Hi,

I'm heading to France this summer, decided to fly into Frankfurt first as it was one of the few options to secure an upgrade at booking for the transatlantic. Currently scheduled to be in Frankfurt for 3 days before heading to Paris.

Any suggestions on hotels or what area of Frankfurt to stay in? I've done some research and everything comes up kinda "meh" for Frankfurt. Also heard that the place where most hotels are (train station) isn't the safest. Is it just not worth staying in Frankfurt and better to just move on somewhere else? We're both experienced travelers and speak fairly good German.

Any thoughts/ideas?
TIA

You can hop on an ICE directly at FRA airport to Freiburg (2hrs) for a lovely small town holiday and walking in the Black Forest, or you can go up to Cologne for big city museums, etc.

Although I like Frankfurt, I would probably suggest either of those if you have 3 days to spend. (And there are other easy options from FRA, e.g. Heidelberg, or a bit further off Basel.) If you do stick with Frankfurt, look for a hotel out in Sachsenhausen, on the other side of the river, it's a nicer area.

Like many cities, the area around the main train station in Frankfurt isn't the nicest. Although I would not say it is unsafe.

If you stay in Frankfurt then go for somewhere on/near the river (Main).

Also consider a short hop to Mainz or Wiesbaden (both reachable on suburban trains from the airport's regional station). These are two cities facing each other on the opposite sides of the Rhine. They both have a very good selection of hotels.

Then take the train from Mainz to Cologne (follows the Rhine valley most of the way - sit on the right side to get the best views).

Overnight in Cologne (one of Germany's few cities with a population over one million and bestowed with plenty of very old churches, museums, etc.) and then perhaps even consider going on to Paris directly from there by train

I was going to propose the very same Thing ^

Mainz is a nice place if you get tired of Frankfurt and Cologne is a short, scenic train-ride away.

From there, the Thalys train is a great alternative from Cologne to Paris (takes a little over 3 hrs).

Depends also what your plans are after landing in FRA. Continuing to France by train, plane, rented car?

I agree that the train station area is rather off-putting, but Frankfurt itself does have some nice hotels, like Grandhotel Hessischer Hof (pricey, but worth it) and Villa Orange, to name just two. Museums are plenty and interesting. There's a direct train connection to Paris too (3hrs).

Mainz and Wiesbaden are prettier than Frankfurt architecture- and atmosphere-wise, and both reachable by suburban train from the airport, as mentioned above.
Cologne is too far for my taste, and (apart from the cathedral) not any nicer than Frankfurt (both cities were bombed heavily during WWII, so most architecture is from the 1960s/70s).
The Rhine valley is nice, but imho better viewed from a ship - ships leave from Mainz, Wiesbaden, R�desheim etc.
R�desheim is a cute little town, but veeery touristy.

Frankfurt is very safe so you don't have to worry. The area around the train station is has a bit of harmless (legal) sex trade going on, but it's not unsafe. You don't give an idea on budget, but there are plenty of nice hotels to choose from (Villa Kennedy is probably the nicest, but consider Hessischer Hof or Jumeirah, but there's also Westin, Marriott, Hilton, etc).

Three days is a bit much, but if you have a car you can do day trips to the wine region, Heidelberg, the Black Forest, Rhine Valley, castle route. Frankfurt has great restaurants, by the way...

Given you're both experienced travelers, you'll probably be better off if you stay outside of Frankfurt.

Cologne or Mainz are good recommendations. I personally love Cologne and their spa culture. Great museums too.

May also want to check out some of the Frankfurt suburbs.

On my last trip, I ventured out via the S (or RE) to Hanau which is about 25 km east. Charming town. Particularly enjoyed visiting Phillipsruhe Castle and its museum/art collection. Very Baroque-German.

Yes to all this!

Heidelberg is a lovely day trip option.

Thanks everyone for their thoughts and ideas! Great to have some FT input. Budget - well, I'm not one to penny-pinch on vacation so if there's a really nice hotel worth staying in, I'm up for it.

Onward travel for one of us: I already have a flight booked FRA-CDG but they're so cheap I can just dump it if something better comes up. Mrs AT is taking to the train to AMS.

Stay at the Villa Kennedy then. Or Villa Rothschild out of town. Schlosshotel Kronberg also an option.

Or Hessischer Hof Or Jumeirah

more seriously, yes, Heidelberg, Rhine river and wine region, Main river and wine region all make great day trips. Going on the Main towards Aschaffenburg, villages like Lohr, Wertheim etc. are lovely too, very "German".

3 days for Frankfurt is plenty. The city is quite compact, and there are few (if any) world class sights.

I would suggest spending 1 day in Frankfurt, and doing 2 day trips.

In Frankfurt, take a walk along the river Main. Visit the Dom cathedral and the Paulskirche church. If you are at all into art, visit the St�del Museum - very nice collection ranging from medieval to contemporary art.

For day trips, the options mentioned by the posters above make sense. Most of these are easily doable by train, but some are more convenient with a rental car (not sure if you are open to that).

My suggestions would be:

Visit the Rheingau wine region. Go to Eltville. Visit the castle there. Have lunch at a winery (for example, Schloss Johannisberg, or Schloss Vollrads) with a view of the river Rhine. Take a walk through the vineyards. This trip requires a car. It can be easily combined with Wiesbaden.

Visit Cologne. I agree the city is not extremely pretty, but there are a few interesting things to see. There is a high-speed train that only takes 1 hour 10 minutes, so that should be an easy day trip. In Cologne, visit the cathedral. There is a good choice of excellent museums (Ludwig Collection - modern art, Wallraff Richartz museum - medieval art; there is also an archaelogical museum with mainly Roman artefacts).

Hotels in Frankfurt are not that remarkable. Villa Kennedy, Jumeirah, and Hessischer Hof, as mentioned above, typically come up as the best options. If you are lucky, they are bookable for EUR 200.

An alternative would be to stay in the suburbs, either Kronberg (Schlosshotel Kronberg), or K�nigstein (Villa Rothschild, Kempinski Falkenstein). These are nicely located historical hotels in leafy small towns. I prefer the two latter options. Kempinski Falkenstein has a very nice of the Frankfurt skyline from their terrace/park. Would only choose these hotels though if you are happy renting a car or spending significantly on taxis - they are about 30 minutes outside Frankfurt.

If you always wanted to see one of those medieval european towns with the half-timbered houses and small alleys I suggest the following:

Take a train to Heidelberg (about 1h), spend your time there and then another one from Heidelberg to Paris (3:40h). You should get both rides for ~100� if booking early.

No way I'd waste time in Frankfurt.