Mainz is located on the west bank of the river Rhine, opposite the confluence of the Main with the Rhine. The population in 2008 was 196,784, an additional 18,619 people maintain a primary residence elsewhere but have a second home in Mainz. The city is part of the Rhein Metro area consisting of 5.8 million people. Mainz can easily be reached from Frankfurt International Airport in 25 minutes by commuter railway (Line S8).
After the last ice age, sand dunes were deposited in the Rhine valley at what was to become the western edge of the city. The Mainz Sand Dunes area is now a nature reserve with a unique landscape and rare steppe vegetation for this area
