Daily crossborder commute

I consider leaving my job in France in the near future and accept an offer to work in Darmstadt, Germany.
However I don't plan settling there with my family for the moment, primarily because it would be an awesome challenge for my daughter to switch to German as the main language in school.
So I'd like to get the advice of people knowing well this region:
Is it feasible to live on the french side of the border (in Strasbourg / Haguenau / etc.) and commute each day to Darmstadt: by train, by car, ...
How long it takes?
In short: what is the fastest option at my disposal?

I can only say that Strasbourg wouldn't be a good fit, as it's about a two-hour train ride to where I'm at (unless I've been doing it wrong), and I'm well south of Darmstadt (about half way in between, actually). And the road seems to under eternal construction.

Maybe Metz? I don't know. I'd take a look at www.bahn.de and plug in different towns in France that you're considering so you can get an estimate.

Or maybe there are some international schools in the Darmstadt area that conduct operations in French. Best of luck.

From Strasbourg to Darmstadt is a 2hr drive, not including traffic jams, accidents and other delays.

Have you taken a look at the map? The French town that is closest to Darmstadt is most likely Wissembourg - and even that is a distance of some 130 km. You should expect at least 1 h 30 m for each way by car, probably considerably more during commuter hours. (Would you really like to live in such a small town?)

There is a French Lycée in Frankfurt, therefore relocation to Frankfurt may be your best option, after all.

Thank you Rheinland-Pfalz and Oblomov for your suggestion of a French school in Germany.
I've googled the subject and found one in Frankfurt (that you mentioned) and also another one in Sarrebruck.
I'll now check them both, as it is a much more convenient solution than a 2 hour one_way trip to work...

Your best solution, at least short term, until you know the job and place are a good long term bet, might be to keep a tiny flat in Darmstadt (plenty of those) and go home at weekends (and perhaps once a week). I know lots of Germans here who do that - reside here in the week and go back to family elsewhere at weekend - it's quite normal. There are a lot of people here for no reason other than employment. You'd need t pay regard to the tax consequences though (ie. German resident).

PS - Mods: think this belongs on the Frankfurt Rhein Main board .

Already is.. Have a look up top..
The Local | Toytown > Discussion forum > Central regions > North Hesse > Hesse

Which is where Darmstadt is located.. No?

There are plenty of French schools just across the border in Forbach ...

No. Damstadt's in South Hesse (Sud Hessen). Check a map. It's only 40km from the border with BW. But then I actually know where the place I live is. Nothing gets past me.

The description of the "Frankfurt Rhein Main" board also specifically lists "Darmstadt" as amongst the places covered by that board. So the logical place to put Darmstadt-related enquiries is, er, on the board that "includes the cities of...Darmstadt"? Rather than on board covering a region where it's not actually located.

Putting it on the board that covers Darmstadt might generate actually more helpful replies for the poster - rather than purposeless ones that don't offer any help and are not based on fact, but that seem just to be trying to take a swipe at posters trying to help him / her.

Lets make this very easy.. What German state is Darmstadt in? Humm?
The point has been made..

Wissembourg is not the closest for commuting. Living in Lauterbourg would be better considering Karlsruhe is only a short drive away. Although it could be expensive, one could drive over to the main station in KA and take the train to Darmstadt. Still not a short commute but you will be in France and not Germany and you can avoid being on the Autobahn every day.

I checked Lauterbourg in the Internet. It is effectively the closest town on the French side of the border. But it is tiny! only 2200 inhabitants...

Yes, but rather close to Karlsruhe with a population of 288K.

The only problem with Forbach is german rails: it takes 2 hours from Forbach to Frankfurt by train, whereas only 1:15 from Paris to Forbach, which is a 3 times longer distance on the map...
Unless they find a way to speed up trains to 300 km/h in Germany as in France, I cannot choose the city of Forbach.

Heidelberg has a French private school and the commute to Darmstadt is about 40 minutes.