trier or rothenburg?
Aug 12th, 2012, 12:46 PM
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trier or rothenburg?
hey guys, so we are off for our germany trip soon, but we still could not decide if we should do a day trip to trier or Rothenburg from Frankfurt. My friend recommended trier to me but I heard lots of wonderful things about Rothenburg by just reading Rick steve's book. Apparently, trier is much easier to get to from Frankfurt compared with rothenburg by train, but rothenburg also sounds charming. Any thoughts? Thanks a lot!!
Aug 12th, 2012, 01:29 PM
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Actually, in terms of getting there, there is not much difference between Rothenburg and Trier. Both require a change of trains from Frankfurt.
But in terms of variety of sights and history, Trier is much more interesting.
Rothenburg is a well preserved mideaval town, now overrun by Rick Stevens toting tourists. The famous Romantic Road that is usually associated with Rothenburg is really a fairly ordinary highway, that connects Rothenburg with some other mideaval towns, most of which require a car to get to.
Trier has a lot of German and Roman history, and the monumenmts to prove it. It also has a very attractive old city part, and there is, of course, the opportunity to go by bus or boat along the Mosel river, with its many delightful villages and wine.
I have been to both places many times, and prefer Trier to Rothenburg.
On your way to or from Trier to Frankfurt, stop a night in Koblenz, then on the next day take a local train along the Rhein to Bacharach and get on the boat to return downriver to Koblenz. A real fun trip along the most scenic part of the Rhein.
But in terms of variety of sights and history, Trier is much more interesting.
Rothenburg is a well preserved mideaval town, now overrun by Rick Stevens toting tourists. The famous Romantic Road that is usually associated with Rothenburg is really a fairly ordinary highway, that connects Rothenburg with some other mideaval towns, most of which require a car to get to.
Trier has a lot of German and Roman history, and the monumenmts to prove it. It also has a very attractive old city part, and there is, of course, the opportunity to go by bus or boat along the Mosel river, with its many delightful villages and wine.
I have been to both places many times, and prefer Trier to Rothenburg.
On your way to or from Trier to Frankfurt, stop a night in Koblenz, then on the next day take a local train along the Rhein to Bacharach and get on the boat to return downriver to Koblenz. A real fun trip along the most scenic part of the Rhein.
Aug 12th, 2012, 02:34 PM
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Personally, I wouldn't do Rothenburg as a day trip, mainly because it's been my experience that tour buses disgorge a couple hundred day-tripping tourists per day. However, they pretty much clear out after 5:00.
It's well worth a trip if you can stay overnight and then wander around the city in the evening or in the morning.
For me, during the daytime, the enormous amounts of visitors destroy its charm.
You have to be careful where you go, lest you be contaminated by visiting the same places as the plebians clutching their Rick Steves guidebooks.
It's well worth a trip if you can stay overnight and then wander around the city in the evening or in the morning.
For me, during the daytime, the enormous amounts of visitors destroy its charm.
You have to be careful where you go, lest you be contaminated by visiting the same places as the plebians clutching their Rick Steves guidebooks.
Aug 12th, 2012, 09:36 PM
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If you are staying in Frankfurt and just want to do a day trip, then consider going to Buedingen instead of Rothenburg. It is only an hour away from Frankfurt by train. It isn't filled with tourists, or buses, or kitschy souvenir stores. What it is filled with, are century old houses, a 13 sided palace, and it is surrounded by its' original walls. This is a true, medieval town. Rick Steves hasn't found it yet, thank goodness.
If you do go here, I would recommend booking one of the tours of the town from the Tourist Info. They only cost 41 euro for a 90 min. tour if your group is less than 5 people. You get to go inside of the massive city walls, up onto the guard towers and the Witches Tower too. This is a wonderful, unique experience.
http://www.buedingen-touristik.de/en.html
If you do go here, I would recommend booking one of the tours of the town from the Tourist Info. They only cost 41 euro for a 90 min. tour if your group is less than 5 people. You get to go inside of the massive city walls, up onto the guard towers and the Witches Tower too. This is a wonderful, unique experience.
http://www.buedingen-touristik.de/en.html
Aug 13th, 2012, 07:37 AM
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IMHO Trier has a lot more to see and do than Rothenburg - which has cornered the market on quaint - but has limited sights. Also, it;s easy to do day trips from Trier by car to lots or places.
Can't comment on trains - we do road trips in Germany,
Can't comment on trains - we do road trips in Germany,
Aug 13th, 2012, 08:03 AM
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thank you so much for all of your comments! these are very helpful, we will drop rothenburg this time in this case. But after we did some research on Buedingen, we kind of want to drop Trier and just go there. looks like it's a very charming little town with lots of history! anyway, thanks for the advice, Mainhattengirl!
Aug 13th, 2012, 08:42 AM
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Been to both several times - two very different places - I think most folks would prefer Rothenburg where the town itself is the sight - all neatly compacted by awesome walls - just wondeering around is the thing.
Trier is, after dozens of trips there on business, one of Germany's least overall attractive cities due to severe damage in WW2 but it has several spectacular individual sights such as the IMO finest Roman relics north of the Alps - the Porta Negra being an intact massive stone block city gate that was once called the gateway to a part of the Holy Roman Empire, half of which I believe Trier was once capital of
and there is an intact Roman temple that was converted to a Christian basilica about a few millenia ago and a Roman theatre and also the Karl-Marx House, where the economist-philosopher was born - now a study center and museum to Marx.
Though on the Mosel River the Mosel here is not an attraction at all IMO - not scenic at all though there is some old fortress on it.
Straight forward - train via Koblenz and part of the lure would be when the train tracks along a most scenic part of the Mosel Valley between Koblenz and Cochem - where the river runs in a deep gorge oft covered with vineyards.
Trier is, after dozens of trips there on business, one of Germany's least overall attractive cities due to severe damage in WW2 but it has several spectacular individual sights such as the IMO finest Roman relics north of the Alps - the Porta Negra being an intact massive stone block city gate that was once called the gateway to a part of the Holy Roman Empire, half of which I believe Trier was once capital of
and there is an intact Roman temple that was converted to a Christian basilica about a few millenia ago and a Roman theatre and also the Karl-Marx House, where the economist-philosopher was born - now a study center and museum to Marx.
Though on the Mosel River the Mosel here is not an attraction at all IMO - not scenic at all though there is some old fortress on it.
Straight forward - train via Koblenz and part of the lure would be when the train tracks along a most scenic part of the Mosel Valley between Koblenz and Cochem - where the river runs in a deep gorge oft covered with vineyards.
Aug 13th, 2012, 09:17 AM
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Trier is a real city with a vibrant pedestrian shopping street
Rothenburg is a plastic city often overrrun with tour bussed in few-hour tourists - shopping here is basically souvenir shops, etc.
Not saying one is better than the other but that is a major difference - real typical German city and plastic tourist trap, at least in the day time - Rothenburg IMO is most romantic at night when the bus tours have departed.
Rothenburg is a plastic city often overrrun with tour bussed in few-hour tourists - shopping here is basically souvenir shops, etc.
Not saying one is better than the other but that is a major difference - real typical German city and plastic tourist trap, at least in the day time - Rothenburg IMO is most romantic at night when the bus tours have departed.
Aug 13th, 2012, 09:41 AM
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thank you, PalenQ! we will keep that in mind. And to Mainhattengirl, if we are going to Buedingen for a day trip,do you think one day is too much? if we finish our tour earlier than we expected, are there any other places that we could tour around near Buedingen on our way back to Frankfurt? Thanks!
Aug 13th, 2012, 11:05 AM
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I feel the need to comment on Rothenburg, which we visited as a day trip from Nuremburg a few years ago. Rothenburg was not my first choice for a day trip, but my husband really wanted to go, so we went. We actually really enjoyed our visit, even though we were there in July - height of tourist season, etc. etc. We found it VERY easy to escape the "hoards" from the tour buses. In fact, only a couple times did we even see large groups of people. Of course there were tourists around, but not a ton - at least that we saw.
We arrived by train, followed others to the old city and through one of the gates. We immediately hung a left and climbed up on the city wall - there is a walkway up there, which we followed for quite a ways. That was a really neat walk with great views. After awhile we came down on a back street and wandered around.
We had lunch at a restaurant behind a small hotel - nice outside seating, staff didn't really speak English but we can get by with our rudimentary German, so no problem. It was a nice, laidback sort of place.
After lunch and a beer, we continued on, wandered around some more and eventually made our way to the main square. There were people there, but no hoards. I think they must have left already.
Anyway - all this to say that while Rothenburg is heavily visited, it is REALLY easy to ditch the masses. In fact, we did so without even trying.
We arrived by train, followed others to the old city and through one of the gates. We immediately hung a left and climbed up on the city wall - there is a walkway up there, which we followed for quite a ways. That was a really neat walk with great views. After awhile we came down on a back street and wandered around.
We had lunch at a restaurant behind a small hotel - nice outside seating, staff didn't really speak English but we can get by with our rudimentary German, so no problem. It was a nice, laidback sort of place.
After lunch and a beer, we continued on, wandered around some more and eventually made our way to the main square. There were people there, but no hoards. I think they must have left already.
Anyway - all this to say that while Rothenburg is heavily visited, it is REALLY easy to ditch the masses. In fact, we did so without even trying.
Aug 13th, 2012, 11:41 AM
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I think 90% of average tourists will enjoy Rothenburg more, for the reasons november moon gives. Trier is a much larger city with many more sights - more fatiguing but also nice - you cannot go wrong. why not do both on separate days and report back?
and getting to rothenburg by train may seem daunting due to number of changes but in Germany such changes are a snap - often from one platform to another with a waiting train right opposite the arriving at times. the last change at Steinach is just to the dead-end shuttle train that terminates at Rothenburg.
and getting to rothenburg by train may seem daunting due to number of changes but in Germany such changes are a snap - often from one platform to another with a waiting train right opposite the arriving at times. the last change at Steinach is just to the dead-end shuttle train that terminates at Rothenburg.
Aug 13th, 2012, 04:36 PM
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"getting to rothenburg by train may seem daunting due to number of changes but in Germany such changes are a snap"
I agree. This was really easy. We had 2 train changes enroute from Nuremberg, which made it seem complicated, but it wasn't. In addition to our tickets (some sort of day ticket good for the region), the woman at the counter at the train station printed out a cheatsheet for us that showed the connections. we didn't really need the cheatsheet though because it was very easy. The train stations were small and like half the people on the train were going to Rothenburg.
I agree. This was really easy. We had 2 train changes enroute from Nuremberg, which made it seem complicated, but it wasn't. In addition to our tickets (some sort of day ticket good for the region), the woman at the counter at the train station printed out a cheatsheet for us that showed the connections. we didn't really need the cheatsheet though because it was very easy. The train stations were small and like half the people on the train were going to Rothenburg.
Aug 13th, 2012, 09:22 PM
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If you are going to Buedingen, you switch trains in Gelnhausen. This town also offers a nice Alt Stadt area, so you could go explore that if you wished. Though once you are in Buedingen, you might want to walk the wall, which takes some time.
Also near by is Glauberg with a huge Celtic burial mound, and museum highlighting the Celtic history of this area.
Burg Ronneburg is also close by, but is difficult to reach by public transportation.
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/Barbar...berg_main.html
http://www.gelnhausen.de/Sehenswuerdigkeiten.362.0.html
http://www.burg-ronneburg.de/
Also near by is Glauberg with a huge Celtic burial mound, and museum highlighting the Celtic history of this area.
Burg Ronneburg is also close by, but is difficult to reach by public transportation.
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/Barbar...berg_main.html
http://www.gelnhausen.de/Sehenswuerdigkeiten.362.0.html
http://www.burg-ronneburg.de/
