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Long weekend in Frankfurt
Hello. I'll be spending a long weekend in Frankurt for the 1st time next month. I am staying at the Frankfurt Hilton which appears to be walking distance from many sights to see. Can anyone recommend what are the must see's? I'll be there all day Sunday and Monday 2/5 and 2/6. Can someone recommend a great local place to get some sausage and beer? Two of my favorites
I'm just getting away myself for a long weekend and want to see as much as I can. How much FRA-Hilton taxi wise? Best to just go to an atm at FRA and get my euros there?
Plane spotting at FRA, which includes a restaurant where you can get both beer and sausages? No?
Just get your euro from the ATM.
The Hilton is probably near public transport, so I'd go for a day transit card instead of the taxi route.
An enjoyable restaurant within walking distance of the main train station: http://www.chicago-meatpackers.de/index.html
(PS- don't let the 'American' motif scare you off...it is a nice place to go and chill with a beer)
The Römerburg also has some good restaurants and a little piece of 'Germany'. You can get a Hessen day pass for the trains for a reasonable rate via the Deutsche Bahn website and get out and see some pretty towns in the region.
All of this said, Frankfurt wouldn't be my first choice to experience Germany.
We did a long weekend in FRA at the Hilton in Oct of 2010.
Took the train right from the airport to the hotel, had to transfer trains a couple of times, but easy to do.
Hotel is walking distance from the Zeil, nice for shopping, strolling to the Romer Dom, which the weekend we were there had a festival, so live bands, tent selling beer, sausage, pretzels, ect.... Most of the food is good in Germany, it is fairly hard to find "bad" sausage or beer.
Not the typical "Germany" experience, but a fun leisurely city weekend.
I would stick to public transport, it is good in FRA, although taxi's are easy. Lots of great museums, Church's, ect... but you really need to be outside the city, and go into the country for the total Germany experience.
Hello. I'll be spending a long weekend in Frankurt for the 1st time next month. I am staying at the Frankfurt Hilton which appears to be walking distance from many sights to see. Can anyone recommend what are the must see's? I'll be there all day Sunday and Monday 2/5 and 2/6. Can someone recommend a great local place to get some sausage and beer? Two of my favorites
I'm just getting away myself for a long weekend and want to see as much as I can. How much FRA-Hilton taxi wise? Best to just go to an atm at FRA and get my euros there?
Thanks in advance!
You might consider a walking tour. I was just there a month ago and took a fantastic walking tour. Arrived early in the morning, jet-lagged, knew the best thing for me to do was stay up and awake, not take a nap. Did a quick drop-off/change at the hotel and went on the walking tour and was in great shape afterwards. I particularly like walking tours in this situation - I'm too jet-lagged to want to think, read guidebooks and follow maps (I get lost easily). I'm quite content to be led around and 'fed' information while I get a handle on the city layout and sights I want to explore further on my own (when I'm more awake).
I rarely/never eat red meat or 'processed' meats in the US and generally go 'semi-veg' when I travel, but the food in Germany blew me away. I ate brats, drank beer, and could survive quite happily on soups and sandwiches (the breads are fantastic!).
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Great advice everyone, thanks. To be honest FRA wasn't my first choice. TXL was, then MUC. However, the only flights I could find with SWU availability was FRA (SWU's expire 2/28/12).
To the poster who recommended a walking tour...great idea. I too was thinking what am I going to do when I get to the hotel this answered my question. I will keep going...good tip!
I'd like to find restaurants within walking distance that aren't overly expensive (relative speaking of course) where I can throw back liters of lager and have sausage, schnitzel, and other traditional German fare.
Great advice everyone, thanks. To be honest FRA wasn't my first choice. TXL was, then MUC. However, the only flights I could find with SWU availability was FRA (SWU's expire 2/28/12).
To the poster who recommended a walking tour...great idea. I too was thinking what am I going to do when I get to the hotel this answered my question. I will keep going...good tip!
I'd like to find restaurants within walking distance that aren't overly expensive (relative speaking of course) where I can throw back liters of lager and have sausage, schnitzel, and other traditional German fare.
Can't help you with restaurants because we ate from the Christmas markets while we were there, but here's a link to the walking tour we took:
Frankfurt is a good museum city. My favorite is the modern museum (there are multiple, dispersed buildings -- I guess most people just go to the main one). There are also several important Jewish museums and historical sites.
Mainz and Wiesbaden are within one hour by s-bahn; both worth a visit.
Mainz and Wiesbaden are within one hour by s-bahn; both worth a visit.
2nd this. A bit more of the "real" Germany experience. Frankfurt is much more an international city. And it is a cheap S bahn ride out to those cities. Nice way to spend a few hours.
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FRA's actually a great spot, IMHO, for a long weekend. I did it a couple of years ago, in late Feb.
In addition to the Mainz/Koblenz side-trip noted in an earlier post, you could do a couple of stops on the way up or back...Bachrach is great, and Rudisheim is interesting, very touristy, but likely not that time of year.
Some other interesting day trips, at least for me, have been to Miltenberg am Main. you can get there by train. Beautiful little river/castle town, nice old town area, castle up the hill with beautiful views, etc. Another, albeit longer trip would be south to Heidelberg, possibly with a quick stop or two along the Bergstrasse wine area. some very nice old towns, castles, wine, etc. Heidelberg is easily accessible by train.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by enviroian
Hello. I'll be spending a long weekend in Frankurt for the 1st time next month. I am staying at the Frankfurt Hilton which appears to be walking distance from many sights to see. Can anyone recommend what are the must see's? I'll be there all day Sunday and Monday 2/5 and 2/6. Can someone recommend a great local place to get some sausage and beer? Two of my favorites
I'm just getting away myself for a long weekend and want to see as much as I can. How much FRA-Hilton taxi wise? Best to just go to an atm at FRA and get my euros there?
A Taxi to the city center of Frankfurt should cost about 30 Euros. But you can take the public transport from Frankfurt airport to Hauptwache for just 3.90 Euros. The Hilton is approx. 400-500 meters away from this station.
As for things to do:
Try to take a look at the reconstructed parts of the Frankfurt oldtown around Römerberg and visit the cathedral, which is right next to the Römerberg. For 2-3 Euros you can also climb the Cathedral tower (approx. 350 stair steps), which gives you a nice view over Frankfurt.
Frankfurt has a lot of nice really nice museums. If you're into art, try the Staedel museum, for modern art try the Museum for Modern Art or the Schirn Museum. If you want to know more about Frankfurt's history, the Historical museum is great as is the Senckenberg museum if you're interested in nature studies and nature history
If you're in Frankfurt, you should really try out the typical local cuisine. Of the more popular and touristy places I would recommend the 'Wagners' on Schweizer Straße. For a less touristy experience try Schuchs restaurant in the Praunheim district (you will need a taxi to get there).
For shopping, the Zeil shopping street is just a few metres away from the Hilton, but try the shops at Berger Straße for a selection of smaller and nicer shops.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineStay
A Taxi to the city center of Frankfurt should cost about 30 Euros. But you can take the public transport from Frankfurt airport to Hauptwache for just 3.90 Euros. The Hilton is approx. 400-500 meters away from this station.
As for things to do:
Try to take a look at the reconstructed parts of the Frankfurt oldtown around Römerberg and visit the cathedral, which is right next to the Römerberg. For 2-3 Euros you can also climb the Cathedral tower (approx. 350 stair steps), which gives you a nice view over Frankfurt.
Frankfurt has a lot of nice really nice museums. If you're into art, try the Staedel museum, for modern art try the Museum for Modern Art or the Schirn Museum. If you want to know more about Frankfurt's history, the Historical museum is great as is the Senckenberg museum if you're interested in nature studies and nature history
If you're in Frankfurt, you should really try out the typical local cuisine. Of the more popular and touristy places I would recommend the 'Wagners' on Schweizer Straße. For a less touristy experience try Schuchs restaurant in the Praunheim district (you will need a taxi to get there).
For shopping, the Zeil shopping street is just a few metres away from the Hilton, but try the shops at Berger Straße for a selection of smaller and nicer shops.
If you need more information, just ask.
Great info, thank you. Are there any good war museums in Frankfurt? Sort of like the Imperial War Museum in London?
Also, sorry if this sounds silly but will most people understand English? I speak zero German and don't want to look like an idiot yankee tourist
Also, sorry if this sounds silly but will most people understand English? I speak zero German and don't want to look like an idiot yankee tourist
Most do, and most will default to English if they see you struggling. However, learning even a few basic phrases will be very beneficial to your experience and the people you interact with will appreciate your efforts. If you speak absolutely no German (not even a Guten Tag or a Danke), you will come off as a clueless yankee or brit tourist.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by enviroian
Great info, thank you. Are there any good war museums in Frankfurt? Sort of like the Imperial War Museum in London?
Also, sorry if this sounds silly but will most people understand English? I speak zero German and don't want to look like an idiot yankee tourist
Sorry, but no good war museums exist in Frankfurt. The Historical museum has a lot of material on the effects of the war (e.g. the complete destruction of the Frankfurt oldtown from the bombings in 1944), but that's it. Also please note, that due to alteration and construction measures the museum is closed at the moment. I don't know whether it will reopen in time for your visit.
As for the language: Most Germans, especially the younger population (below the age of 50) speaks good or at least understandable English. However as etch 5895 pointed out, at being able to say "thank you" or "please" in German goes a long way with most Germans.
