Mainz travel guide

Mainz, Germany

By the Travel Wiki editorial team

Mainz

Introduction

Mainz is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, sitting within the Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region alongside Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach am Main, and Hanau. That wider region is one of Germany's major metropolitan areas, so you can treat Mainz as part of a dense, well-connected cluster of cities rather than an isolated stop.

Before you go

Mainz sits at the confluence of the Rhine and the Main, a position that has made it a trading city since antiquity. Its Roman origins reach back to a citadel built here around 38 BC and named Mogontiacum; the Drususstein, the funeral monument to the general Drusus, still stands inside the citadel, though stripped of its marble. Later Mainz was the seat of the influential Prince-Electors, and the wealth the Church controlled here is on display at the Dom und Diözesanmuseum in the cathedral cloisters.

Plan your visit around the Dom, the Cathedral of St Martin and St Stephan, which is the most logical starting point for exploring the city. Although the cathedral was begun in 975, most of what you see today dates from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Time your visit for a Tuesday, Friday or Saturday, when the farmers' market is open. Mainz is also the home of Johannes Gutenberg, regarded in the West as the inventor of the moveable type printing press, and of the music publisher Schott Music. The city's long history of settlement, reflected in artifacts held at the Landesmuseum, reaches back far beyond the Roman era. For practical details, consult the Mainz tourism website before you travel.

Getting there

Frankfurt International Airport is the handiest gateway: the S8 S-Bahn towards Wiesbaden stops at both Mainz Hauptbahnhof and Mainz Römisches Theater, running at least every half hour and taking around half an hour, and regional trains towards Koblenz and Saarbrücken also call at Mainz. Both options fall under the same local tariff, though the regional trains are faster and a little more convenient. Cologne/Bonn Airport has a direct ICE connection, and from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport a direct shuttle bus runs to Mainz.

Mainz Hauptbahnhof, on the western edge of the city centre, is the largest station and the only one served by InterCity and InterCityExpress trains, making it the hub for local traffic; Flixtrain connects the city from Berlin via Hanover and Frankfurt, and Nightjet sleeper services between Brussels and Vienna, Berlin and Brussels, and Amsterdam and Zurich call here in the small hours. Mainz Römisches Theater, south of the centre, handles only regional and commuter trains, and Mainz-Kastel sits behind the Rhine bridge with S-Bahn and Stadt-Express services from Frankfurt to Wiesbaden. Long-distance buses, including Flixbus, usually halt at the Hauptbahnhof, which is also the local bus hub for the surrounding countryside and Wiesbaden; from Frankfurt-Hahn a direct bus runs roughly every 90 minutes from a stop just outside the main station's police department. By car, the city is ringed by the A60, A643 and A671, with the A63, A61, A66 and A3/A67 linking it to Kaiserslautern, Koblenz, Fulda and Frankfurt. River cruises typically run from Cologne or Koblenz and terminate in Mainz, and the KD Rhine River Cruise Pass allows stops along the way.

Getting around

Mainz is compact enough that you can cover much of the centre on foot, and its public transport network of buses, trams and the S-Bahn makes it easy to reach the surrounding districts and neighbouring cities. Mainz Hauptbahnhof sits on the western edge of the city centre and acts as the hub for local traffic, so it is a natural starting point for most journeys. The centre of town is accessible on foot from the Hauptbahnhof, and signposts and maps are placed throughout the city centre; you can also pick up a map from the DB information desk in the station. A second noteworthy station, Mainz Römisches Theater, lies south of the centre and is served by regional and commuter trains.

Where to stay

Mainz offers a range of places to stay, from budget options to luxury accommodation. For budget travellers, the Jugendherberge Mainz (Youth Hostel) is beautifully located between the river Rhine and the People's Park, with two bus stops nearby. The Ibis City Hotel is another budget-friendly choice.

Mid-range options include the Novotel Mainz, the Favorite - Parkhotel Mainz and the Hilton Mainz. For a splurge, the Hyatt Regency Mainz incorporates Fort Malakoff, Mainz's 19th-century castle, into its 21st-century architecture, and is the only 5-star hotel in Mainz on the river Rhine. The Atrium Hotel Mainz is another upscale choice.

Food & drink

Mainz has two culinary specialities, both cheeses. Spundekäse is a local cream cheese whipped with cream into a soft paste, served with chopped raw onion and pretzels; its taste is mild and it goes well with beer. Handkäse is a sour milk cheese with a pungent aroma, most often served mit Musik — marinated in vinegar and oil and sprinkled with caraway seeds, giving a firm, gelatinous texture that many find an acquired taste. For a broader taste of the city, head to the Wochenmarkt on Domplatz in the Old Town, a large farmers' market where some stands sell fast food, including a local fish farm's stand with good fish bread rolls, and locally grown plums that sometimes get cheaper toward the end of the day.

Beyond the markets, you'll find plenty of everyday options. In the city centre, Best Worscht in Town is known for Currywurst with home-made bread and nine different sauces, with spice levels you choose — start low, as it can be really spicy. Other centre spots include Restaurant Brauhaus zur Sonne and Zur Andau for German dishes, Die Waffel for Afghani food, Souperie, Pizzeria Kiara and City Döner. Around the main train station, try Meenzer Worschtstubb II for sausage and fries, "Bei Helga" for German dishes, Restaurant Grillstube Damaskus for Syrian food, or Tarz Döner. In south-west Mainz, the Gutenberg center food court gathers a German Imbiss, small Asia and Turkish Imbisse, a Chinese self-service restaurant, a Subway and a German bakery, with McDonald's, Burger King and KFC across the road.

For something more substantial, mid-range choices include Am Holztor, a traditional small wine tavern with a good selection of wines and beers, excellent Schnitzel and chicken dishes, and an English menu; Augustinerkeller, a classic German Gaststätte with pictures of old scenes in Mainz and English translations on the menu; Zum Goldstein, a pleasant beer garden raised above the street in a side street of the Altstadt; Bullys Burger, small and on a separation island of the main road but serving what's described as the best burgers and fries in town; Gaststätte Berghof for German and Austrian dishes; Eisgrub-Bräu, a cavernous ice cellar brewing its own pale and dark beers since 1872, with a classic menu of meats, sausages and spätzle and an English menu with vegetarian options marked; Tower One, a destination for aircraft fans; and Kamin, a Flammkuchen restaurant with a very good selection. International options include Gusto for Italian, Indian Palace, Indian Tandoori, Ban Thai and Thai Country for Thai, Asia World for Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian dishes with a lunchtime all-you-can-eat buffet, and Punjab Tandoori for Indian and Pakistani food.

If you're after a splurge, Geberts Weinstuben offers an excellent wine list heavy on German wines alongside traditional regional favourites such as handkäs-Suppe and wildschwein, though it closes for three weeks in summer, on Saturdays, and at lunchtime on Sundays. Atrium Mainz houses the Adagio and GenussWerkstatt restaurants; El Chico and Patagonia are steakhouses, the latter with Chilean dishes; and Heiliggeist is a church renovated into an up-scale bistro with an abbreviated but creative menu and an extensive wine list including wines by the glass. For something sweet, N'Eis - Das Neustadteis is very popular, with novel flavoured ice creams and often a long line.

To drink, Hafeneck is a neighbourhood bar that caters to football fans, local hipsters and a stream of niche musicians, with a kitchen serving huge salads, German classics like schnitzel, and giant savoury pancakes with unusual fillings, many vegetarian. Good Time and Alexander the Great are popular hard rock pubs near the main railway station, serving mead in horns and playing anything from death metal to classical music depending on the day. Beim Budiker is another bar option, and the Mole-Biergarten am Winterhafen sits on the Rhine opposite the Main, where you can watch the ships go by with a beer and a snack.

What to see and do

Mainz rewards wandering on foot, and much of what you'll want to see clusters in and around the Altstadt, where well-preserved half-timbered houses and narrow, winding alleyways run between Augustinerstraße and the historic Kirschgarten square. This is the atmospheric heart of the city, mixing medieval architecture with local shops, traditional wine taverns and landmarks such as the Augustinerkirche, a Rococo church with a red sandstone façade that survived the 1945 bombings largely intact, preserving its ornate interior and a rare original Stumm organ. Nearby, Schillerplatz gathers historic buildings including the rococo-style Osteiner Hof and the Schönborner Hof, and is dominated by the Fastnachtsbrunnen, a bronze fountain of carnival figures and allegorical scenes; it's a major social hub, especially during carnival season, and a good starting point for exploring the old streets.

Churches carry much of the city's history. Dom St. Martin, the thousand-year-old Romanesque cathedral, has a double-chancel design and numerous funerary monuments of former Prince-Electors, while its interior and cathedral museum hold religious artworks spanning a millennium; public tours run on the last Saturday of each month. Stephanskirche, founded in 990 and rebuilt as a Gothic hall church, is known for its large octagonal bell tower, late-Gothic cloister and nine blue stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall that bathe the interior in blue light. Christuskirche, a Protestant church with a massive dome built as a counterbalance to the Catholic cathedral, offers guided tours including the tower by appointment, though tower access closes from March to mid-August to protect nesting peregrine falcons. Sankt Ignaz, a Neoclassical hall church, has vaulted ceilings painted by Johann Baptist Enderle and a crypt containing "baker's oven" graves. Beyond the churches, the Gutenberg Museum displays reconstructions of print shops, Gutenberg's hand press, incunabula and the first two Gutenberg bibles in a strong room, alongside a Far East section and an exhibition on the electronic future of books, with regular demonstrations of the hand press. The Museum für Antike Schifffahrt holds the remains of five 5th-century Roman warship wrecks salvaged from the Rhine, with true-to-life replicas and glimpses into its research laboratory and workshops. Elsewhere, the Baroque Deutschhaus, rebuilt after wartime destruction and now the state parliament building, marks the site of Germany's first democratically elected parliament, the Electoral Palace shows its Renaissance façade from outside, and the Old Jewish Cemetery, part of the UNESCO SchUM World Heritage site, is visible from along its perimeter fence, with guided tours bookable in advance. For open air, head to the Rhine promenade stretching from the Zollhafen to the Winterhafen, the city's main outdoor leisure area, which in summer becomes a social hub of beach clubs, beer gardens and walking paths, popular for evening strolls and river views; the city hall platform above it offers a wide view over the promenade and the river.

When to go

< p>Mainz has a temperate oceanic climate, and winter here is mild by German standards — the city counts among the warmest in the country during that season. Even so, expect the grey, damp conditions typical of an oceanic climate rather than reliable sunshine, so plan for overcast skies and moisture in the air whatever you do outdoors.

Three days in Mainz

Day one: Start in Mainz itself, the city at the heart of the Rhineland-Palatinate and the Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, with Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach and Hanau within reach. Begin with its Roman layer: this was Mogontiacum, and the Drususstein, the monument tied to Drusus, still stands as a reminder of that era. Later Mainz was shaped by the Prince-Electors and the Church, so give the Dom, the cathedral of St Martin, your time, along with the Diözesanmuseum. Plan around opening days: the cathedral and its museum keep their own hours, and some sites close on Mondays, so check before you set out.

Day two: Follow Johannes Gutenberg through the city. The Gutenberg Museum, the printing tradition and the old town around it reward a slow morning, and the Schott Music connection adds another thread to Mainz's cultural story. In the afternoon, take in the Landesmuseum and its Roman collections, then walk the Rhine bank where the city meets the river. If you are here on a Tuesday, Friday or Saturday, note that some museums and churches keep different hours on those days, so build your route around what is open.

Day three: Use Mainz as your base for the wider region. The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region puts Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach and Hanau within easy reach, and the Rhineland-Palatinate and Palatinate countryside lies along the Rhine. Pick one direction and give it the day: a city across the river, or a stretch of the Rhine valley. Keep the pace easy, and let the weather guide you - the region can be warm and humid in summer and bitterly cold in winter, so plan indoor stops for the harsher months.

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