Mainz

Mainz is the capital city of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. Mainz is notable as a transport hub, for wine production, and for its many rebuilt historic buildings. In 2019, it was home to about 219,000 people.

Understand
Once the episcopal seat of the influential Prince-Electors, the "civilized" origins of Mainz date back to around 38 BC, when the Romans built a citadel here, named Mogontiacum. It was founded by the Roman general Drusus, brother of emperor Tiberius and father of emperor Claudius, at the strategic confluence of the Rhine and the Main; it shortly became the provincial capital of Germania Superior. Drusus died while campaigning beyond the Rhine, in the summer of 9 BC; his body was brought here to be mourned, and a massive funeral monument dedicated to him was built. The so-called still stands (although unclad of its marble) inside the citadel of Mainz.

The city's location at the confluence of the Rhine and the Main rivers is ideal for trade, something reflected by the artifacts kept in the Landesmuseum, that show there have been settlements here since 300,000 BC.

The most logical starting point is the Dom, the Cathedral of St Martin and St Stephan, especially on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, when the farmers' market is open. Although the cathedral was actually started in 975, most of what is seen today was built from the 11th to the 13th centuries. At the Dom und Diözesanmuseum in the cathedral cloisters, you can truly witness the opulence and wealth controlled by the Church in Mainz.

Mainz is also the home of the man identified by Time Magazine as the most important individual in the last millennium, Johannes Gutenberg, who most Westerners regard to be the inventor of the moveable type printing press (though the Chinese had actually preceded him by centuries).

Mainz is also the home of the music publisher Schott Music.

Tourist information

 * Mainz tourism website

By plane
From Frankfurt International Airport, the local train S8 towards Wiesbaden stops at Mainz Hauptbahnhof (or optionally Mainz Römisches Theater). The train runs at least every 30 minutes daily, and takes around 30 minutes to get the Mainz. Also regional trains towards Koblenz and Saarbrücken stop in Mainz. Both options share the same local tariff, regional trains are faster and somewhat more convenient. Cologne/Bonn Airport  is served by a direct ICE connection and from low cost hub Frankfurt-Hahn Airport  there is a direct shuttle bus connection.

By train
Mainz has several train stations. The biggest and the only one in which InterCity and InterCityExpress trains stop is (main station), it is on the western edge of the city centre and works as a general hub for local traffic. Flixtrain serves the city from Berlin via Hanover and Frankfurt.

Nightjet, the Austrian Railways' sleeper train, runs three times each week between Brussels and Vienna via Munich and Salzburg, Berlin and Brussels via Frankfurt, and Amsterdam and Zurich. Note that Mainz is a few hours away from these terminal stations, so sleeper trains stop here after midnight or before 05:00.

Another noteworthy station is (Roman theatre), south of the centre, but it is only served by regional and commuter trains. Both are served from Frankfurt, about 45 minutes away, by S-Bahn line S8. As of 2024, the cost of a single ticket on the Regional train (S-Bahn line S8) to Mainz Hauptbahnhof from the Frankfurt International Airport was €6.30.

Behind the Rhine bridge there is the station Mainz-Kastel with S-Bahn line S1, S9 and Stadt-Express SE10 from Frankfurt to Wiesbaden.

By car
Mainz is ringed by the A60 from Bingen / Rüsselsheim and the A643 and A671 from Wiesbaden, at the northern end of the A63 from Kaiserslautern.
 * A61 from Koblenz
 * A66 from Fulda
 * A3/A67 Frankfurt am Main

When parking in Mainz if you use your EC debit card or a credit card in the entrance and exit machines instead of pressing for a pay at machine ticket you will get 10% discount on the parking fee. Alternatively taking a ticket from the machine on entrance allows 4 people to travel for free on buses and trams in the city.

By bus
A number of long range buses (including Flixbus) serve Mainz, usually halting at Hauptbahnhof. The station is also a hub for local bus traffic, serving the surrounding countryside and Wiesbaden.

From Frankfurt Hahn Airport for those arriving with Ryanair, there is a direct bus service to Mainz roughly every 90 minutes. The ORN bus stop which services this route is just outside the main train station's police department. The service takes approx. 60-70 min.

By boat
A number of companies offer river cruises, typically leaving from Cologne or Koblenz and terminating in Mainz (and vice versa). The KD Rhine River Cruise Pass offers a cruise of the Rhine river around all the way to Cologne with the possibility of stops along the way.

Get around
The centre of town is accessible on foot from Mainz Hauptbahnhof. There are signposts and maps throughout the city centre, or you can pick up a map from the DB information desk in the station.


 * The day ticket for Mainz and Wiesbaden cost €6.50 (Bus, Tram, S-Bahn and Regionalbahn). The Single-Ticket cost €2.70. (MVG, RMV)
 * Some good offers to explore the surroundings include the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket, offering unlimited travel in local trains for up to 5 persons inside the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Wiesbaden. The ticket costs €24 - 44 per day (as of 2015) if bought via automat or internet, or €26 - 46 if bought at a ticket stand and is available at all train stations. For Hessen (including Mainz, but not the rest of Rhineland-Palatinate) exists the otherwise similar Hessenticket, costing €34 per day.

Public transportation
The Deutsche Bahn site provides excellent maps, timetables, and route guidance for getting around Mainz via the city's extensive bus and light rail systems. Google maps shows the locations of tram and bus stops in Mainz. If you click the tram or bus symbol, you will get the name of the stop as well as a list of routes serving that stop. The local transit operator (MVG - Mainzer Verkehrsgesellschaft) has a website in German.

By bike
The local transit operator offers a bike rental system with stations all around the city. The cost is €1 per 30 minutes. A map of available stations can be found here. Get the meinRad App for Android or iOS, register in the App and you can start riding.

By e-hailing
Uber and Free Now cover the city.

See




Museums




Do

 * Walk around the town. It's a beautiful place to walk around and see the sights.
 * Go and explore the outdoor town market on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at the cathedral. On Saturdays, local winegrowers sell their wines to visitors of the market. In the last couple of years this has become some kind of a tourist attraction. If huge crowds are no problem for you, you can have a lot of fun here (wine is sold until 16:00).
 * Visit the small but very pretty Altstadt (old-town) of Mainz. Located just behind the cathedral with a beautiful baroque church and a number of well preserved Fachwerkhäuser (Medieval style houses) to be seen.

Events

 * OPEN OHR Festival – in May, Zitadelle Mainz, an alternative youth festival with some (mostly local) music acts and political or creative workshops and movie presentations. A three day ticket costs around €25.
 * Mainz Midsummer St. John's Night Festival - Johannisnacht – in June

Buy
To take in most of the typical main shop name walk north east from the market square to Am Brand then west along Stadthausstraße to Römerpassage.

For more individual shops, explore the Altstadt around Augustinerstraße and Kirschgarten.

Out of town supermarkets can be found in the Gutenberg Center in Mainz-Bretzenheim.

If you want to bring some wine or food from the region, your best bet is the farmers' market on the squares next to the Dome. It is held Tu F Sa from 09:00 to 14:00.

Eat
Mainz has two culinary specialities, both types of cheese. Spundekäse is local cream cheese whipped with cream into a soft paste, served with chopped raw onion and pretzels &mdash; the taste is mild and it goes great with beer. Handkäse is a sour milk cheese with a pungent aroma, most often served mit Musik, or marinated in vinegar and oil, then sprinkled with caraway seeds, resulting in a bizarre, firm, gelatinous mass that most people find to be a bit of an acquired taste &mdash; and the "music" refers to the flatulence it tends to cause!

Go next

 * Bacharach in the Middle Rhine Valley is an extremely well-preserved medieval town right next to the Rhine river, with a castle, which is now a youth hostel, overlooking the town. Trains from Mainz to Bacharach at least hourly, takes about 40 minutes.
 * Bingen am Rhein
 * Darmstadt, 30 minutes by train RB
 * Ingelheim
 * Frankfurt, take the S-Bahn S8 from Hauptbahnhof or S1, SE10 or S9 from Mainz-Kastel.
 * Heidelberg is an hour away by train
 * Continue down the most scenic part of the Middle Rhine Valley towards Koblenz.
 * Oppenheim, 20 minutes by train RB
 * Wiesbaden is just across the Rhine, take the S8 (13 min), the train RB (11 min.) or Bus linie 6 (30 min).
 * Worms, 45 minutes by train