This ancient imperial town on the River Main – therefore its full name, Frankfurt am Main – has lengthy been an vital business and financial center. Frankfurt’s stunning skyline, dominated by using the extremely good cluster of high-rise constructions in the banking quarter, has a awesome North American flavor, a truth that has earned the town the nicknames “Mainhattan” and “Chicago on the Main.”
Considered a world town – it regularly ranks in the pinnacle 10 high-quality cities in which to stay and do commercial enterprise – Frankfurt has additionally lengthy been an necessary core for cultural and tourism activities. Its massive exchange honest complex, Messe Frankfurt, hosts essential occasions such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s most essential publishing event.
Frankfurt is additionally nicely acknowledged for its superb variety of nice museums masking art, science, and history. It’s additionally a stunning town to discover on foot. A spotlight of a taking walks tour is crossing the Main by the Eiserner Steg, a pedestrian footbridge initially constructed in 1911 (and rebuilt since) that hyperlinks the Sachsenhausen district to the downtown core.
To study greater about the great locations to go to alongside the way, be certain to examine our full listing of the pinnacle traveller sights in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- Römerberg: Frankfurt’s Old Town Center
Römerberg: Frankfurt’s Old Town Center
Römerberg: Frankfurt’s Old Town Center
Set in the coronary heart of Frankfurt’s Old Town (Altstadt), the Römerberg is an irregularly formed rectangular with the Justice Fountain (Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen) at its center. Not solely is it Frankfurt’s most picturesque public square, it is the city’s busiest pedestrian area and domestic to severa vacationer sights and exciting matters to do, consisting of Christmas markets and different events.
Points of activity right here consist of its many open-fronted shops, as soon as frequent at some point of the historic town, and the Römer. This cluster of eleven ancient constructions collectively made up the medieval-era Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus), faithfully reconstructed in 1954 from unique 15th- to 18th-century floorplans. Of different notice is the dependent Imperial Hall (Kaisersaal), as soon as the scene of outstanding banquets.
Other outstanding constructions in the Römerberg consist of the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) relationship from 1908; the 14th-century Gothic Church of St. Leonhard; and St. Nicholas Church, with its carillon.
Also of pastime right here is the Historical Museum (Historisches Museum Frankfurt). Founded in 1878, its fascinating collections relate to Frankfurt’s wealthy cultural records from medieval to cutting-edge times, and the six traditional-style constructions of the Ostzeile.
The historical Wertheim House (Haus Wertheym), the solely constructing to have survived the 1944 air raids that destroyed lots of ancient Frankfurt, can additionally nonetheless be viewed and is now domestic to a restaurant.
Address: Römerberg 26, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Städel Museum
The Städel Museum
The Städel Museum
The Städel Museum (Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie), with its outstanding series of art work from the 14th century, is the most necessary of the world-class museums that make up Frankfurt’s Museum District.
Of its many collections, the most important consist of works by means of ancient masters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Goya and into the later centuries with Monet, Degas, Beckman, and Picasso. The extra cutting-edge works encompass these through 1st baron beaverbrook and Baselitz. The series additionally consists of prints and drawings from Durer and Cezanne to Pollock and Ernst.
English language guided excursions are available, alongside with audio-guides for these who decide on to go it alone. For these with extra time, workshops and talks, alongside with a lookup library, are additionally available. A café and bookstore are additionally placed on-site.
Address: Schaumainkai 63, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Museum District: Museumsufer
Museum District: Museumsufer
Museum District: Museumsufer | David Stanley / image modified
Frankfurt’s Museum District (Museumsufer) on the south and north banks of the River Main is a exquisite series of some sixteen separate museums, many of them of worldwide standing. In addition to the centrepiece, the Städel Art Museum, a spotlight is the exquisite Museum of World Cultures (Museum der Weltkulturen), viewed as one of Europe’s pinnacle ethnological museums. Founded in 1904, its collections consist of extra than 65,000 artifacts from as a ways afield as Asia, Africa, and North and South America.
The Museum of Ancient Sculpture (Städtische Galerie Liebieghau) is every other necessary museum here. Situated in the 19th-century Liebieghaus, the museum is domestic to a massive series of Asian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sculptures, as properly as portions from the medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.
Also well worth visiting, the Icon Museum (Ikonen-Museum der Stadt Frankfurt am Main) is a uncommon group housing a treasury of greater than a thousand Christian Orthodox photographs from all over the Orthodox Diaspora.
Other museums of word are the German Architecture Museum (Deutsches Architekturmuseum), focusing on architectural plan and imparting greater than 200,000 plans, drawings, and models; the Film Museum (Deutsches Filminstitut), with famous pertaining to to the Lumière brothers and the records of cinema; and the Museum of Applied Art (Museum Angewandte Kunst), or MAK for short, with its shows of extra than 30,000 objects representing European and Asian ornamental art.
Try to squeeze in a go to to the Frankfurt Archaeological Museum (Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt), set in a former monastery and dealing with the city’s records from its basis to the present. Even a rapid go to is time properly spent.
Address: Schaumainkai, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Maintower
Located in the coronar
Maintower, Frankfurt
Maintower, Frankfurty heart of Frankfurt’s Inner City (Innenstadt) district, the 200-meter-tall Maintower need to rank enormously on your listing of exciting matters to do. Completed in 1999, this surprising 56-story skyscraper is one of the greatest in Germany and was once constructed with a excellent rooftop observatory that is open to the public.
Two public viewing systems are on its pinnacle floors, and the views from right here are truly breathtaking. In addition to taking part in panoramic views over the Old Town (Altstadt) and the many different Frankfurt sights on your must-see list, the river views on my own make the speedy glass-fronted elevator ride to the pinnacle really worth it.
If journeying on a Friday or Saturday, you might also choose to time your go to for after nightfall. The viewing structures are open later on these days, supplying a special chance to view the metropolis from on excessive at night.
Better still, mix your go to with a meal at the famous restaurant on the building’s 53rd floor. Be positive to additionally take a look at out the artwork installations and mosaics in the building’s foyer area, too.
Address: Neue Mainzer Str. 52-58, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- The Palm Garden
The Palm Garden, Frankfurt
Highlights of a go to nowadays are the stunning outside botanical well-knownshows laid out in accordance to their geographical location, alongside with a variety of greenhouses containing subtropical and tropical plant species. The gardens additionally provide boating, a kid’s playground, and picnic spots, and guided excursions are available.
The Palm Garden, Frankfurt
Located on Bockenheimer Landstrasse, the stunning 54-acre Palm Garden (Palmengarten), the biggest botanic backyard in Germany (and one of three in Frankfurt), used to be an instantaneous hit with the public upon its opening in 1871. The enchantment lured some of the pinnacle performers of the time from round the world, along with Buffalo Bill, who visited with his Wild West exhibit in 1890.
The Europaturm – a 337-meter-tall telecommunications tower additionally recognised as the “Tower of Europe” – is simply a quick stroll away and well worth touring for its viewing platform and restaurant. Great views can additionally be loved from the viewing structures of the city’s Main Tower, one of its tallest skyscrapers.
Other Frankfurt parks of hobby are the 72-acre Grüneburgpark and the even large Nidda Valley People’s Park (Volkspark Niddatal) protecting some 415 acres on the outskirts of the metropolis and a excellent vicinity for a stroll.
Address: Siesmayerstraße 61, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Senckenberg Natural History Museum
Senckenberg Natural History Museum
Senckenberg Natural History Museum | Patrick Nouhailler / picture modified
Located in Frankfurt’s Senckenberg Gardens, the Senckenberg Natural History Museum (Naturmuseum Senckenberg) is one of the most modern-day museums of herbal records in Europe and the 2d greatest of its type in Germany.
Along with its severa shows bearing on to our planet’s biodiversity and the evolution of organisms, the museum homes Europe’s largest exhibition of giant dinosaurs, making it especially famous with households (a range of life-size reproduction dinosaurs greet company in the museum’s forecourt).
It’s additionally domestic to the world’s biggest series of stuffed birds, alongside with an large show off outlining the improvement of mankind. English language excursions are available, and you can hire audio publications if you choose to tour on your own. Educational workshops and lectures are additionally held regularly. A bistro and a memento save are additionally positioned on premises.
Address: Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Frankfurt Cathedral
Frankfurt Cathedral
Frankfurt Cathedral
The Roman Catholic Frankfurt Cathedral (Frankfurter Dom) – or to supply its full name, St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral (Dom St. Bartholomäus) – really stands out for its stunning color.
Built of purple sandstone in Gothic fashion between the 13th and fifteenth centuries, with a 95-meter-tall tower, the cathedral nonetheless manages to stand out in this metropolis of skyscrapers. It’s one of solely a handful of church buildings in Germany to be specified as an Imperial Cathedral, and it was once right here from 1562 to 1792 that the coronation of Emperors took location in the Election Chapel.
Beneath the tower is the fantastic Crucifixion by way of Hans Backoffen, sculpted in 1509, whilst in the Marienkapelle is the Maria-Schlaf-Altar from 1434. Other highlights consist of the grave-slab of King Günther von Schwarzburg, who died in Frankfurt in 1349, as properly as severa carved facet altars courting from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The cathedral’s most vital relic is the skullcap of St. Bartholomew, stored in the Late Romanesque Bartholomew’s Choir. Many of the cathedral’s most essential artifacts can be seen in Dommuseum Frankfurt.
Address: Domplatz 1, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Kleinmarkthalle
Fruit for sale
Fruit for sale
Markets are usually a proper vicinity to get a experience for a city, and Frankfurt’s Kleinmarkthalle, the place many locals save daily, is no exception. The existing corridor dates from 1954, and its 1,500 rectangular meters residence a hundred and fifty market stalls promoting some of the greatest ingredients in Germany.
This is a excellent area to attempt out the well-known Frankfurt “Green Sauce” (Frankfurter Grüne Soße), a common condiment made of seven herbs, bitter cream, and egg. You can additionally delight in neighborhood specialties like sausages, cheeses, and pastries.
Address: Hasengasse 5-7, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Goethe House and Museum
Goethe House and Museum
Goethe House and Museum | Susanne Tofern / photograph modified
Frankfurt used to be the birthplace of Germany’s best writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. His household home, Goethe House – the place Goethe was once born on August 28, 1749, and lived till 1765 – suggests how the well-to-do household and their personnel would have lived. You can see the whole lot from the sumptuously adorned eating room on the predominant flooring to Goethe’s writing room on the pinnacle floor, the place he penned many of his early works and the place he performed as a baby with his puppet theater.
Next door is the Goethe Museum, a 14-room gallery showcasing artworks from the writer’s time, inclusive of masterpieces of the Late Baroque and Romantic periods. Family guided tours of each houses are available.
Goethestrasse, a high-end buying region with many first-rate boutiques, artwork galleries, and cafés, is some other Frankfurt appeal that testifies to the writer’s repute and importance.
Address: Großer Hirschgraben 23-25, D-60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- The Hauptwache
The Hauptwache
The Hauptwache
Situated in the center of the metropolis and one of Frankfurt’s busiest pedestrian areas, the Hauptwache – actually translated as the “Main Guard” – is well-known for its combine of first-rate ancient structures and contemporary structures. The most exceptional constructing right here is the historical Baroque Guard House after which the rectangular is named. Built in 1730, it as soon as housed the city’s militia, a prison, and later, a police station (it now serves as a café).
The rectangular itself is one of Frankfurt’s important purchasing areas, entire with a massive underground mall. It’s additionally the factor from which the city’s principal buying and business streets radiate. Pedestrian-friendly Zeil heads east, and Kaiserstrasse, with its many locations of leisure in its facet streets, runs southwest previous the Rossmarkt and Kaiserplatz to the Hauptbahnhof. This is the city’s essential teach station, constructed in 1888 and one of the biggest instruct terminals in Europe.
Address: An der Hauptwache 15, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art | Rupert Ganzer / image modified
The Frankfurt Museum of Modern Art (MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt) is broadly viewed as one of Europe’s most necessary galleries of modern-day art. Opened in 1991 in a beautiful postmodern constructing in the coronary heart of the city, the museum consists of in its sizeable series some 5,000 first-rate examples from extra than 450 main artists. Spanning from the Sixties to the present, works are by using artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Francis Bacon.
The museum additionally operates MMK Zollamt, a satellite tv for pc exhibition house presenting works through youthful and as but unknown artists; the Frankfurt Museum of Applied Art (Museum für angewandte Kunst), with greater than 30,000 gadgets of European and Asian utilized art, along with furniture, tapestries, glass, ceramics and books; and Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, displaying each contemporary and current art.
Also of hobby is the Caricatura Museum, excellent for its well-knownshows and shows pertaining to to comedian art.
Address: Domstraße 10, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Frankfurt Zoo
Chimpanzee at the Frankfurt Zoo
Chimpanzee at the Frankfurt Zoo
Home to extra than 4,500 animals representing at least 510 distinctive species, Frankfurt Zoo covers 32 acres close to the city’s historic Friedberger Tor. Founded in 1858, it is Germany’s 2d oldest zoo and is referred to for its notable animal houses, such as the special Grzimek House with shows of Madagascar’s various fauna.
Also of activity is the Exotarium, with animals from one of a kind climatic regions, consisting of marine life, reptiles, and crocodiles. The Borgori Forest has a awesome ape residence in an real jungle setting.
Other highlights consist of the Nocturnal Animals House and the Bird Hall. A range of activities and packages are offered, which includes household festivals, exhibits, and themed tours.
Address: Bernhard-Grzimek-Allee 1, 60316 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- The Old Opera House
The Old Opera House
The Old Opera House
Situated in the coronary heart of Frankfurt’s Opera Square (Opernplatz), the Old Opera House (Alte Oper) was once developed in 1880 in the fashion of the Italian High Renaissance. Destroyed all through World War II, it was once rebuilt and reopened in 1981 as one of the city’s most essential live performance venues.
The city’s new opera house, Oper Frankfurt, and the drama theater, Schauspiel Frankfurt, share a contemporary, present day venue recognized as Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt.
Address: Opernplatz, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Eschenheim Tower
Eschenheim Tower
Eschenheim Tower
The Eschenheim Tower (Eschenheimer Turm) was once constructed in the early 1400s and stays the greatest relic from Frankfurt’s ancient city walls. Standing forty seven meters high, it nevertheless impresses with its dimensions and dominates the Eschenheimer Gate district.
Today, the tower homes a café and assembly rooms used through nearby historic societies. Also of pastime is the close by Stock Exchange, constructed in 1879 and the biggest in the country.
Address: Börsenplatz, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Jewish Museum Frankfurt
Jewish Museum Frankfurt
Jewish Museum Frankfurt | Infinite Ache / photograph modified
Opened in 1988 on the fiftieth anniversary of Kristallnacht, a pivotal factor in the persecution of Germany’s Jews in the 1930s, the Jewish Museum Frankfurt is nicely well worth a visit. It’s unfold throughout two venues.
Displays in the predominant series in the Rothschild Palace region focal point on the greater than 900-year records of Jewish existence and tradition in Frankfurt. Highlights consist of an show off touching on to Anne Frank in the Frank Family Center, as properly as a trendy lookup library.
The 2d vicinity – Museum Judengasse – is additionally well worth seeing. Of best activity right here are the foundations of 19 homes relationship lower back to the basis of Europe’s first Jewish ghetto in the 1400s. Artifacts and fascinating reveals referring to from this duration furnish a captivating glimpse into Jewish tradition at some point of this length of European history.
Address: Untermainkai 14-15, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany