I went to Frankfurt back in January from 27-31, from where I took a flight to Dubai (You can check my experience here). The same vacation I posted about earlier. Although this was more like an educative/business trip, it did have its own moments of fun and exploration. Before this trip, the only time I had landed in Frankfurt was while shifting flights when I was travelling via Lufthansa. This is a beautiful city, with beautiful and courteous people. It is well thought of, in terms of convenience for tourists for commute, communication and safety.

I was flying via Emirates this time, my most favorite airline ever, and it did not manage to disappoint. The view while traveling between timezones has its own advantages in terms of getting to see the sunrise and the view from the window.

To start with, I landed at the Frankfurt Main Airport, on terminal 2. Most international traffic is from the Terminal 2, and the public trains drop you on the Terminal 1 station, from which one is supposed to take the airport shuttle to Terminal 2. I myself did not realize this until I was lost, and almost scared on Terminal 1. Because I was travelling alone, and ahead of time, I managed everything on time. Hence it is important to arrive a little before time, and make sure about the terminal and flight arrangements.

Another thing to make sure is The Airport doesn’t have free WiFi, in case you want to contact someone as soon as you’re off your flight. How it works is that once logged in, the system sends a mail to your Email-Id which you’re supposed to use to get in. However, what they probably missed is an international traveler like me does not have any primary resources to access my mail in the first place. Hopefully, they’ve fixed this issue by now!

After collecting bags, and taking the airport shuttle to Terminal 1, one gets access to the trains. Tickets can be collected from the vending machines, and depending on your destination, one can take the necessary line. The ‘S’ train takes you to Hopthanoff, also known as The Frankfurt Main Station or The Frankfurt Central Station. This station has big and small lockers, to store your luggage while you roam around the city.

The locker is a very convenient option for people who have evening or night flights. On my last day after checking out, I stored my luggage in these lockers, and set about exploring the city on foot. Since this is the central station, I can easily collect my luggage and take a train to the airport. The small lockers cost €2 and the big ones €5. These are big enough to store the biggest of bags one can carry while traveling.

Take a right from this station, and a 10 minute walk would lead you to a river/waterfront. All the tourist activities like the museums, art houses, dance and music studios, etc. are all along this river. A 5 minute walk straight from the station would lead you to a couple of really good Indian restaurants, and a further walk will lead you to the New opera house; marked with a big Euro sign, which was made when Germany decided to be a part of the big Euro group.

The river has some really beautiful suspension bridges, some only for cars, and some only for pedestrians and people on the bicycle. Also, about 5 minutes away from this place is the Red Light District, so one should be careful during the late hours.

Just 2 stations away from this place is The Messe Exhibition Center. It hosts some of the biggest exhibitions in the world, including the one that we visited, ie, The Paper World + The Christmas World + The Creative World, all at once.

Inside the exhibition. Some excerpts of the stalls.

This place has 10 big halls/wings, further divided into 10.1, 10.2, etc. depending on the wing and floors. It gets a footfall of about 45-50k people, within a span of 4 days. People from all across the world, and especially Europe, don’t miss this one.

Wudberg

About a couple of hours drive from the city, is this very pretty little town. Known for its breweries, this place has over 300 different breweries. And they have a huge festival during summers, with beer fairs and movies every weekend, and boy do the Germans know their Beer! We came across some Oktoberfest clips as well, and it gets as crazy as one can imagine.

Fun Fact : This place may seem similar to some people, cause this is where a few scenes from The Three Musketeers, the one with Orlando Bloom, was shot. It also happens to be historic for having the biggest ceiling painting here. One might argue that The Vatican has the biggest ceiling paintings, which is actually true, however it has a lot of slits/windows/columns in between. This place happens to have the biggest on a stretch.

Do subscribe for more updates, and Part 2 for this one coming soon!

Until next time,

The Travellothoner