the coronation city on the Main, with the Römer and the Cathedral, the old town rebuilt house by house, the museums on the riverbank and the cider taverns of Sachsenhausen, and in December the Christmas market on the Römerberg
Frankfurt am Main lies in Hesse, a little before the river reaches the Rhine, and is the fifth largest city in Germany. For centuries the king was chosen here: the Golden Bull of 1356 made it the city of the election, and from 1562 to 1792 the emperors were crowned in the Cathedral and celebrated in the Römer, the town hall. In 1848, in the Paulskirche, the first elected parliament of all Germany met. The bombing raids of March 1944 burnt down the wooden old town, one of the largest in Europe; since the post-war years Frankfurt has been the city of the banks, the skyscrapers and the European Central Bank, and since 2018 it has once again had a piece of old town, rebuilt house by house between the Cathedral and the Römerberg. You get around on foot: the Römer square, the Cathedral with its tower, the house where Goethe was born, the riverbank of the museums and, across the iron bridge, the cider taverns of Sachsenhausen. For children there are the dinosaurs of the Senckenberg, the zoo, the glasshouses of the Palmengarten and the Struwwelpeter museum. From late November the Christmas market runs from the Römerberg to the Main. For those arriving by motorhome there is no stopover in the city: in summer there is a campsite on the Main with the tram to the Römer, in winter you sleep in the towns around and come into the city by underground.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
Inside Frankfurt there is no motorhome stopover: the tourist board sends people to the campsites of the surrounding area, and the campsite that used to be at Heddernheim shows no sign of life. The nearest place to stay is the Mainkur campsite, on the Main at the eastern edge of the city, with the tram to the Römer; but it is open only from 1 April to 30 September. In winter you sleep in the towns around, connected by underground or suburban trains: at the Lindenhof farm in Bad Homburg, the only one with services open all year, at the Hohemark area in Oberursel, at the end of the U3 line, and in the few free places in Bad Vilbel and Rüsselsheim, which have no services. All the stopovers are outside the low emission zone.
Campingplatz Mainkur
Frankfurter Landstraße 107, 63477 Maintal
a family campsite on the meadow along the Main, with big trees and a view of the skyscrapers; the address is in Maintal, but it is right on the edge of Fechenheim, the easternmost district of Frankfurt. You arrive only with a confirmed booking, from 10:00 to 12:00 or from 15:00 to 18:00, and from 22:00 to 7:00 no vehicles move on the site. There is a small shop with bread to order, a washing machine and a dryer, and a playground. Into the centre with tram 11, with no changes: from the campsite gate to the Römer/Paulskirche stop takes about fifty minutes, walking included, and the journey is within the Frankfurt fare zone, so the city day ticket is enough. In December it is closed
With the 2026 price list, 12 euros a night per adult, 6 euros per child from 2 to 14 years, the pitch 13 euros (16.50 with water filling and emptying, 19 with the view of the Main as well) and electricity 4.50 euros a night with 6 kWh included: two adults with a motorhome and electricity spend 41.50 euros a night, 45 or 47.50 on the better pitches. Showers are included · +49 69 412193 · campingplatz-mainkur.de
Jakob-Lengfelder-Straße 152, 61352 Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
a gravel pitch area in the middle of the fields, next to a farm with a shop selling its own produce and a café, at the foot of the Taunus. There are toilets, electricity, water and emptying, and the supermarket is 800 metres away. It is the only stopover around Frankfurt open all year with services, but there are five places and it is not known whether you can book: phone first. To the centre of Frankfurt you walk to the U2 and then take the U4, 55 minutes in all; a single ticket costs 6.90 euros, 4.10 for children
5 motorhome pitches
ElectricityWaterGrey waterToilets
10 euros a night for the motorhome, part of which is given back as a voucher for the farm shop; electricity 3 euros a night, water 1 euro per 100 litres: two adults with electricity spend 13 euros a night. The Taunus tourist board does not give the year of the price list · +49 6172 43283 · taunus.info
Alfred-Lechler-Straße 10, accanto al Taunus-Informationszentrum, 61440 Oberursel (Taunus)
a paved car park reserved for motorhomes, run by the Oberursel municipal utilities, at the foot of the Taunus, next to the nature park visitor centre and a restaurant. At most three days, no awnings, no booking. There is no electricity, water or emptying; the visitor centre toilets can be used during its opening hours. Next to it is the end of the U3 line, which goes straight to the Hauptwache, in the centre; for Dom/Römer you change to the U4, 45 minutes in all. The journey goes beyond the Frankfurt fare zone: a single ticket costs 6.90 euros, 4.10 for children. The paths up to the Großer Feldberg start from here. A motorhome longer than 7 metres will not fit
5 motorhome pitches
no services
7 euros every 24 hours at the parking meter. The Taunus tourist board does not give the year of the price list · +49 6171 509111 · stadtwerke-oberursel.de
Festplatzstraße, angolo Heinrich-Heine-Straße, 61118 Bad Vilbel
three marked places on the Bad Vilbel fairground, in the mineral water town just north of Frankfurt, near the centre, without booking. Neither the brochure nor the town mentions services, and they do not say whether you can stay in winter: ask the tourist office, Viltour, on +49 6101 5909652. To the centre of Frankfurt with the RB34 regional train and the U5, in 34 minutes walking included; a single ticket costs 5.70 euros, 3.40 for children
3 motorhome pitches
services not recorded
Free, at most two nights (Wetterau motorhome areas brochure, December 2022) · +49 6101 602247 · bad-vilbel.de
Huizener Straße 1, dietro la piscina all'aperto, 61118 Bad Vilbel
the town's second area, quieter, on the edge of the centre: only two places, without booking, and here too no source mentions services or a winter closure. To the centre of Frankfurt with the S6 and the U4, in 44 minutes walking included; a single ticket costs 5.70 euros, 3.40 for children
2 motorhome pitches
services not recorded
Free, at most two nights (Wetterau motorhome areas brochure, December 2022) · +49 6101 602247 · bad-vilbel.de
Landungsplatz sul Mainvorland, accesso dalla Dammgasse, 65428 Rüsselsheim am Main
seven places that Rüsselsheim, the Opel town, provides free of charge on the Main riverfront, with a view of the water: no toilets, electricity, water or emptying, the motorhome has to be self-sufficient. No booking. The old town, the fortress with its museum and the Opel villas are within walking distance. For Frankfurt you go to the station and take the S8 or S9, then the U4: from the station to Dom/Römer takes 39 minutes, and a single ticket costs 6.90 euros, 4.10 for children. The town does not publish a winter closure
7 motorhome pitches
no services
Free (town website, October 2026) · main-ruesselsheim.de
The motorhome does not go into Frankfurt: inside the ring of motorways is the low emission zone, and there are no places to sleep in the city. The motorhome stays at the campsite or at an area in one of the towns around, and you go into the centre by underground, suburban train or tram, which run until late at night. The historic centre, from the Römerberg to the Cathedral and the bridge over the Main, is done on foot.
From Italy via Switzerland: from Chiasso via the Gotthard, Basel and then the A5 motorway to Karlsruhe and Frankfurt. You need the Swiss motorway vignette, 40 francs: the 2026 one is valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027, and for the Fastnacht in February you already need the 2027 one. Over 3.5 tonnes the vignette is not valid: you pay the flat-rate heavy vehicle charge with the Via app, for every day spent in Switzerland, with a minimum of 25 francs
From Italy via Austria: from the Brenner via Innsbruck, Kufstein, Munich, Nuremberg and Würzburg. The ten-day Austrian vignette costs 12.80 euros, and on top of that you pay the Brenner motorway toll, 12.50 euros, for vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes; over 3.5 tonnes in Austria you pay by the kilometre with the GO-Box. From 1 December 2026 the Austrian vignette is digital only
In Germany a motorhome over 3.5 tonnes does not pay the lorry toll, provided it is permanently fitted out for living in and the journey is private. Owners of a vehicle that the toll enforcement pillars might take for a lorry register it as exempt with Toll Collect, free of charge, for two years
The low emission zone (Umweltzone) is the whole city inside the ring of motorways, the A5 to the west, the A3 to the south and the A661 to the east and north, about 110 square kilometres; the motorways themselves are outside it. You may enter only with the green sticker, foreign vehicles and motorhomes included, and those without one pay a 100 euro fine. The sticker can be ordered from abroad on the TÜV SÜD website, with the vehicle registration document: 17.50 euros including postage, and it can take two weeks to arrive. It is valid in all the zones in Germany, and Offenbach, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden and Mainz have the same rules
The stopovers are all outside the zone: Bad Homburg, Oberursel, Bad Vilbel, Rüsselsheim and the Mainkur campsite in Maintal can be reached without entering it
Sleeping in a motorhome on the street: in Germany you may spend one night in a place where parking is allowed, to rest before setting off again, with no tables, chairs or awning outside; anything more is camping, which is not done on the street. Frankfurt has no park and ride signposted for motorhomes
Frankfurt public transport: in 2026 the city day ticket costs 7.75 euros for an adult and 3 for a child; the group ticket for up to five people 14.80 euros, already worth it for two adults. Children under 6 travel free. They are valid until 5:00 the next morning on the underground, suburban trains, trams and buses, but not as far as the airport. You buy them at the machines or with the RMVgo app. The Frankfurt Card, which also gives discounts in the museums, costs 13 euros for one day per person and 26 euros for a group
From the stopovers to the centre: from the Mainkur campsite tram 11 is enough, within the city fare. From the areas in the towns around you leave the Frankfurt zone and pay more: a single ticket to the Römer costs 6.90 euros from Bad Homburg, Oberursel and Rüsselsheim, 5.70 from Bad Vilbel. The RMVgo app works out the fare for the journey by itself
Seeing
Sights
The walk starts from the Alte Oper, goes down among the skyscrapers to the Main Tower and the Jewish Museum on the river, climbs back to the Goethe House and the Hauptwache, at the head of the Zeil, the shopping street. From the Kleinmarkthalle, the covered market, you pass the Paulskirche and reach the Römerberg with the Römer, then the New Old Town, the Struwwelpeter museum and the Cathedral. From the Eiserner Steg, the iron footbridge, you cross the Main, follow the riverbank of the museums to the Städel and come back east to the cider taverns of Sachsenhausen. It is about six kilometres: with small children it is worth splitting it, the old town in the morning, three kilometres as far as the Cathedral, and the riverbank with Sachsenhausen in the afternoon. The Senckenberg and the Palmengarten are a couple of kilometres west of the centre, close to each other; the zoo is a kilometre and a half to the east, at the end of the Zeil; Höchst about ten kilometres to the west. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Alte Oper
Monument · 50.11603, 8.67199
Opernplatz 1, 60313 Frankfurt am Main
the city's opera house, built from 1873 to 1880 to a design by Richard Lucae, in neo-Renaissance style, on the square where the gardens of the old walls begin. The 1944 bombing left it without a roof, the opera moved to a new theatre and the old one remained a ruin for thirty years. It was saved by the citizens: in 1952 a committee was formed to raise the money, and the rebuilding, begun in 1976, was finished in 1981. Today it is a concert hall, no longer an opera house. You get inside with a concert ticket or on the guided tours, which the hall announces on its website; at ordinary concerts children are admitted from six years. From outside it is one of the most photographed buildings in the city.
Neue Mainzer Straße 52-58, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
the skyscraper of the regional bank of Hesse and Thuringia, inaugurated in January 2000, 200 metres high, 240 with the antenna. It is the only skyscraper in Frankfurt with a terrace open to the public, at about 200 metres: you can see the whole city, the river, the Cathedral and the other skyscrapers. The top terrace is reached on foot up a few steps; pushchairs stay on the ground floor, and at the entrance there is a metal detector as at an airport. In winter, at sunset, it is the viewpoint from which you watch the city light up.
Opening hours with winter time, from 25 October 2026, Sunday to Thursday 10:00-19:00, Friday and Saturday 10:00-21:00; on winter public holidays 10:00-19:00. The last ascent is 45 minutes before closing, and you can stay at the top for at most 45 minutes. In strong wind or rain the open terrace may stay closed, and then you can only go up to the enclosed floor below. The operator says nothing about 24 and 31 December · 9 euros, reduced 6 (under 16, students, pensioners), under 6 free; family 20 euros, for two adults and up to three children from 6 to 12; in bad weather 4 euros. The operator does not give the year of the price list · +49 69 3650 4878 · maintower.de · plattform@bv-maintower.de
Bertha-Pappenheim-Platz 1, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
the city museum of the history of the Jews of Frankfurt, which for centuries was one of the most important communities in Europe. It opened on 9 November 1988, fifty years after the night of the pogroms, in the riverside palace that had belonged to the Rothschilds, the banking family; the permanent exhibition, redone from scratch, reopened in October 2020. The second site, the Museum Judengasse, near the Cathedral, shows the foundations of the houses of the ghetto, next to the old Jewish cemetery. The café and the bookshop can be visited without a ticket. It is the stop for a rainy afternoon with older children.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, on Thursday the temporary exhibition until 20:00; closed on Monday. The museum does not publish its Christmas and New Year opening hours · both sites, the Rothschild-Palais and the Museum Judengasse, 12 euros, reduced 6; with the temporary exhibition 14 euros, reduced 7; family 20 euros. Free up to 18 years, and free for everyone on the last Saturday of the month. The museum does not give the year of the price list · juedischesmuseum.de
Großer Hirschgraben 23-25, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
the house where Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in 1749 and lived until 1775, when he left for Weimar: his father had rebuilt it in 1755-1756 in late Baroque style, on four floors. Goethe describes it in "Poetry and Truth". The bombing of March 1944 destroyed it; it was rebuilt as it was and reopened in 1951. Next to it, in the same institute's new building, since 2021 there has been the museum of German Romanticism, with manuscripts, letters and paintings; there is a single ticket. For children the house is worth more than the museum: these are the rooms of a wealthy eighteenth century family, with the kitchen, the astronomical clock and the puppet theatre of the young Goethe.
Opening hours every day 10:00-18:00, on Thursday until 21:00. Closed on 24, 25 and 31 December and on 1 January; open on 26 December · Goethe House and Romantik-Museum 12 euros, with the temporary exhibition 15; students 7 euros, schoolchildren 3; family, two adults with children up to 18, 18 euros, with the exhibition 23; under 6 free. On the first Thursday of the month from 18:00 to 21:00 entry is 1 euro. Tickets are sold only at the ticket desk. The museum does not give the year of the price list · +49 69 13880-0 · frankfurter-goethe-haus.de · info@freies-deutsches-hochstift.de
the small Baroque guardhouse of the city watch, built in 1729-1730 in red Main sandstone, in the middle of the square that took its name. It has been a café since 1905. Destroyed in the war, it was taken apart to dig the underground station and put back together as it was in 1968. From the square the Zeil, Frankfurt's best-known shopping street, runs east: the first stretch, about five hundred metres to the Konstablerwache, has been pedestrian since the seventies. In December, on the Roßmarkt next door, there are the Christmas pyramid and the big wheel of the market.
the city's covered market, between the Zeil and the Cathedral. The first hall, from the late nineteenth century, was destroyed by bombs in 1944; today's dates from 1954, a hundred metres long, and is a listed monument. Inside there are some sixty traders: fruit and vegetables, butchers, cheese, bread, spices, and the stalls where you eat standing up, including ready-made Grüne Soße. Work is under way to renovate it, but the operator writes that it stays open. It is the place for a quick lunch on the walk, and to buy something to take back to the motorhome.
Opening hours Monday to Friday 8:00-18:00, Saturday 8:00-16:00; closed on Sunday and public holidays · kleinmarkthalle.de
the round church of red sandstone, built from 1789 to 1833 as the city's main Lutheran church. It was the largest hall in Frankfurt, and for this reason on 18 May 1848 the National Assembly met here, the first elected parliament of all Germany, which wrote the first German democratic constitution. On 18 March 1944 it burnt out completely; it was the first historic building to be rebuilt, with donations from all over Germany, and it reopened on 18 May 1948. Since then it has no longer been a church but the memorial of democracy: on the lower floor there is Johannes Grützke's large painting of the procession of the deputies and an exhibition on the parliament; the upper hall opens for ceremonies, such as the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, in October. Whether the visit is paid for the city does not say.
Opening hours every day 10:00-17:00. The city can close it at short notice for its ceremonies, and does not publish the Christmas opening hours · +49 69 212 34920 · frankfurt.de · protokoll@stadt-frankfurt.de
the town hall square: for centuries it hosted markets and fairs, tournaments, executions, and the festivities of the elections and coronations. In the middle is the Justice Fountain, from the sixteenth century, with a Justice who is not blindfolded; a few steps away, a plaque in the paving recalls the Nazi book burning of 1933. The east side, the Ostzeile, is six half-timbered houses rebuilt in the eighties from the old drawings, each with its own name, next to the little St Nicholas church. Towards the river, the Haus Wertheim is one of the few half-timbered houses that survived 1944. From late November it is the heart of the Christmas market, with the big tree.
Frankfurt's town hall, with its façade of three stepped gables on the square: in 1405 the city council bought the two houses "Zum Römer" and "Zum Goldenen Schwan", and the city has been governed from here ever since. On the first floor is the Kaisersaal, the emperors' hall: from 1612 to 1792 the banquet after the coronation was held here, and on the walls are the portraits of the 52 kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, from Charlemagne to Francis II, painted between 1838 and 1853. State guests appear on the balcony, and so does the Eintracht team when it wins the cup. Whether the visit is paid for the city does not say.
Opening hours the Kaisersaal can be visited every day 10:00-17:00; the city can close it at short notice for its receptions · +49 69 212 34920 · frankfurt.de
the piece of old town between the Römerberg and the Cathedral, rebuilt from 2012 to 2018 in place of a 1970s municipal office block: 35 houses, 15 rebuilt as they were before the war and 20 new ones on the old plots, sometimes with original pieces saved from the rubble. The main street is the coronation route, which the emperors walked from the Cathedral to the Römer; the little square is the Hühnermarkt, the chicken market, with the fountain of the dialect poet Friedrich Stoltze. The finest house is the one of the golden scales, the Goldene Waage. In front of the Cathedral you can see the excavations of the archaeological garden, with Roman remains and those of the Carolingian palace. In December the market chalets reach as far as here.
the museum of Struwwelpeter, the book of illustrated rhymes that the Frankfurt doctor Heinrich Hoffmann wrote in 1844 for his son: the boy with very long hair and nails, Suppen-Kaspar who will not eat his soup, Paulinchen who plays with matches. Since 2019 it has been in the New Old Town, in two rebuilt houses next to the Hühnermarkt, and it tells the story of the book and its author. There is a free audio guide to download to your phone, in English too, with a tour made specially for children: you need earphones. It is the children's stop in the heart of the walk, a stone's throw from the Cathedral.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday 11:00-18:00, closed on Monday. Closed on 24, 25 and 31 December; on 26 December and 1 January open 14:00-18:00 · 8 euros, reduced 4 (children from 6, students), up to 5 free; family, two adults and up to four children, 20 euros. The museum does not give the year of the price list · +49 69 9494767-400 · struwwelpeter-museum.de · info@struwwelpeter-museum.de
the Gothic church of St Bartholomew, built between 1250 and 1514, which is called the imperial cathedral but has never been the seat of a bishop. From 1438, in the election chapel, the king was chosen, and from 1562 to 1792 the emperors were crowned here. In the treasury is the skullcap of St Bartholomew, and in the Lady Chapel the altar of the Dormition of 1438. The tower, rebuilt after the fire of 1867 and finished in 1877, is 95 metres high: you climb 328 steep steps to the terrace at 66 metres, with the view over the river and the old town. In the cloister is the Cathedral museum; in December the market reaches as far as the square.
Opening hours the Cathedral is open every day 9:00-20:00. The tower, from November to March, Tuesday to Friday 10:00-17:00, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 11:00-17:00, closed on Monday; the last ascent is half an hour before closing. The tower and the Cathedral museum are closed on 24, 25 and 31 December and open on the 26th. The museum is open Tuesday to Friday 10:00-17:00, Saturday and Sunday 11:00-17:00 · the Cathedral is free. The tower 3 euros, reduced 2; on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, with the exhibition in the watchman's room, 5 euros, reduced 3. The Cathedral museum 4 euros, reduced 3, up to 8 free, with the guided tour of the Cathedral included; on the last Saturday of the month the museum is free. The museum does not give the year of the price list · +49 69 2970320 · dom-frankfurt.de · pfarrei@dom-frankfurt.de
the iron footbridge over the Main, between the Römerberg and Sachsenhausen, opened in 1869: the citizens paid for it, because the city did not want to spend the money. It was rebuilt wider and higher in 1912, blown up by the German army in the last days of the war and rebuilt the same in 1946. The railings are covered in lovers' padlocks. From the middle of the bridge you see the Cathedral on one side, the skyscrapers on the other, and the river with the moored boats: it is the spot for the photograph of Frankfurt. In December, on the Römerberg bank next to the bridge, there is the children's Christmas market.
Frankfurt's art museum, one of the most important in Germany: the banker Johann Friedrich Städel left it to the city in his will of 1815, and it has stood on the riverbank since 1878. About 3,100 paintings from the Middle Ages to today: Vermeer's Geographer, Tischbein's portrait of Goethe in the Roman Campagna, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Dürer, Holbein, Monet. It is the largest museum on the Schaumainkai, the museum embankment: a row of villas and new buildings along the river, on the Sachsenhausen bank, created in the eighties, which today brings together some forty museums. Along the river you walk under the trees, opposite the Cathedral.
Opening hours Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00-18:00, Thursday 10:00-21:00; closed on Monday. Closed on 24 and 31 December; open on 25 and 26 December 10:00-18:00 and on 1 January 11:00-18:00 · 19 euros, reduced 17, family 30 euros, under 12 free; on Tuesday from 15:00 to 18:00 everyone pays 10 euros. The museum does not give the year of the price list, nor how many people the family ticket covers · +49 69 605098-200 · staedelmuseum.de
old Sachsenhausen, the district on the left bank of the Main that has been part of Frankfurt since the Middle Ages, with the narrow streets of the Große and Kleine Rittergasse and the Klappergasse: it is the district of the cider taverns, where you drink Apfelwein and eat Frankfurt cooking. In the Klappergasse is the fountain of Frau Rauscher, the lady of the folk song, who every now and then spits water at passers-by: children love it. On the river stands the Kuhhirtenturm, from 1490, the last piece of the Sachsenhausen walls. In the evening, in the narrowest streets, it is more a place for young people than for families: the taverns for eating are also further on, towards the Schweizer Straße.
one of the largest natural history museums in Europe, in the building put up from 1904 to 1907 for the society of naturalists founded in 1817 by thirty-two citizens. It is the dinosaur museum: there is the eighteen-metre Diplodocus that came from New York for the opening in 1907, a fossil Edmontosaurus with its scaly skin preserved, the casts of Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, and in front of the entrance a life-size Tyrannosaurus. For children it is the stop for a rainy day: it is less crowded in the afternoon or on Wednesday evening, and children up to 15 must be accompanied.
Opening hours Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9:00-17:00, Wednesday 9:00-20:00, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 9:00-18:00. Closed on Good Friday, on 24 and 31 December, on 1 January and on Shrove Tuesday from 13:00 · 12 euros, from 6 to 17 years 6 euros, up to 5 free; family, two adults and up to three children from 6 to 17, 30 euros, small family, one adult and two children, 18 euros. The museum does not give the year of the price list · +49 69 7542-0 · museumfrankfurt.senckenberg.de · info@senckenberg.de
the city's botanical garden, opened in 1871, over twenty-two hectares. In winter it is worth it for the glasshouses: the Tropicarium, with plants of the rainforest and the desert, the Palmenhaus and the butterfly house, where from October tropical butterflies fly, included in the ticket. For a family it also works out well on cost, because young people do not pay. In winter, in the evening, the garden puts on the Winterlichter, the trail of lights. Dogs are not allowed.
Opening hours from November to February every day 9:00-16:00, from March to October 9:00-19:00; closed on 24 and 31 December, open on all other public holidays. In a storm or hail it may close without warning · 9 euros, reduced 5, over 67 years 8; up to 17 free. The Winterlichter evenings have a separate ticket. The garden does not give the year of the price list · palmengarten.de
the city zoo, opened in 1858, the second oldest in Germany after Berlin's. Its most famous director was Bernhard Grzimek, from 1945 to 1974, the man behind the Oscar-winning documentary "Serengeti Shall Not Die". There is the great ape house, with gorillas, bonobos and orangutans, and the two-storey Exotarium, with animals from warm climates under cover, which in winter is the warmest part. It is at the end of the Zeil, with its own underground stop; for now you enter from the Alfred-Brehm-Platz.
Opening hours with winter time, from 25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027, every day 9:00-17:00, ticket desk until 16:30; the animal houses close half an hour earlier. The zoo gives no closures at Christmas or New Year · 12 euros; from 6 to 17 years and students 6 euros; family, at most two adults and from one to four children from 6 to 17, 29 euros; up to 5 free. In winter from 15:00 entry is 9 euros, reduced 4. The zoo does not give the year of the price list · +49 69 212-33735 · zoo-frankfurt.de
about ten kilometres west of the centre, on the Main, Höchst was for centuries a town of the prince-archbishops of Mainz, and remained a town in its own right until 1928, when it became part of Frankfurt. The world knows it for the Hoechst chemical company, but the war barely touched it and it has an old town of about four hundred half-timbered houses. There is the church of St Justin, from the ninth century, the oldest in all of Frankfurt; the archbishops' castle, with its tower and the square of the taverns; the customs tower on the river; the large Bolongaropalast, built in 1772-1774 by two Italian tobacco merchants. From the Maintor the ferry leaves for the other bank, the only one in Frankfurt. The rooms of the castle museum are partly under works, and the opening hours are not published.
Frankfurt has a long calendar of festivals, which the city organises itself. In winter the Weihnachtsmarkt, the Christmas market that goes down from the Römerberg to the Main and up to the Roßmarkt, with the tree on the town hall square and the brass players on the gallery of St Nicholas church; then, in February, the Fastnacht, with the big Sunday parade in the centre and the Heddernheim parade on Shrove Tuesday. The season of open-air festivals begins in March with the Dippemess, the spring funfair, and goes on until autumn: the forest festival at Whitsun, the Main festival with fireworks, the museum festival on the riverbank at the end of August, the Rheingau wine and the second Dippemess in September. In October the city belongs to the book fair and the marathon.
Next: Frankfurter Buchmesse · 9-11 Octin 3 days
9-11Oct
Frankfurter Buchmesse
in October
the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest in the world, in the halls of the Messe. It lasts five days, but the public is admitted only on the last three, Friday to Sunday: on Friday from 11:00 to 18:30, on Saturday from 9:00 to 18:30, on Sunday from 9:00 to 17:30. In 2026 a one-day ticket costs 30 euros, 35 on Saturday; children from 7 to 12 pay 9 euros, up to 6 they get in without a ticket, and the family ticket, two adults and up to three young people from 7 to 18, costs from 60 to 70 euros depending on the day. The ticket does not include public transport
in 3 days
25Oct
Frankfurt Marathon
at the end of October
the oldest city marathon in Germany, with more than twenty-five thousand runners and the finish inside the Festhalle of the Messe, and along the course up to ninety stations with bands and music. For children there are two races: on Saturday the Struwwelpeter-Lauf, 420 metres at the Messe for children from 5 to 9, and on Sunday the mini-marathon for young people from 8 to 17. On race day many streets in the centre are closed
23 Nov › 22Dec
Frankfurter Weihnachtsmarkt
from late November to 22 December
the Frankfurt Christmas market, held since the fourteenth century: more than two hundred and thirty chalets running from the Roßmarkt by way of the Hauptwache, the Paulsplatz and the Römerberg to the Mainkai, the bank of the Main. On the Römerberg there is the big tree, each year with its own name, on the Roßmarkt the Christmas pyramid and the big wheel, on the Friedrich-Stoltze-Platz the Rosa Weihnacht, the all-pink market. For children there is the Kinder-Weihnachtsmarkt on the Mainkai, level with the Eiserner Steg, with the crafts hut, storytellers, magicians and the carousel. It is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00 and on Sunday from 11:00 to 21:00. On the opening evening, and then every Wednesday and Saturday at 18:00, the brass players play from the gallery of St Nicholas church; on the first Saturday the bells of ten churches in the centre ring together, and on 6 December at 17:10 Saint Nicholas arrives on the Römerberg stage. In the Paulskirche and the Römer there is the Frankfurt artists' market, with free entry. Things to taste: hot cider and Bethmännchen, the little marzipan sweets with three almonds. The market closes on 22 December, so it is not there on Christmas Eve, and it has no car parks: you come by underground, to the Dom/Römer stop
6-7Feb
Frankfurter Fastnacht
in February
the Frankfurt carnival, whose weekend is in the centre. On Saturday at noon the children's parade goes from the Hauptwache to the Römer, and straight after the masks storm the town hall, where the mayor hands the keys of the city to the carnival prince and princess. On Sunday it starts at 11:00 with the party in front of the Römer, and at 12:21 the great float parade sets off from the bank of the Main, crossing the centre to the Römerberg, where the grandstand is
9Feb
Klaa Pariser Fastnachtszug
on Shrove Tuesday
the carnival parade of Heddernheim, the district in the north of the city that the people of Frankfurt call "Klaa Paris", little Paris. It has been held since Shrove Tuesday 1839, sets off at 14:01 and goes round the streets of the old village, bringing along the model of the village pump, the Gemaa-Bumb, for which it was born. From 4:00 in the morning the district is closed to cars: you come by underground, to the Heddernheim stop
19 Mar › 11Apr
Dippemess im Frühjahr
from mid March to mid April
the spring funfair, three weeks of rides, a big wheel and food stalls on the Ratsweg fairground, next to the ice rink. The name comes from the medieval market of crockery, the "Dippe", which are no longer sold today. Every Tuesday from 15:00 to 20:00 there is the Knirpse-Kirmes, with reduced prices for children up to 12 on all the rides. Food and drinks are served with a deposit, at least 2 euros. There are no more fireworks, and there are no car parks: the Eissporthalle/Festplatz stop of the U7 and tram 12 is next to the rides
24Apr
Nacht der Museen
at the end of April
a night when some sixty museums and venues in Frankfurt and Offenbach stay open from 19:00 to 2:00, with music, readings, workshops, guided tours and parties. Almost all the museums are close together, on the bank of the Main
24 Apr › 1May
Grüne Soße Festival
between late April and early May
eight evenings of competition over the green sauce, the Frankfurt dish, on the Roßmarkt: each evening the audience tastes seven sauces from seven restaurants without knowing whose they are, with potatoes and eggs, and votes for the best; the winners of the seven evenings compete in the final. The show, with music and comedians, starts at 20:00 and lasts about two and a half hours, and the ticket includes the tasting and drinks. Entry is by ticket only, and there are about six hundred and fifty places each evening
14-18May
Wäldchestag
at Whitsun
the festival in the city forest, which the people of Frankfurt call their national holiday: from the Friday before Whitsun to the Tuesday after, rides, music and cider among the trees near the Oberforsthaus. Once, on the Tuesday, offices and shops closed at noon so people could go to the woods. It is open on Friday from 17:00 to 1:00, on Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 1:00, on Monday and Tuesday from 12:00 to midnight
30 Jul › 2Aug
Mainfest
between late July and early August
the Main festival, four days of rides and stalls on the Mainkai, Friday to Monday, which grew out of the fourteenth century fishermen's festival. On Sunday at noon there is the fishermen's jousting: in historic costume, standing on long boats, they try to knock each other into the water with a pole, between the Eiserner Steg and the next bridge. On Monday evening the festival ends with fireworks over the river
6-15Aug
Frankfurter Apfelweinfest
in August
ten days on the Roßmarkt devoted to Apfelwein, the Frankfurt cider, whose culture is on the German UNESCO list of intangible heritage: the cider makers of the area, live music, workshops on how it is made. It is open from 12:00 to 23:00, on Friday and Saturday until midnight
27-29Aug
Museumsuferfest
on the last weekend of August
the museum festival on the bank of the Main, with a million visitors: stages, music, food and craft stalls on both banks, dragon boat races on the river, and on Sunday at 22:00 fireworks with music. You can walk freely along the bank; to enter the museums, open until late, you need the festival badge, which in 2026 cost 7 euros, and up to 6 years it is not needed
to be confirmed
1-10Sep
Rheingauer Weinmarkt
in early September
ten days of wine from the Rheingau, the vineyard area on the Rhine west of the city, along the Freßgass', the street of restaurants between the Alte Oper and the Hauptwache. It is open every day from 12:00 to 23:00
10-12Sep
Dippemess im Herbst
in September
the autumn Dippemess, shorter and quieter than the spring one, on the same fairground, to close the festival season. It is closed on Monday; Tuesday to Thursday it is open from 15:00 to 23:00, Friday until midnight, Saturday from 14:00 to midnight, Sunday from 12:00 to 23:00. On Tuesday there is the children's day with reduced prices, as in spring
10-12 Sep · 14-19 Sep · 21-26 Sep
2-3Oct
Jazz zum Dritten
in early October
two days of open-air jazz on the Römerberg for 3 October, the Day of German Unity. On the first day the music is from 15:00 to 20:30, on the second from 13:00 to 18:30, and entry is free
This year's dates are not out yet
The other Christmas markets
between late November and December
the district markets, smaller and quieter than the one in the centre. In Sachsenhausen the market is in the woods, around the Goetheturm, the wooden tower at the edge of the city forest; in the centre, on the roof terrace of the City Alm, there is the highest market in the city, with its mountain huts. On the first weekend of Advent the Swedish market in Preungesheim and the Finnish one in Dornbusch open, with the sweets and crafts of the two countries
Winterlichter im Palmengarten
from late November to mid January
in the evening the Palmengarten, the city's botanical garden, becomes a trail of lights among the plants, with light, sound and video installations. It is paid for separately: the daytime garden ticket is not valid. Last entry is at 20:00, and on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve the Palmengarten is closed
Opernplatzfest
in June
ten days of live music and food stalls on the square in front of the Alte Oper. It is open from 12:00 to 23:00, on Friday and Saturday until midnight, and the concerts start in the evening
Remember
Useful tips
In December the Mainkur campsite is closed, and the stopover with services open all year is the Lindenhof in Bad Homburg, with five places: phone first. The Hohemark in Oberursel is handier for the underground, but has neither water nor emptying
Order the green sticker for the low emission zone from the TÜV SÜD website a month ahead, because it can take two weeks to arrive; it is also valid in Offenbach, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden and Mainz, and in Cologne
For two adults with children the group day ticket, 14.80 euros for up to five people, is better value than single day tickets; everyone's names must be written on the ticket. Those sleeping in the towns around pay the regional fare, and the RMVgo app gives the right ticket
The Christmas market has no car parks, and while it is on the bank of the Main in front of the Römerberg is closed to cars: the motorhome stays where you sleep and you come with the U4 or U5 to the Dom/Römer stop. It closes on 22 December
At the city's festivals, at the market as at the Dippemess, the ride stalls hand out free wristbands on which you write your phone number, in case a child gets lost
At the tourist board stand under the tree on the Römerberg you can leave postcards with the stamp already on, which the post office franks with the market's special postmark
On Monday the Städel, the Jewish Museum, the Struwwelpeter Museum and, in winter, the Cathedral tower are closed; the Goethe House, the Senckenberg, the Palmengarten, the zoo and the Main Tower are open. On 24 and 31 December almost everything is closed; on the 26th almost everything is open
The Museum Embankment ticket is valid for two days in some forty museums: 21 euros, family 32. On the last Saturday of the month the Jewish Museum and the Cathedral museum are free, and many museums put on a family programme; on Tuesday from 15:00 the Städel costs 10 euros for everyone
Go up the Main Tower in good weather and without a pushchair: in wind or rain the open terrace closes, and the pushchair stays on the ground floor
The Ebbelwei-Expreß, the historic cider tram, runs on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, an hour's ride from the zoo with stops at the Römer and in Sachsenhausen: 8 euros, 3.50 for children up to 14, cash only, with a bottle of cider or apple juice and pretzels. The operator does not give the year of the price list. In 2026 it does not run on 15 and 22 November
The oldest cider taverns in Sachsenhausen give their own year: the Lorsbacher Thal, in the Große Rittergasse, traces itself back to 1803, the Fichtekränzi, in the Wallstraße, to 1849, the Zum Gemalten Haus, in the Schweizer Straße, to 1936
The Grüne Soße herbs are sold at the weekly markets, in spring and summer: the farmers' market at the Konstablerwache is on Thursday from 10:00 to 20:00 and on Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00. Whether the fresh packet can be found in November and December no source says
Frankfurt · part two
and then?
What to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Taste
The city's dish is Grüne Soße, the green sauce that the people of Frankfurt call Grie Soß: seven herbs, borage, chervil, cress, chives, salad burnet, sorrel and parsley, chopped very finely with sour cream, yoghurt and hard-boiled eggs, and served cold with boiled potatoes. It is the dish of Maundy Thursday, and in spring and summer the herbs are sold in white paper packets, already in the right proportions. They have been grown for generations in Oberrad, the market garden district on the south bank of the Main, and since 2016 that packet has had a protected geographical indication: the herbs must grow in Frankfurt or in the municipalities around it. At the edge of the Oberrad fields, since 2007, the monument to the sauce has been seven small coloured glasshouses, one for each herb, which light up at sunset. To drink there is Äppelwoi, the dry, slightly sour cider, at around 5 degrees, poured from the Bembel, the grey and blue stoneware jug, into the Geripptes, the glass with the diamond pattern; those who want it lighter ask for it topped up with sparkling water. With the cider come Handkäs mit Musik, the sour milk cheese marinated in vinegar, oil and raw onion, which is the music, and Rippchen, the cured pork chop with sauerkraut. Frankfurter sausages, since 1929, may be called that only if they are made around here: they are pure pork, smoked, and eaten in pairs with mustard; the ones made of mixed meat are Wieners. The cake is the Frankfurter Kranz, the ring cake with buttercream and brittle; at Christmas there are Bethmännchen, marzipan balls with three almond halves, and Brenten, marzipan pressed into wooden moulds.
the Christmas market on the Römerberg in the evening, with the big illuminated tree in front of the RömerPhoto: Dr. Thomas Liptak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Ostzeile and the Alte Nikolaikirche at night, above the market chalets and the illuminated treePhoto: Dr. Thomas Liptak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the two-storey carousel of the market on the Römerberg, with the Römer and the illuminated tree behindPhoto: Dr. Thomas Liptak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Bethmännchen and Brenten, Frankfurt marzipan sweets, on the counter of a market chaletPhoto: Dr. Thomas Liptak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the market on the Paulsplatz in the evening, with the chalets lit up in front of the PaulskirchePhoto: Dr. Thomas Liptak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the big illuminated Christmas pyramid and the big wheel among the skyscrapers, as evening fallsPhoto: Benreis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the market chalets at the Hauptwache in the evening, with the Commerzbank Tower lit up behindPhoto: Jorge Franganillo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0the glowing unicorns of the Winterlichter, the trail of lights on winter evenings in the PalmengartenPhoto: Dr. Thomas Liptak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Alte Oper lit up on a December evening, with the light decorations on the wet squarePhoto: Grimes2, Wikimedia Commons, CC0the view east from the Main Tower terrace, with the Cathedral tower, the Main and the ECBPhoto: Geographer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a January evening on the Main Tower terrace, with the Commerzbank Tower lit up and the lights of the cityPhoto: JensKunstfreund, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Jewish Museum on the Bertha-Pappenheim-Platz, with the new extension next to the old palacePhoto: Jnn95, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the façade of Goethe's birthplace in the Großer Hirschgraben, rebuilt after the warPhoto: Chabe01, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Hauptwache, the old Baroque guardhouse, with the bell tower of the Katharinenkirche beside itPhoto: DXR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the inside of the Kleinmarkthalle seen from the gallery, above the stalls of the covered marketPhoto: GraphyArchy, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Ostzeile on the Römerberg, the row of rebuilt half-timbered houses opposite the RömerPhoto: DXR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Römerberg at night, with the lit-up houses of the Ostzeile and the bell tower of the Alte NikolaikirchePhoto: Francesco Bini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the façade of the Römer, Frankfurt's town hall, with its three stepped gables on the squarePhoto: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 dethe Kaisersaal in the Römer, the hall with the portraits of the emperors of the Holy Roman EmpirePhoto: Hajotthu, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Hühnermarkt in the New Old Town, with the Stoltze fountain and the rebuilt housesPhoto: Dr. Thomas Liptak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the rebuilt houses on the Markt, the old coronation route, with the Cathedral tower behindPhoto: Flibbertigibbet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Struwwelpeter figures hanging in a room of the museum devoted to Heinrich Hoffmann's bookPhoto: Dr. Thomas Liptak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Gothic tower of St Bartholomew's Cathedral rising above the roofs of the old townPhoto: Pymouss, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the inside of the Cathedral, with the altar and the Gothic red sandstone vaults of the choirPhoto: Sdkb, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the roofs of the old town, the Paulskirche and the skyscrapers seen from the Cathedral towerPhoto: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 dethe Eiserner Steg lit up at the blue hour, with the Cathedral tower and the lights reflected in the MainPhoto: Jorge Franganillo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0the Cathedral tower above the Eiserner Steg and the boats moored along the MainPhoto: DXR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the façade of the Städel on the Schaumainkai, the art museum on the south bank of the MainPhoto: Suicasmo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Große Rittergasse in Alt-Sachsenhausen, with the half-timbered houses and the tables of the cider tavernsPhoto: GeorgDerReisende, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus in the dinosaur hall of the Senckenberg museumPhoto: JensKunstfreund, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the big Tyrannosaurus on the lawn in front of the Senckenberg museum buildingPhoto: Ugureisberg, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a black rhinoceros lying in the sun in its enclosure at Frankfurt ZooPhoto: Frank C. Müller, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Höchst castle with its white tower and the Justinuskirche, seen from the opposite bank of the MainPhoto: DXR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Frankfurt skyscrapers at the blue hour, with the lights reflected in the Main and the riverside promenadePhoto: th_norge, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0the Ebbelwei-Expreß, the colourful historic cider tram, at the Römer/Paulskirche stopPhoto: Metrophil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0a portion of Handkäs mit Musik with plenty of onion, bread and butter, in a Sachsenhausen tavernPhoto: Benreis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
