Annie_V

I am a Canadian woman travelling to Germany for the first time for work that will have me in Baden-Baden for a week, flying in and out of Frankfurt. Instead of flying back on the Friday I am considering extending and flying back on the Sunday - and am looking for your suggestions on what you would do for a Friday afternoon through Sunday flight out of Frankfurt? Except for not being a 'shopper' I am open to kind of historic or cultural or active kind of experience. I figure I will have a chance to do a 'german spa' type experience in Baden Baden in the evening, so don't need to find something like that. I would be particularly interested in something that involved WW2 social history or memorial or something like that, but am pretty open. I could go either the train or the 'rent a car' option - whichever makes the most cost vs experience sense!
Ideas?

iris1745

Trier a lovely Roman city is an easy drive from Baden-Baden. Then up the Mosel river to Cochem. Lovely old towns driving to Cochem. Less than a two hour drive to thje airport. Or Heidlelberg, also not too far from Baden-Baden, for two days. An easy drive north to the airport. Or train to Strasburg for two days and then train to the airport. Not sure how difficult that would be. That's a start for your consideration. Richard

Aramis

Strasbourg works for me, too. It is quite close to BB, but a completely different experience. It is also easy to get to FRA from Strasbourg.

Russ

"I am open to kind of historic or cultural or active kind of experience...WW2 social history or memorial."

Trier is good. You might catch a Friday pm train for Koblenz and base there. A daytrip to Trier and Cochem as iris suggests would be possible. Or maybe a hike to Burg Eltz from the Mosel town of Moselkern would interest you:

www.burg-eltz.de
www.bensbauernhof.com/burgeltzfrommoselkern.html

Marksburg, the only never-destroyed castle on the Rhine, is only 12 min. from Cochem; great tour there:

www.marksburg.de

Just north of Koblenz in Remagen you can look into the WW II "Peace Museum", which has numerous displays in English and focuses on the impact of the war on local folks:

www.bruecke-remagen.de

Annie_V

Thanks very much for the feedback - I will look into those options. Another option would be flying out of a different city instead of Frankfurt (assuming from what I have read that Frankfurt is perhaps more like a 'modern north american city' so perhaps with less to see if I were to spend a day there) Perhaps Munich? I have enjoyed city walking or bike tours in other cities in similar situations. What about the idea of taking a train from Baden-Baden to Munich and spending the Saturday there?

Thanks again for your input

Mainhattengirl

Frankfurt is nothing like a modern American city except that it does have some sky scrapers. That is where the resemblance ends.

It has a long rich history as Free Imperial city, has the Election and Coronation cathedral as well as several other beautiful medieval churches. If you would like to see the largest wall paintings north of the Alps, then visit the Karmeliter Cloister. The Main river is lined with museums, there are festival here all the time, and we have some really wonderful Farmers Markets with very local produce and meats. A visit to Frankfurt should also include a stop at the Klein Markt Halle. If your interests turn more towards the Jewish history of Frankfurt, we do have 2 Jewish Museums, one remaining wall of one of the Ghetto used in Frankfurt from the 1400's til the 1800's, and the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Wall with 12,000 names on it. There are other Holocaust Memorials here too, for other persecuted groups, Homosexuals, Roma and Sinti, Jehovah Witnesses and the Slave Laborers.

There are those who will tell you that Frankfurt was bombed off the map, but this is very incorrect. The small, Old town city center burned down, but walk 10 minutes either way and you are beautiful old neighborhoods, filled with turn of the century architecture, gardens, parks, small stores, butchers, bakeries, and so on.

If you really like old churches, then you might want to see the Justinus church, built in 850, located in the Frankfurt neighborhood of Höchst. It is stunning. The whole area around it is lovely too, cobblestone streets, fachwerk houses, applewine pubs, a schloss, a palace and all set up on the original city walls, with the Main flowing past.

I do hope I have whet your appetite.

iris1745

Munich would be an option. But for me, with only two days, I would want to spend as little time getting to a destination. Might take three hours or longer, by train. Mainhattengirl gave you a good suggestion. You could also consider Rudesheim am Rhein. It's right on the river and north of Baden-Baden on the way to Frankfurt. Richard

Annie_V

Mainhattengirl you have definitely whet my appetite. And I think that was exactly the kind of answer that I wanted.

I don't live in Europe, and I don't live in a large city, and I have never been to Germany, and I only have a couple of days. There will be plenty for me to discover and enjoy in any German/European city. So why worry about looking beyond the place that I will find myself - instead I will have faith in serendipity!

So that said - any thoughts/reccomendations on a good neighbourhood / area to find a reasonable and reasonably nice place to stay in Frankfurt ?

Mainhattengirl

Gotta get to bed, but there are some wonderful, charming places here, unless you like the fancier, chains. Budget suggestion and some dates to make sure you aren't colliding with a trade fair and to see if there are any cool events going on when you are here.

Annie_V

Thanks Mainhattengirl! I appreciate your feedback and will await your responses in the morning
I definitely prefer charming over fancy - my only 'feature' I would hope for is a non-smoking room option. The further under 100E a night I can get, the more I can spend on other things! While I don't really enjoy shopping "as a sport" - I LOVE food markets and eating market/street food.
Probably Friday May 6th arrival and Sunday May 8th departure.
thanks so much again!

iris1745

booking.com/frankfurt You could do a little research on reviews anf then wait for MG to respond. Richard

Annie_V

That is exactly what I am doing and enjoying!
Appreciate Mainhattngirl helping me focus on staying in Frankfurt

Mainhattengirl

For checking on hotels, I kind of like www.hrs.com, but I guess we all have our favorite tools to use.

Ok, here are my recommendations:

http://www.hotel-am-berg-ffm.de/
This is a lovely, unique B&B on the Sachsenhausen side of the river, but it is also close to our huge city forest.

The following are in Westend, which is an older, beautiful, quiet and well to-do neighborhood, but also not very far away from the city center.
http://www.hotelbeethoven.de/index.php?id=0&lang=en
http://www.hotel-goelz.de/
http://www.dirazi.de/index1.html
http://www.arthotel-frankfurt.de/das_hotel.htm

This one is in Alt Bornheim, my favorite neighborhood and they are known for having outstanding food. The website seems to be pretty much in German though, which might be tough. This one is also a bit more difficult to get to, but once you are here, you will love Bornheim and the Berger Strasse.
http://www.gourmetguide.com/hotel_un...t_schmaerrnche

Now, this one is a unique and wonderful, boutique hotel, and though only a couple of blocks from the main train station, the street itself is quiet. It has been lovingly restored to its' pristine turn of the century beauty.
http://www.hotelnizza.de/eng/index.html

I would be hard pressed to pick just one out of these for myself, as they all have something special about them that is going to appeal to different people. For uniqueness and convenience, I would go with Hotel Nizza, for pleasant neighborhoods with tons of little stores, cafes and Farmers market, I would go with Bornheim. For a more elegant, quiet feel I would go with Westend, and for a higher view of the city and nearness to the forest, and again with a very unique look, go with the Sachsenhausen hotel.

Just checking the events for May, the Night of the Museums is on the 7th. This really gets the Frankfurters out and about, with shuttle buses going to all the special events that the museums will be having. Love walking along the river on this night.

Annie_V

Thank you SO much MG
I stumble across a couple of those as I researched around, and I really appreciate your personal insight - that gives me something concrete to work with - they all sound like they would fit the bill! I am going to finalize my plans, and in particular Night of the Museums sounds like a wonderful opportunity to be in the city when lots of people are 'out and about'. Thanks again - you are a good ambassador to your city

Annie_V

Mainhattengirl - just a quick update - I've booked my trip, and have booked into the Hotel Am Berg (I liked the quirky look and the idea of a 'higher view of the city'). Thanks! Now I am collecting my list of 'things to do. My flight doesn't leave until 5pm on Sunday, so I expect to get most of Friday, all of Saturday (inc the night of museums) and Sunday morning and lunch in Frankfurt

I am wondering about maybe renting a bike for part of the time - I'm thinking that will a short period of time I might be able to explore more ground then just walking. What do you think of Frankfurt as a city to see by bike?

I also found a couple of morning walking tours so I thought I could do that one of the mornings. Thoughts?

thanks again

Mainhattengirl

You can rent bikes from the Deutsche Bahn, and they are all over the city. You just leave them where you want when you are done with them. I think they cost 5 euro per day. I don't ride bikes at all, cause I am a walker, so am not real sure about the procedure of using a credit card, etc. to rent these.

Bike paths go all through the city, but lots of people enjoy riding along the Main or the Nida rivers, or around the Green Belt which is the green natural areas that surround the whole city.

I also like riding trams around.

Which morning tours are you looking at?

hsv

"You can rent bikes from the Deutsche Bahn, and they are all over the city. You just leave them where you want when you are done with them."

In fact make sure you leave the bike at a street corner of your choice within the designated Frankfurt core area (border to the West is the A5 Autobahn, to the East the A 661 Autobahn to the North the suburb of Eschersheim and to the South the suburbs of Sachsenhausen and Niederrad) . If you don't leave the bike at a corner, they may charge you extra.

Before being able to use the bike you need to register as a client by calling 07000 5225522 once you are in Germany.
They charge a EUR 12.00 registration fee, but thereof credit EUR 7.50 to your account against future bike rentals. The price per minute is EUR 0.08 per minute (so EUR 4.80 per hour) and is capped at EUR 15.00 per day.

When you then see a bike with a green flashing light on the lock, you just call the number indicated on the lock and register via phone the time that you are taking the bike. They will quote you a 4-digit code to open the lock.

If you want to get rid of the bike again, you lock it at a corner, read a 4-digit code from the lock's display and de-register via phone.

spaarne

When we lived in Aschaffenburg SE of Frankfurt we often biked along the Main River. In the summer you find some kind of fest with beer and wurst tents at least every hour or so on weekends. And there are plenty of raspberry bushes along the bike path which make for a treat in late summer.

Annie_V

Thank you! That is excellent information about the bike system. And I am also looking at the public transit pass inc trams - the day pass seems like a good value. I think I will probably approach it armed with information about both, and judge based on the weather and my inclination when I get there!

For walking tours, the one that keeps coming up is Frankfurt on foot, though I have also bookmarked information about the ones from the tourist board.

I am also looking for a german restaurant in the Sachsenhausen area - any thoughts on any of the following: Fichtekränzi, Zum Wagner, Zum Eichkatzerl? And any tips on a solo female eating in one of these 'apple tavern' kind of places? I have no problem being a 'bring a book and sit alone and observe kind of solo diner, but I wasn't sure how well that would work in one of these kind of places based on the pictures of long tables! Any thoughts?

thanks again for all the input!

Vttraveler

You might consider spending a few hours in Mainz, too. It has a great Romanesque cathedral, Chagall stained glass windows in another church, Gutenberg museum, a nice old town section.