mnss

I'll be arriving in the airport on a Saturday at 8:05 am and my plane leaves at 12:45 pm.
So I'll probably need to go back to the airport by 11:00 am

I've read that this city is not particularly interesting except for the Romer, the Zeil, and maybe a walk by the river, so maybe 2 hours in the city center is enough?

I've never been to Germany before, but I've been on transits in this airport numerous times. And I usually just walk around the terminal doing nothing which is incredibly boring!

mnss

Is it walkable?

Bird

I'm not sure you have enough time. Assuming that it takes you 30 minutes to catch the train to the main train station (20 minutes) then it is about a 15 minute walk to the Romer, or you can catch a connection with a tram or subway to Zeil. That would leave you with about enough time to repeat the same process to get back to the airport. (Which by the way is a pretty nice airport to pass the time.)

mnss

Thanks alot Bird!

I should be in the town center by 8:30/8:45 ( no luggage to collect) and so I'll have about 2.5 hours to spend before I need to go back to Der Flughafen!

or does Frankfurt really deserve more than that?

I am planning a trip in 2006 to Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, and a couple of small towns in between, so should I just spend a couple of days in Frankfurt on that trip because I won't be able to see that much in a couple of hours anyway?

I've been to all the shops and restaurants of this airport. So if I didn't go any where as usual, I'll be sitting on my butt for 4.5 hours doing nothing!

beachbum

We transferred in Frankfurt for both in and outward bound international flights on a trip to Europe last fall. If I'm remembering right, both times we were shuttled from the plane out on the tarmac into the terminal, then back out to the connecting flight, also on the tarmac. If you have to do the same, you won't arrive at der Hauptbahnhof by 8:45am. And 11:00 might be cutting it close for arrival back at der Flughafen.

Anyone have a good book to recommend?

mnss

I know Sicherheit lines can be long, but I will have had my boarding pass already.

hsv

mnss,

2 hours for the city center is certainly enough. Not much to see there IMHO. Roemer and Paulskirche are the obvious sights for reasons of national history.
Die Zeil is just another shopping street with all the German and international big names, but not exactly exclusive.
I guess your schedule might be feasible (a lot depends on how fast you can make it through immigration), but it is tight. I'd give it a try, though.

beachbum,

for a book I'd recommend "Absolute Friends" by John LeCarré. Great reading and a very current relation to German and international politics. Very cleverly written and plotted by an obviously very knowledgable and intelligent author with special expertise on Germany and insight into European and German history.

beachbum

Thanks hsv, but I was actually asking for mnss since I think he'd best just hang in der Flughafen und lesen.

mnss

Thanks you guys! do you know what time do the shops and cafes in the city center open on Saturday?
and can I walk from the central station to the Roemer?

helsinkiflyer

You can walk from the Hbf (main railwaystation) to Römer, but you can also take the very frequent S-bahns. About 10 years ago most, if not all the trains coming from the airport continued from Hbf to city center (Hauptwache and others). The walk is about 20-30 minutes through a busy street called the Königstrasse that had plenty of junkies and steet walkers. But Iīve heard that theyīve cleaned up the area around the railwaystation. Used to be sort of rough. After that youīll go past some of Europeīs few skyscrapers and there you are on Zeil. Zeil is a shopping street, same as any other pedestrian shopping street in bigger German towns. Römer is a few blocks from there towards the river.

The city itself might not be pretty or popular among tourist, but I like the place. Many nice neighbourhoods. Sachsenhausen on the other side of the river Main is nice especially with the sidewalk/courtyard bars serving local specialty Ebbelwoi, local apple wine/cider. There are plenty of museums along the river bank and a nice zoo.

mnss

Thanks helsinkiflyer, yea I am a little conserned about the area around the main train station; I've heard that it wasn't exactly the nicest part of town!

I guess I'll have take an s-bahn to hauptwache.

RufusTFirefly

If you find time is too short for your jaunt into the big city and you are interested in Holocaust sites, you could hop a cab into Walldorf on the southern edge of the airport.

There's a heart-rending memorial walk through a wooded area where, at the end of WWII, there was a camp for Hungarian Jewish women who were working on hardening the runways for Germany's jet aircraft.

There are placards along the way with photos, copies of letters, etc. Not a lot left to see except some overturned stones. But it is at once a nice walk, and a sobering reminder of what we are capable of doing to one another.

I can dig out my directions if anyone is interested. There was a pretty good Italian restaurant nearby, too.

RufusTFirefly

I meant to provide the website--German only as far as I can tell.

http://www.kz-walldorf.de/

mnss

It would my very first visit to Germany ! so I guess I'll save the Holocaust thing for another trip later in life. maybe.

helsinkiflyer

I did not mean that the area around the railwaystation is dangerous. Itīs not. But itīs not really worth seeing either if youīve seen that kind of scene someplace else. If youīve never really been to Germany before then taking a walk through Zeil can be nice. Itīs a pedestrian only shopping street. Not too many of those in the US for example.