Hello all,
For the last leg of our Germany trip we want to stay in a central location to Cologne, Frankfurt, Rothenburg, and Heidelberg, and we will do day trips from this location. I need ideas of towns to stay in that can be within an hour to most of these destinations. We'd like the town to have some old charm but easy access to restaurants and shops. I'm a little lost on this last leg of our journey.

Also, we'd love ideas of must-sees in these areas.

You do not say if you will have a car or not, which is pretty much mandatory with the task you have set yourself. By car, Frankfurt (as a middle point) is 1.5 hours away from Rothenburg, but if you catch a train it is more like 3.5 hours. Rothenburg is in a kind of rail cul-de-sac and slow from that perspective. But I think Mainz and Frankfurt both fit the bill from the point of view of location. Mainz has a charming old town, pleasing museums and a thousand year old cathedral. Frankfurt has pockets of charm but has the advantage that it is in the middle of your destinations and a touch closer to Rothenburg than Mainz. Cologne is about an hour away from Frankfurt or less in the case of Mainz, Heidelberg is fairly close. if you chose Frankfurt you might well want accommodation on the outskirts so as to accommodate your car at a good price, or just rent the car for the one day you visit Rothenburg (car rental at the station or airport). You could pretty well do the rest by train.

The other alternative is to dump Rothenburg, which is a must for many first-time trips, but you could sub in Würzburg, which has the Residenz and is generally a nice city to visit, as well as being close to Frankfurt, or if you want a town where the city wall is intact, you might look into little Budingen, which is also close to Frankfurt. It doesn't have the reputation but is a fairly authentic medieval town.

Tell me what you think, open to discussion.

Lavandula

This is exactly what I was looking for. We were originally looking to stay in Heidelberg for the 5 days we'll be in the area, but it seemed a lot of our day trips had a farther drive. We will look at the Mainz area first for the charm it offers. We don't want the big city feel while visiting. Do you have any suggestions on areas in Frankfurt that offer a little charm?

Thank you for your help!

Mainz is still a city, don't be mistaken about that. It is not as charming near the train station (although not run down or gritty, or anything like that), but keep looking for the old town (Altstadt), which has charm in spades. However, a hotel near the station might suit you for the access if you just want it for day trips. There is also the option of staying on the river (the city is on the banks of the Rhine, and it is ideal for river cruises). So lots of options there. The Hilton is in a nice location on the river, but there are many good other choices.

In Frankfurt the Sachsenhausen area - although not particularly near the station, so again not terribly handy for access purposes - is a nice area with elegant 19th century buildings and many applewine pubs (this is the specialty drink in Frankfurt). Dauth-Schneider is probably the best-known. Or in the centre, the Römer is a reconstructed medieval square with half-timbered buildings, which is one of the big attractions there.(Reconstructed because before the war, Frankfurt was one of the biggest medieval cities in Europe, but it was completely destroyed, and this square was reconstructed authentically.) It is very pretty, but most of Frankfurt does not look like this (the nickname for Frankfurt is 'Bankfurt', and there are many skyscrapers). I think there is a Motel One close to this, but I have never stayed there. Don't stay near the station in Frankfurt, it's not nice.

Lavandula

This is all very helpful! We will be renting a car for all of our Germany trips, so the location of the stations does not matter as much. This will be my and my daughers first time in Europe. My husband was stationed in Darmstadt many moons ago.

Oh, well, that's great if you will have a car, although being cities, in many cases you will have to pay for parking if you get it with your hotel (EUR10-15 a night, I would guess), or go to a new city. If your husband knows Darmstadt he might know Frankfurt a little also . Yes, Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen might suit you better than the centre, because a car would be a pain in the centre.

Last time we were in Germany we stayed in Mainz; for my work we wanted to be near the university and so stayed in the Hotel Am Römerwall, where it seems a lot of hospital patients come to stay before and after treatment. It is a bit far out for normal tourism purposes but there is hotel parking there. At breakfast they reserved a table for us as we were going to be there for several days and there were little red squirrels playing in the garden / car park outside the window, which charmed my daughter. We did get around without a car but it is a long walk downhill into Mainz and although there are a few restaurants not too far away (a Greek restaurant with enormous portions, an Ethiopian restaurant where you eat with your hands and share portions from enormous bowls of food), it is probably lacking the old-world charm you are seeking. Look for anything with "Altstadt' on booking.com to orient yourself.

Lavandula