FrankfurtTravel Guide

The old town’s central square, ringed by steep-gabled, half-timbered facades and the Römer city hall, is Frankfurt’s defining image.

Between Römerberg and the cathedral sits the DomRömer quarter, opened in 2018 after six years of building: fifteen reconstructions of lost houses and twenty contemporary buildings, thirty-five in all, packed into roughly seven thousand square metres.

The museum embankment on the Sachsenhausen side gives you a long, clean sweep of the skyline across the water, framed by plane trees.

The Renaissance-style facade at the head of a fountain square, with towers rising directly behind it, is the tidiest old-versus-new composition in the city, to our eye.

A pungent, translucent sour-milk cheese marinated in vinegar, oil, and raw onions — the onions are the Musik, the music.

Cross the river to the cobbled lanes of Alt-Sachsenhausen, the historic apple-wine quarter.

Frankfurt's beloved covered market packs dozens of stalls under one roof: butchers famous for their hot sausages eaten standing up, cheesemongers, wine counters upstairs, and produce from the surrounding countryside.

Finish with Frankfurter Kranz, a crown-shaped buttercream cake crusted with caramelized brittle, or Bethmännchen, small marzipan domes studded with almonds that appear everywhere around Christmas but can be found year-round in traditional bakeries.

hotel prices citywide can multiply during major Messe fairs — check the calendar before you book anything