Luxury hotels in Frankfurt

Frankfurt guide

Frankfurt: the Römerberg and the Museum Embankment

Half-timbered houses below skyscrapers, the Städel's old masters and apple-wine taverns.

The Römerberg, Frankfurt's old town square with its row of half-timbered houses and the Römer, the city hall, is the most cited sight, set against the skyline of Germany's financial capital. The rebuilt New Old Town is next to the cathedral.

Across the Main, the Museumsufer holds a string of museums, led by the Städel, with European art from the Middle Ages to today. Sachsenhausen's taverns serve apple wine and green sauce, and the Rhine valley's castles and vineyards are within an hour.

The Rhine Valley

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about an hour west of Frankfurt, is the most cited excursion from the city: a river gorge lined with castles, vineyards and medieval villages. A boat trip between Rüdesheim and St. Goar passes the famous Lorelei rock.

Rüdesheim's Drosselgasse is a lane of wine taverns, and a cable car climbs over the vineyards to the Niederwald Monument. Marksburg, one of the few castles never destroyed, can be visited inside, and the Rheingau's Riesling estates welcome tastings.

Heidelberg

Heidelberg, about an hour south of Frankfurt, is one of the most cited day trips from the city: a romantic red-sandstone castle in ruins above the Neckar, reached by funicular, and an old town of baroque streets around Germany's oldest university, founded in 1386.

The castle holds the Great Heidelberg Tun, a giant wine barrel, and the Philosophers' Walk on the opposite bank offers the classic view of the castle, the Old Bridge and the town. The Student Prison, where students were once locked up, is a curious visit.