We'll be flying into Frankfurt on our way to Vienna on march 4, and we're spending the first 5 days in Vienna.
We have 8 days/8 nights with day one starting at 7am when our plane arrives in Frankfurt. We've never been to Either Germany or Austria before, so we're not sure whether to spend the last 3 days in Frankfurt or Salzberg ! We'll be flying back to the US on day 9. Any suggestions !

Salzburg is exceptional - spend a day there and two days in Frankfurt, to me one of Europe's least appealing cities with little character but a good base from which to hop to the nearby Rhine Valley for boat rides (now in winter there is usually one boat a day; normal schedules Apr-Oct) or to Heidelberg, one of the few German cities not destroyed in WWII, or other great day trips. Always good idea to stay the night before your flight in your departure city. Frankfurt does have great museums and shopping.

DearMM: Assuming this is vacation, my approach has always been to arrange the itinerary from most stressful to least stressful so that I can leave Europe under the most serene conditions. For example, we often fly into Frankfurt and endure the unbelievable inconveniences of that airport upon arrival, but there is no way that I would suffer them as my last thoughts in preparation for returning home. This, of course, is not rocket science so you may wish to plan accordingly. Good luck. Gradyghost

Thanks PalQ ! So how would you compare Heidelberg with Salzberg? we could spend two days in Heidelnerg and one night in Frankfurt before flying back to the US.

I'm quite familiar with both Salzburg and Heidelberg (burg in Salzburg means city; berg in Heidelberg means castle, the city's dominating feature looming high over the town. Both are great but i'm feeling Salzburg has more substantial offerings for two days. Heidelberg seems classic one day town. Could day trip from Salzburg to nearby Sound of Music country - have never taken the SOM mini-bus tours but could be nice - can also go by public bus (St Wolfgang on its lake) easily enough. Depending on when your flight leaves it can be much more than an hour from Heidelberg to Frankfurt Airport by train or road. Any way can't go wrong with either of these two gems.

I've seen pictures of Heidelberg, and its natural beauty is just unbelievable in the summer, with these green mountains all around it.
But it's probably going to be covered with snow in march. I think we are going to do 4 days in Vienna, 2 days in Salzburg, and 2 days in Frankfurt and possibly make a day trip to Heidelberg!
If only Berlin were a little closer to Frankfurt, I would have defenitely gone there instead of Frankfurt.

Hey should work on you're german !
berg means mountain, and burg means castle.

MMHH - i actually realized by greivous mistake last night after posting whilst wondering why both weren't burg as both feature castles - guess Heidelberg may not be named after castle. I had the right idea but wrote it wrong. Danke!

Do you have the flexibility of doing an open jaw itinerary? If so, perhaps you could do two days in the Frankfurt/Rhein area, then Vienna, then finish in Salzburg and fly home from nearby Munich.

If you can't do and open jaw, I'd suggest Vienna, several days in Salzburg and the last night or two either in Heidelberg or along the Rhein.

Salzburg and Heidelberg are very similar looking cities - river towns with a castle on the hill in town. Two days max for Heidelberg - one day in town, one taking a cruise on the Neckar River. My last trip to Salzburg and surrounding area was 9 days - not long enough!

we were in germany in march and flew into frankfurt. touring the rhine and going to heidelberg is amazing. you can cover a lot of territory in 3 days and will defenitely return. we did the rhine,heidelberg, black forest and baden baden in a short period of time. you need to pick up a car but driving is easy and the germans are extremely courteous.