We arrive into Munich on 26 November and need to be in Frankfurt on the 30th to meet a group. I am looking for suggestions on a place to stay that is somewhat on the way, easy to reach by public transport and is easy to get around, perhaps making a day trip or two.

We will have my 79 year old mother with us so a smaller city would be ideal.

Salzburg is always a good option and we know and love it there, but it is in the opposite direction from Frankfurt. While not a big deal, we are interested in somewhere new.

We have been to Wurzburg, Bamberg, Nuremberg (liked the first 2 a lot, Nuremberg not so much. Not interested in spending time in Frankfurt and will be visiting Regensburg later in trip.

Looking at a map, Heidelberg is an option but not sure if we want to commit to 4 days there. And we do not want to make two stops as it is hard with my mother to do a lot of moving around.

We fly into Munich and so will make the connection from there via train though a flight is an option. If we fly, we may just opt to head to Berlin as we enjoyed it so much last year.

Suggestions are appreciated!

Go to Heidelberg - a beautiful town. Maybe split it with Frieburg - also a very beautiful German university town.

Unlike Heidelberg, Nuremberg, with its charming old town and Europe's most renowned Christmas market, is on the main train route to Frankfurt and offers easy access to other fabulous towns nearby (Rothenburg, Bamberg, Würzburg.)

(Oops. Hit submit too soon.) ...But I could see a couple of nights in Heidelberg, or better yet Mainz, which is very near Frankfurt and has a lovely old town and Christmas market; Mainz is also close to Rüdesheim, where the market is also terrific. You can reach FRA easily from Mainz, too - 20 min or so on the S Bahn.

Does it have to be directly on the way? Consider Strasbourg, France which is just over 2 hours from Frankfurt and just under 4 hours from Munich.

Thanks everyone!

Nuremberg is not an option as we did not care for it when we visited last month. And France is out of the way for this trip and honestly not one of our favorite countries.

I will check out the other recommendations. Keep them coming!

Heidelberg is beautiful and seems like a natural fit for you, but might be a bit difficult for your mother to navigate (castle up on a hill, etc.). Strasbourg is a good suggestion, and you'll still get a lot of German flavor. You could base yourself there and take a side trip to Colmar or some of the other smaller Alsatian towns.

Sorry, I just saw your comment about France. Strike that last bit!

Rothenburg is nice choice by your criteria. Get a hotel in the middle of this small town. Catch a taxi to the hotel. Once at the center of town everything is close.

The Christmas Market is small but the many tourist shops convert over to selling Christmas items.

The town is touristy but not overly so this time of year. Sights abound around every corner. These are our pictures. Notice that tourists are not standing on each others' shoulders.

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/Germany...33656478_iwoYP

Regards, Gary

We were in Rothenburg last year and found it charming. We will be there with our group for one day this trip as well. I do think we would be bored there after a day or two as it is a bit too small for what we are looking for.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. At this point, I think we will stick with either Berlin or Salzburg.

Just wanted to mention that while Berlin is not a small city, we found Mitte to be a wonderful neighborhood and that is where we would stay.