Frankfurt-Mainz
 

I have another thread open where I have asked for some help with planning an itinerary for our trip to Germany later this year but I am posting this as a separate thread as I'm hoping to catch the eye of some Frankfurt area "experts".

Our itinerary currently has us flying into Frankfurt airport and spending our first 2 nights in Frankfurt before taking a train to Berlin.

We have some interest in a concert at the Zitadelle Mainz on the second of our nights but we are reluctant to buy tickets with no knowledge of the venue location, transport etc.

If we have a hotel in Frankfurt town centre how practical would it be to take public transport to & from the concert? Concert starts at 7:00pm so I guess would go though to about 11:00pm. Is the Zitadelle well served with transport?

If we spent our two nights in Mainz, going the straight from the airport to a hotel close to the Zitadelle, would it be practical to spend the first day looking around Mainz and then take public transport into Frankfurt the second day for some sightseeing before returning to Mainz for the concert? I guess in that case we'd have to use a public transport link back to Frankfurt the next day to catch our train to Berlin.

Looking forward to some thoughts on how we might tackle this; thanks, Greg

There are S-bahns going directly from Mainz to Frankfurt and of course from Frankfurt to Mainz every 30 minutes, with the trip taking about 38 min. The trains run til late in the evening, but I think if I was getting out of a concert at 23:00, I would rather be in the town where it is being held, rather than wait on a train. Though they do run late in the night, there may only be one an hour at that time of the evening. Sounds stressy to me, so staying in Mainz sounds easier.

Use the RMV website to find trains and times. A one way ticket to Mainz from the airport is 4.10, or a group ticket good all day long will be 14.90. Going from Mainz to Frankfurt, get a group day ticket as you will be going back to Mainz and this ticket costs 25.70. This is cheaper than buying multiple one way tickets for 7.30 each. You can also ride the Regional trains with this.
http://www.rmv.de/en/

"If we spent our two nights in Mainz, going the straight from the airport to a hotel close to the Zitadelle, would it be practical to spend the first day looking around Mainz and then take public transport into Frankfurt the second day for some sightseeing before returning to Mainz for the concert? I guess in that case we'd have to use a public transport link back to Frankfurt the next day to catch our train to Berlin."

I'd probably do it that way.

You'll be using the Mainz Römisches Theater train station - the one nearest the Zitadelle. There's an Ibis hotel one block from that station. At the station, check out the recently unearthed Roman theatre:

http://www.theatrum.de/uploads/pics/...ftbild_800.jpg

If you opt for staying in Mainz, use the name of the nearest station you eventually plan to depart from for Berlin (e.g. Mainz Römisches Theater if you stay at the Ibis which Russ mentioned) to buy tickets on bahn.de website.
Thus also any local trains/S-Bahn trains to Frankfurt will be included in the ticket price.
With saver tickets there is usually no difference between fares from Mainz or Frankfurt so you will get the leg to Frankfurt "for free".

Wow! Russ, that unearthed Roman theatre is pretty impressive! Thanks.

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful.

It's now early Sunday morning for us and we are just off to the airport for a few days in Queensland to go (hopefully) turtle watching so I will think this over and maybe return with more qustions next week. Greg