Long layover Frankfurt - Rick Steves Travel Forum
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Long layover Frankfurt

Hi, My daughter will potentially be flying from Budapest through Frankfurt on her way back to the US. The stop in Frankfurt is about 13 hours. It's a long time to be there but she also isn't really wanting to spend the time leaving and going to a hotel only to have to turn around and come back not that long after since she'd then need to get there early to check back in for the connecting flight. My question is, are there places to sit or eat for that time? The plane gets in at 8 pm.

Thanks!

Posted by
850 posts

Frankfurt is an international airport. There are all the normal "amenities" (food, chairs, bars, sex museum, etc) and more. Still, if I had that much time (depending on the time of day) I'd go out and walk around Sachsenhausen if nothing else. At night I'd get a hotel and some horizontal rest.

Posted by
8912 posts

With 13 hours, she should go get a hotel room, either in the city or at the airport. Lots of decent, budget hotels near the main station and the trains take 12 min. to get there from the airport. Hotel Monopol, Hamburger Hof, or Excelsior Hotel are good bargains.

The Hilton Garden Inn would be my choice at the airport. Anything else is more expensive or needs a shuttle, train or taxi.
The MyCloud is so expensive! For the same price as an hour in there, you can have a whole room for the night in a real hotel.

If it is summer, it will be light out until almost 2300, so coming into the city, she could get some sightseeing done too.

  • There is no sex museum at the Frankfurt airport.
Posted by
6655 posts

All major airports (and FRA is one of the majorest in Europe) have all sorts of places you can "sit." The trick will be finding someplace that you can sit and be comfortable for hours and hours. Some (many? most?) cafes will eventually give you the stinkeye or actually shoo you away if you're just sitting there at one of their tables for hours without ordering anything. Of course, you can just order some food or drink once in a while. I have whiled away many hours at plenty of airports and it can be a challenge to find (and keep) a good spot. "Good" (at least for me) is a reasonably comfortable seat (many airport seats are hard plastic and get pretty uncomfortable after a while), one that's reasonably clean, and a bit on the quiet side. Frankfurt is a pretty busy place (though getting less busy with the ongoing crash of worldwide travel that's unfolding right now). It may be worth finding and paying for some kind of lounge - they tend to be a lot more comfortable than the public spaces.

All that said, depending on the time of day (and the weather), with a layover that long, I'd consider a trip into town. I've got an 11-hour layover in Paris on Tuesday, and we are going to head into Paris and enjoy being there for a few hours (I'm hoping it doesn't rain).

Posted by
138 posts

Thanks for your help! Sounds long and boring but knowing her she'd rather just do that :) I did look at the My Cloud out of interest but it looks like you need to be coming from or into a country not in the Schengen agreement. (Hungary to Germany is what I put even though the end point is USA)
I guess if she does do this she'll be plenty tired to sleep on the long flight back home.