Where to weekend away from Frankfurt
 

After arriving in Frankfurt on a Friday morning from the US we have a free weekend. We were planning to go to Cologne for the weekend but I have been looking at other cities. And this is in January.
Should we consider Bonn, or Koblenz? Stuttgart is just a quick trip south. OR is Cologne the best choice.
We welcome your input.
Thanks for your time

We enjoyed Heidelberg but don't know what it's like in January. Most of our time there was spent out of doors. There is a bus shuttle service from Frankfurt airport which is quite convenient and drops you in middle of town.

Agree wholeheartedly with dreamon, I'd go to Heidelberg and spend Saturday. If you have a car, on Sunday, I take a little road trip and go to Worms or Freinsheim (small medieval walled town, really beautiful) or Speyer (personal Favorite). You could easily do any two of those three listed.

If you don't have a car, you could visit Bad Wimpfen from Heidelberg by train. A pretty village.

Apart from the cathedral which was on my bucket list to see I found there is not much else to see or do in Cologne.
I flew into Frankfurt also and ended up using it as base to explore cities of the Romantic Road Wurzburg and Rothenburg ob de Tauber.
Here is a clip tha maybe you'll find interesting about this area

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-rea...and-rothenburg

Heidelberg would be OK. About 1 hour by train from FRA.

It's a little bit further - but not much - to Würzburg on the Main River - about 1.5 hours by direct train. Also a good choice with plenty to see. It's a major wine-producing area, with some nice places to dine like the one below.

http://www.wuerzburg.de/en/visitors/...ees/index.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...a_Bavaria.html

And you can venture out from Würzburg very easily to see other places. Just 17 minutes by train from W'burg is the old walled town of Ochsenfurt, and Marktbreit is only 5 min.'s further:

Ochsenfurt: http://www.urlaub-bayern-ferien.de/f...chsenfurt2.jpg

Marktbreit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...breit_BW_6.JPG


MAINZ, on the Rhine River, is a university town just 25 minutes from FRA - and also a very good choice.

http://www.neumainzer.de/wp-content/...ochenmarkt.jpg

http://www.en.romantic-cities.com/Ma....0.html#c11941

Pick a town which oozes atmosphere, someplace like Erfurt, Limburg, or Marburg.

As much as I like Mainz, it has a population of over 250,000. Thus it is not a university town, but a city that it has a university, just like many other medium to large cities in Germany, including Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, etc. There is nothing really quaint about Mainz. It has a few interesting attractions, but you can see most of them in just 1 day.

I'm not sure that size matters all that much to the OP.

Cologne and Bonn, 2 of the OP's 3 original choices, weigh in at 1 million and 310k, respectively.

Mainz population 2015 = 210k (not over 250)
Heidelberg population 2015 = 160k

Both are university towns (OK, cities) but not even remotely comparable to Frankfurt, Munich or Berlin in terms of size.

"There is nothing really quaint about Mainz."

alane, did you request "quaint?" Mainz isn't bad actually - a nice if small old town zone and a huge car-free-pedestrians-only area that envelops it as well as the more modern shopping zone and market square zone.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8517/8...8e0b61f0_b.jpg

If you do want totally quaint, Limburg isn't a bad suggestion... from Frankfurt there are dozens of small quaint places you could stay - Bacharach, Büdingen, etc. But in January most of the smaller places that rely to some degree on tourism - including Limburg - will seem very, very quiet, methinks. I would definitely want someplace to stay that's maybe 60k to 70k minimum in population, and one that's interesting. Marburg might work for that. By comparison Mainz, Heidelberg and Würzburg will have more places to stay, eat and explore, and more to do. VISITING some of those smaller, quaint, old-world places on an outing makes a lot of sense to me, if you have the time.

How about hopping the train to Munich, a city that to most is nicer, whatever that means, to many and can be enjoyable in winter. By train not that far.

German trains are great - www.bahn.de/en has all the schedules and fares -book long-distance trips far in advance to nab nice discounts - use Lander regional tickets for trips around regional areas.

For lots on German trains check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets and for general info www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. Fussganger who often posts like above is a real expert in Germany and especially on trains -he/she knows of what they speak.

cologne is OK but Munich may be better for what most want. And Frankfurt itself is rather nice too.

I spent a few days in Heidelberg and used it as a base to hop to such gems as Marburg, Speyer and Frankfurt - which for the average tourist would have more of interest than Cologne I believe.

You could take a train to Cologne for the day or half day and then stop by Bonn maybe on way back to Frankfurt area. Bonn itself is underrated I believe - also good if into Bach? (Some maestro's house is there).

I was there in January and weather was cool but not really cold- rarely is I think.

Amsterdam is just 3.5 hours from Frankfurt Airport - and to me a most beautiful interesting city with something for everyone. Fares as low as 29 euros each way- www.bahn.de/en- think outside the Germany box!