Things to do in Frankfurt am Main
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Frankfurt am Main
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall, warm cafe and beer garden season with the river paths and Feldberg at their best.
Early October is fine outside Book Fair week, when hotel prices spike to the year's highest.
Warm to hot and humid, some small restaurants close, but river festivals and long evenings compensate.
Christmas Market from late November to about 22 December, near freezing and crowded at weekends.
Worst months, grey and cold with short days, though museums are empty and non fair hotel rates are lowest.
What's on
- Museumsuferfest late August
Three days of late museums, stages and food stalls along both Main banks, free to enter.
- Frankfurt Christmas Market late November to 22 December
One of Germany's oldest Christmas markets, centred on Römerberg with a huge tree and carousel.
- Frankfurt Book Fair Mid October, Wednesday to Sunday
The world's largest book fair at Messe Frankfurt, public on the final weekend and the year's peak for hotels.
- Mainfest early August
Summer folk festival on Römerberg and the Main bank, closing with fireworks over the river.
- Nacht der Museen a Saturday in spring, usually May
Dozens of museums open until the small hours on one ticket, with shuttles across the city.
- Rheingau Musik Festival late June to August
Classical festival in Rheingau abbeys, castles and wine estates, including Eberbach, an hour away.
Best things to do in Frankfurt am Main
Städel Museum
Seven hundred years of European art in one manageable museum on the Main, best on a late opening evening.
Römerberg
Frankfurt's historic market square with the Römer town hall, best early or after dark when the lanes clear.
Palmengarten
A 22 hectare botanical garden with great glasshouses in the Westend, lovely in every season including winter.
Senckenberg Naturmuseum
Germany's great natural history museum, with dinosaur skeletons and biodiversity halls that fill a half day.
Goethe-Haus
Goethe's birthplace and childhood home, a furnished four floor house where he wrote his early works.
Main Tower
An open air rooftop platform at 200 metres, and sunset here is the best way to read Frankfurt's skyline.
Kleinmarkthalle
A working market hall with over 60 stalls, the best cheap lunch and edible souvenir stop in the centre.
Museum für Moderne Kunst
Frankfurt's contemporary art museum in a distinctive triangular building, with over 4500 works from the 1960s on.
Where to stay in Frankfurt am Main
Altstadt and Innenstadt
first short sightseeing stay
Walk to the Römerberg, cathedral, Kleinmarkthalle and the bridge to the Städel, with grand and mid range hotels.
Westend
quiet elegant splurge leaning base
Villa lined and calm by the Alte Oper and Palmengarten, 10 to 15 minutes on foot to the centre.
Sachsenhausen
best all round local base
Museumsufer on the river, Schweizer Straße cafes and the Apfelwein taverns, with calm residential nights.
Ostend
design hotels and value
Hanauer Landstraße galleries, bars and design hotels by the ECB quarter, 10 minutes to the centre.
Think twice about
- Bahnhofsviertel, Taunusstraße and Elbestraße area
Red light streets plus visible open drug use and street homelessness, and the worst late night walk home in central Frankfurt. Use the station and main streets by day, sleep in Sachsenhausen, Bornheim or the Altstadt edge instead.
Best restaurants in Frankfurt am Main
Restaurant Lafleur
Frankfurt's flagship two star tasting menu in the Palmengarten, including a fully realised vegan menu.
Erno's Bistro
A starred classic French bistro in the Westend, wood panelled and unhurried, luxury without ceremony.
SEVEN SWANS
A starred plant based tasting menu on the Main riverbank, built from the restaurant's own permaculture farm.
Lohninger
Austrian classics on the museum mile, and the schnitzel here is the order for a first visit.
Bidlabu
A tiny starred room with short seasonal menus, the value star that locals name for their own celebrations.
Apfelwein Wagner
The big Sachsenhausen apple wine institution since 1931, communal benches and the full Frankfurt canon for groups.
Apfelweinwirtschaft Atschel
A smaller wood panelled tavern in Alt-Sachsenhausen, the connoisseur's choice for a Frankfurt schnitzel.
Fichtekränzi
A smaller family run apple wine house in Sachsenhausen, the locals' corrective to the famous taverns.
Outdoor things to do in Frankfurt am Main
Großer Feldberg
The Taunus high summit at 881 metres, reached from Hohemark for forest hiking and views back to Frankfurt.
Goetheturm
A 43 metre timber tower in the Stadtwald forest, the low viewpoint on the signposted Goethe Trail walk.
Lohrberg
Frankfurt's vineyard hill in Seckbach, with orchards, a garden restaurant and the locals' summer evening view.
Mainufer
Flat cycle paths along both banks of the Main, with the ride west to Höchst old town the best half day.
Primus-Linie
The long established Frankfurt sightseeing cruise from the Eiserner Steg, best on a clear late afternoon.
Rüdesheim am Rhein
The Rheingau wine town for the cable car to the Niederwald, ridge walks and a day among the vineyards.
Kloster Eberbach
A great Cistercian abbey and Riesling estate in the Rheingau hills, the substance of a wine country day.
Golf-Club Hof Hausen vor der Sonne
An 18 hole Taunus foothills course welcoming guests, with published green fees and a clubhouse terrace.
Best hotels in Frankfurt am Main
Steigenberger Icon Frankfurter Hof
The grand hotel since 1876 by the Römer, with spa, brasserie and full old school service.
Motel One Frankfurt-Römer
A spotless design budget chain hotel by the Römerberg, the mid range pick to book first centrally.
Five Elements Hostel Frankfurt
The central independent hostel with dorms and private rooms, cheap but on a flagged district's edge.
Sofitel Frankfurt Opera
A luxury house directly on Opernplatz facing the Alte Oper, with large calm rooms and a serious spa.
SAKS Urban Design Hotel Frankfurt
A smaller Westend design hotel with spa and bar, calm without grand hotel formality or prices.
The Blasky Frankfurt
A stylish four star in Sachsenhausen-Nord with spacious contemporary rooms between river and Schweizer Straße.
Jugendherberge Frankfurt
The big riverbank hostel in Sachsenhausen facing the skyline, the safest cheap beds in the city.
25hours Hotel Frankfurt The Goldman
The Ostend design flagship on Hanauer Landstraße, eclectic literary themed rooms with a busy local bar.
Is Frankfurt am Main expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €70 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €145 a person |
| Splurge | €320 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Städel Museum: a few days ahead
- Alte Oper: weeks ahead
- Primus-Linie: a few days ahead
- Kloster Eberbach: a few days ahead
- Golf-Club Hof Hausen vor der Sonne: weeks ahead
- Restaurant Lafleur: weeks ahead
- Erno's Bistro: weeks ahead
- SEVEN SWANS: weeks ahead
- Check the Messe Frankfurt calendar first, as fair weeks can triple central hotel prices and sell out.
- Book Lafleur, SEVEN SWANS and Erno's weeks ahead, and Bidlabu days to weeks ahead.
- Reserve Atschel and Apfelwein Wagner for weekend dinner, and buy Städel exhibition tickets online in season.
Is Frankfurt am Main safe?
- Watch for pickpockets in the Hauptbahnhof crush, on the Zeil and at Christmas Market and festival crowds.
- In the Bahnhofsviertel use main lit streets at night and do not accept help at ticket machines from strangers.
- Stay on lit Main embankment paths late at night during river festivals.
- Emergency number is 112.
Frankfurt am Main travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Sleeping by the Hauptbahnhof for convenience, when Sachsenhausen is 10 minutes away and calmer.
- Lunching expensively on Drosselgasse in Rüdesheim instead of using it as a photo stop.
- Treating the Zeil chain shopping street as a sight, when Berger Straße and Schweizer Straße are better browsing.
- Visiting Römerberg only at noon crush in December or fair week, instead of early or after dark.
Getting around Frankfurt am Main: public transport and more
- Take S-Bahn S8 or S9 from the airport to Hauptbahnhof in about 11 to 15 minutes.
- Buy RMV day or group day tickets and check current fares in the RMV app, as prices rise.
- Price the Frankfurt Card against your museum plan, as it bundles city transport including the airport with discounted entry.
- Walk the core: Römerberg to Städel is 10 minutes over the Eiserner Steg.
Who Frankfurt am Main suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Frankfurt am Main your trip
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