is it possible to leave Frankfurt airport while on route
 

We have a 7 hour layover at Frankfurt enroute from Montreal to Nice. Our luggage is checked right through. I would like to spend the time visiting Mainz. I have been told that it is not possible to leave the airport without your checked luggage. Is this true? Also is there a place to check your carry on luggage for the day?

Cannot comment on the supposed "cannot leave without checked luggage" "rule" although how would anyone KNOW you had checked luggage when you leave the airport?

Rail connections from FRA to Mainz are fairly easy from the airport rail station.

Security at Frankfurt is supposed to be very rigorous so make sure you don't cut it too close and are back in plenty of time.

I know you said Mainz but if you are at all interested in Cologne you can get there from the airport in 54 minutes by train..bigger than Mainz and the cathedral is NOT to be missed IMO.

Sure it's possible to leave the airport. And there is a left-luggage place where you can leave your carry-on for a nominal charge.

Very easy to get to Mainz & back (have done this myself on a 4 hr layover in Frankfurt).

Also, security for your flight to Nice will not be nearly as rigurous as if you were going to the US.

It would really be worth your interrogating the person who told you this nonsense to see what made him or her believe it.

Think about it. Possibly in Soviet Russia they might have had heavies at the airport exit checking your ticket to see if it contained a luggage stub (but even there, why?). But this is Germany we're talking about.

You have a very gullible acquaintance. What other silly beliefs do they entertain?

BTW, if train timetables permit, I second Cologne. Not only a spectacular cathdral (and great museum). But the mediaeval builders had the great good sense to put it close to the station. Few other Europeans of the middle ages were as sensible.

Years ago flying to Korea through Tokyo, the continuing passengers were all herded through what can only be described as a cattle chute to the gate area for the Korea flight. There were portable barriers set up so we could not deviate from the path. We even had to go through security again at one point along the way even though there was no way anyone who hadn't been on the incoming plane could have joined our herd.

Hmmmm, I've never heard of such a situation....I too would like to know how knowledgeable your source is.

I'd be in big trouble as I rarely check luggage, if this scenario was true. I suspect you need to listen to your source with a high degree of skepticism.

You should have plenty of time to go to Cologne to see the cathedral and arrive back at the airport in plenty of time.

People kept telling me stories like that too, but at every airport I've been laid over in (including Amsterdam & Singapore) it simply wasn't true.

Unless you're pinched for time and/or money is a concern what I usually do with a 7 hour layover is NOT do it. Most airlines for international connections you are allowed up to 23 hours before paying stopover charges. I usually get a hotel, good meal, see the sights, shower, relax and fly on the next day. Someone mentioned security, yes do allow enough time for that...we went through two security checks and it was time consuming.

Mainz is a good choice for a short visit. Stop into the St. Stephan church to visit see the Chagall windows, visit the Romanesque Dom, stroll the plazas and old town around the Dom and enjoy a meal there. I'd suggest using the Mainz Sud station (the first one in Mainz after crossing the Rhine) which is closer to all the sights and adjacent to Mainz's pretty city park (Stadtpark), which houses an aviary, a reptile house, and a nice biergarten. The main Mainz station (Hbf) is further on, far removed from the old town, and basically on the ugly side of town. You will find lockers both at the Sud and the Hbf stations there for your carry-ons. Mainz's streets are a real tangle, so get a basic map online before you leave.

You could get to Colgone in about an hour if you really wanted to, but it's going to cost you a LOT more for the trip than the 3.50 or so Euros for the trip to Mainz.

We have a 4 hour layover in Frankfurt-I'm assuming it's too short to do anything other than people watch? Is there a nice restaurant where we can have lunch at the aiport?

I guess this is why the Iranian in The Terminal movie can't leave Roissy's transfer lounge - he didn't have any checked luggage!