hello we are going to Frankfurt for a week on August 22.It is a horse buying trip but we will have four days to explore.Is driving there very difficult and what areas would you recommend to explore?

Uh, excuse me for asking, but don't you mean FrankFORT, Kentucky, and not Frankfurt, Germany??? Just checking!

Assuming you don't mean the Kentucky one, good drives near Frankfurt include Rudesheim, Ammershausen and the Rhein area (cross on ferry at Lorch and go on to Bacharach), or Limburg.

Sorry! Anything is possible, of course, but it's difficult for me to imagine that someone would be going to Frankfurt, Germany on a horse-buying trip-unless it was to trade on stocks related to same! Perhaps the poster got confused, and thought she was on the US board!

There aren't horse sales in Frankfort KY but there are sales in Lexington, KY. The sales this year are in September and the average sale price is usually $250,000 - $300,000 with the highest price being 13 million. I don't think the ATM will give you that much in one day and they don't take Visa or MC!

What kind of horses are you going to buy in Germany?

Spygirl, Germany is a popular place to buy horses for show jumping.

Wellll, no one said Germany wasn't a place to find horses, but Frankfurt? And from the U.S.? Like I said, anything is possible, but it seems a tad unlikely to me!

And KyBourbon-Please, I'm well aware that Lexington is a horse-buying town, and what horses go for there-my father attended horse sales there for years.

We know someone who bought a horse from just outside Frankfurt and had it shipped to California.

Well, then maybe that's what the poster is doing-it seemed more likely to me that someone from the US would base themselves in Frankfort, Ky. for horse-buying than Frankfurt.

Yeah Spygirl I see your point. It just didn't seem unusual to me because of the people I know. But since the poster hasn't come back to enlighten us maybe we'll never know for sure!

Spygirl - My reply really wasn't directed to you - just some general information since I live in the area. We are all assuming the original poster is from the states but we may be wrong. I can't imagine anyone from the states needing to travel to Europe to buy a horse even a jumper since there are so many top horses here.

The signs as you enter Lexington now-
The Horse Capital of the World

Regardless of whether Frankfort, KY seems more likely to some posters, I would always assume that a poster here knows what he's doing, even more so considering the fact that this topic comes up under "Germany", which means materialgirl must have indicated that when posting.
BTW, this may be an America based board, but it is used by many Europeans, too, for whom it would be more unllikely to purchase their horses in KY! Plus materialgirl indicated at no time that she was travelling from the U.S..

Anyway, in answer to the original question, I would suggest approx. half a day of sightseeing in Frankfurt, paying special interest to the Roemer square and the church of Paulskirche.

A lovely region close to Frankfurt is called Rheingau. It spreads along the river Rhine from approx. Hochheim well beyond Wiesbaden, approx. to Ruedesheim. There are nice villages which can be accessed by a road directly on the river shores and lots of wineries produced truly great white wines which can be tasted for small amounts of money on site. Some also serve some food to go along with it.

Also, prepare for one evening out in the Frankfurt neighborhood of Sachsenhausen to have some Apple Wine, a local specialty along with some rustic fare. A good place to go would be "Fichte" whose Apple Wine is more tasteful than elsewhere IMO (I usually don't care to much for it, but there it's fine). The place is a little bit hidden and you might want to ask your concierge to direct you there!

Enjoy your trip- and good luck for the horses
hsv

I am from Canada and yes I did mean Frankfurt Germany.Many people travel to Germany to purchase horses.We happen to be going to purchase a dressage horse and bring back a few other horses to offer for sale.
This will be our second trip to Germany.
The last time we had a friend drive us back and forth from our hotel to the horse barn.This time however he is unavailable and we will have to navigate around on our own.
We will also have some time to do some sightseeing.I would like to take in some of the countryside and also perhaps do a two day trip away from the area but I have no idea how difficult that would be or if driving there would be difficult.
I appreciate any and all information.

HSV - Actually many of the horses purchased at the September sales in KY are by people from Europe, South Africa and the Middle East. The queen boards many of her horses 5 miles from Lexington and sends representatives to make purchases.

I haven't spent much time in Frankfurt but enjoyed wandering the old town (although it's small) and the area close by has many shops. My sister took a tour (I think it was based on Goethe) that she booked at the tourist office in the old town.

materialgirl,

driving is really not that hard in Germany. Frankfurt itself can get on your nerves a bit as they have (at least for my taste) an unbelievable number of one-way-streets, but you should be able to sort that out.
Apart from that, a car gives you so much freedom- and there is a lot to explore out of town.
Besides the Rheingau region I mentioned on my former post, you might want to see Wiesbaden, which is a pleasant mixture of a spa town combined with a medium- large city. Mainz, on the opposite shore of the Rhine river features a very pretty and impressive cathedral.
The Taunus mountain villages of Kronberg, Koenigstein and Bad Homburg with their in parts posh residences are worth an excursion, too.

AND: kybourbon,
I did not mean to sound harsh or to be condescending towards Frankfort or any other town in Kentucky and its horse business, which I am certainly aware of. I just wanted to bring this thread back to what I was convinced it was meant to be about, if you catch my drift.

Cheers to Canada and Kentucky
hsv

materialgirl:
what a bunch of useless drivel.
Frankfurt is very close to the excellent stretch along the Rhein River noted in HSV's post. Quaint towns worth visiting include Bacharach (I would skip Rudesheim-WAY too touristy and jammed with people), Boppard and St. Goar. Ypu can explore many of the castles above. Mainz is a beautiful city with Blue Chagall windows and an impressive cathedral, in addition to a Gutenberg print museum.
Further north, Koblenz was fun. Turn westward along the Mosel River for a valley of vineyards and the excellent Burg Eltz above. Keep going to Cochem for another great castle and a chairlift for far-reaching views. Further west is Trier, an old town with impressive ancient Roman ruins.
In general, the Mosel area is far less congested and has a more 'country-side' feel.
Hope this helps!

I totally agree with rach!
However, above Rudesheim is a wonderful converted hunting lodge - Hot. Jagdschloss Niederwald - with small but nice rooms and a wonderful feast Sankt Hubertus for two.