The pool is nice, on my stay no intimate couples:p Over all Bayerpost can sometimes be great value and personally I like the design.

First trip to Germany
 

First off you want to confirm your phone is not SIM locked to your home carrier else no local SIM will work. Some supermarkets also sell SIM cards by check out area but you will need to login and provide a fake German street address to activate.

There's a joke about Mainz that starts with "Two prostitutes meet near Mainz..." It doesn't translate too well though!

Def not locked, have used it in HK and Singapore with no issues


As for hotels, based on pricing and proximity, I'm trying to decide between the
Victoria Hotel
Concorde Hotel
25Hours Hotel by Levi's
and Holiday Inn Hauptbahnhof

Still looking into Munich hotels
maybe, Hotel Meier City München, NH Muenchen Deutscher Kaiser, or Hotel Excelsior

You will visit a very very happy country:):):):):):):)

So I'll be flying out next week. Arriving in FRA in the early afternoon Thursday, then Taking the train to Munich Sat morning and flying home Tuesday morning. Staying at the HIE in Frankfurt and the Schiller5 in Munich.

Still not 100% sure about what to do in Frankfurt. I'm looking into your suggestions.
As for Munich, I think I have a decent plan. BMW Museum (although the plant will be closed :( ), the Deutches Museum and a few other sites, Then taking a day trip to Salzburg.

I guess I should have mentioned that I'm more interested in unique museums (bmw museum, deuches, etc) or one-of-a-kind things (fancy fountains, worlds largest ..., etc) or versus old buildings (churches etc). I do plan to go for some walks to see the architecture but visiting a bunch of old buildings starts getting old for me. I was going to go see the worlds biggest ice cave near Salzburg but after reading about the hassle to get there and the poor lighting I decided to cut that from my list.

BMW museum is well worth it. Deutsches Museum is tip top. Have sausages at Nürnberger Bratwurstglöckl near the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady, the big one with the two spires). Have you considered renting a car and doing an alpine road drive? I can give you many great suggestions there.

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately the plant will be closed exactly when I'm there.

I had thought about getting a car but there are some issues:
1. I already booked a cheap fare for the ICE from Frankfurt to Munich
2. I unfortunately can't drive manual and for an automatic car it seems to be rather expensive (over $100US/day + fuel).
If I could get one for maybe half that price, I might go for one in salzburg and frankfurt.

1. I'm not suggesting Frankfurt-Munich by car...that's not that exciting.
2. Check again. Have you tried sixt.de? It is a trip worth doing!

Yep, sixt is where I looked, I also tried Kayak. The cheapest car with auto was around $90. After adding insurance its over $100/day

Get a friend to teach you manual in a hurry!;)

I have always wanted to rent a car and learn myself but probably not on this trip ;)
The frankfurt part of my trip is looking pretty empty. Not finding too many things of interest. Maybe I'll just take a train ride to Mainz like suggested. Not really sure how jetlag will affect me, I'm use to flying the other way to SE Asia.

There is not much to do in Mainz either. I personally can't stand the place. I'd take a train ride to Heidelberg, or Würzburg.

I've been looking into public transit in Frankfurt and Munich. Looking at the RMV and MVV site for trains, trams, buses, it seems like you can download their app, link a credit card and buy tickets online. Would this be recommended?

Yes, though for some apps, like Deutsche Bahn, you need a German mobile number to work properly. For local trains getting paper tickets from the machines is probably easier and less likely to snafu you.