Germany Travel Forum

Dear all,

I am planning my one week trip to Germany in mid August. Air ticket has been booked that restricted my in-out airport to be Frankfurt. However as I will be arriving Frankfurt in late evening of Sat, which means I could start any activities on Sunday only, and my flight depart Frankfurt on the next Sunday at 10:00pm. Can anyone recommend what can be done on sunday as I know almost all shops are closed on Sundays?

I have an idea of visiting Heidelberg on the sunday before leaving frankfurt but am not sure if small shops on Heidelberg will be closed also on Sunday?

Apart from visiting Frankfurt (city) you could visit either Rheingau or Rheinhessen, the two regions west of Frankfurt (near Wiesbaden and Mainz). Lovely hills, excellent wines, pretty wine villages in addition to famed and tourist-trappy Rüdesheim's Drosselgasse..
There is Mainz as well, great sightseeing possibilities (cathedral, printing museum, architecture in general).
You can take a boat through Rhein valley gorge:
http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/index.php?id=318&L=3
(which is still on UNESCO hertitage list, in contrast to another German river valley which UNESCO threw off the list last weekend :-)
You can visit Eberbach Monastery:
http://www.klostereberbach.de/html_english/2_visit/visit.html

From anywhere you can get to and back by train. Train connections are excellent in this part.

Ingrid

My spontaneous suggestion is to use Sunday as a "travel day". One week is not a lot of time, especially for Germany which has SO MUCH to see! You can use the first Sunday to travel to your most distant destination - Bayern or Berlin for example - then slowly (enjoying the sights) make your way back to Frankfurt in time for your flight home.

My suggestions would be:

1. Büdingen, a lovely historic town about 50 km north-east of Frankfurt

2. A river cruise that starts on the Main just off the very city centre

3. A city walking tour

I am sure you will survive a day without shopping, or is the main intention of your visit to kick-start the German economy? ;-)))

In case you decide to go to Heidelberg: It can easily be reached by train. You can check times and fares here:
http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml
The touristy shops are allowed to be open on a Sunday.
But consider the other options you were given, Heidelberg is very nice, but it does get crowded in mid August.

And one last question: You are talking about Frankfurt Rhein Main Airport, aren't you? Not Frankfurt-Hahn?

Shopping on Sunday is no good idea in Germany. You might find an open souvenier shop - that's all. Take Sunday for travelling to Frankfurt. If you ask me I won't spend time in Frankfurt. Head over to Munich, Berlin, Hamburg or to some nature districts.
Best Chris.

Thanks all for your valuable comments. Since I will be having 8 days in total in Germany, I am still figuring out where I should be going. Am always a greedy traveller that wants architecture, natural landscape, culture and history all in one.

Am not too sure about which airport, but must be the international one. And both my embarking and departing airport is Frankfurt.

Hence am deciding whether I should go north to east, or should go east to south. Could anyone give me some idea?

"Am always a greedy traveller that wants architecture, natural landscape, culture and history all in one."

I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. Germany has so many wonderful, fantastic, magnificent towns and cities that it’s impossible for two people to agree on which are the MOST beautiful.

I've lived in Germany and I've travelled just about every road and back-road in the country. I’m going to give you my standard, FAVOURITE towns that you should not miss:

"CELLE" and "GOSLAR am Harz". If you don't see these two towns don't come crying to me later. :)

Your idee to visit Heidelberg is not bad. Leave Frankfurt, it is not so much beautiful. What is your next target? You have not many time to stay 2 night in Frankfurt. You travel by car or train. You can take a overnight in Heidelberg after your visit or go to the next target. The distance between the towns are most not far.

If you are into architecture I would do North and East. Hamburg and Berlin would be a good choice. For nature you can do day trips to the surroundings - North Sea coast from Hamburg, Spreewald or Mecklenburger Seenpaltte from Berlin. Hamburg has the biggest building site within a city in Europe (HafenCity - google for website) and Berlin is very an interesting city for architecture, culture and history. For architecture you might consider a stop in Frankfurt for the German Architecture Museum is there (DAM) - but you also find the Aedes Gallery in Berlin. So depending on the exhibitions I would say... 2 or 3 days for Hamburg, and the rest for Berlin.
Have a great stay,
Chris