Landing in Frankfurt - anything worthwhile to spend 1D/N there?
 

Hi,

I would be landing in Frankfurt in mid-July and intend to make my way to Amsterdam immediately.

My flight (~9 hrs duration) lands at 6:40 PM. I am guessing by the time I complete airport formalities, go into the city & check-in to a hotel, it would be 8:30-9 PM. I could step out for few hours (I don't get tired much & am not an early sleeper). Anything I can do that night in Frankfurt apart from a quick dinner? I am a teetotaller & traveling solo, so I guess that limits typical 'nightlife' options. But many cities have special night tours / cruises / light & laser shows / vibrant local neighbourhoods, hence the q.

Secondly, should I spend any time at all the next day to see Frankfurt or immediately head out to Amsterdam?

If there is nothing of relevance in Frankfurt, I might as well try to catch a train to Amsterdam on my flight arrival in the evening.

I forgot to mention that Köln is a great visual aide in seeing how a city just build on top of itself. I was there over Easter and at one of the excavation sites (not far from the Dom and Roman-Germanic museum), you can see the Medieval buildings from the old Jewish Quarter that were discovered. http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu...very/%E2%80%9D

But the last train from Frankfurt airport connecting with trains arriving at Amsterdam that night leaves at 1909.

Your only choices are looking for a flight, taking a three-change overnight horror, or staying that night in Germany.

@flanneruk, there is a night bus (City2City.de) that leaves from the Frankfurt airport at 11:59 PM and reaches Amsterdam at 7 AM.

Really, there are a lot of interesting things to see in Frankfurt. I've done a couple of tours with Frankfurtonfoot.com.

I think Frankfurt is a bit under-rated; I think a day there would be very worthwhile and maybe help you not feel so rushed. I concur with the recommendation for going on a Frankfurtonfoot tour--10:30 daily and lasts about 4 hours. It begins at the Romer area which is worth a visit; the Dom is right there and great, too. There are nice museums along the river, nice parks and gardens, and plenty of shopping of all sorts. Good public transport, too.

@VolCrew & @texasbookworm, if I decide to take the 11:59 PM bus to Amsterdam from the airport, I need to know if I can still spend couple of hours in the Frankfurt city just to walk around & catch a bite. I can store my luggage at the airport storage, take a train into the city, walk around the same area as covered by this tour company, catch a bite somewhere nearby and head back to catch my bus. Once I land at 6:40 PM, and finish arrival formalities & checking in luggage at storage, I should have ~4 hours with me.

Taking a night bus after a 9-hour-flight would be a horror for me. The bus drive takes much longer than the train and is certainly for strenuous, since you are squeezed in your seat.

What I would do: I would probably book a hotel with a pool and a spa and treat myself after the long flight and the check-out procedure. And if I am not tired I would just stroll through town. Sunset is late in July, and the riverbank is lovely and will be full of people enjoying themselves. Especially the southern riverbank ("Museumsufer") has many outstanding museums. Some of them are open until 10 p.m. on certain days. Then I would rest, and the next morning I would take the fast train that brings me to Amsterdam in less than 4 hours without changes of trains.

2 things--
I seriously doubt if you have about 4 hours. Even moving at optimum speed and assuming NO glitches, I'd estimate you'd need at minimum an hour to get TO the train station. (My husband--volcrew--has landed in Frankfurt many many times and at his best he is at the car rental in 60-90 minutes--and he knows his way around. It has infrequently been much much more if there's any issues at Passport control or with luggage.) It somewhat depends on which terminal you arrive in--the airport is big and not really that easily navigated. Then get squared away, take rides, etc., would take minimum 30 minutes, maybe more. Then you say get something to eat. Then you say walk around. Then you have to be back probably by ??11:30 at least? No way I'd try to squeeze all this at end of travel day, before a NIGHT BUS?

What traveller1959 says about taking a bus right away.

So I'd say you have 2 better options:
Do what traveler says, or get a hotel, enjoy Frankfurt for one day, then take transport to Amsterdam (train instead of bus?)

Only you know your limitations/preferences/stamina/style of course, but you sound like this is your first time in this area, so I'd not suggest such a rushed thing on arrival.

@traveler1959 & @texasbookworm, thanks for your candid feedback. I guess I was being overenthusiastic about the 4 hours. I guess I'd just relax at one of the awesome lounges at the airport for few hours (I have lounge access) and take the night bus to save on day-time travel. I sleep ~4 hours a day & seem to never run out of energy even after all-nighters / long flights. Trains to Amsterdam are mostly in the day, which means I'd 'waste' precious time (what can I say, I am used to skimping on sleep / comfortable sleep for making the most of the day-time, whether for studies or work or pleasure).

You may want to double check the bus itinerary.
The only night bus service I can find on a dummy date in mid July which leaves Frankfurt at 23:59 is one Eurolines service to Rotterdam (via Amsterdam) BUT from the bus stops at Frankfurt main (train) station, not from the airport.

@Cowboy1968, thank you so much for highlighting my mistake. Gosh, I guess I am just too overwhelmed having to plan a 5 week Europe trip in 7 days!

Is the bus station near the city's main train station? If so, I can take the airport train to city's main train station (s-bahn train taking 11 minutes) and then from the train platform, make my way to the bus station.

Are you taking a bus?? In the 1st post you said train but now we're talking about a bus.

I might hop on a night train but not a night bus. If it were me, I might stop off and get the hotel with a spa and take a day train with 0 or 1 connection to Amsterdam instead changing trains several times during the night.

Check out bahn.de

The upside is that the long-distance bus station is right next to main train station.
The downside is that even with being that close it can be a bit hard to find the right bus stop.
Most stops are just lined up along Mannheimer Str. on the Southern side of the train station.
So the layout does not resemble a proper bus station with seperate bays.

The propably best fool-proof was to get there is:
leave the underground S-Bahn station following signs for long distance trains (main hall, street level)
once in the main hall, walk towards track 1 - and past track 1 thru the South exit
this will put you on street level at Mannheimer Str.
the current Eurolines timetable says that your bus to Rotterdam/Amsterdam will leave from bus stops 7/8

If you want to explore Frankfurt in your spare hours, you will find lockers at the main train station.
As the bus stop may not be that easy to find, I'd suggest that you familiarize yourself with the location of the bus stop right after you stored your luggage so you won't have to do that close to midnight when your bus will depart.

@LSky, I prefer a train but timings were not suitable for evening train after I land at 6:40 pm. Bus is also ok, especially as the midnight one would save day-time travel. I doubt Frankfurt-Amsterdam is a scenic route for me to deliberately take a day train.

@Cowboy1968, thank you so much for such patience and information. I shall be sure to confirm the bus stop before I walk around / grab dinner.

Just booked the overnight bus ticket - the bus stop mentioned is "Frankfurt am Main, Hbf./Busbhf.st.10/12".

Completely tangential, but I realised while booking that the only 4 classifications / salutations it lets one choose from are:

Mr.
Mrs.
Child
Baby

I ended up selecting Mrs. as it is the least unsuitable one for me :)

Happy travels - and if your ticket says bus stop 10/12 it will in the same area as the others.
The stops *should* have signs indicating the destinations (and probably also the bus companies' logos).

The classifications you found probably result from a direct translation from German. Here it is considered not polite (or at least hopelessly outdated) to adress even very young women with the equivalent of "Miss". So every female that is not a child is a Mrs. :-)

@Cowboy1968, I actually ended up google-mapping the main train station, then finding a hotel next door, emailing their concierge for info on proximity of bus stop from their hotel and they replied saying it is right outside their hotel. So now I have located the bus stop on google maps. Makes life easy :)