layover in Frankfurt
 

I have a 6 hour lay over in Frankfurt on sunday and rather than stick around the airport wanted to hop into town and walk around a bit. Layover is from 7 am to 13:00 hrs so wanted some advice on something close by that would be open in the morning as well as how much time one should keep to get back in to make it to the flight.

Ideas much appreciated and thank you.

Frankfurt is in Germany.
Germany is closed on a Sunday.

If you want to zip off somewhere, Mainz is as good as anywhere - brunch at the Hyatt on the Rhine or at one of the open air cafes (if they're open that early) , but you'll need to figure 45-60 minutes (waiting plus travel time on the train) each way.
You'd have 3 hours max.

Mainz or Wiesbaden, both lovely old towns and easily reached.

Thank you.... yes did figure the sunday morning would be an issue. I think the brunch sounds like a good idea.

Mainz
Get off at the Römisches Theater station and take a right when you come out of the catacombs.
Down past the cinemas and Antique Ship museum (worth a visit if you have time - they discovered a Roman shipyard when they extended the Hilton decades ago and the restored vessels are on display - FOC), cross the main road and the Hyatt's on your left.
6.30 - 11:00 € 27/head
Mainz Restaurants: Bellpepper Restaurant und Bar, Hyatt Regency Mainz
Idiots don't have an English website.

Six hours isn't enough time to visit Wiesbaden nor Mainz, nor just about anywhere except FFaM "innenstadt". And Germany is worse than deadly dull on a Sunday morning, I should know, I endured 1,300 of them.

Next time make it an evening - any evening - and visit Mayer Güstl's Bayerische Zell in the Kaiserstrase, a few minutes walk down the road from FFaM main railway station (good connections to the airport). It will open your eyes.

Or, consider going south to Heideberg - very picteresque for a few hours and very touristy so lots of bars & cafes, even on a Sunday. Or maybe Mannheim if you don't want to change trains....

The question in my mind is how much of those 6 hours will you really have available to visit anywhere outside the airport? Between how long it takes to get off the aircraft and through immigration (I assume this is your point of entry into the EU) and then leave the terminal (huge), plus the lead time you will need before your next flight to go through security and be at the gate by boarding, plus any travel and waiting time to/from your destination...well, that doesn't leave a whole lot of those 6 hours to actually do anything.

From Frankfurt airport to Heidelberg takes about an hour by train, and Heidelberg station is not that close to the attractive part of town - really not a good idea if the layover is just 6 hours

From the airport a train to Mainz is about 25 mins, to Wiesbaden is about 40 mins. From the airport to Frankfurt city centre is about 11 mins

Alas the Gutenberg museum in Mainz (must see if you like books) doesn't open til 11 am which is too late to catch a 1 pm flight.

I concur with OFSO - just go to Frankfurt city centre instead. The Romer may be touristy, but there are worse places in the world to pass an hour or so...

I am getting off an 8 hour flight and then getting onto another 10 hour flight. Might just hang about the airport instead as the legs might not be able to sprint and make it to the gate in time!

Thank you all for such good feedback.

Here's a thought?
Frankfurt Airport | Lounges

Perhaps the VIP lounge entry payment would allow you to drink so much alcohol that the next ten hours wouldn't matter.

Things change I know and it's a looong time since I was there, but down in the depths of the airport there used to be a disco called "Dorian Grey". It ran pretty late in the good old days, certainly chucking-out time was Sunday morning. I got bitten in the knee by a dwarf there and also contracted SMD - Sudden Morning Deafness - dancing too close to the speakers in the fog. We all used to drive up from Darmstadt now and then for a bit of a rave

There was also a cinema and when they showed "The Life Of Brian" there was An Incident with some God-fearing travellers kicking up a fuss about blasphemy. And I got my leg stuck between two seats. Then they started showing hard-core pornography and nobody complained.

This is the best thing I have ever seen on this forum or indeed any other. Fantastic.

Not only fantastic but true. They overdid it on the fog, I was dancing violently about to "Life is Life" (recorded by Opus which dates the incident to 1984), invisible from the waist down (in the fog) when I felt a sharp pain in one knee, staggering out of the fog I found a dwarf attached by his incisors to that knee. He had been dancing with his mouth open (in the fog) and bringing my knee up (or him bringing his jaw down) ended up in the ensuing action. He was removed with some difficulty by two Albanian diplomats and a Greek taxi driver.

Next morning I woke up and I was deaf.

A few months later my lovely assistant J fell off the table at the Darmstädter Heinerfest and twisted her ankle while dancing to the same song, so be warned.

(As I said, Sunday mornings in Germany can be very boring, but the rest of the week isn't !)

I'd not be put off going into Frankfurt city. The train only takes about 10-15 minutes and runs very frequently, and the Hbf (main station) is right in the centre of the city. You can walk down to the river Main which always had boat traffic going up and down, then back up to the old town centre to Hauptwache, and get the train back directly from there to the airport which passes through the Hbf. You'll find some places along the way and it gets you out of aviation air-conditioning.

OFSO

I so want to now go to that disco, Fog, Dwarf and Opus all thrown in.

LH has informed me however that I am not permitted to exit and have to stay in transit because of some stupid tax issue. If I want to exit for a few hours I have to pay this tax and will only be allowed to check bags in to FRA and would have to re check in for onward flight. Kind of shoots the entire thing down.

I do so hope Dorian Grey is before immigration and it is open Sunday Morning!!!

How bizarre. However do they even know if anyone has exited and then re-entered ? What if you miss your connection and have to be given hotac outside ? Seems very unlikely.

That sounds like utter bilge. If your ticket includes a transit at FRA, you are allowed up to 24 hours transit, before it becomes a stopover, which may affect the fare and tax. As long as your passport allows you to do so, whether you leave the airport or not is irrelevant, and as WHBM says, the airline won't even know.

I used to transit FRA almost weekly at one time between short and long haul flights, and never had a problem (other than the multiple passport and security controls you have to go through).

Yes I do find it bizarre and also wondered how they would ever know that had gone to town for a few hours. Have done this so many times in Hong Kong. However in this day and age of travel and security do I want to risk it?

Well Will take the call Sunday Morning and report back in a while :cool:

Just do what you want to do and make sure you look like you know what's what. Germans never question someone who looks like they know what they are doing. Think how many Allied POW's walked out the front gates of a camp past the guards. Oh and speak loudly and with authority. They like ordering people around or being ordered around: no other way about it. Make sure you look like you are giving the orders.

OFSO

In my case i would probably attract more attention when doing that! I originate from a region that has a bulls eye painted on our backsides when transiting any western airports and regularly get the "special treatment" at the said airports. The "ensure you are at the gate 2 hours before departure for security" usually is not enough time for me to be searched. :sad:


Not particularly keen to have a 6 foot 200 kg Frau give me the cavity search on a sunday morning as I attempt in my accented German to throw my weight around and strut around like a peacock.

That said the situation is gradually improving as I have mastered the art of removing every metal object from my clothing , shoes and body (next stop to replace the gold fillings in my teeth with something more Airport friendly). I also do not carry hand baggage anymore as it saves a lot of agony.

For that, you probably need to catch a taxi over to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, then a short walk from there.

then a short walk from there.

The walk back will not be short, however.

Back in the 1980's Kaiserstrasse was not only famous for les filles de joie, you could hire someone to do a murder for you. The going rate was DM5000 per stiff plus travelling expenses.

Not, I hasten to add, that I ever availed myself of this service.

The latter one presumed OFSO. :p

Significantly cheaper "per stiff" for the former though.

I was stationed in Germany for several years back in the early 70's.

Someone told me about the place. ;);)

.

No, not a stupid tax issue. It appears that you need a visa to enter the EU

So WF, what happened ? Did you manage to exhit der Flughafen and penetrate deepest Frankfurt a. Main, or did you find the disco ? Was the dwarf still there and had he grown (or shrunk) ? Do tell.

REvMan2: I have a a valid visa for the EU so that was not the issue. The issue was in checked baggage. If you plan to exit in Frankfurt and it is not a scheduled stop on your ticket (by scheduled they mean a leg of the journey) then have to book your luggage till FRA pay the fare differential and go thru the entire 9 yards while checking back in.

Naturally you could just slip out thru immigration as many stated, however in this case immigration does ask you for your return/onward ticket since i come from a country that requires a visa. Once you show them that you are referred to LH and the process comes to a halt. This was explained to me by one of the cabin crew on the LH flight who also said that not worth it for a Sunday morning in Frankfurt.

I chose the 36 Euro payment for the lounge which was an excellent value and included free wifi blazing connection, shower, drinks, breakfast and a nice place to relax.

I find this hard to believe and have never experienced or heard of such a thing.

A couple of years ago I transited AMS with a South African passport holder who had a multiple entry Schengen visa for France. We arrived from CPT mid morning, and took a flight out of AMS early the next morning. This is a transit (<24 hours) in terms of fare rules, not a stopover. We had no problems and nothing was mentioned or queried. It may be that the Germans do it differently ........... but isn't the EU meant to harmonise and ensure consistency.

Oh I forgot ...........

In reality from a security point of view I do agree with them. I was issued my onward boarding pass when I first checked in, my bags were thru checked. Can you imagine the inconvenience and delays if I did not show up at the boarding gate? I have done similar transits in Malaysia of 24 hours and the airlines provided a hotel stay for us and knew where to get us from and had a pick and drop arranged for us, however in this case the layover was 6 hours (turned out to be a net of under 5 hours with the delay and then we had to be bussed into the terminal which added to the time), i cannot see them warranting an exit.

LH makes a very big deal over 'complete' use of flight coupons. Yes I read that you had through-checked your luggage but they do what they can to discourage people buying a ticket beyond FRA and getting off at FRA.

The comment: suggests this is at least one of the reasons.

They also could be absorbing airport fees / taxes / whatever for Transit passengers (to be competitive in the beyond market) and don't want to do so for passengers who have 'business' in FRA.

May seem dogmatic of them but they have spend literally millions in legal fees defending their right to apply 'sequential and complete' use of flight coupons. In winning these cases they now have to offer passengers the option of using their coupons out of sequence, at least in Germany, at a higher cost which probably cost them a bundle in programming their fare quote system - to offer something nobody will likely buy.

Not defending their practice (lets not get into that argument again) but guessing why they may be doing what they are doing.