Things to do in Frankfurt

Air raids in March 1944 burned out Frankfurt's medieval centre, the lanes between the cathedral and the Römer. Postwar building there was plain. Two stretches were later rebuilt in the old style, in the 1980s and again in 2018.

Around the Römerberg

Things to do in Frankfurt's old town lie a short walk apart.

• Römerberg. Its east side is a half-timbered row rebuilt in the 1980s, facing the Römer, the town hall since 1405.
• Haus Wertheim. Built about 1600 by the river, the one half-timbered house in the old town that survived 1944.
• Dom-Römer quarter. Thirty-five houses: fifteen rebuilt as they were, twenty new in the old manner.
• Kaiserdom. Emperors were crowned in the cathedral from 1562 to 1792.
• Paulskirche and Goethe House. Both destroyed in 1944. The church reopened in 1948, the poet's birthplace in 1951.

On foot the offer is two self-guided walking games and an evening pub crawl.

South bank and towers

An iron footbridge leads to Sachsenhausen. Museums line its riverbank, and the apple-wine taverns sit behind them.

• Städel. European painting from the 1300s on. Closed Mondays, open until 9 pm on Thursdays.
• Main Tower. The one skyscraper in Mainhattan with a public viewing deck, at 200 metres.
• West of the centre. The Palmengarten, open since 1871, and the Senckenberg natural history museum with its dinosaurs.

Days out by car

Most of what is sold here leaves town. Day trips from Frankfurt are private cars, priced per vehicle and split across the party.

• Heidelberg. 90 km south, an hour. The castle ruin above the Neckar, and Germany's oldest university.
• Rhine gorge. An hour west to Rüdesheim and Bingen, where the UNESCO gorge begins.
• Rothenburg. 185 km southeast, nearly two hours, to a town ringed by its medieval wall.
• Baden-Baden. 175 km south, a spa town at the edge of the Black Forest.
• Strasbourg. 215 km southwest, over the border in Alsace.

Longer runs are one-way transfers, many with a sightseeing stop: Munich 400 km, Prague 515, Berlin 550, Budapest 970.

Practical

• Weather. July afternoons average 26C and January ones 5C. Rain falls year-round, a little more in summer.
• Airport. S-Bahn lines S8 and S9 reach the main station in about 12 minutes, every ten or so. ICE trains stop at the airport too.
• Fairs. The Book Fair fills the city each October, and rooms get scarce. Check the Messe calendar first.
• Apple wine. Ebbelwoi is tart on purpose and comes in a stoneware Bembel. Sauergespritzt, cut with sparkling water, is the gentle start.