Frankfurt, Germany — Overview, Travel Guide, Sightseeing

Frankfurt, the city of contrasts

Frankfurt has always been characterized by its colorful variety of urban contrasts. The Main metropolis, home of Germany´s only true downtown skyline, has gained widespread historical acclaim as the coronation site of German kings and emperors, as Goethe’s birthplace, and as the site of Germany’s first national assembly in 1848. Today, it is equally well known as an international trade show location and as one of Europe’s foremost business and finance centers. History and modernity – side by side!

Boasting the European Central Bank, the German stock market and the German Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main is well and truly Germany’s premier finance centre. It also serves as a popular trade show location and disposes over a high-profile service industry.

While Frankfurt has gained international renown as the city of banks and skyscrapers, unfortunately, all these superlatives overshadow the fact that Frankfurt is also one of Germany’s most well wooden urban centers. Frankfurt’s forests comprise 5,000 hectares.

Wine and Viticulture in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Region & the specialty Apple Wine

Few German cities are able to say that they dispose over their own vineyard. Frankfurt, however, is one of them. Thanks to the renowned “Lohrberg”, Frankfurters have a slice of the famous Rheingau wine-growing region on their very doorstep. The wines produced by the vineyards at “Hochheimer Stein”, “Hochheimer Hölle” and “Lohrberger Hang” are made from grapes cultivated by the City of Frankfurt´s time-honored municipal vineyard.

Apple wine has been Frankfurt’s beverage of choice for over 250 years. But the history of Frankfurt apple wine goes back even further. Not much is known about the origin of Frankfurt apple wine. However, it is known that apple wine was already a crowd favorite at the time of Charlemagne, some 1,200 years ago.

Read more: Frankfurt and its famous Apple Wine (Apfelwein)

Sightseeing Highlights Frankfurt

Goethe – Frankfurt’s Famous Child

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1749. He spent his formative years here, writing some of his most famous works in the city on the Main. Frankfurt has never forgotten its favorite son. Many downtown locations, including his birthplace in the Große Hirschgraben, are still today closely tied to the memory of Germany’s most famous poet.

Museums

Frankfurt am Main is home to more than 40 museums – from internationally renowned exhibition venues like the Städel Art Institute, the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Modern Art all the way to the EXPLORA Science and Technology Museum and the ever-popular Frankfurt Apple Wine Museum.

Read more about Sightseeing, Events, Museum here: Frankfurt Sightseeing Highlight, Museums, Annual Events

Traffic and Transportation Capital of Germany

Frankfurt Airport, a comprehensive ICE train network and several major national motorway junctions combine to make Frankfurt Germany´s premier transport hub for air, road and rail traffic. Frankfurt is certainly a major gateway to the world.

Weather and average temperatures

Juli/August: up to around 30C / 86 F.
Winter: around freezing point

Best time to travel / Season

In general year-round, however, most tourists prefer the time between Spring and Fall.

Visitor Centers

Tourist Information Römer

Roemerberg 27, 60311 Frankfurt am Main

Tourist Information Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station)

Main Train Station Reception Hall
60329 Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt International Airport (FRA). See our article:
Frankfurt Airport – what you need to know

Public Transportation

Rhein-Main Verkehrsverbund (RMV). Their web site contains information about the local and regional public transportation and is available in many languages.

Please visit their website for further details: https://www.rmv.de/c/en/homepage/

Population

Total: ca. 750.000 (estimated 2019) with ca. 2 Mio people if you include urban surroundings and cities.

Foreign nationalities: ca. 25% of the population)

More city data & facts

Located: Germany, in the state: Hessen (Hesse in Engl.), Rhine-Main region.
Land area: 249 km² (96 sq. mi).
First mentioned in Year 795.
City forest area (Stadtwald) 4,800 hectars, 50 city parks.
Length of the river embankment along the city side: 16 kilometer (10 mi).
Banks: 228 (among them 158 foreign banks). Frankfurt is home of the German Bundesbank, Home of European Monetary Institute, Home of EZB (Europäische Zentralbank) (European Central Bank)

Location

Located: Germany, in the state: Hesse (German name: Hessen). The region is called Rhine-Main (River) Region.