Frankfurt am Main is a city of about 775,000, the financial capital of Germany and of the euro, and it is the only German city with a genuine high-rise skyline. The nickname Mainhattan is unavoidable and reasonably earned: the European Central Bank, the Commerzbank tower and a dozen others stand in a cluster a few streets from a medieval square.
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The full name matters, because Frankfurt an der Oder is a different city on the Polish border. This is the one on the Main.
People treat Frankfurt as an airport with a city attached and that is a mistake, though an understandable one: it has Europe's busiest airport by cargo and one of its busiest for passengers, and a great many visitors only ever change planes. The city underneath is more interesting than its reputation, and its real asset is museums. The Museumsufer, the museum embankment on the south bank of the Main, puts around a dozen significant museums in a row along one riverside walk, which is a concentration almost nowhere else matches.
It is also worth knowing what the old town is. Frankfurt's medieval centre was destroyed in March 1944 in one of the most complete losses of any German historic core. The half-timbered houses on the Roemerberg were rebuilt in the 1980s and the Neue Altstadt beside them was completed in 2018. They are careful reconstructions and they are reconstructions, which is a different pleasure from an intact old town and no less worth seeing.
The local drink is Apfelwein, a dry fermented apple wine served in a ribbed glass from a stoneware jug, and the place to drink it is Sachsenhausen across the river.
What you pack is set by a cool damp climate and a city you cross by train rather than on foot.
The Roemerberg, the Museums and the Skyline
A rebuilt square, a dozen museums in a row, and a view from the 56th floor.
The Roemerberg is the obvious starting point, with the Roemer itself, the old city hall with its stepped gables, and the rebuilt row opposite. The Frankfurter Dom, the cathedral, is where the Holy Roman Emperors were elected from 1356 and crowned from 1562, which is the city's real historical weight, and the tower can be climbed. The Paulskirche nearby held the first freely elected German parliament in 1848 and is a key site in German democratic history. The Goethe House, where Goethe was born in 1749, is a reconstruction of the original and well done.
The Museumsufer is the thing to plan around. The Staedel is the major art museum and one of the best in Germany, with a strong collection from the fourteenth century to the present and a notable underground extension. Beside it along the embankment are the German Architecture Museum, the German Film Museum, the Museum of World Cultures, the Liebieghaus for sculpture, the Museum of Communication and the Museum Giersch, with the Museum fuer Moderne Kunst and the Schirn Kunsthalle back across the river. Many open late one evening a week and there is a combined card.
For the skyline, the Main Tower has a public viewing platform on the 56th floor at 200 metres, which is the only one of the towers open to visitors and worth doing on a clear day. From below, the Eiserner Steg, the iron footbridge of 1869, is where the standard photograph is taken.
Across the river, Sachsenhausen is the apple wine quarter: a grid of streets with traditional taverns, cobbles and a lot of noise at weekends. The Kleinmarkthalle back on the north side is a working covered market and the best cheap lunch in the city. The Palmengarten is a large botanical garden with glasshouses, and the Grueneburgpark beside it is where the city goes on a Sunday.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Rhine, the Taunus and Beyond
The Rhine gorge, wooded hills, and most of western Germany within an hour.
Frankfurt's position makes it the best base in Germany for day trips. The Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage site of castles, terraced vineyards and the Loreley rock, starts about an hour west, with Ruedesheim, Bacharach and St Goar strung along it and boats running between them. The Rheingau Riesling slopes and Kloster Eberbach are in the same direction.
Mainz is thirty-five minutes with its Romanesque cathedral and the Gutenberg Museum, Wiesbaden forty minutes with its thermal springs, and Heidelberg an hour with the castle above the Neckar. Wuerzburg with the Residenz is an hour and twenty, Cologne an hour by fast train, and the Taunus hills begin immediately north of the city with the Grosser Feldberg, walking trails and the Roman Saalburg fort, a full reconstruction of a limes fort on its original foundations.
Closer in, Bad Homburg and Kronberg are prosperous spa and villa towns on the edge of the Taunus, twenty minutes by S-Bahn, and the Hessenpark open-air museum collects relocated historic buildings from across the state.
Getting around: Frankfurt is a public transport city and the network is excellent, with U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses on one ticket and a day pass that is good value. The centre is walkable between the Roemerberg, the cathedral and the river, but the city as a whole is not, and Sachsenhausen is a bridge crossing away. The Hauptbahnhof is a major European hub and the airport is eleven minutes from it by S-Bahn, which is the fastest airport connection of any large German city. Cycling is easy and the riverbanks are flat.
When to Go
May to September, with December for the Christmas market.
Frankfurt has a cool damp central European climate: daytime highs from about 4C in January to 25C in July, rain spread through the year, grey winters with occasional snow and warm humid summer spells.
Late spring and summer, May to September, is the best stretch, with the riverbanks in use, beer and apple wine gardens open and the museums running late evenings. The Museumsuferfest in late August is a large riverside festival across the museum embankment and is the city's best event.
Autumn is wet and grey and perfectly good for a museum trip, which is what Frankfurt is best at anyway.
December brings the Christmas market on the Roemerberg, which is one of the oldest in Germany and one of the most photographed, set against the rebuilt gables. It is excellent and very crowded at weekends.
One thing that matters here more than in most cities: Frankfurt hosts enormous trade fairs, the Buchmesse book fair in October and the motor and consumer shows among them, and during a big Messe the hotel prices in this city multiply rather than merely rise, and rooms become genuinely hard to find. Check the Messe calendar before you book any date, in either direction. It is the single most useful piece of planning advice for Frankfurt.
Is Frankfurt Safe for Women Travelers
Frankfurt is a safe large city with one district that needs explaining properly.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Germany, and its terrorism wording is the strongest it uses: terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Germany, with restaurants, MARKETS, shopping centres, places of worship, sporting events and crowded public spaces named as possible targets. That is worth knowing in a country where a Christmas market is often the reason for the trip, and the response is awareness rather than avoidance. On crime the FCDO puts German levels on a par with the UK and names theft and pickpocketing at airports, railway stations and in crowded places, with the specific advice not to leave bags unattended. It also gives one unusually concrete warning: exchange currency only at banks and legitimate bureaux, because counterfeit notes are passed to visitors at street kiosks.
The theft warning applies at the Hauptbahnhof, on busy U-Bahn and S-Bahn lines, in the Christmas market crowds and during trade fairs. A closed bag worn in front of you handles it. Change money at a bank rather than a street kiosk, which the FCDO advises specifically and which matters in a city with a lot of exchange bureaux around the station. The terrorism wording names transport hubs and markets among possible targets.
The Bahnhofsviertel, the quarter immediately around the main station, deserves a straight account rather than either omission or alarm, because most visitors walk through it from the station to a hotel. It contains Germany's most visible open drug scene, which exists there because the city adopted a deliberate harm-reduction policy in the 1990s, with supervised consumption rooms and medical support concentrated in a few streets. You will see drug use and people in evident distress, particularly on and around Taunusstrasse and Niddastrasse. The same quarter is also one of the best eating districts in the city and holds a legal red-light area. The pattern to understand is that violent crime against passers-by is not what happens here; what happens is theft, aggressive begging and a visibly difficult street scene. It is busy and policed, and the practical approach is to walk purposefully, keep your bag closed, choose a lit main street rather than a side one at night, and take a taxi or an U-Bahn stop rather than walking the last few blocks after dark if you would rather not.
Beyond that quarter this is an easy and prosperous city. The centre, the Museumsufer, Sachsenhausen and the residential districts are comfortable, public transport runs late and is well used, eating alone is entirely unremarkable in a city this full of business travellers, and violent crime against visitors is rare. Sachsenhausen at weekends is loud and drunk rather than threatening.
Germany is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident. That is not the same as free: German healthcare involves patient contributions and the card does not cover repatriation or private treatment, so travel insurance sits on top of it. German hospitals are excellent and English is widely spoken in them, particularly in university cities. An Apotheke, marked with a red A, handles minor problems without an appointment and the duty rota for out-of-hours is posted in the window. Tap water is drinkable everywhere. Dial 112 for an ambulance and 116117 for the non-emergency medical service.
Two cultural points better known in advance: German sauna areas are textile-free and mixed, and cash is still expected in traditional apple wine taverns. Physically there is little to warn about, the city being flat, though the apple wine is stronger than it tastes and is traditionally drunk in quantity.
The Frankfurt Packing List
Base layers, for cool damp air
Frankfurt is rarely extreme and reliably damp, which is the condition where fine wool earns its place over cotton: merino at 160gsm keeps insulating when damp and resists odour across several days, which suits a short trip or a business one packed into a cabin bag. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron with no synthetic blend. A long sleeve merino wool base layer for women works under a coat in winter and alone in summer.
A hooded waterproof
A packable rain jacket for women. Rain is spread across the year rather than seasonal, and the riverbank walk between museums has no shelter.
A warm mid layer, October to April
A fleece mid layer, and for the Christmas market a merino wool beanie as well. The market is outdoors, in the evening, in a city that goes below freezing, and standing still in a crowd is much colder than walking.
Shoes for a transport city
Walking shoes with grip. Frankfurt is flat, so this is about distance rather than terrain: the Museumsufer is a long riverside walk and the old town cobbles are slick in rain. Merino wool socks, which keep working damp.
Something smarter than for most German cities
This is a banking city and the restaurants and bars reflect that, so one decent outfit is worth the space here in a way it is not in, say, Dunkirk. If you are here for a trade fair you already know this.
Sun protection in summer
A wide brim sun hat and sunscreen for the riverbanks and the Palmengarten, and for the Taunus trails if you go walking.
The small things
Cash in euros for apple wine taverns and market stalls, several of which are cash only. A European two-pin adapter. A refillable bottle; tap water is drinkable. A transport day pass, which pays back immediately. And above all, a look at the Messe trade fair calendar before booking, because during a large fair the hotel prices here multiply and rooms run out.
Essential Resources for Women in Frankfurt
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Non-emergency police: dial 110 for police in Germany and 112 for any emergency. There is a staffed police station inside the Hauptbahnhof, which is the practical place to report a theft that happens there. A theft needs an in-person report, the Anzeige, to produce the document an insurer will require. English is very widely spoken in this city.
Main hospital or clinic: the Universitaetsklinikum Frankfurt has a full emergency department, and the Buergerhospital and Hospital zum Heiligen Geist are the other central options. Dial 112 for an ambulance and 116117 for the non-emergency medical service. An Apotheke, marked with a red A, handles minor problems and posts the duty rota, and there is one open late inside the Hauptbahnhof.
Official health authority: the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's public health body. Germany is in the EU, so a UK GHIC or EU EHIC gives you state-provided care on the same terms as a resident, which involves patient contributions rather than being free and does not cover repatriation
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Berlin. Berlin, with a large consulate general in Frankfurt itself, which is the relevant one here and one of the biggest US consular posts in the world
Official tourism authority: the German National Tourist Board. With the Frankfurt tourist office for the Museumsufer combined card and the museum late-opening evenings, and separately with the Messe Frankfurt calendar, which determines whether a hotel room costs a normal price or several times one
The Bahnhofsviertel: the streets around the main station hold Germany's most visible open drug scene, by deliberate harm-reduction policy, alongside a good restaurant quarter and a legal red-light area. Theft and a difficult street scene rather than violence against passers-by. Walk main lit streets, keep your bag closed, and use a taxi or one more U-Bahn stop late at night if you would prefer.
Trade fairs: during a large Messe, hotel prices multiply and rooms run out. Check the calendar before booking any dates.
Apple wine: stronger than it tastes and traditionally drunk in quantity from a shared jug.
US State Department travel advisory: the Germany advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/germany, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Solo women safety assessment: Frankfurt is a safe, prosperous and very easy city to travel alone, with excellent late-running public transport, a centre and museum embankment that are comfortable in the evening, and so much business travel that eating alone anywhere draws no attention whatever. Violent crime against visitors is rare. The one district that needs a straight account is the Bahnhofsviertel, immediately around the main station, because almost every visitor walks through it: it holds Germany's most visible open drug scene, which is there by deliberate policy, with supervised consumption rooms and medical support concentrated on a few streets including Taunusstrasse and Niddastrasse, and you will see drug use and people in real distress. The same quarter is also one of the best eating districts in the city and contains a legal red-light area. What actually happens to passers-by there is theft, aggressive begging and discomfort rather than violence, and the practical response is to walk purposefully on lit main streets, keep a closed bag in front of you, and take a taxi or ride one more U-Bahn stop late at night rather than walking the last blocks if you would rather not. The FCDO's theft warning otherwise applies at the station, on busy S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines, in the Christmas market crowds and during trade fairs, and its specific advice to change money at a bank rather than a street kiosk matters in a city with this many exchange bureaux near the station. Sachsenhausen at weekends is loud and drunk rather than threatening, the apple wine is stronger than it tastes, German sauna areas are textile-free and mixed, and cash is still expected in the traditional taverns.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Germany travel guide for women. For why fine wool suits cool damp air and a bag packed small, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
