Frankfurt has an image problem that turns out to be an advantage on closer inspection: those who only come to change planes expect bank towers and airport concourses – and find a compact city on a river where barely twenty minutes on foot separate the stock exchange from an apple-wine tavern. The skyline, Germany's only real high-rise panorama, stands within sight of half-timbered gables, and along one kilometre of the southern riverbank runs a density of museums with few equals in Europe.
This guide shows you how to make the most of a weekend or an overnight stop: from the Main Tower via the new old town and the Museumsufer to Sachsenhausen for apple wine – with two useful tables, an honest comparison of districts for staying overnight and practical information at the end. For an overview of the city, see our page on Frankfurt am Main as a destination.
Mainhattan: Germany's Only Real Skyline
No other German city has embraced high-rise construction like Frankfurt. Around the banking district and the trade fair grounds stand more than a dozen towers above 150 metres, first among them the Commerzbank Tower at 259 metres – still the tallest building in Germany – and the Messeturm with its distinctive pyramid top. The nickname "Mainhattan" is less a boast than self-irony: the towers stand close together, and between them ordinary city life simply carries on, with kiosks, lunch spots and trams. The newest chapter is the Ostend: since 2015, the 185-metre twin tower of the European Central Bank has marked the transformation of the former wholesale market site – best seen from the northern bank of the Main.
Main Tower: the Public View from Above
The Main Tower is the only skyscraper in the city with a publicly accessible viewing platform. Two lifts take you up to around 200 metres; at the top you stand in the open air, with the towers of the banking district almost within reach and, beyond them, the Taunus hills, the airport and the bend of the Main. Admission is approx. 9–12 €; the platform closes in strong wind or thunderstorms. Good skyline views from below are free: from the Eiserner Steg, from the Alte Brücke and from the Sachsenhausen riverbank, where the towers are mirrored in the river in the evening.
Stayhaus tip: Go up the Main Tower about an hour before sunset. That way you see the city first in evening light and then as a sea of lights – two panoramas for the price of one, and the queue is shorter than in the afternoon.
Römerberg and the New Old Town: the Reconstructed Heart
The Römerberg with the three-gabled Römer, the city hall since 1405, is Frankfurt's historic centre – and was almost completely destroyed after 1944. The half-timbered row on its eastern side was reconstructed back in the 1980s; in 2018 the real flagship project followed: on the site between the Römer and the cathedral, the new old town was built with 35 houses, among them 15 faithful reconstructions such as the Goldene Waage with its splendid Renaissance facade. This also reopened the Krönungsweg, the coronation route along which the Holy Roman emperors processed from the cathedral to the banquet in the Römer – ten emperors were crowned in the Kaiserdom St. Bartholomäus between 1562 and 1792.
Take time for the details: carved house signs, sandstone portals, quiet inner courtyards. That bank towers keep rising up between the gables is not a stylistic clash but the most honest view of the city. Right on the Römerberg you will also find the Schirn Kunsthalle with its changing exhibitions and the Paulskirche, meeting place of the first German national assembly of 1848. If you are feeling energetic, climb the cathedral tower as well: around 330 steps lead to the viewing platform at 66 metres, from which the new old town and the bank towers can be taken in at a single glance.
The Museumsufer: Art by the Kilometre
Along the southern bank of the Main, the Schaumainkai in Sachsenhausen, one museum follows another – complemented by several institutions on the old-town side. The Städel alone justifies the trip: its collection spans 700 years of European art, from Holbein and Vermeer via Monet to the present day. If you plan to visit several museums, buy the Museumsufer-Ticket: it is valid on two consecutive days for 39 museums and costs approx. 20–25 € – it pays for itself from the second or third museum onwards. At the end of August, the riverbank belongs to stages and stalls for three days during the Museumsuferfest.
| Museum | Focus |
|---|---|
| Städel Museum | 700 years of European art, from the Old Masters to the present |
| DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum | Film history and technology, interactive permanent exhibition, its own cinema |
| Museum für Kommunikation | History of post, media and communication, decidedly family-friendly |
| Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung | Sculpture from antiquity to Neoclassicism in a 19th-century villa with a garden |
| Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) | Architecture and urban development, known for its "house within a house" |
| Museum Angewandte Kunst | Design, fashion and applied arts in a building by Richard Meier |
| Weltkulturen Museum | Ethnological collections in three townhouses right on the riverbank |
Between the museums, the walk itself is worthwhile: the Schaumainkai is lined with plane trees, on Saturdays one of the region's largest flea markets spreads out here, and via the Holbeinsteg footbridge you are back in the banking district within minutes.
Sachsenhausen and Apple Wine
South of the Museumsufer begins Alt-Sachsenhausen, the district of the apple-wine taverns. Apple wine – called Ebbelwoi or Stöffche here – is dry and tart, and arrives at the table in a grey stoneware jug with blue decoration, the Bembel, poured into a ribbed glass. You order it straight, "sauergespritzt" with sparkling water or – smiled at by connoisseurs – "süssgespritzt" with lemonade. It comes with Handkäs mit Musik, a sour-milk cheese in a vinegar-and-onion marinade, and Grüne Sosse: seven herbs – borage, chervil, cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel and chives – worked into a cold sauce and served with eggs and potatoes. Spring is the sauce's true season – traditionally from Maundy Thursday onwards – and the city even dedicates a festival with a cooking competition to it.
The classic addresses are on Schweizer Strasse and in the lanes around Klappergasse: Zum Gemalten Haus with its wall paintings, Adolf Wagner right next door, plus Fichtekränzi and Atschel on Wallstrasse. On Klappergasse, the Frau Rauscher fountain spits water onto the pavement at irregular intervals – a bow to a famous apple-wine drinker from a local folk song. In the taverns the rules are simple: long tables, everyone moves up, and if you ask politely, help with the menu comes free of charge.
Stayhaus tip: Order your first apple wine sauergespritzt – it makes for an easier introduction – and share a small Bembel. Handkäs mit Musik, by the way, also wins over those who hesitate at "sour-milk cheese": with dark bread, butter and plenty of caraway.
Kleinmarkthalle and the City Centre
Hidden between the Zeil and the Römerberg lies Frankfurt's culinary memory: the Kleinmarkthalle, a post-war building of 1954 with around 60 stalls. Here you can buy the herb bundles for Grüne Sosse ready-tied, Hessian butcher's tradition at Gref-Völsing – the Rindswurst has been made to the same recipe since 1894 – as well as cheese, fish and flowers; up on the gallery, a wine stand pours wines from Rheinhessen and the Rheingau. It is open Monday to Saturday; the crowds are thickest late on Saturday morning. A fresh open-air alternative: the farmers' market on Konstablerwache, on Thursdays and Saturdays, with stalls run by farms from the surrounding countryside – and apple wine straight from the producer.
The rest of the city centre is best done on foot: the Zeil shopping mile with the curved glass facade of MyZeil, the Hauptwache as transport hub and meeting point, the Goethe-Haus, where the poet was born in 1749, and the Alte Oper, whose 19th-century facade frames the Opernplatz. If you are after a quiet counterpoint, continue into the Westend to the Palmengarten with its historic greenhouses.
Along the Main: on Foot and by Bike
The Main is Frankfurt's true promenade. The Eiserner Steg, the pedestrian bridge of 1869 with its thousands of love locks, connects the Römerberg with Sachsenhausen and delivers the classic postcard view of the skyline. Both banks are walkable and cyclable throughout: downstream you pass the Nizza, a riverside garden with Mediterranean planting; upstream the path leads past meadows and jetties to the Gerbermühle, whose beer garden served Goethe as a summer retreat.
With a rental bike this becomes a half-day tour: upstream to Offenbach, or downstream towards Höchst, whose old town of half-timbered houses and palace square hardly anyone has on their list. Alternatively, one of the passenger boat lines from the Eiserner Steg takes over the river perspective – an hour of skyline from the water, without pedalling. If you want more green, follow the GrünGürtel from the Ostend onwards – a 70-kilometre circular route enclosing the city in an arc of woods, fields and orchard meadows.
Frankfurt as a Hub: the Night Before the Flight
No German airport is bigger than Frankfurt (FRA), and many travellers spend just one night here before flying on. The good news: you do not have to sleep at the terminal for that. S-Bahn lines S8 and S9 connect the airport's regional station with the Hauptbahnhof in 11–15 minutes and run every few minutes during the day – reliably in the early morning too. So if you want to spend the evening over apple wine in Sachsenhausen, you will still comfortably make a flight from 8 am the next morning. One advantage over many other hubs: the trains run late into the evening, so even a flight arriving around midnight still gets you into the centre without a taxi.
Conversely, for very early departures or short connections, the hotels at the airport itself and in the new Gateway Gardens district (with its own S-Bahn station) are the stress-free choice. And with a long layover of six hours or more, the S-Bahn realistically lets you see the Römerberg and the Eiserner Steg and be back in time. Watch the trade-fair calendar: during the Book Fair in October and the big spring fairs, room rates multiply – then it pays to check affordable hotels in Frankfurt am Main especially early.
Practical Information
Getting There
By rail, Frankfurt is the best-connected point in Germany: the Hauptbahnhof is the central ICE hub, Cologne is a good hour away via the high-speed line, Munich around 3 hours, Berlin about 4 hours. By plane you land at the country's largest airport; from the airport's regional station, S-Bahn lines S8 and S9 take you to the Hauptbahnhof in 11–15 minutes and on to the Hauptwache, while long-distance trains stop at the airport's own main-line station.
Getting Around
Within the RMV network, S-Bahn, U-Bahn and trams share the work; the underground trunk line between Hauptbahnhof, Hauptwache and Konstablerwache is the backbone. A single ticket costs approx. 3–4 €, a day ticket approx. 6–8 €. In practice, though, the centre is walking territory: from the Hauptbahnhof to the Römerberg it is 20 minutes on foot, and from there another ten across the Eiserner Steg to Sachsenhausen.
Best Time to Visit
From May to September, life happens on the banks of the Main and in the garden courtyards of the apple-wine taverns; at the end of August the Museumsuferfest is the big draw. December brings the Christmas market on the Römerberg against its half-timbered backdrop. Check the trade-fair calendar before booking – the Book Fair in mid-October in particular pushes hotel prices up across the city.
Where to Stay: Which District Suits You?
Frankfurt is small enough that you can reach everything from any central district – so the choice is above all a question of atmosphere and budget:
| District | Character | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Bahnhofsviertel | Best transport links and international food, but to be honest: around Taunusstrasse and Elbestrasse, the red-light trade and an open drug scene are part of the street scene, and at night it is not for everyone. In return, good value for money and some of the city's most exciting restaurants. | Budget-minded, streetwise travellers with an early train or flight |
| Sachsenhausen | Apple-wine taverns, the Museumsufer on the doorstep, lively in the evening, village-quiet in the side lanes by day | Food lovers and museum-goers |
| Westend | Quiet 19th-century quarter with the Palmengarten and Grüneburgpark, upscale hotels, short distances to the fair and the banking district | Those seeking calm, and business travellers |
| Innenstadt / Altstadt | Römerberg, Zeil and the Main on foot, plenty of bustle in between – it does not get more central | First-time visitors and short stays |
In the Westend and around the Opernplatz you will find the addresses with higher aspirations – a selection under 5-star hotels in Frankfurt am Main. If you are watching your budget, look at affordable hotels in Frankfurt am Main; the full range across Germany is at hotels in Germany, with more information on our page on Frankfurt am Main as a destination.
