5 days in Frankfurt/Munich
 

I am planning for my first trip to Germany and it would be great if you guys can give me some advice.

trip purpose: my brother will have a 7-day half term in late May, so I will join my mum in HK and go visit him. However, they want to explore another European country other than UK, and picked Germany.

Q1 My mum and I will be arriving in FRA on 28th 6am from HK, and my bro will arrive at 1pm from BHX. So we plan to stay in the airport for ~6 hours to wait for him. Apart from the airside bus tour which starts at 11am, are there any suggestions to kill time?
(we are in Y, I am GO and mum SL. for the CX arrival lounge. it says GO can't bring guests in, but Im wondering if anyone has tried this before?)

Q2 I am looking for a room for 3 ppl nearby Hauptbahnhof. Hotel Concorde is extremely close, however it seems that they have pretty small rooms/beds. Anyone tried the new Holiday Inn Express? Is it close to the red light district? I streetview-ed the walk from the train station to the hotel, and it looks OK to me.

Q3 We plan to visit museums on Sat/Sun. It seems that most museums are closed on Monday, so we plan to hit some tourist attractions listed here. Any must-go/suggestions?

Q4 For the train from Frankfurt to Munich, would it be too troublesome to have big luggages?

Q5 I haven't really planned for Munich yet. WikiTravel says there are six main districts, any suggestions for family travelers? We will be arriving in Munich on 31th and departing MUC on the evening of June 2nd. We plan to do some light sightseeings on the first and last day, and go to BMW on June1st.

Danke sehr!

That's a long time to spend in Frankfurt. Just my opinion of course, but I don't find Frankfurt (essentially a big, ugly financial center) too appealing for more than a day. I think you might do better spending that time in/around Munich. Another option is taking the train about halfway to Munich (to Nürnberg) and spending a day or two there, then continuing on to Munich.

Q4: No issues, but try to get on a direct train to Munich (or Nürnberg) instead anything that requires changes. For more comfort, speed and a guaranteed seat, stick with the ICE or IC trains as opposed to the regionals.

Q5: One good way to spend a day is at the Deutsches Museum, which is right off the S-bahn line in downtown Munich. I like going to the Englischer Garten and having a beer by the Chinese tower (easily reached by bus). There are also the Alte and Neue Pinakotek art museums that are worth a look. Munich has a zoo as well that the family might enjoy (as does Nürnberg).

Hope this helps a little.

Q1: Don't stay at the airport. Especially if you are going to stay near the Hauptbahnhof. It is only a ~15 minute ride to downtown. Go downtown, see if you can check in at your hotel, and then go from there (maybe take a shower if you can get in the hotel, or just wander around downtown if you cannot). You will be happier than staying at the airport. You can buy day tickets for the transit system, so you can always ride back out to the airport easily enough to meet your brother later on.

Q3: I agree with etch5895, do not spend that much time in Frankfurt and spend more time in Munich or elsewhere. We once spent ~24 hours in Frankfurt at the start of a trip and then 2 days in Munich on the way back. 24 hours was rushed, but enough. My suggestion with your Saturday arrival and since most museums are closed on Monday, that you leave Frankfurt on Monday. (I would possibly say Sunday night, but you are coming a long way and will probably still be jetlagged, so it might be useful to spend 2 nights in the same place at the beginning.)

BillJ

For Munich, this article may be helpful

http://www.executiveroadwarrior.com/...spiras-munich/

Growing up in the area of Munich and living now for over 10 years in Frankfurt, I would second the recommendation to shorten the stay in Frankfurt to 1 day and spend the rest in Munich (and Nuremburg).

In the area of Munich, I can recommend not only the obvious (e.g. Herrenchiemsee Palace), but also locations which are less known, e.g. Burghausen which has the longest castle in Europe. Both locations can be visited on a day trip (one each) by public transportation from Munich. PM me if you need further assistance.

As a Frankfurt Local, I haven't tried the HIX, but the location looks alright. Also the FRA red-light-district isn't as dangerous as it was 10 or 20 years ago, so no worries there. The usual safety measures that you should heed to when travelling to ANY big city apply of course.

I don't agree with the other people here in this thread. Frankfurt is definitely much more than a large financial center and has much to offer. The Museum of Modern Art and the Staedel Museum are must-sees. There is also a large collection of museums on the southern side of the river Main, the so called "Museums Ufer" between Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) and Friedensbrücke (Peace Bridge) which should give you more than enough to see.

Other places to see are the old cathedral, the Paul's church. A lot of people recommend a one day visit to Mainz (40 minute ride by regional train - see other threads here in this forum). I would also recommend a visit to Saalburg an old castle from the Roman times.

If you just want to relax, Frankfurt has lots of parks :)

No.

I have friends in the Frankfurt area, so I've been there a number of times. The last time I visited, we went to Wiesbaden for an afternoon. It was a nice stroll around the town center. Mainz is an ok day trip, but be warned that the Gutenberg Museum is mostly signed in German language only. Another obvious day trip is to visit Heidelberg, which is popular among Americans at least.

Frankfurt is indeed better than its reputation as a financial center only. As observed, it has a number of nice museums and restaurants. On the other hand, for a first-time visit to Germany with fairly limited time (6 days or so), I think it is crazy to visit Frankfurt absent other reasons (like mine--good friends to visit). There are MANY other places in Germany that I would choose to visit.

If you stay in Frankfurt especially near the hbf, you may want to take the quick train trip to Mainz, or a bit longer one to Heidelburg, or both.

I'd spend more time in Munich then Frankfurt. If you are bored in Munich you can go up to Neuschwanstein Castle or take a day trip to Salzburg. But I don't think you'd be board in Munich. If you get a chance go to one of the beer gardens.

I personally haven't stayed in Frankfurt for very long. I'd prefer going to Heidelburg (probably 40 minutes or so with one train change) for 1/2 day or longer.

I'd also agree with staying in Munich. Besides tons of things to see/do in Munich it is a convenient location to take day trips from. You can go to a variety of places to see castles or even take a long day trip to Salzburg (less than 2 hrs with no changes).