Mainz or Wiesbaden? (With ulterior motive of visiting Rudesheim)
Hello all,
My wife and I are heading to FRA soon and I'm torn between staying in Mainz at the Mainz City Hilton or somewhere in Wiesbaden. My FIL is pretty adamant that we should stay in Wiesbaden so as to go to Rudesheim. I have the reservation in Mainz just to secure something.
My question is...how difficult is it to get from Mainz to Rudesheim? I appears from the DB site it'll take about two hours versus 30 minutes from Wiesbaden.
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Wiesbaden is on the same side of the river as Rudesheim, and has easy Autobahn or Bundestrasse (I forget which) access. Of course, the drive from Mainz is easy too; you can drive towards Bingen and take an auto-ferry to cross the Rhine which is kind of neat if you've never done it.
Another option is to get a taxi from your Mainz hotel to the Wiesbaden train station and hop on the train there.
Since Mainz and Wiesbaden almost blend into each other, Rudesheim is pretty much equally accessible from either. I prefer Wiesbaden, but probably just because I've stayed there so often.
I recommend the Hotel de France on Taunusstrasse. Reasonably priced, and if you have a car they have a parking garage for a relatively modest daily rate, but there is also a public garage fairly close by. (Parking can be difficult in Wiesbaden). The included breakfast is fantastic and they are very nice people.
It is not terribly close to the train station, but nothing I'd recommend (except possibly the Crowne Plaza) is. If you have a regional transportation pass that will be good for the Wiesbaden buses, and the number 1 has a stop directly by the hotel and the number 8 is about 2 blocks away, both run frequently and drop you off right outside the train station.
This may not have shown up on the DB website, as it falls under the Frankfurt local transport network. The map shows two stops between the Hbfs. You could take the S8 into Wiesbaden and then catch a mainline DB train into Rudesheim.
Another option is a quick river "cruise" from Mainz to Rüdesheim with the "Köln-Düsseldorfer". They start just outside the Hilton Mainz (not the Hilton Mainz City) and the trip takes about 1.5 hours. See http://www.k-d.com/englisch/index.html for more details.
Although personally not a big fan of either Rüdesheim or Wiesbaden (I prefer Mainz, Bacharach, and Boppard), if your FIL is adamant about Rüdesheim, I would go with the flow.
You will want to stay at the Mainz City Hilton for its convenience to the train station. If for some reason you end up at the Mainz Hilton instead, it is a 15 minute walk to the train station. Alternatively, the number 6 bus referenced below passes very near the Mainz Hilton.
Transportation options from Mainz:
1) K-D is a great idea in the summmertime, but given the time of year, that is out.
2) You could take a train to Bingen and ferry accross, but that tends to take longer (about 1.5 hours on average).
3) Bus/Trains from Mainz to Rüdesheim, changing at Wiesbaden tend to take between 50 minutes and 1:10. Besides the S8 you can also take RB trains to Wiesbaden and transfer there. Alternatively, you can take the number 6 bus, which departs from the platz in front of the train station in Mainz to the Wiesbaden train station, and then transfer to the train.
You should consider day passes (which are valid for up to 5 people) to keep costs down.
Use www.bahn.de to determine which option is best depending when you want to leave.
Transportation from Wiesbaden:
As you indicated, it takes 30 minutes give or take by train.
Let me add my thanks to those giving information, particularly on Mainz and its environs ... I've got a MR scheduled to FRA in a little over a week, with the intent to spend the day layover I scheduled in Mainz checking out the Roman artifacts on local display there ... and the recommendation as to hotel and information on rail transport is extraordinarily helpful.
I do want to thank everyone for their info. Our trip was last weekend and it was great. We ended up staying that the Hotel Koenigshof (http://www.hotel-koenigshof-mainz.de/index2.htm) which is across the street from the train station. Although I love Hiltons, we got a rate of 75 Euro for a room and breakfast versus 105 euro for the Mainz City Hilton. The nice thing with the hotel being across the street from the hauptbahnhof is that the shops and cafes in the station are open on Sundays. The hotel itself was nice...the rooms were clean and the location was great. The breakfast was very, very nice too. I'd stay there again no problem...it's a 30 minute ride from FRA and runs 3.70 euro.
We got to the hotel about 1:45 on Saturday and took a 90 minute nap and then walked around. It's about a 10-15 minute walk to the shopping area with cafes and what not. On Sunday, we took the train (via Wiesbaden) to Rudesheim and spent the day...it was great. That fare was also 3.70 euro.
Arc, you can buy your tickets at FRA from the "fahrkart" machines. From FRA, you punch in "5568" as your destination and it'll offer fares via Russelsheim and Frankfurt...make sure you pick Russelsheim at 3.70 euro. It'll be the S8...leaves every 30 minutes or so (this was on the weekend). Feel free to PM me for specifics.
In response too arc re: hotel options, another popular choice on this forum (I haven't stayed there) is the Top Hotel Hammer, also on the bahnhofplatz.
Arc, you can buy your tickets at FRA from the "fahrkart" machines. From FRA, you punch in "5568" as your destination and it'll offer fares via Russelsheim and Frankfurt...make sure you pick Russelsheim at 3.70 euro. It'll be the S8...leaves every 30 minutes or so (this was on the weekend). Feel free to PM me for specifics.
In response too arc re: hotel options, another popular choice on this forum (I haven't stayed there) is the Top Hotel Hammer, also on the bahnhofplatz.
Yes, this looked like a nice very hotel. The breakfast room looked very nice...very modern. A definite option...however a little more pricey (99 euro).
