Advice please - Frankfurt Christmas market

whitesatin

Basically, we want to go to Frankfurt for around 4 days in December for the Christmas markets and to visit family there briefly. My husband won't fly so we are looking to travel by train from St Pancras, late morning as we live in Hertfordshire.

I know Eurostar doesn't go to Frankfurt and that we would probably have to change in Paris (or Brussels maybe?) and get a train from there to Frankfurt.

Has anyone done this before? Also, if so, are the markets close to the main station in Frankfurt?

We haven't booked a hotel yet either, just wondering if anyone can throw any light on best way to tackle this trip. We can't book the train yet anyway as I think they're not yet available.

TheShape

This is a good site to look at if you're planning train travel https://www.seat61.com/

You might want to look at options to travel via Cologne. London to Brussels, Brussels to Cologne, Cologne to Frankfurt. There may be other/better options than that though.

ThemeOne

The markets are not that far from the station, though not immediately adjacent. Frankfurt it not such a massive city.

You should be aware that the area immediately outside the station is Frankfurt's red light district. It's relatively tame as these kind of places go, but might not be ideal if you have young children.

I know there are direct trains from Paris to Frankfurt.

augo123

You can get the train easily to Frankfurt from Paris. I find trainline really useful for european travel, but you can also look on the deutsche bahn website.

The red light district is outside the main station, but have never had any trouble there, even late at night and as a young female, and it's easy to get around Frankfurt with really good transport links.

Alan_Bowen

It is a relatively easy journey if you like train travel! Leave St Pancras at 1104, arrive in Brussels at 1405, the connection leaves at 1425 and is a direct train to Frankfurt arriving at 1722. You should be able to buy a through ticket at least 4 months in advance, so within the next 4 weeks or so for early December

martindow

augo123 wrote: »

You can get the train easily to Frankfurt from Paris. I find trainline really useful for european travel, but you can also look on the deutsche bahn website.

The red light district is outside the main station, but have never had any trouble there, even late at night and as a young female, and it's easy to get around Frankfurt with really good transport links.

If trainline is the same for international travel as for UK it is best avoided as it charges extra fees. Bahn.de is excellent for timetables and routes across Europe including the UK but not necessarily for buying tickets.



Seat61 has already been mentioned and here is the Germany page


https://www.seat61.com/Germany.htm


I would follow his advice on how, where and when to book.

Toni'sfriend

I have to admit that I felt a little uncomfortable when we stayed near the railway station in Frankfurt. It wasn't threatening but if you are travelling with children it's maybe not the best place to stay. I would emphasise that we didn't encounter any problems and everyone was helpful it's just a bit seedy (my opinion of course). I'm not entirely sure where the Christmas market is located but I believe Hotel Motel One Rommer is close by. It's just around the corner from the main square in the old town. We stayed there for three nights in February this year. Very comfortable, nice breakfast and lovely staff. We got a taxi from the station and it was also very reasonable. Would certainly look at Seat 61 to find the best way to travel there by train. We usually go from Amsterdam by train and it's a very pleasant journey.

ThemeOne

As I remember it, the main Christmas markets are Romerberg, Paulsplatz and Mainkai. I think these more or less run into each other, but I'm also sure there are others in the central area.

I remember a German colleague who showed me briefly around described them as selling "a lot of !!!!!!!!" (so not a fan!) but they're very pretty and if you like sausages and mulled wine will keep you entertained for some hours.

Toni'sfriend

I would agree that you could probably buy most of the same things in the UK now but it's not all tat and the markets and towns do have a great atmosphere. I really liked Frankfurt as a destination for a few days. We had a little trip on a boat on Sunday morning (when just about everything else was closed). A couple of hours inside the boat with a beer or a cup of coffee watching the world go by. It was lovely.

eDicky

I've found in the past that best fares were obtained by booking with SNCB (Belgian Rail):

https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Destinations?utm_source=belgianrail.be&utm_medium=referral_internal&utm_content=menulink&utm_campaign=PageTitle

A quick look shows journeys bookable now for early December with one train change in Brussels, Eurostar/ICE, about 5.5hr, for about 100€ each way.

glossopdodge

I'd recommend staying at Premier Inn Frankfurt Messe- we've been doing so for the past couple of years in December/ January en route to Austria. It's within walking distance from Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and next to Skyline Plaza with lots of shops, places to eat, rooftop garden which is nicely decorated for Christmas. You'd need to walk to the markets , but we've done that easily with the children.

Premier Inn in Frankfurt is top class, much higher spec than UK Premier inns and so cheap- we stayed for 35 EUR last December in a family room, I've just checked prices for a double and it's 47 EUR- bargain! Here is a link:

https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/germany/hesse/frankfurt/frankfurt-messe.html

Hope this helps!