We will getting into Frankfurt at about 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 27th and we are wanting to take the train somewhere closer to Munich since we have a reservation for Sept. 28th in Munich for Oktoberfest. Would you recommend traveling to Wurzburg or Heidelburg for the night. We will not be doing much other than sleeping and then hopping back on the train first thing in the morning. Any hints?

Both cities are very very fine cities, amongst the least destroyed in WWII and thus authentically old - i wouldn't hazzard to choice one over the other given your criteria - just a nice place for the night. Heidelberg is very well known as a gem - Wurzburg's gemness is a little less publicized and thus has fewer tourists i guess.

HeidelBERG WurzBURG - burg i think means a town - a burg in english and berg is a castle i believe - Heidelberg being named after its impressive castle and Wurzburg for being's Wurz' burg perhaps. I'm no German expert and may have the half-assword take on it. Buyt there is a different berg and burg.

I have visited Heidelburg once and Wurzburg several times. I w ouldn't go back to Heidelburg. It's charming, it's just that to me at least... Wurzburg has a lot more to offer.

The Residenz and accompanying Court Gardens are stunning, as is the Dom, the Old Main Bridge, and Fortress Marienburg.

Wurzburg is a big city though... about 130,000 people I believe. If you truly will not have time to see anything at all in the way of sights, why not just pick the city that is most on the way to Munich?

Generally, Burg meant a fortified city, although in the case of the Hohenzollernburg, it was more of a castle.

Berg means a mountain. I don't know what mountain Heidelberg would have been named after. The town certainly isn't a mountain, and even the castle is only on a hill, at best.

If you are getting on the train first thing in the morning, it might make more sense to just stay in Frankfurt. If you had a little time to walk around the next morning, I think you could spend a few nice hours in either town. Heidelburg's old town is a little way away from the train station, I am not sure about Wurzburg.

A Burg (a fortification, fortified castle or a fortified small settlement) is more easily defended when it is located on a Berg (hilltop or mountain).

So if the place is named after the elevation (hill or such) it is a -berg, but there might be a Burg on top, as in Nürnberg, where the Kaiserburg (Emperor Burg) is up on the Berg.

I prefer Wuerzburg over Heidelberg for a variety of reasons. But first a correction to PalQ's observation: Wuerzburg was 80% destroyed in a nightime incindary bombing air raid in 1944. The conflagration wa such, that the firestorm caused many buildings to collapse inside out. Among others, the homes of both of my grandparents were completely destroy3ed that night.

However, after WWII, the city was lovingly rebuilt to its pre-war state, using old city plans and early color photoraphy of the famous structures and ntings on the houses and in the Residenz palace.

Today, Wzbg. is a vibrant university city. Because of its location, castle, palace and many churches it is sometimes referred to as "the Salzburg of Germany".

Three of the highlights are the Festung Marienberg, the huge castle overlooking the city. It is a great place to visit -- - interesting museum, good restaurant and -walking from the Festung down into the city - one gets a very informative picture of how the old castles were fortified.

In the center of the city is the great baroque Residence palace, with its peacful gardens.

The third site is the old bridge across the Main River, with its various figures of saints and the view of the old harbor building

The city offers good restaurants, hotels and and Weinstuben, where one can taste the local wine that grows on the vinyards surrounding the city, on both sides of the Main river. The best knwon are of these restaurants are the Buerger Spital and the Julius Spital, whioch both have their own vinyards.

Heidelberg is also a lively university city, with an old city core. But the main sight is the ruin of the Heidelberg castle, which predates WWII. In fact, after WWII there was a saying in Germany: Before WWII, the Germans went to Heidelberg to see a famous ruin; after WWII they went to Heidelberg to see a city that wasn't destroyed.

One advantage of Wzbg. over Heidelberg is the swifter train connection from FRA airport to MUC.

I think Würzburg is worthwhile visiting even if you just tour the Residenz, the palace of the Prince-Bishop, (which he built with the proceeds of a lawsuit, by the way) and for the attached court chapel. They are both gorgeous baroque buildings--to my mind, the most beautiful in Germany.

They are not over-the-top, as are Ludwig's two great creations, Neuschwanstein and Linderhof; they're very rich and very beautiful.

The partially ruined (by the Swedes, I think) castle in Heidelberg is quite impressive, but the city itself is jammed with tourists. The wonderful old Hauptstrasse, which used to be a genuine pedestrian shopping street for the city's inhabitants, has degenerated into a sort of tourist strip mall jammed with the usual. I was saddened when I saw it this summer.

I'd choose anywhere over Heidelberg. It's train station is not near the interesting part of the town, so a quick hop off hop on, while possible in Heidelberg, will leave you in a nondescript, heavy traffic area similar to what you could find anywhere, or a longer trek to the Altstadt. In addition, I found Heidelberg to be filled with tatooed/pierced college age students milling around in a stupor among debris-strewn streets in the midst of t-shirt retail heaven. Ok, this is a bit of an exaggeration, but it wasn't a ton better than that. Pick someplace else. I haven't been to Wuerzburg, but the more I read about it, the more enticing it appears.

It seems that all this talk about which town is the most amenable is pointless since they are not arriving until evening and want to leave first thing in the morning. For their purpose, the Frankfurt-Mannheim-Munich route is probably more appropriate than the Frankfurt-Würzburg-Munich route because it takes a little less time overall. However, Heidelberg, on that Mannheim route, is probably not suitable because the express trains don't stop there. It would require about a 15 minute S-bahn connection from Mannheim to Heidelberg.

The most important thing is probably to find a town served by the express trains that would have suitable accommodations near the station.

Augsburg would be ideal since it is only a half an hour from Munich, but, because of it's nearness, may be booked.

Ulm is just over an hour from Munich and you might find accommodations there. The website, www.ulm.de, has an English side and a listing of hotels.

And, there is always Stuttgart.

If it's just looking for a place to sleep, then Mannheim would be more convenient than Heidelburg. It also has some great shopping along a pedestrian walkway.

Stuttgart (as larryincolo has mentioned) would be another good stopping point between the two cities. I've always been impressed with Stuttgarts use of green spaces.

Wurzburg would be a great place to spend a day or two, but maybe not just for the night. Hard to go wrong with any of the suggestions. Good luck.

Thank you all so much!!

Never been to Wurzburg, but I can tell you why Heidelberg is so named : we went htere with our german friends and parked right up at the top of the hill, way above the castle. Instead of taking the funicular down, we walked down a succession of steps cut into the hillside; our knees took the rest of the holiday to recover.
We liked the Castle itself and the town but they were nothing particularly special, though our friends found them "sehr romantisch".
Fortunately sense prevailed when it came to getting back to the car park - we caught the funicular right up to the top!
Wurzburg sounds great - probably what you are looking for.
REgarding Ulm, there is a german tongue twister [zungenbrecker]: "in Ulm, und um Ulm, und um Ulm herum" !

You might also want to check out Günzburg (www.guenzburg.de). It has a list of accommodations. It is on the main line between Ulm and Augsburg. The ICEs don't stop there, but ICs and Regional trains do. It looks like a smaller town that might have convenient accommodations near the station.