suggestions for destinations near frankfurt....
May 6, 2019, 4:02 pm
#1
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suggestions for destinations near frankfurt....
will be in frankfurt next month for 5 days with my family (wife & sons aged 6 & 4)....i will be working for 3 days but will have the weekend free before we fly out....i'm looking for suggestions on where we can go around frankfurt for 2 days....
i'm open to driving up to 3-4 hours away & am ideally looking for either a mountain or lake destination....open to other suggestions as well....
would appreciate inputs from people familiar with the area....
i'm open to driving up to 3-4 hours away & am ideally looking for either a mountain or lake destination....open to other suggestions as well....
would appreciate inputs from people familiar with the area....
Last edited by Keyser; May 6, 2019 at 7:13 pm
May 6, 2019, 4:16 pm
#2
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The two infant boys make it harder.You might want to avoid castle hotels and cobblestone villages as well as wineries and hilltop villages.
Normally I would say train to Wiesbaden or Mainz for a relaxing and pretty small town if you don't have a car or don't want to drive.
If you're driving, the obvious thing to do would be the Romantik Road, but IMO it takes about three days to drive it in its entirely, and presumably you would need to return to Frankfurt with the car to fly home, so you might compromise and aim for the "Christmas Village" at Rotemberg-am-den Tauber (spelling?), where the Romantik Road and the Castle Road intersect. The two fantasy castles of King Ludwig are father away, closer to Fussen and Lake Constantz.
Depending on the ages, small boys might like fortresses and castles, so driving along the Rhein or going up the Mosel (Trier is nice and has a cool fortress that looks huge and serious) would be fun. Are they toddlers under age two (infants in airline-speak) or true tiny babies?
Normally I would say train to Wiesbaden or Mainz for a relaxing and pretty small town if you don't have a car or don't want to drive.
If you're driving, the obvious thing to do would be the Romantik Road, but IMO it takes about three days to drive it in its entirely, and presumably you would need to return to Frankfurt with the car to fly home, so you might compromise and aim for the "Christmas Village" at Rotemberg-am-den Tauber (spelling?), where the Romantik Road and the Castle Road intersect. The two fantasy castles of King Ludwig are father away, closer to Fussen and Lake Constantz.
Depending on the ages, small boys might like fortresses and castles, so driving along the Rhein or going up the Mosel (Trier is nice and has a cool fortress that looks huge and serious) would be fun. Are they toddlers under age two (infants in airline-speak) or true tiny babies?
May 6, 2019, 4:29 pm
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May 6, 2019, 7:12 pm
#5
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Depending on the ages, small boys might like fortresses and castles, so driving along the Rhein or going up the Mosel (Trier is nice and has a cool fortress that looks huge and serious) would be fun. Are they toddlers under age two (infants in airline-speak) or true tiny babies?
May 7, 2019, 1:58 am
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For kids the Frankfurt Zoo https://www.zoo-frankfurt.de/ihr-zoo...resse-anfahrt/ or the outdoor Opel-Zoo https://www.opel-zoo.de/de/site__171/ might be interesting. Alternative you can drive to the Roman fort Saalburg Saalburgmuseum, where you can visit a complete historic Roman fort (be aware they only accept cash, no debit or credit cards) and learn something about the Romans and the Limes border which separated the Roman Empire from Germania.
May 7, 2019, 6:08 am
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Just a word of advice being a local, driving can be a pain on the weekends, particularly given all the holidays in June. Between the vacation traffic, road works, holidays......driving time can easily double.
But to answer your question, there's the Black Forest/Freiburg Breisgau to the south, and Würzburg and Spessart region to the east if you want a light taste of Bavaria.
But to answer your question, there's the Black Forest/Freiburg Breisgau to the south, and Würzburg and Spessart region to the east if you want a light taste of Bavaria.
May 7, 2019, 6:21 am
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In terms of nice cities these three within driving distance come to mind:
- Würzburg (1.3 hours from Frankfurt)
- Marburg (1 hour from Frankfurt)
- Bamberg (2.5 hours from Frankfurt)
I can support the suggestion with the Saalburg. The Hessenpark (which is about a 25-30 minute drive) from Frankfurt. In terms of castles, Castle Alsbach and Castle Auerbach are both about a 45 minute drive to the South of Frankfurt in the Bergstraße region. The Taunus lies directly to the North-West of Frankfurt. You can take the U3 to the end station Oberursel-Hohemark and start hiking from there.
That being said, two days on a weekend can easily be spent in Frankfurt. You can go swimming in a public swimming facility (Brentanobad is nice), walk through the old town and sit outside in the garden of an apple wine restaurant. You can also take a small river cruise on the Main river. If you're more into swimming lakes, the "Langener Waldsee" is directly to the South of Frankfurt. If you're also into waterskiing and wakeboarding, the Wakeport to the West of the airport is a great place to hang out.
- Würzburg (1.3 hours from Frankfurt)
- Marburg (1 hour from Frankfurt)
- Bamberg (2.5 hours from Frankfurt)
I can support the suggestion with the Saalburg. The Hessenpark (which is about a 25-30 minute drive) from Frankfurt. In terms of castles, Castle Alsbach and Castle Auerbach are both about a 45 minute drive to the South of Frankfurt in the Bergstraße region. The Taunus lies directly to the North-West of Frankfurt. You can take the U3 to the end station Oberursel-Hohemark and start hiking from there.
That being said, two days on a weekend can easily be spent in Frankfurt. You can go swimming in a public swimming facility (Brentanobad is nice), walk through the old town and sit outside in the garden of an apple wine restaurant. You can also take a small river cruise on the Main river. If you're more into swimming lakes, the "Langener Waldsee" is directly to the South of Frankfurt. If you're also into waterskiing and wakeboarding, the Wakeport to the West of the airport is a great place to hang out.
May 8, 2019, 2:16 am
#9
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thank you everyone for the suggestions....i will look at all the options over the weekend & get back if i have any questions....
May 8, 2019, 5:01 pm
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One more idea if you want it to be kid centric.
EuropaPark in Rust, Germany. 2.5 hours away. One of the largest amusement parks in Europe.
https://www.europapark.de/en
Or how about a thermal bath in Baden Baden?
https://visit.baden-baden.de/en/heal.../thermal-baths
EuropaPark in Rust, Germany. 2.5 hours away. One of the largest amusement parks in Europe.
https://www.europapark.de/en
Or how about a thermal bath in Baden Baden?
https://visit.baden-baden.de/en/heal.../thermal-baths
May 9, 2019, 3:05 am
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A thermal bath can be done in the Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme in Wiesbaden as well. And that is only a 30 minute car ride from Frankfurt.
Sidenote: It shows that we have many people from the US here in this forum
No sane German would ever travel from Frankfurt to Baden-Baden just for a thermal bath. Too far away. That's just not how we tick here.
Sidenote: It shows that we have many people from the US here in this forum
No sane German would ever travel from Frankfurt to Baden-Baden just for a thermal bath. Too far away. That's just not how we tick here.
May 10, 2019, 6:17 pm
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Go visit my hometown.... Aschaffenburg. Less than an hour on the A3 Autobahn.
Very cool castle, nice walk-platz with tons of stores, good places to eat, a HUGE park with castle ruins in it, and very walk-able if you take the train from FRA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aschaffenburg
Very cool castle, nice walk-platz with tons of stores, good places to eat, a HUGE park with castle ruins in it, and very walk-able if you take the train from FRA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aschaffenburg
May 12, 2019, 9:25 am
#13
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If you are looking for a lakes and mountains destination, Bodensee (Lake Constance) takes some beating. Ravensburger Spieleland (a large play park) is just up the road for the kids.
May 12, 2019, 12:38 pm
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(...) That's easily a 4-6 hour drive on the weekend in one direction. That is time that could be incredibly better spent in and around Frankfurt.
Last edited by FLYGVA; May 14, 2019 at 11:28 pm Reason: personal part edtied out of post
May 12, 2019, 2:37 pm
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Maybe that decision is better made by the OP? (...)
Last edited by FLYGVA; May 14, 2019 at 11:29 pm Reason: quoted post was edited, comment about deleted quoted part was edited