Germany advice

[Curley]

My husband, 15 year old daughter and I are going to Germany end Sept/October for 8-9 days.  We will be flying into Frankfurt after being in England for a week.  We are planning to stay in Mainz for one night, the first night, I understand it is only 45mins from Frankfurt.  My husband was born there but left at 6months old and has never been back!  We have a student who stayed with us who lives in Landshut, friends who live in Salzburg but have no idea of anything else.  We "think" we will get railpasses so that we can travel as we wish.  I would like to stay in hostels as I went to UK years ago and really enjoyed the social aspect but my husband is a little dubious.  I think our daughter would enjoy hostels more also.  Also as with most people the cost is a big consideration.  What ideas and advise does anyone have.  I am certainly open to suggestion!

Thanks.

[Kim]

You could always stay in hostels, but stay in private or family rooms. That way you will still get the atmosphere of the hostel and your husband might feel more comfortable.

Maybe check out my "Unusual Hostels" page-it might be fun to stay in a castle hostel, I have 2 listed for Germany.

You might want to visit Belgium as well, it's a beautiful place. Brugges is really nice. It's right next door to Germany so it wouldn't be that big of a train ride.

Kim

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Y'all should have a great time!  Regarding Mainz, it's actually closer to the Frankfurt airport than Frankfurt!  Mainz has interesting buildings, the city's cathedral isn't the typical gothic, like most.  

Frankfurt isn't as interesting a tourist destination, especially for travelers with children.  Frankfurt is the financial capitol of europe, so it has a big city feel.  And there is plenty of vice there, as well - the area near Frankfurt's main train station has a rep for prostitution and drugs.  

Late Sept/early Oct is the time for Oktoberfest.  You may wish to avoid Munich at that time, or you may especially wish to visit Munich at that time!  

Salzburg is an especially interesting town.  There's a palace, it belonged to an archbishop or something.  He was a prankster, built a table in the garden with waterspouts in each seat, except his own.  He'd have the water come on after everyone was seated - the guests were not allowed to stand up after the host was seated.  Your daughter might to get a kick out of that.  

What are your interests?  Do you like castles?  South of Munich, near Fussen, is a well known one, Neueschwanstein.  It was used in "Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang." East of Munich, near Prien, are some others: Herrenchemsee & Frauenchemsee.  (sp?)  

One nice thing: the countries mentioned here, Germany, Austria & Belgium, all use the same cash now - the euro.  That makes things easier.  

[Curley]

Thanks for the info.  We are more interested in castles etc than cities so have pretty much decided to give Frankfurt a miss other than the airport. Are any of the cities more interesting than others?  We can't decide whether we will go up to Berlin or not. I am pleased Mainz seems nice.

[me]

Hi, Curley Sue!  

If Mainz is your destination, go directly from the Frankfurt airport to Mainz.  It'd be significantly out of the way to go to the Frankfurt Train Station before going to Mainz!  As I wrote, Mainz is closer to the airport than Frankfurt.  There is no need to go to Frankfurt at all just to get away from/back to the airport.  

Berlin is an interesting city.  Lots of museums and such.  But, other places are even nicer, imo.  As i wrote before, Salzburg is nice.  And those castles at that lake near Prien might interest you, too.  

To save cash, if you will travel mostly in Germany, don't buy eurail passes.  You can save big bucks just buying Germanrail passes & point-to-point tix out of Germany.  Just double check this against your plans.  It might even be cheaper to just buy point-to-point tix, period.  2nd class tix are cheaper than 1st, and you get there just as fast!  

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Dear Curley:  My daughter was born in Heidelberg and when she was 8 years old, I took her to Germany so she could see where she was born.  She was 8 years old at the time.   We were in Europe for 1 month, so we had Eurailpasses.  Since you will be in Germany for only 8 - 9 days, you might want to just get a German rail pass, or buy point - to - point tickets.  I heartily recommend Heidelberg.  It is a beautiful city and the castle is fun to visit.  While in Heidelberg, a Neckar River cruise is pretty and not as time-consuming as a Rhine River cruise.  Rothenburg is fun to visit.  Speyer has a beautiful cathedral and an interesting Jewish quarter.  Idar-Oberstein is famous for its jewelry stores.  
    I don't have any experience with hostels.  We stayed in cheap hotels.  Some of them had the bathroom down the hall, shared by everyone, but we did have a private room.  Munich is wonderful.  I've never been there during Octoberfest.  There was no need since several towns in Germany hold their own local "Octoberfest" (or some sort of festival going by a different name) and we had fun visiting the local festivals at "Octoberfest" time.
    I lived in Germany for 3 years and have lots of wonderful memories.  My daughter was born there but we left when she was 2 months old, so I know she enjoyed the trip to see her birthplace.  We traveled all over Europe on the Eurailpasses, but your question specified Germany.  Have a great trip!