Frankfurt - any points of interest to note?

[dan_t]

HI all, I'm heading off to Germany for the first time in a couple of weeks. I'll be very happy to actually hit some cooler weather to wear a couple of jackets for the first time this year!!

I'll be staying for the most part in a town around 30 / 40 min's outside of Frankfurt, but will be staying in Frankfurt for the first couple of nights.

As I've never been before, are there any real points of note that I should make a point to see / do? You know, the stuff that locals might recommend rather than a 'Lonely Planet' guide.

I'll be there for a total of three weeks, so there's also two weekends in the middle (one a 3 day weekend) to explore slightly further afield.

Any suggestions welcomed!

 

[jb771213]

My suggestion would be something for a (the long) weekend.

Go to the river Lahn (90 km north of Frankfurt.

Take a tour with a rented canoe around Weilburg (Schloß und Parak, Barock, very nice city, tunnel for boats under the city to shorten a river bend)
Wetzlar, nice city center, home of Leitz/Leica - maybe take a factory tour on friday, reservation via web needed, nice very unique Dom, Goethe was here and wrote the "Werther", visit Lotte house
Braunfels,(Schloß, market place, bakery Vogel because of there tarts and cafe)
Kubach höhle
Marburg (city center, schloß, Elisabethkirche, because of the university lots of nice pubs, Luther, Zwingli and the hl. Elisabeth were here
Amöneburg close by (very little unique village on a hill, goes back to the days of Bonifatius 700 something, nice places to sit and eat like Dombäcker or Brücker Mühle which reminds to the war 1618-1648)
Limburg (Dom, City Center)
should be enough for a weekend

Best regards

Uwe

 

[dan_t]

Thanks Uwe, that's a lot to investigate!

 

[jacketjunkie]

I can confirm that Marburg is probably the most beautiful little town in Germany, you should definitely go there for a day and walk through the upper town(you literally have to take a an elevator to get there). Students town, so very cheap decent food and drinks, too.

Amöneburg is a nice little town too, used to play in the city park a lot as a kid, not much to see there though, but if you feel like taking a day off on a sunny day, surely a nice place to ist in some Biergarten and enjoy the weather.

 

[Monitor]

I can confirm that Marburg is probably the most beautiful little town in Germany.

Just looking at the photos and oh wow... Germany is truly something. It's a shame I'm living like just a few hundred km away and I haven't been once.

 

[dan_t]

Awesome suggestions Gents, thank you.
I'm hoping to be able to amble through historical towns with my trusty Nikon & just get carried away with the beauty of it all.

 

[jacketjunkie]

Just looking at the photos and oh wow... Germany is truly something. It's a shame I'm living like just a few hundred km away and I haven't been once.

The special thing about Marburg is that it is one of very few, maybe the only, industrial city which was spared by the bomb attacks in WWII. Due to a mistake by the Recon and Marker Flights who due to bad sight marked a place 30km outside of Marburg. Result: There's a part of the forest where are still barely any trees growing with giant bomb craters but Marburg wasn't hit by a single bomb that night and hence, the old (upper) town with all the nice buildings and houses is still intact. Very unique thing in Germany.

 

[Bern1]

Interesting JJ, I will have to make a point to go there myself. Frankfurt is one of the places on my visit list.