Daily life in Idstein near Frankfurt

An American family (friends of my mother) are coming to work in FF and are looking at Wiesbaden and Idstein as possible places to live. I heard from someone that Idstein is quite a cute little village and has a jazz festival in the summer. I suppose it then would be good for a family to live in as it must be much cheaper than FF. Has anyone been there; are connections good for FF if the person does not yet have a car and are the rents cheaper there? Also, what is it like? It looks pretty small to me ...maybe rather provincial? However, I suppose it would be suitable for people who work in FF and can commute.

Ask TT member by the name of Idstein!

Wikipedia is your friend - Idstein in German. Even Idstein in English.

I looked in Wikipedia but I wanted first-hand feedback from someone who has been there or even better lives there!

As jonnyboy stated above, Idstein (the TTer) would seem the obvious candidate here as he does live out in Idstein (the one-horse town in the middle of nowhere). I don't know if he checks this section of the board: I think he logs in mostly to find out where the next curry/sushi night will be.

Do you know what will be the most important criteria on which your friends will base their decision? Ease of commute into Frankfurt? Quality of the local schools? Access to local amenities?

They have 2 kids (aged 4 and 6) and I think the first two factors (ease of commute, schools) would probably be the most important. I don't think they are looking for a place with a buzzy nightlife but on the other hand, they are new in Germany and don't want to feel marooned in a place out in the middle of nowhere, if it is that sort of a place. Certainly I will PM Idstein...but as you say, he doesn't seem to log in that often:)

Idstein is extremely handy for commuting to and from Frankfurt, as indeed many people do (I used to make the daily 160 km round-trip commute between Westerwald and Frankfurt, leaving the car at Bad Camberg and catching the train from Limburg via Idstein into FFM). It's on the regional train network and is also supplied by an s-bahn service (at least it used to be!). Yes, it does have a jazz festival in the summer, and damn good it is too! The town centre has a great cobblestone pedestrian area with a number of shops, bars and restaurants surrounding it. (It's a bit of a walk up the hill to the train station though!) "Provincial" it may be, but at least it's cleaner, quieter and safer than FFM, and you're still within easy striking distance of the big smoke (about 20 minutes I guess). If you're young and looking for the high life, forget Idstein. If, however, you've got a family and you need a bit of peace and quiet in your leisure time, I think it would be fine.

thank you Reggie..that was very helpful:)

We went to the Hessentag there a few years ago and I thought it was very nice - lots of Fachwerkhäuser etc...

Caroline

Hi,

We are moving to the Frankfurt area and I was wondering if anyone knows anything about Idstein? Info about Kindergartens, shopping basically anything to do with daily life would help.

Thanks,
Mrs Canuck

Topics merged by admin

Hi Canuck,

I live in Idstein. It's a really beautiful quaint little town,we even get a lot of tourist in the summer so it's pretty popular.

There are at least 3 kindergartens,probably more but since we don't have children I'm not sure exactly how many,

also schools for children of all ages and a good public transport system. Around 5 grocery stores and a little town center with quite a few stores restaurants and hotels.

Pretty much Idstein has everything you need on a daily basis but Wiesbaden is just 20 mins away, a bigger city with a large selection of everything.

When are you planning on moving here and where are you moving from?

I'm American,my husband is German and I've been living in Idstein 4 years now.

Hope this info helps and if you have anymore questions I can help you with just let me know.

Chris

Hi Chris,

First of all thank you for replying. I would love to live in Idstein as it has all of the amenities right at your finger tips. Unfortunately we have been searching now for over a month for a house to rent in Idstein with no success. So it looks like we will be moving to Taunustein. Maybe next year when we start looking for a house to buy we will have more luck. I am Canadian and my husband is German we have moved around quite a bit for my husbands job so I am hoping that with my husbands new job at Brita we will stay put for a long while! What brought you to Germany?

Sherrie

Hi Sherrie,

...Oh the things we do for love , yes I'm also here because of a cute German guy.
We also looked for a very long time untill we found something in Idstein and I've heard that the market for buying is better than for renting.
When are you guys moving?
Taunusstein isn't too far away so maybe we can get togther when you guys get here :-) .

Chris

Hi Chris,

We will be moving in April, and I would love to get together. I will contact you per PM when we have moved. :-)

Have a nice day!

Sherrie

Hi Mrs Canuck and Quill,

My husband is relocating to germany in themonth of April.I will be joining him soon after.We are relocating from India. I have a 3 year old son and would like to put him in a bilingual school.IBMS is the school which is a supposed to be good and it is in the Westend are.However heard that part of the town is expensive.
Can you suggest any alternate area from where it is possible for me to drop the kid at school and pick him up there after (basically I have to make two round trips).

My husband's company is supposed to provide us with a two bedroom accommodation - do you think 2000 Euro for a 2 Br (3 room unit) in the west end area with all furnitures/furnishing will be enough?

Also would like to know what approximately would be the cost of setting up a two bedroom unit(2 bed+dining table+living room set). I know it sounds like a stupid question as the range can be really wide but what is the minimum figure to buy decent stuff.
Thanks

Hi Anasua,
I live about 40 min from the Westend so I'm not sure about rent there although I'm assumming that 2.000 Euros should be enough.
If you know some German you can try the real estate website "www.immobilienscout24.de".
You can put in what area in Franfurt,how many rooms,that you want the to rent and it will give you all the offers on Apt or houses to rent and also the price.
Sorry I can't be of more help but good luck