Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt am Main (Francfort-sur-le-Main in French) is a 753,056 inhabitants city located in the central part of Hesse by the river Main. Frankfurt is the 5th largest city in Germany and the largest in Hesse. Frankfurt is an alpha world city and a global hub for commerce, culture, education, tourism and transportation; it's home of institutions like the Deustche Bundesbank, the European Central Bank (ECB) or Frankfurt Stock Exchange, as well as cultural institutions like Goethe University and some of the world's largest trade fairs (Frankfurter Messe).

How do I arrive to Frankfurt am Main?

  Frankfurt is incredibly well connected with whole Hesse state, the rest of Germany and neighbouring countries. 

• Plane: there are many international flights to both airports of Frankfurt, Frankfurt Airport (largest in Germany and one of the largest in whole Europe) and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. To go from the former to the airport to the city (Hauptbahnhof) there are trains and taxis, as well as some other cities like Wiesbaden or Mainz, it's 12 km northeast from the center of the city. To go from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport to the other airport and the city (Hauptbahnhof) there are buses (aprox. 1 hour 45 minutes), it's 110 km west from the center of the city.

  

  Frankfurt train and metro map
  

• Train: the main station is Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, the most crowded in Germany and that has several trains to destinations like Heidelberg (every 20 minutes; aprox. 1 hour), Mainz (every hour; aprox. 35 minutes), Cologne (3-4 every hour; aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes), Stuttgart (1-2 every hour; aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes), Nuremberg (2 every hour; aprox. 2 hours 30 minutes), Munich (1-3 every hour; aprox. 3 hours 45 minutes) or Berlin (3-4 every hour; aprox. 4 hours 15 minutes). At Frankfurt Airport there is a long-range train station (Flughafen Fernbahnhof) to places like Cologne (3-4 every hour; aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes), Stuttgart (1-2 every hour; aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes), Hanover (2 every hour; aprox. 2 hours 15 minutes), Nuremberg (2 every hour; aprox. 2 hours 45 minutes), Munich (2-3 every hour; aprox. 3 hours 15 minutes) or Hamburg (every hour; aprox. 4 hours).
  
• Metro: Frankfurt Metro, known as U-Bahn, connects all the districts of Frankfurt in 9 different lines (1-9). It works 3:20-02:00 everyday. It's a very popular mean on transport and works quite well together with local S-Bahn trains. Frankfurt also has tram lines that although slower, they give nice panoramic views of the city.
• Bus: there are many buses from Frankfurt to many destinations in Hesse and in Germany, as well as major European destinations in neighbouring countries.
• Car: if you rented a car from Frankfurt am Main it can be reached Darmstadt (aprox. 35 minutes), Wiesbaden (aprox. 40 minutes), Limburg and der Lahn (aprox. 55 minutes), Marburg (aprox. 1 hour) or Kassel (aprox. 2 hours). From here you can also reach easily destinations in Rhineland-Palatinate like Mainz (aprox. 40 minutes), Worms and Mannheim (aprox. 1 hour) or Koblenz (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes); or other regions like Heidelberg (aprox. 1 hour), Würzburg (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes), Karlruhe (aprox. 1 hour 40 minutes), Bonn (aprox. 1 hour 50 minutes), Cologne (aprox. 2 hours), Nuremberg (aprox. 2 hour 15 minutes), Stuttgart (aprox. 2.5 hours) or Munich (aprox. 3 hours 45 minutes). 

Once in Frankfurt it's ideal to move cycling all over it and public means of transportation which is excellent with trams, buses, trains and underground. There are also taxis available.

History

The Romans were established that currently is Frankfurt but it was first mentioned in when Charlemagne presided an imperial assembly here (794). Frankfurter Messe was first mentioned in 1150 and in 1372 it became an Imperial Free City (Reichsstadt). Frankfurt became one of the main cities of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1562 emperors were crowned here (iniciated by Maximilian II).  During the Thirty Years' War Frankfurt remained neutral but suffered harsh bubonic plague. It was occupied by Napoleonic France in 1806 (becoming part of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt in the Confederation the Rhine owned by Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg). After the Congress of Viena it became and independent city within the German Confederation till, after the Austro-Prussian War (1866), when it was annexedd by Prussia (within Hesse-Nassau province). Frankfurt was occupied by French troops after Ruhr uprising (in 1924 it had its first Jewish mayor, Ludwig Landmann). The city was heavily bombed in WW2, destroying its medieval city center (largest in Germany). After the war Frankfurt was part of the American Zone of Occupation and later, part of the federal state of Hesse in West Germany. The end of the war marked Frankfurt's comeback as Germany's leading financial center and its reconstruction took place in a simple modern style (changing Frankfurt's architectural face). In 1998 the European Central Bank was founded in Frankfurt, followed by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and European Systemic Risk Board in 2011. From the end of the 20th century to 2018 there was a remake of part of Frankfurt's Alstadt by Dom-Römer Project.

Frankfurt am Main's top 10

If you have little or you just don't want to visit all Frankfurt am Main, here's a list of the 10 places you can't miss in the city.

1. Römerberg.
2. Kaiserdom.
3. Städel Museum.
4. Senckenberg Nature Museum.
5. Goethe House.
6. Frankfurt Modern Art Museum.
7. Discover Frankfurt's skyline.
8. Walk all over Altstadt.
9. Enjoy traditional food and cider in Sachsenhausen.
10. Shopping at Zeil.

 

What can I visit in Frankfurt am Main?

 The most interesting in Frankfurt am Main to be visited are Altstadt (historic city center, located around Römerberg and Kaiserdom, that has suffered a huge reconstruction to restore how it was before WW2), Innenstadt (financial district of Frankfurt by river Main), Sachsenhausen (southern part of Frankfurt, by river Main, with plenty of museums and traditional inns), Westend (aristocratic area with 19th century mansions and houses), Ostend (new district where Frankfurt Zoo or ECB site are located), Bockenheim or Messe (where trade fairs take place). There's a card, Frankfurt Card (16€/ 11€  2 days/ 1 day), that includes free public transportation and 50% discount in most of the museums. Museumsufer Ticket (21€/ 12€  adults/ reduced) entitles the holder to all permanent exhibitions and special exhibitions on two consecutive days in most of the museums of Frankfurt.

These are Frankfurt's main attractions:

Frankfurt Kaiserdom

• Frankfurt Catholic Cathedral (9-20 Mon-Thu and Sat-Sun, 13-20 Fri; free): red sandstone Kaiserdom in the center Altstadt. The construction began in the 13th century and, at Wahlkapelle, the Holy Roman Emperor was chosen from 1356 to 1792 (and its coronation took place here from 1562). It was rebuilt after a fire in 1867 and again in 1944, after WW2 air attacks. Here you can also visit Dommuseum (10-17 Tue-Fri, 11-17 Sat Sun; 2€/ 1€  adults/ reduced), small museum with precious liturgical objects and Frankfurt Cathedral Tower (9-18 from May to Oct; 10-17 according to the weather from Nov to Apr; 3€/ 1.50€  adults/ students and kids), a 95 m high Gothic tower where getting excellent views of the whole city.
  
• Caricatura-Musum for Comic Art (11-18 Tue-Sun; 6€/ 3€/ free  adults/ retiree and students/ people under 18): museum for comic art, satire and illustration located in a former 14th century house, Leinwandhaus, partially rebuilt after WW2.
  
• Römerberg: old Frankfurt main square whose constructions where rebuilt after being destroyed during WW2, showing how it used to look since Middle Age. In the middle there's a fountain, Gerechtigkeitsbrunne, that is said to had wine instead of water during Holy Emperor Matthias coronation. The square is particulary cute during Christmas' markets.

  

  Römerberg

• Römer: three 15th century traditional houses, that used to be Frankfurt Old Town Hall, where emperors of the Holy Roman Empire used to be elected and crowned. Here it can be visited the Kaisersaal (10-13 and 14-17; 2€/ 0.50€  adults/ kids), room with 19th century portraits of the 52 most important leaders in Frankfurt's history. 
• St. Nikolai Old Lutheran Church (10-20 from Apr to Sep; 10-18 from Oct to Mar; free): 13th century red sandstone church located in Römerberg, being one of the only building that survived WW2 air raids. Inside it can be enjoyed it late Gothic dome and 14th-15th centuries tombstones.

  

  Schirn Art Gallery
• Schirn Art Gallery (10-17 Tue and Sat-Sun, 10-22 Wed-Thu; 18€/ 14€  adults/ students and kids for the combo ticket): Contemporary art gallery that organises high-level expositions of artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Frida Kahlo, Alberto Giacometti or Klein. Its structure may remind Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence (Italy).
  
• Frankfurt Kids Museum (10-18 Tue-Fri, 11-19 Sat-Sun; 8€/ 4€/ free  adults/ retiree and students/ people under 18): interactive museum that has exhibitions specially designed for children focused on local history and cultural importance topics.
  
• Frankfurt History Museum (10-18 Tue-Fri, 11-19 Sat-Sun; 12€/ 6€  adults/ students and kids): museum that shows the long history of Frankfurt with objects and multimedia.
• St. Leonhard Church (10-18 Thu-Fri, 11-19:30 Sat-Sun; free): 13th century church that shows the archtecture under Hohenstaufen dynasty.

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  St. Paul Lutheran Church
  

  Frankfurt Archaeological Museum (10-18 Tue-Sun; 7€/ 3.50€/ free  adults/ students/ kids under 18): museum located at former Carmelite Church that devotes itself to archaeological findings of Frankfurt and its environs from pre-historic times to the Modern era.
• St. Paul Lutheran Church (10-17; free): 18th century church notable for being the seat of Frankfurt Parliament in 1848, the first publicly and freely-elected German legislative body.
• Frankfurt Jewish Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; 7€/ 3.50€/ free  adults/ students and pupils/ kids under 6): museum that shows the history of Jews in Frankfurt (more than 9 centuries) and their traditions through objects, photographies, documents and paintings (even one by Henri Matisse that was confiscated).

  

  Willy-Brandt Platz, former location of ECB

• Willy-Brandt Platz: park by river Main that is ideal to have a walk or doing any other outdoors activities. The most popular areas are between the bridges Holbeinsteg and Eiserner Steg.
• Main Tower (10-19 Sun-Thu, 10-21 Fri-Sat from Mar to Oct; 10-19 Sun-Thu, 10-21 Fri-Sat from Nov to Feb; 7.50€/ 5€/ free  adults/ students and kids/ kids under 6): one of the tallest and most characteristic buildings in Frankfurt. It has some restaurant and a viewpoint (200 m high where enjoying Frankfurt's skyline (sometimes refered as "Mainhattan").
• Goethe House (10-18 Mon-Sat, 10-17:30 Sun; 7€/ 3€/ free  adults/ students and pupils/ kids under 6): house-museum of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (rebuilt after WW2), the most famous and important writer in German. It keeps the decoration of a Grand Burgher family and has a puppet threater that Goethe was given at the age of 4. At Goethe Museum there's a collection of 18th century paintings.

  

  Goethe House

• Struwwelpeter Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; ): museum that presents a wide variety of portraits, drawings, sketches, books and documents that depict Heinrich Hoffmann. Rare editions of "Shock-haired Peter", numerious translations, parodies, knick-knacks and works of art help to explain the continued popularity and success of this world-famous picture-book for adults as well as children.
• Frankfurt Modern Art Museum (10-20 Wed, 10-18 Thu-Sun; 12€/ 6€  adults/ students and kids): reknown Contemporary art museum in a triangular building by Hans Hollein. Its collection is focused on American and European art from 1960s to nowadays. The highlights of the permanent collection are works by Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg or Joseph Beuys like Yellow and Green Brushstrokes by Roy Lichtenstein or Blitzschlag mit Lichtschein auf Hirsch by Joseph Beuys. There are frequent temporary expositions too.
  
• DialogMuseum: small museus that allows the visitor to experience the world the way blind people do, with different rooms with different daily life situations.
  

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  Hauptwache and St. Katharinen Church

  Hauptwache: one of the most important squares in Frankfurt, linked with Konstablerwache by Zeil. It has always being linked to militia and policia, currently having a police station.
• St. Katharinen Church (10-12 Mon-Fri; free): 14th century convent that later turnt to be the first Lutheran church of Frankfurt (1681), redone in Baroque style. Goethe received his confirmation here.
• Liebfrauen Catholic Church: 14th century Gothic church with a precious stone relief. Currently used as a monastery church and sometimes hosts church music events.
• Frankfurt Börse (guided tours on request, 9-17 Mon-Fri): one of Europe's most important stock exchange (and 10th largest of the world by capitalization) located in a Neoclassic building from 1843. Its façade has allegoric states representing world's 5 continents.
  
• Thurn und Taxis Palace: 18th century Palais that belonged to the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis, used during as the parliament of the German Confederation in the 19th century. All but the façade is a reconstruction because it was destroyed during WW2.
  

  

  Eschenheimer Tower

• Frankfurt Old Opera House (guided tours on request): Neo-Renaissance style opera house opened in 1880. It suffered a fire in 1944 and was rebuilt in the 1970s, respecting its original façade with statues of Goethe or Mozart.
• Eschenheimer Tower: 15th century tower (47 m high) that used to be Frankfurt's main gate and part of the walls in the city. It's one of the oldest remaining buildings in whole Frankfurt.
• Konstablerwache: another of the most important squares in Frankfurt, linked with Hauptwache by Zeil.
  Frankfurt's courts are housed in an ensemble of buildings, including the main building erected in 1884–1889 in Neo-Renaissance style and a second building just behind it built in 1913–17 in Neoclassic style
• Frankfurt am Main Court House: complex of buildings whose main ones are a Neo-Renaissance style building from the 1880s and the other one, a Neoclassic style one from the 1910s.
  
• Staufenmauer: remains of the 13th century city wall can be found all over Frankfurt Old City.
  
• Judengasse Museum (10-20 Tue, 10-18 Wed-Sun; 6€/ 3€/ free  adults/ students/ people under 18): museum that has remains of the Jewish quartier (like houses and ritual baths, almost totally destroyed by the French troops in 1796) and shows their life between 15th-18th centuries. Laws that confined Jews in the Jewish quartier were abolished in 1811.

  

  Wand der Namen

• Frankfurt am Main Old Jewish Cemetery: former cemetery with tombs from the 13th century to 1828 (1/3 of them resisted Nazi era). In a corner of it there's the Wand der Namen, cubes with the names of the more than 11,000 Frankfurt Jews that were murdered during the Holocaust.
• Frankfurt Literature House: former library built on a 19th century Neoclassic building. It was destroyed during WW2 and rebuilt after it. 
• Portikus (11-18 Tue-Sun; free): art gallery that exhibits Contemporary art of emerging and established art located in an island in the middle of river Main.
  
• Frankfurt Icon Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; 4€/ 2€  adults/ reduced): museum with a collection of around 1,000 icons from the 16th to 19th centuries and an exhibition for modern icons too.

  

  Dreiköning Lutheran Church
  

  
  
• Dreikönig Lutheran Church (13-18 Mon, 10-18 Tue-Fri, 10-15 Sat; free): 19th century Neo-Gothic church which wasn't damaged during WW2. Its construction is located over a former Gothic chapel from 1340, consacrated to the Three Kings too, and has some impressing galleries. 
• Hindemith Cabinet (11-18 Sun; 3€/ 1.50€/ free  adults/ reduced/ people under 19): small museum placed at Cowherds' Tower (14th century tower and former city gate) focused on the composer Paul Hindemith, who lived here between 1923 and 1927. There's a music room too.
  
• Frau Rauscher Brunnen: statue representing a Hausfrau that, from time to time, it spits some water.
  
• Henninger Tower: 120 m high tower built in 1961 that was the highest grain storage silo tower in the world until 2005. In 2013 the silo tower was demolished and now hosts a modern residential tower and a restaurant.
  

  

  Frankfurt Museum of Applied Arts

• Frankfurt Museum of Applied Arts (10-20 Wed, 10-18 Thu-Sun; free): museum that has a wonderful collection of furniture, fabrics, metalwork, crystalwork and ceramics from all over Europe and Asia, particulary focused in Jugendstil style. The museum is surrounded by three charming gardens.
• Bible Experience Museum (10-17 Tue-Sat, 14-18 Sun; 5€/ 4€  adults/ students and kids): museum that shows the world of the bible, following it through the history of thousands of years and explore the world behind the scenes of the biblical text with over 300 archaeological originals from the time and the land of Jesus.
• Museum of World Cultures (11-18 Tue-Sun; 7€/ 3.50€  adults/ students and kids): museum that promotes intercultural thinking with great relevance to contemporary life. Its collection comprises over 67,000 objects from across the continents and island states, as well as 100,000 ethnographic photographs and films, and library holdings of 50,000 international books and journals.

  

  German Film Museum

• German Film Museum (10-18 Tue-Thu and Sat-Sun, 10-20 Fri; 6€/ 3€  adults/ students and kids): dinamic museum that explains the history of films, their filming, genres and artists. There are temporary expositions too.
• German Architecture Museum (10-20 Wed, 10-18 Tue and Thu-Sun; 9€/ 4.50€  adults/ students and kids): museum that displays temporary expositions, normally focused on an architect or a certain topic, linked to Frankfurt. It also has a collection of 180,000 architectural drawings and 600 models (including works by Erich Mendelsohn, Mies van der Rohe, Archigram and Frank O. Gehry).
• Museum for Communication Frankfurt (9-18 Tue-Fri, 11-19 Sat-Sun; 5€/ 1.50€  adults/ kids under 6): museum placed in a nice building that presents the history of communication as history to amaze and experience, to touch and to grasp, to reflect upon and remember. It has temporary expositions too.

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  Städel Museum

  Städel Museum (10-19 Tue-Wed and Sat-Sun, 10-21 Thu-Fri; 16€/ 14€/ free  adults/ students/ kids under 12): world famous art gallery with an excellent collection of works of art from Middle Ages to nowadays. It was founded in 1815 and has works of art by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso or Paul Cézanne, with other more recent artists like Francis Bacon or Gerhard Richter. The highlights in the museum's collection are Lucca Madonna by Jan van Eyck, Paradiesgärtlein by Oberrheinischer Meister, Portrait of a Young Woman by Sandro Botticelli, The Blinding of Sampson by Rembrandt, The Geograher by Johannes Vermeer or Goethe in the Roman Campagna by Tischbein.



Exposition at Liebieghaus Museum

• Liebieghaus Sculpture Museum (10-18 Tue-Wed and Fri-Sun, 10-21 Thu; 10€/ 8€  adults/ reduced): museum located in a beautiful 1890 mansion that owns a spectacular collection of sculptures, mainly Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Medieval, Renaissance or Baroque origin. It also has temporary expositions.
• Museum Giersch (12-19 Tue-Thu, 10-18 Fri-Sun; 6€/ 4€  adults/ students and kids under 18): small museum that organises painting, photography, sculpture, architecture or applied arts expositions with works by local artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. Its building used to be a Neoclassic house.
• Messe Tower: 256 m skyscraper with a pencil shape located in the district of Messe, where the famous Frankfurt Messe trade fairs take place.
• EXPERIMINTA Science Center (9-14 Mon, 9-17 Tue-Fri, 10-18 Sat-Sun; 11€/ 7€/ free  adults/ retiree, students and kids/ kids under 4): interactive science museum that includes impressing stereograms with insects and animals, holograms, 3D flowers and 3D photographies of Frankfurt in the beginning of the 20th century. 

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  Senckenberg Nature Museum

  Senckenberg Nature Museum (9-17 Mon-Tue and Thu-Fri, 9-20 Wed, 9-18 Sat-Sun; 10€/ 7.50€/ 5€  adults/ retiree/ students and kids under 16): very interesting museum located in a 20th century Neo-Baroque style building with very important collections of palaeontology (like the fossils found at Messel pit, UNESCO World Heritage site since 1995), biology and geology. There are real-size dinosaurs in the entrance.
• Palmengarten (9-18 from Feb to Nov; 9-16 from Nov to Jan; 7€/ 2€  adults/ kids): nice botanic garden that dates back to 1871 full of palm trees, tropical greenhouses, rosegardens and a pond with boats. Here there are outdoors concerts on summer season. It's part of Botanical Garden of the University of Frankfurt.
  
• Grüneburgpark: largest park in Frankfurt and one of the favourite ones of local inhabitants. many young people meet here (the university is very close to it) and business people do sport after work too.
  

  

  IG Farben Building

• IG Farben Building: Bauhause style building of 7 floors from 1931 that used to belong to IG Farben, business complex with companies like Agfa, BASF, Bayer or Hoechst. The company was a collaborator of Adolf Hitler's regime (helping to produce Zyklon-B for the Final Solution) and afterwards being Dwight D. Eisenhower's Allied forces headquarters in Europe. In 1995 it was given back and since then it's part of Goethe University.
• Wollheim Memorial (10-18): small pavilion with 24 videos of testimonies linked to the labor camps linked to IG Farben (Buna/Monowitz, Auschwitz III).
• Money Museum of the Bundesbank (9-17 Sun-Fri; free): museum that shows the history of money, banknotes and coins in Germany.
  
• Anne Frank Educational Center (12-18 Sat-Sun; 5€/ free  adults/ people under 18): museum based on Anne Frank (who was born and first lived in Frankfurt) biography to promote tolerance and educate people against Nazism, racism and discrimination.
  
• Frankfurt Main Cemetery (7-20 from Apr to Sep; 7-17 from Oct to Mar): cemetery where it can be found over 150 years old mausoleums and tombs. The most famous tombs are Arthur Schopenhauer and Theodor W. Adorno ones.

  

  Seat of the European Central Bank

• Seat of the European Central Bank (guided tours Mon, Fri at 16 and Tue, Wed, Thu at 10:30; free): headquarters of the ECB in the former Wholesale Market Hall and with some new buuildings. The tour shows the ECB's job and their importance in EU's economy. 
• Petrihaus (14-17 last Sun of the month from Feb to Nov): nice Swiss style pavilion that has hosted important German poets like Goethe or Brentano. It's located in a nice park with Art Nouveau sculptures, a rose garden and the oldest gingko tree in Europe.
• Frankfurt Public Transportation Museum (10-17 Sun; 3€/ 2€/ 1€  adults/ retiree and students/ people under 16): small museum on public transportation in Frankfurt that has many old trams, few buses and even a steam locomotive placed in a former station building.

  

  Burggraben at Höchst Old Town
  

  
  
• Höchst Old Town: former town (now a district of Frankfurt) that keeps its castle and half-timbered house very well preserved. Here it can be visted Höchst Castle, a mixture of multiple castle from the 13th to 16th centuries; Justinuskirche,(14-17 Tue-Sun from Apr to Oct; 14-16 Sat-Sun from Nov to Mar), a Carolingian style Catholic church that is the oldest in Frankfurt and one of the oldest churches in Germany; Bolongaro Palace, palace built for Bolongaro brothers (Italian inmigrants who settle the largest snuff tobacco factory in Europe here) in 1772 that has a nice garden too; and Höchst Porcelain Manufacturing Center (10-18 Tue-Fri, 11-19 Sa-Sun; 12€/ 6€/ free  adults/ retiree and students/ people under 16), museum that shows the traditional porcelain manufacturing process while there's an exhibition with over 1,000 procelain exhibits at Kronberger House.
  

German Leather Museum

Around Frankfurt there are many places that are worth a visit. One of them, very close is Offenbach am Main (130,280 inhabitants), an industrial city used as residence for many people who work in Frankfurt. There are some things to do here such as visiting the German Leather Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; 8€/ 5€/ 3€  adults/ students and people under 18/ kids under 15), a museum about the history of leather as a material, collecting, preserving and presenting everything to do with leather and related materials. It has many exhibits about the subject, with more than 30,000 objects for different cultures and ages, divided into different areas of the collection (applied art, ethnology and shoe collections). Not far from it there's the Klingsport Museum (13-18 Tue-Fri, 11-18 Sat-Sun; 2.50€/ 2€/ 1.50€/ free  adults/ retiree/ students/ people under 18), museum specialized in the art of modern book production, typography and type for modern book production that has an uniquely comprehensive exhibit of the work of Frans Masereel donated by Paul Ritter.

Französisch-Reformierte Church and modern buildings

The most interesting church in Offenbach is Französisch-Reformierte Church, church built by Huguenots fleeing from France in the 17th century, protected by Count Johann Philipp von Isenburg-Offenbach. The city keeps some palace such as Büsing Palace, a Palais built in 1775 for the snuff manufacturers Bernard and dOrville and expanded into a Neo-Baroque palace in 1901, one most representative buildings in Offenbach (today the building is part of a hotel complex). Other palaces in Offenbach are Isenburg Palace (headquarters of the Counts of Isenburg-Offenbach, first built in 1559, that today is part of a campus of the Offenbach University of Art and Design) or Rumpenheimer Schloss (manor house of the von Hanau family from 1678). On the outskirts of the city the visitor can rest a bit at Leonhard Eißnert Park, large park that that has many sport facilities such a skatepark and even badminton fields.

Porta Praetoria, main entrance to Saalburg

Another interesting place to visit around Frankfurt am Main, in the city of Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (54,227 inhabitants), is Saalburg (9-18 from Mar to Oct; 9-16 Tue-Sun from Nov to Feb; 7€/ 5€  adults/ reduced), a Roman fort, part of the Limes Germanicus (Roman linear border fortification of the German provinces) that is the most completely reconstructed Roman fort in Germany and since 2005, it forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. One of its main parts is the archaeological park, consisting of fully reconstructed walls and gates, the principia with its aedes (shrine containing the signa militaria or standards), the assembly hall, the horreum (provisions store), the two barracks buildings with their rebuilt interior contubernia and the partially reconstructed praetorium. It also has a museum focused on cultural, historical, architectural and military aspects of Roman Germania. Its exhibitions have a large collection of well-preserved military and domestic equipment from the Saalburg and other sites in the area as well as a series of architectural and terrain models.

What can I do in Frankfurt am Main?

Frankfurt Old Opera House

Frankfurt is considered one of the hearts of leisure activities like in the western part of Germany. There are cabarets such as Tigerpalast (Heiligkreuzgasse 16) or Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Waldschmidtstraße 4) and threaters like Frankfurt Opera House (Untermainanlage 11), Frankfurt Old Opera House (Opernplatz 1), The English Threater (Gallusanlage 7) or Bockenheimer Depot. The city has some nice cinemas too, like Kino im Filmmuseum (Schaumainkai 41) or Orfeo's Erben (Hamburger Allee 45), and concert halls for genres from rock and pop to jazz or indie. Some of the examples are Batschkapp (Gwinnerstraße 5), Summa Summarum (Klappergasse 3), Jazzkeller (Kleine Bockenheimer Straße 18a) or Mampf (Sandweg 64). Another thing you can do in Frankfurt is enjoying Frankfurt Zoo (Bernhard-Grzimek-Allee 1), founded in 1874.

What can I buy in Frankfurt am Main?

Zeil shopping center
from the Cathedral Tower

The most important district for shopping is Zeil. Goethestraße and surroundings are full of brand-name shops, the district of Sachsenhausen (around Brückenstraße and Wallstraße and the district of Fressgass (between Opernplatz and Börsenstraße) has an interesting offer of boutiques. Some of the coolest places to buy are the souvenir shop Handwerkskunst am Römer (Braubachstraße 39), Frankfurter Fass (Töngesgasse 38) to buy some local food and drinks, Töpferei Maurer (Wallstraße 5) for puchasing traditional pottery, the toy shop Wohnen & Spielen (Große Friedberger Straße 32) or the fashion boutique Kleidoskop (Töngesgasse 38). Other choices are malls like Skyline Plaza (Europa-Allee 6) or the 2nd hand market Schaumainkai (Schaumainkai).

Where can I eat in Frankfurt am Main?

 

Traditional meal with Apfelwein

Frankfurt has its own traditional dishes like Handkäse (traditional sour milk cheese from the southern part of Hesse), Frankfurter grüne Sosse (traditional green sauce from Hesse) or the famous Frankfurter Würstchen (sausages). The best places to eat in Frankfurt are located around the following streets: Kalbächer Gasse and Große Bockenheimer Straße, Schweizer Straße, Große Rittergasse, Wallstraße, Leipziger Straße, Bockenheimer Warte or Berger Straße. Some of the cheapest choices are the markets Kleinmarkthalle (Hasengasse 5-7), Bauernmarkt Konstablerwache (Konstablerwache), ockenheimer Warte and Diesterwegplatz's ones, veggie restaurant VEVAY (Neue Mainzer Straße 20), the cafes Bitter & Zart (Braubachstraße 14), Karin (Großer Hirschgraben 28) and Kante (Kantstraße 13), Ebert's Suppenstube (Große Bockenheimer Straße 31) or the German cafe Albatros (Kiesstraße 27). In case your budget is higher you may want to eat at Fisch Franke (Domstraße 9-11), Cafe Mozart (Töngesgasse 23), cafe Frankfurt and Friends (Jordanstraße 1), restaurant Operncafe (Opernplatz 10), Lobster (Wallstraße 21) or Siesmayer (Siesmayerstraße 59). To try traditional German food for an average prize you may try the following restaurants: Salzkammer (Weißadlergasse 15), Zu den 12 Aposteln (Rosenbergerstraße 1), Dauth-Schneider (Neuer Wall 5-7), Adolf Wagner (Schweizer Straße 71) cafe Hauptwache (An der Hauptwache 15) or Eckhaus (Bornheimer Landstraße 45). The international food recommendations are the Greek restaurant Ariston (Heiligkreuzgasse 29), the French ones Brasserie du Sud (Oppenheimer Landstraße 31) and Mon Amie Maxi (Bockenheimer Landstraße 31). If your budget is high it can be a good idea trying LugInsLand (Eschenheimer Tor 2), the brasserie Buffalo Steakhaus (Kaiserhofstraße 18-20)
Frankfurt's living nightlife scene is worth to be discovered. Without any doubt the most important drink here is Ebbelwei (or Apfelwein) cider that can be tried, for example, in Apfelwin Klaus (Kaiserhofstraße) or Fichtekränzi (Wallstraße 5). There are many different recommended cafes to chill out such as Sugar Mama (Kurt-Schumacher-Straße 2), Maincafé (Schaumainkai 50), Wissmüller (Lahnstraße 12); or bars like Naïv (Fahrgasse 4), Mantis (Katharinenpforte 6), Bootshaus Dreyer (Schaumainkai 90), Jimmy's Bar (Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 40), or the cocktail bar Barhundert (Stiftstraße 34). Other places are clubs like The Cave (Brönnerstraße 11). LGTB+ community is quite active and some of its most popular bars are Bar Central (Elefantengasse 13) or La Gata (Seehofstraße 3) for lesbians.

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