to the airline for the final destination.
