Let's say I was landing in Frankfurt but didn't want to spend the beginning of my trip there. What would be a nice town or small city to get over the jet lag and get my bearings in? Someplace accessible by short train ride to the Frankfurt airport. The rest of my trip would be headed in the direction of Cologne (en route to Amsterdam). Any suggestions? Thanks!

I was in the small University city of Mainz for about 10 nights (during a 2 month Euro trip) and very much enjoyed it. Its only about a 1/2 hour train ride away from the Frankfurt airport. Its just a nice town on the Rhine. Weisbaden is also nice, it wasn't bombed so the building are lovely. But think about Mainz.

Hi

Heidelberg is a beautiful university town on the Nekar river.

It is 1 hr by train from Frankfurt airport.

See http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

See

Heidelberg, Heidelberg!

For what to do and where to stay:
http://www.cvb-heidelberg.de

Even though I have to clearly admit that it's in the wrong direction for Cologne (south instead of north of Frankfurt)...

And the city dovima was talking about is actually spelled Wiesbaden.
I'm sure there'll soon also be a post from someone who's into the Rhine/Mosel area.

Hi

you can take a taxi to Bad Homburg.

They have roman hot springs still used for swimming.
It's also a nice old town.


Peter

Since you are headed in the direction of Cologne, you might consider some of the towns along the Rhine Valley - Rudesheim, Boppard, etc. I wouldn't recommend Heidelberg, by the way.

Thank you everyone for your responses!
Has anyone gone to the spa(s) at Wiesbaden or Bad Homburg? Getting a massage is my favorite way of beating jet lag and getting good sleep at the beginning of a trip. I'm assuming that it would be easy to book a massage in these towns, perhaps through my hotel?

Hi smueller,

Why wouldn't you recommend Heidelberg?

Cologne itself isn't a bad little city to get one's bearings in. As I remember, it's only about an hour train ride from Frankfurt airport. Depending on the time of year, the popular Rhein towns could be pretty crowded with other tourists.

Heidelberg isn't too far away, but it would be somewhat in the wrong direction.

i think Rufus may be exaggerating a but when he describes Cologne as "little" but I agree that you might just go there in the first place...I think the various other spots along the Rhine are best seen in more than one day and AFTER you've "recovered" to fully appreciate them.
But, if you want to really live it up then hop on the train to Mainz, get yourself one of the corner "Grand Hyatt" rooms at the Hyatt which has a huge balcony, floor to ceiling windows and views of the Rhine both up and down river and get your massage there. I've done it (without the massage) before..it'll be memorable. Just a thought.

Well, population-wise I guess the Cologne area isn't all that small. But the city itself is not big in area or difficult to navigate.

So I amend my sentence: Cologne itself isn't a bad city to get one's bearings in.