About 45 minutes drive due east of Frankfurt on the A3 is a large factor outlet called Wertheim Village that is a series shop fronts for designer clothes. Wertheim is part of a network of fashion outlets that has tax-free status for people travelling outside of the EU, so it attracts bus loads of Asian tourists looking for bargains.

In general there are good discounts at the outlet with around 25% off brands such as Ralph Lauren, Versace, Armani, Calvin Klein, as well as many other lesser known brands. There are over 100 different outlet shops in one long street. The architecture is pretty cheesy and basic, but the discounts are good. at the moment there is the regular January sale on and most shops have a fixed discount of 50% off all goods. Some have special clearance discounts of up to 70% off some sections. I normally don’t buy branded clothes but since at Wertheim they are roughly the price of regular highstreet clothes now, it is great value for money even without the 14.5% VAT discount for travellers.

The Jan discounts are lasting for a couple more weeks still, but from the evidence this weekend, there won’t be much stock left by the end. Weekend days are packed so if you can go on a weekday you will really benefit from the time to look in peace. Well, except for the too pushy sales staff who are clearly too used to handling overseas tourists.

If you are willing to wait until the last week though, many shops will be adding an additional discount to clear old stock. There will be even more really good 70% discounts from next weekend onwards. You will need to go by car though since there is no train connection to Wertheim.

Last benefit of shopping at Wertheim is that you can collect Miles and More points on anything you buy there.

In terms of food, there is very little choice except one multipurpose Italian restaurant, but the food is pretty basic. So don’t expect a good meal out after shopping.