Suggestions for Germany
 

I will be in Frankfurt for business Feb 9 - 12. Meetings will be Friday and Saturday and then I have Sunday on my own. I would rather not spend it in Frankfurt. The question is - Where do I go? Suggestions for a day trip? I'm leaning towards Heidelberg though Cologne, Dusseldorf, Weisbaden and Stuttgart are possibilities as well. I'd like to keep it within 2 hours and I fly out at 11 the next morning so I need to return to Frankfurt that night. Needs to be a place that will actually have activity on Sundays. (Frankfurt I know will not.)

Thanks in advance.

Heidelberg is nice.

Frankfurt does have a few museums of interest should you have some free time on the days of your meetings.

A drive down the Main River toward Koblenz is lovely. Great way to spend a Sunday if the weather is at all good.

Take me with you? Ich liebe Deutschland! ^

Why not spend it in Frankfurt? It is not that bad at all.

Wiesbaden is next for Frankfurt, easy reachable by public transportation (S-Bahn, several direct trains from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Station). There is a small park called “Kurpark” and you could walk through the city. But as the shops are a closed, it could be a little bit boring on the one hand, on the other hand the city is not so crowded. If the weather it not that good (rain, snow, etc), I would not recommend it.

Cologne is an hour by high-speed-train (ICE) from Hauptbahnhof, but you should expect to pay app. 80.00 – 100.00 EUR for a round trip. In Cologne you can visit the cathedral (Kölner Dom) and walk through the city of Cologne and at river Rhine. The city of Cologne is next to the station and therefore easy to reach. Information about Cologne could be found on the Homepage of Köln Tourism. There are several museums, which you could visit if the weather condition are not so good. I recommend the Römisch-Germanisches-Museum, Museum Ludwig , Wallraf-Richartz Museum or Schokoladenmuseum, a museum about chocolate.

Düsseldorf is another twenty minutes by train from Cologne. It offers a nice Rhine front and is famour for its Altbier, but you should visit Düsseldorf in more warm weather. We have some museums and the homepage of Düsseldorf Tourism could be found here.

The best combination would be, as recommend a few posts earliers, to travel by train through Rhine Valley via Koblenz to Cologne in daylight, visit Cologne and return by High Speed to Frankfurt in the Afternoon.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions

I second that! But I'd suggest taking the train, that way you can spend your time gazing at the beautiful scenery! It's a very nice ride.

Heidelberg is very picturesque, as is Koblenz. You might also want to look at Baden-Baden -- a day at the spa is definitely worth the trip, and the Casino is just stunning.

colong has a world class art museum, a world class roman archeology museum and of course the cathedral, as well as some pretty good local ale.

not to be overlooked is dusseldorf, also with a world class art museum and excellent ale.

If you are headed toward Heidelburg, south of Frankfurt is the Frankenstein castle. http://www.blitz21.com/frankenstein/index.html
The inspiration for Mary Shelley's book. Just ruins, but there is a restuarant there. If you have time, it just takes a few minutes.

Thank you very much for the rsponses everyone. to give a little clarification - I lived in Germany for several years when I was younger (Stuttgart to be presice and Leonberg to be even more exact.) I have been to Heideberg probably a half-dozen times, but none in the last 15 years. It was always a favorite destination of my family's.

I am in Frankfurt for work and it will be my third time there since April so I'm looking for something a bit different. Last time I was there it took me an HOUR to find a German restaurant within walking distance of the Haupbahnhof. An hour. No local could think of one! I personally love German food and if I am in Germany, Australian, French and Thai are not high on my list. I live in New York. I can get those any day. Good German food is a rarity though.

I had not planned to rent a car, but it may not be a bad idea as I would be able to stop whenever along the way. Though as mentioned above, a train would allow me to simply concentrate on the view. Guess I need to weight the plus and minus!

For a drive to Koblenz, I assume I would drive down to Mainz and then up? And what about a drive down the river and along the Neckar to Heidelberg? Is that also a viable option? Is there one better than the other?
Thanks again for the help everyone!

YOu can drive to Koblenz along Bundesstraße 9 (left side of Rhine) or Bundesstraße 42 (right side of Rhine). The A 66 ends on the Bundesstraße 42 near Eltville while A 60 at exit 13 (Bingen) leads to the Bundesstraße 9.

I have driven both Bundestraßen many times (it is fun in a convertible in summer). Beware, there could be many cars on this streets, especially if the weather is fine, but is couldbe also awful if you have bad weather. The Rhine Valley ends in Koblenz. There are a lot of parking spaces near the Rhine, just follow the signs for "Deutsches Eck".

If you start in the morning, you should calculate two hour by car from Frankfurt to Koblenz via Bundesstraße.

I have driven along Neckar twice, but both times we had heay rains and I had to look about the road and therefore cannot remember anything about landscape.

In Frankfurt you will finde some German (or "Hessische") Restaurants in Sachsenhausen (e.g. www.dauth-schneider.de; www.zumgemaltenhaus.de).

Was Germany one country or two when you were living there?

If you were there pre-reunification you may want to consider heading east - for example, to Weimar which is just over two hours away by train.

I'd second this option, though you have been there many more times than I have. One particular restaurant comes to mind for German food; the Golden Sheep/Ram? Sorry, I don't speak German so don't know that actual translation for it. I thought it was very good, and seemed relatively authentic German fare.

When I was living there it was indeed West and East. I left within weeks before the Berlin Wall fell. Still kicking myself for that one to this day. I'll check out Weimar. I didn't see an English version of the website. Is there one?

Weimar is a good suggestion. I haven't been there since before unification, but it was interesting even then. Unfortunately the Goethe house there burned a couple of years ago & was, I think, completely or almost completely destroyed.

The latest suggestion I have received is to head to Trier. I don't remember much about Trier, other than it being the oldest town in Germany and full of Roman ruins.

Thoughts?