Three - Four Days in Frankfurt

We are considering a stopover in Frankfurt for 3 or 4 days in February 2010 and, being completely unfamiliar with the city and surrounds, hoped some forumites could advise if we are best to hang around the city or perhaps take a 3 day tour through the surrounding district.

All advice/ suggestions gratefully received.

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This past Feb. was really cold here, so plan on spending some time in all of our museums and galleries. Plenty to choose from by the way. There should be a lot of concerts going on then too.

What are your interests? Do you want day trips too, like to Heidelberg or Mainz or Würzburg, or would you like to spend most of it exploring Frankfurt?

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Hi there, thanks for such a quick response. The weather will be okay as we%26#39;re coming from New York en route back to Australia.

We love museums, galleries and history so it sounds that we%26#39;ll be really happy with what the city offers. Day trips would also be great but we sure don%26#39;t know where is best to visit so ideas of good day trips would be terrific.

cheers

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The Staedel is a wonderful art museum and one could easily spend half a day here, or at least several hours. The Liebieg Haus is sculpture through the ages and I think it is outstanding, including the villa it is located in. The Museum of Modern Art has changing exhibitions as does the Schirn. I like Romans and the Archeology Museum has a lot of their stuff as there was once a huge garrison with about 4000 people living in it here on the edge of town. Also, in one of the nearby towns, Bad Homburg, they have a re-built Roman fort called the Saalburg. Hessen Park is also near here and this is an Open Air Museum with over 100 buildings, presenting life as it used to be here in Germany. Nice baths in Bad Homburg too along with a lovely residence built by Kaiser Wilhelm.

My favorite churches to recommend - the Kaiserdom where the emperors were elected and crowned, Alte Nikolai - once a hall church for the Staufen Dynasty beginning in 1140 and its%26#39; present form since 1270. This church has a wonderful carillon of 47 bells. Played automatically 3 times a day at 09:05, 12:05, and 17:05, on most Wednesdays, a woman comes and plays a variety of songs at 12:10 for about 40-50 minutes. Really lovely to hear. Then there is St. Leonhards, built in 1219 and containing 2 stone portals carved in 1220, and also a %26quot;hanging vault%26quot;. The whole church has interesting vaulting all over it, including some star vaulting done by the architect who designed the Kaiserdom. They have some wonderful frescos in the choir area too, some dating to 1430 or so along with some stained glass from the same time period.

For side trips - Heidelberg, Mainz, Wiesbaden, Würzburg, Bad Hamburg, Königstein, Bad Soden, Krongberg, and all the towns along the Rhine.

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Bornheimgirl, thank you so much. That info really gives me some great starting points to research and organise.

cheers