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Frankfurt am Main

Glinting with glass, steel and concrete skyscrapers, Frankfurt-on-the-Main (pronounced ‘mine’) is unlike any other German city. The focal point of a conurbation of 5.5 million inhabitants, ‘Mainhattan’ is a high-powered finance and business hub, home to one of the world’s largest stock exchanges and the gleaming headquarters of the European Central Bank, and famously hosts some of the world's most important trade fairs, attracting thousands of business travellers.

Yet at its heart, Frankfurt is an unexpectedly traditional and charming city, with half-timbered buildings huddled in its quaint medieval Altstadt (old town), cosy apple-wine taverns serving hearty regional food, village-like neighbourhoods filled with outdoor cafes, boutiques and street art, and beautiful parks, gardens and riverside paths. The city's cache of museums is second in Germany only to Berlin’s, and its nightlife and entertainment scenes are bolstered by a spirited student population.

Explore Frankfurt am Main

Städel Museum
Founded in 1815, this world-renowned art gallery has an outstanding collection of European art from masters including Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir,…
Kaiserdom
Frankfurt’s red-sandstone cathedral is dominated by a 95m-high Gothic tower, which can be climbed via 328 steps. Construction began in the 13th century;…
Senckenberg Museum
Life-size dinosaur mock-ups guard the front of Frankfurt’s natural history museum. Inside the early 1900s neo-baroque building, exhibits cover…
Römerberg
The Römerberg is Frankfurt’s old central square. Ornately gabled half-timbered buildings, reconstructed after WWII, give an idea of how beautiful the city…
Museum für Moderne Kunst
The outstanding Museum of Modern Art focuses on European and American art from the 1960s to the present, with frequent temporary exhibits. The permanent…
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Museum Judengasse
Most of Frankfurt’s medieval Jewish ghetto – Europe's first, dating from 1460 – on narrow Judengasse (Jews’ Street) was destroyed by a French bombardment…
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IG-Farbenhaus
The monumental seven-storey IG-Farbenhaus was erected in 1931 as the headquarters of IG-Farben (pronounced ‘ee geh far-behn’), the mammoth German…
Goethe-Haus
Completely rebuilt after WWII (only the cellar survived Allied bombing), the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) is furnished in the…
Alte Oper
Inaugurated in 1880, the Italian Renaissance-style Alte Oper anchors the western end of the Zeil-Fressgass pedestrian zone. Burnt out in 1944, it narrowly…

Städel Museum
Founded in 1815, this world-renowned art gallery has an outstanding collection of European art from masters including Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir,…
Kaiserdom
Frankfurt’s red-sandstone cathedral is dominated by a 95m-high Gothic tower, which can be climbed via 328 steps. Construction began in the 13th century;…
Senckenberg Museum
Life-size dinosaur mock-ups guard the front of Frankfurt’s natural history museum. Inside the early 1900s neo-baroque building, exhibits cover…
Römerberg
The Römerberg is Frankfurt’s old central square. Ornately gabled half-timbered buildings, reconstructed after WWII, give an idea of how beautiful the city…
Museum für Moderne Kunst
The outstanding Museum of Modern Art focuses on European and American art from the 1960s to the present, with frequent temporary exhibits. The permanent…
M
Museum Judengasse
Most of Frankfurt’s medieval Jewish ghetto – Europe's first, dating from 1460 – on narrow Judengasse (Jews’ Street) was destroyed by a French bombardment…
I
IG-Farbenhaus
The monumental seven-storey IG-Farbenhaus was erected in 1931 as the headquarters of IG-Farben (pronounced ‘ee geh far-behn’), the mammoth German…
Goethe-Haus
Completely rebuilt after WWII (only the cellar survived Allied bombing), the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) is furnished in the…
Alte Oper
Inaugurated in 1880, the Italian Renaissance-style Alte Oper anchors the western end of the Zeil-Fressgass pedestrian zone. Burnt out in 1944, it narrowly…

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Frankfurt am Main.

See
Städel Museum
Founded in 1815, this world-renowned art gallery has an outstanding collection of European art from masters including Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir,…
See
Kaiserdom
Frankfurt’s red-sandstone cathedral is dominated by a 95m-high Gothic tower, which can be climbed via 328 steps. Construction began in the 13th century;…
See
Senckenberg Museum
Life-size dinosaur mock-ups guard the front of Frankfurt’s natural history museum. Inside the early 1900s neo-baroque building, exhibits cover…
See
Römerberg
The Römerberg is Frankfurt’s old central square. Ornately gabled half-timbered buildings, reconstructed after WWII, give an idea of how beautiful the city…
See
Museum für Moderne Kunst
The outstanding Museum of Modern Art focuses on European and American art from the 1960s to the present, with frequent temporary exhibits. The permanent…
See
Museum Judengasse
Most of Frankfurt’s medieval Jewish ghetto – Europe's first, dating from 1460 – on narrow Judengasse (Jews’ Street) was destroyed by a French bombardment…
See
IG-Farbenhaus
The monumental seven-storey IG-Farbenhaus was erected in 1931 as the headquarters of IG-Farben (pronounced ‘ee geh far-behn’), the mammoth German…
See
Goethe-Haus
Completely rebuilt after WWII (only the cellar survived Allied bombing), the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) is furnished in the…
See
Alte Oper
Inaugurated in 1880, the Italian Renaissance-style Alte Oper anchors the western end of the Zeil-Fressgass pedestrian zone. Burnt out in 1944, it narrowly…

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