One Night Destination Betw. Rothenburg and Frankfurt
 

We will be in Germany for Christmas this year and will be traveling solely by train so whatever I choose needs to be easily accessible by train without dozens of changes.

We will be in Rothenburg for 3 days. Two nights later we need to be in Frankfurt for our trip home. We would prefer to skip Heidelberg as we have been there many times. Any suggestions for nice towns with weekday Christmas markets which are somehwat easily reachable from Rothenburg and to Frankfurt.

I would suggest Bamberg or, as an alternative, Wurzburg. Both would make a great stopover or a great destination for several days if you had them.

I would second both of Bettyk's recommendations.

Bamberg has a very small market but the town itself is quite attractive. The cathedral is my favorite sight there. The cobble stone streets and alleyways are filled with atmosphere.

Würzburg is our favorite town in Germany. The Christmas market is moderate in size. The two major sights are the Festung Marienberg (castle) across the river and the Archbishop's Residenz in town. The town is likewise most pleasing to us. We are going there again this Advent season with my brother and his wife.

For either of these towns, I would stay one less day in Rothenburg and add a day to which ever town you visit.

Regards, Gary

Wurzburg is an easier rail connection, and closer, to Frankfurt, if that matters.

You should also consider Nuremberg, which probably has the most popular Christmas market of the three and is an easier rail connection that Bamberg.

The home of gingerbread at Christmas- how could you go wrong?

I was going to say Bad Wimpfen, but it looks like all trains from Roth. ob der Tauber pass through Wurzburg. If you don't know about the German Rail website, it is probably my fav European travel tool. We have used it multiple times for rail trips throughout Europe. http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

My sister stayed in Mainz the day before before her flight out of Frankfurt and loved taking in their popular Christmas market, the Dom, Chagall stained glass, etc. with a quick easy train connection to the airport the next morning.