Germany: what to do in Frankfurt

But it's more than just banks and bankers

The German city of Frankfurt am Main may be famous for its banks and high rises, but it is also a place with plenty of cultural highlights.

A logical place to start a tour of Frankfurt is the Römerberg, adjacent to the Römer U-Bahn station, and at the heart of the Altstadt (Old Town).

This was once the city’s main market square and the place where the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned. Today, it provides a pleasant stroll amid street performers and café tables.
At the east side of the square, a row of four-to-five storey half-timbered houses is one of the most photographed sites in the city. They look ancient, but are in fact 1980s recreations based on old photographs and plans.

Facing them, on the western side, is the city hall (known as the Römer), a pink-facaded, step-gabled edifice, originally the home of a merchant who traded with Rome.

From the Römer Platz, a 200-metre walk to the east takes you to the Goethe House (Großer Hirschgraben 23-25). This cream-coloured Baroque building is a close copy of that in which Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born at midday on 28 August 1749 – the original burned down in 1944 – and has been decorated and furnished to resemble the place which the great writer, thinker and polymath would have known in his youth.

It is worth pausing before you head through the door. You might not guess it today, but this street was once part of the town moat and was later converted into an enclosure where stags were kept prior to being used for hunting – Hirsch is the German word for deer.

Inside, visitors can wander over three floors, enjoying an insight into Goethe’s life and the age in which he lived.

In the study is the desk where he wrote several of his works, while the generally red-hued Peking Room pays homage to a flourishing interest in all things Chinese that existed in mid-18th century Germany.

From the Goethe Museum the choice is either a short stroll across one of the Main bridges or a one-stop hop on the U-Bahn to Schweizerplatz. Here, on the river’s south bank, is Frankfurt’s impressive Museumsüfer, or Museum Embankment.

The idea for a multi-faceted museum enclave was conceived in the 1980s, with millions of Deutschmarks being invested in transforming slightly down-at-heel, albeit grand, 19th-century villas and adding modern museum buildings by world-famous architects.

The result is impressive and visitors can take their pick from Old Masters, cinema, architecture, ethnology, sculpture… the list is long and varied.

Perhaps the most famous of all is the Städel, founded in 1815 by Johann Friedrich Städel a local banker, merchant and entrepreneur, and home to one of Germany’s most impressive art collections.
Many of the museums on the Main’s southern bank also provide decent eating options. The Städel’s courtyard is the location of the well-regarded Holbein restaurant, for example, which offers a range of local and international cuisine.

Head south from the Museumsüfer and you soon reach the Sachsenhausen district. Far removed from those financial high rises for which Frankfurt is famous, and indeed from the high culture of the likes of the Städel, this is where the real city still lingers.

It is also the place to indulge in a few local specialities such as Apfelwein – cider – (or Ebbelwoi in the local dialect) at bars traditionally adorned with a bouquet of fir branches.

The most authentic Apfelwein bars are to found in and around Affentorplatz, with Apfelwein Wagner at Schweizerstrasse 71 and Zur Germania at  Textorstrasse 16 two that are worth a look.