Germany - 3 days (and 2 half days at FRA)

Am spending 5 nights at the Sheraton FRA in Sept. (Why there? Long story .... but basically for the free rooms for the whole group.)

Most of us arrive FRA Monday morning, one couple arrives Monday lunch. So, that gives us a half-day .... before we all crash in bed.

We have all day Tues, Wed, and Thurs to sightsee.

One couple arrives Friday morning. So, that gives us another half day before they want to crash in bed.

I know Germany well, and if I were by myself (or 1-2 friends), it would be easy to plan. But what do I do with a group and how do I coordinate it?


AMS for a day is too far. Some of these friends have not been to AMS and those who have been would love to go back. But just too far .... 3.5 hour train trip.
Nuremberg for a day might be do-able; one of the guys is a big history buff and want to go there. But it's 2.5 hours by train
I know there's not much (anything!) to see in Frankfurt, other than the Roemer.


So, those things are out of the running. Some other things more feasible:


Heidelberg by train for a day.
Cologne by train for a day.
Rhine cruise from Mainz to Koblenz, take the train back to FRA. (Or, from Koblenz to Cologne by train, tour cathedral and have dinner, train back to FRA)
Rent a minivan for a day ..... tour the wineries and some of the villages. Have dinner at Schloss Johannisberg at sunset, drive back to FRA
On Friday late morning (after the last couple arrives) head over to Mainz on the S-bahn and/or Wiesbaden, spend the day, early dinner, pack up for onward travel next morning, crash in bed


What other ideas would you have? Or, how better to arrange this?

Mainz is interesting for a half day or so. I like both your Rhine River and Cologne ideas. You can add Bonn if you run out of things to do in Cologne.
Frankenstien Castle is just outside of Darmstadt near FRA.

I've got a similar trip planned in April. I'm staying right at FRA in a new (and not yet opened) Hilton Garden Inn.

I love your list, and plan to steal from it for my trip, but I wanted to share one more thought. Keep an eye on skyscanner.com ..... since you are staying at the airport, you might be able to find a discount airline offering a flight somewhere early in the morning, and come back that night to some other interesting place in Europe. I got a day in Wales from Edinburgh on a previous trip ... for under $50 roundtrip by using this method.

Bingen (or Rüdesheim) to St. Goar or Koblenz might be a little better. The boat ride from Bingen to St. Goar takes almost two hours, and the castle at St. Goar is very easy to tour; there is even a 'street train' that will take you up and down the hill for around 3 euro r/trip. You can take the boat or the train back.

The 2 1/2 hour each way trip to Nürnberg would be a day well spent. There is a lot to do in this town, and you can easily rest on the train which goes directly to the airport. It might seem like a long day but this is a fantastic town.

Really crazy idea (depending on when in September you arrive) would be to pack up the whole crew and take the ICE train to Munich for the Oktoberfest, and catch an evening ICE back to the airport).

You might also try Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is only 2-2.5 hours by train from Frankfurt and will give you at least one day of enjoyment.

Train from FRA to Koblenz. Koblenz to Trier: cruise one way down Mosel; return to by train (and/or bike) the other way. In addition to Trier, stop in at some of the wineries along the way and/or at Cochem. I think river flow is from Trier to Rhine (at Koblenz), so that direction may be slightly downhill for easier biking. As I recall, much of the biking route by the river appears to be pretty flat. Even biking a portion (getting on at one station, getting off at another) is possible with the right pass/ticket.