Pintxos

We do home exchanges and we an offer to exchange with a family from a Frankfurt suburb. They want to exchange for a minimum of 3 weeks and I am not sure we will have enough to do and see in the Frankfurt area. I haven't done that much research into it yet. The exchange will be in late July-early August of 2014. What do you think? Is it worth it?

nytraveler

I think 3 weeks is way too long.

amer_can

Unless you have a car and can explore the Rhine Valley 3 weeks is longish. Having said that there are driveable roads alone the river, into the Black Forest and surrounding rural areas. It would be doable!

StCirq

Dear God, three weeks in Frankfurt??? NO. Find someone else. There are many places to visit from Frankfurt, for sure, but that would seem an eternity for me unless I were spending lots of time (and money) elsewhere, in which case the exchange wouldn't be worth much.

wanderfrau

If you're willing to travel by train - absolutely!

Frankfurt and its museums could easily keep you busy for 4 or 5 days. The suburbs and surrounding towns another 4 or 5 days. Then, there are numerous other locations that are an easy day trip by train.

You have an opportunity to see lots of great places, including some off the beaten path and likely get a chance to experience some great local festivals.

longhorn55

Gotta agree with StCirq--Frankfurt is no place I'd want to spend 3 days, much less 3 weeks.

HappyTrvlr

No,no.

quokka

I wonder if the previous naysayers have ever explored that region. Probably not.

Of course there is heaps to do within day trip distance to keep you busy for three weeks.

Rastaguytoday

quokka - instead of doubting others, make your own suggestions for places to visit.

LSky

I would spend 3 weeks in Frankfurt area. Not in the city of Frankfurt, although, as wanderfrau said, I could spend a few happy days in Frankfurt.

Then there would be day trips. Plus, you're not obligated to spend every single night in that house are you? I'd explore a little further afield.

lauren_s_kahn

I have home exchanges in Poland & Frankfurt next summer. I will have 3 weeks in Frankfurt. I plan to do some of the Romantic Road as a side trip and go into Bavaria to visit a friend. Even though I have already visited the Ludwig Castles (Neuschwanstein 2x!), the Black Forest (prior home exchange), the castles along the Rhine, I am sure I will (and you will) have plenty to do for 3 weeks. My itinerary is going to be Warsaw(hotel)-Krakow(home exchange)-Prague(hotel)-Frankfurt(homeexchange). I'll be gone an estimated 6-7 weeks.

Wherever you go in Europe there is always plenty to see and do because the entire continent is a museum. Wherever you go there are things to see and do. Some of my most memorable experiences have been in places that many would not have thought of going. I will be in Frankfurt in August 2014.

sparkchaser

<i>I think 3 weeks is way too long.</i>

I think three days is too long ; <b>however</b> if you use Frankfurt as a base, then one can easily find two week's worth or more of interesting places a mere hour train ride away:

Wiesbaden
Limburg
Köln
Bonn
Fulda
Karlsruhe
Würzburg
Heidelberg
Saarbrucken
Mannheim
The Saalburg Roman ruins at Bad Homburg
Plus scores of smaller towns and villages.

lauren_s_kahn

Lamentably some posters have a narrow definition of what is Europe. They generally confine their travels to the UK, France & Italy. These countries are all nice and have great things to offer, and, if you are happy with where you go, it should matter to know one but yourself.

If you should stray from the appointed path, however, you open yourself up to some silly reactive posts from the self appointed "experts". We have seen some of it here, and, as some one pointed out, the posters making the negative remarks probably are inexperienced in travel to the area around Frankfurt. I specifically thank sparkchaser for his mention of the Saalburg Roman ruins which I did not know about. Heidelberg is definitely on my list because I did not get there when I exchanged many years ago in St. Georgen in the Black Forest.

Home exchanges are different from other sorts of trips. I have done over 20 exchanges in Europe and 54 overall (including 9 down under in 3 trips to Australia and New Zealand). I tell everyone doing this method of travel to take what you get and be glad of it. Waiting around for the "perfect" home exchange probably means you will end up empty handed. Usually, I take the first one through the gate with an interesting destination and serious intent and build a trip around that destination.

I originally had 2 home exchanges in Poland and the one in Frankfurt, but have since dropped the first home exchange because it was in a rural area and they were not going to provide me with a car. Home exchanges can be moving targets with lots of adjustments until the overseas tickets are bought (everyone generally buys about the same time).

I would not change the experience I have had for any other sort of vacation. I have gone farther for pennies and taken trips I could not have taken without the free accommodation, but I haven't always gotten a "first choice" destination. In the last 24 years, I have seen a good deal of western Europe a little piece at a time. I have even home exchanged in Istanbul.

The year I set out to go to the US Pacific Northwest, I ended up in Paris. That's home exchange. And, yes, I did eventually get to the Pacific Northwest, but not when I had it in mind.

I have had some wonderful homes and some lousy ones since starting this method of travel in 1990. The house I had this past July in Toulouse was more of a ruin than a home with a lot of problems. You learn to adjust and home exchange is not for the traveler with a fixed definition in mind--or rigid dates. It is for those open to new experiences and self starters willing to adapt when something goes wrong--and in any long trip there will be things that go wrong.

Despite the opinions of the "experts", I am sure I will enjoy Frankfurt and the surrounding area. A suggestion to Pintxos, if your home exchangers do not have one, it is worth the money to buy a GPS for Europe. It makes the driving much easier.

My 2013 trip included an exchange in Toulouse, an exchange of home hospitality in Bordeaux and a second exchange in Salamanca, Spain. I returned at the end of August.

I do have a site devoted to home exchange now. You can find my website here:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/

The first article you see after the introduction linked above is on home exchange:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...-exchange.html

I use Homelink & Intervac to get my exchanges. They have been around since the 1950's in the preinternet era when setting up an exchange for the next summer meant a huge telephone bill in October-December of the prior year.

I have already begun talking to people about 2015.

sparkchaser

<i>I specifically thank sparkchaser for his mention of the Saalburg Roman ruins which I did not know about.</i>

You are quite welcome. I found the site so fascinating that I have gone twice this year and look forward to my next trip there.

mamcalice

While there is much to see within day-trip distance from Frankfurt, three weeks is just too long. We spent 2 days there a while back and after the first day were ready to leave. There must be other options for exchanges. It seems odd to go to a city and spend your time figuring out how to escape it as some are suggesting.

However, I must confess that I am not a big fan of travel in Germany so, if you are, go for it.

PetrosB3

Good Lord. Just don't. I think 2 days are perfect for Frankfurt, but 3 weeks is WAY too long. The city was leveled in WWII, so don't expect to see an old charming neighborhood. It is modern but without character. And you said you will stay in a suburb? Don't make that mistake, unless you have a good friend with you.

Dukey1

It is called a RENTAL CAR; or perhaps it is called a TRAIN. I wasn't aware that doing a home exchange meant you can never leave the town where the home is located.

Can you imagine three weeks in somebody's place in the middle of the boonies of Dordogne?

sparkchaser

Some people have no imagination.

And just because you're doing a home exchange doesn't mean that you can't stay somewhere else for a few nights.

LSky

It's not like a Home Sitting where you need to come back and feed someone's pets because they are paying you.

I suppose if you expect someone to be tied to your house for 3 weeks you could expect the same.

The city was leveled in WWII, making room for some interesting modern architecture.

StCirq

I have plenty of imagination and have been to Frankfurt at least a dozen times and explored the area all around it in detail. Still say three weeks there is way too long, and I don't see the point in exchanging homes and then going off traveling. It's a dull place.