Frankfurt travel guide — what to see, how to get around

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Frankfurt is the airport most GTA travellers pass through rather than visit, which is a shame and also an opportunity: FRA is Lufthansa's main hub, the S-Bahn into town leaves from directly under Terminal 1, and the historic centre is close enough that a long layover is a real day out rather than a gamble. The city itself is small for its reputation — a banking skyline, a rebuilt medieval square, and a row of museums strung along one bend of the Main — so two days genuinely covers it.

Getting there

How to reach Frankfurt

Yes, there is a real nonstop: Toronto Pearson (YYZ) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) is flown year-round by Air Canada, Lufthansa and Condor, and eastbound it is roughly an eight-hour overnight that puts you on the ground mid-morning. Air Canada and Lufthansa both use Terminal 1, which matters, because the trains are underneath it. FRA has TWO separate train stations and mixing them up is the classic first mistake. The Regionalbahnhof (regional station) sits on Level 0 directly beneath Terminal 1, concourse B — follow the signs for the S-Bahn — and that is where lines S8 and S9 leave for the city, calling at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (tief, the underground platforms), Taunusanlage, Hauptwache and Konstablerwache before continuing east towards Offenbach and Hanau. The same station handles regional RE2, RE3, RE59 and RB58 services out into the wider RMV area. The Fernbahnhof (long-distance station) is a physically separate building a short signposted walk from Terminal 1, and it handles ICE and IC trains to the rest of Germany and neighbouring countries; it also houses the AIRail terminal, where Lufthansa Express Rail passengers check in and hand over baggage. One recent change worth knowing: Terminal 3 opened in 2026 and Terminal 2 has closed completely, so every airline that used to operate from T2 is now in T3 and further from the trains. The free Sky Line people mover links the terminals.

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Getting around

Once you're there

The umbrella authority is RMV — the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund — which covers the entire Frankfurt Rhine-Main region. Underneath it, VGF runs Frankfurt's U-Bahn, trams and city buses and DB Regio runs the S-Bahn, but one RMV ticket is valid across all of them, so you never buy separate tickets to change from S-Bahn to U-Bahn to tram. Now the quirk that catches almost every visitor: Frankfurt city is fare zone 5000, but the AIRPORT IS ITS OWN SEPARATE ZONE, 5090. RMV states plainly that a Frankfurt single ticket or day ticket for zone 5000 is valid across the whole city EXCEPT the airport. So the day pass you buy for sightseeing will not legally get you back out to FRA. What does cover the airport: a ticket bought explicitly for both zones, the Frankfurt Card (valid in 5000 and 5090), or the Deutschlandticket. Buy on the platform from the machine or in RMV's app before you board — there is no ticket office on the train and no gate to remind you.

Don't miss

The best of Frankfurt

The long-layover run into the city

This only works landside, so be honest about the clock. The S-Bahn station is under Terminal 1 arrivals, which means clearing passport control first, then riding S8 or S9 in. Get off at Hauptwache for the Altstadt, or stay on to Hauptbahnhof if you want the shortest escape route. Budget honestly for the return: you re-clear full security, plus passport control again if your onward flight leaves the Schengen area. The EU's Entry/Exit System has been fully operational since April 2026, so Canadians now have fingerprints and a facial image registered on entry and a first entry into Schengen can be slow. Do not attempt this on a short connection.

Römerberg, the Neue Altstadt and the Kaiserdom

The half-timbered square with the Römer — the building Frankfurt has used as its city hall since the early 1400s — is the postcard. Behind it, the reconstructed Neue Altstadt (the DomRömer quarter) rebuilt the medieval lanes running to the Kaiserdom, the cathedral where Holy Roman Emperors were elected and crowned. Paulskirche, home of the 1848 national assembly, is on the adjoining square. The whole thing is walkable in an hour and it is the part of Frankfurt that is not banks.

The Städel and the Museumsufer

Cross the Main into Sachsenhausen and the Museumsufer strings museum after museum along the embankment. The Städel is the heavyweight, covering European art from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque through to classical modern and contemporary, with the Deutsches Filmmuseum and Deutsches Architekturmuseum nearby and the Schirn Kunsthalle back on the north bank. The Städel opens Tuesday to Sunday with a late evening opening on Thursdays, and it is closed Mondays. That is the standard German rhythm — treat Monday as a museum write-off and plan a walking day instead.

Main Tower, Kleinmarkthalle and an Apfelwein

Main Tower is the skyscraper in the banking district with a public viewing platform. Two things nobody warns you about: there is a security check, and large luggage, rucksacks and bags are not allowed up, which matters if you came straight off a plane; and the open-air terrace on the 56th floor closes in strong wind or rain, though the enclosed level on the 55th usually stays open. Afterwards eat at the Kleinmarkthalle, the covered market where Frankfurters actually shop, then finish with Ebbelwoi — apple wine — in a Sachsenhausen tavern, poured from a grey-and-blue Bembel jug into a ribbed Geripptes glass.

Frankfurt in pictures

Frankfurt

Where to base yourself

Neighbourhoods of Frankfurt

Innenstadt and the Neue Altstadt

Suits short stays and first visits: the reconstructed Dom-Römer quarter, the Römerberg, the Kaiserdom, the Schirn and the Zeil shopping street sit within a few hundred metres, and Hauptwache and Konstablerwache are both full U-Bahn and S-Bahn interchanges underneath you. Does NOT suit anyone expecting an authentic medieval quarter — the old town is a careful reconstruction finished in 2018 on a compact footprint, and the surrounding district is offices and retail that empty out in the evening.

Sachsenhausen

Suits eaters, drinkers and museum-goers: the Museumsufer runs along its river frontage, Alt-Sachsenhausen is the apple-wine tavern quarter, and Schweizer Strasse is the everyday shopping and café street with more taverns along it. Does NOT suit light sleepers anywhere near the Alt-Sachsenhausen bar lanes on a weekend, and does not suit anyone who wants to live on the U-Bahn — beyond Schweizer Platz and Südbahnhof, much of the district is tram and bus territory rather than underground.

Bahnhofsviertel

Suits budget travellers, business trips and anyone with an early flight: it is a handful of minutes from the airport on the S8 or S9, the hotel supply is huge, and it has the city's most interesting cheap eating — Eritrean, Thai, Turkish, Korean, all in a few blocks. Does NOT suit families or anyone who would find an open drug scene distressing: parts of Taunusstrasse, Elbestrasse, Moselstrasse and Niddastrasse have visible drug use and street sex work, in daylight as well as after dark. It is a small number of specific streets rather than the whole district, but you should know which ones before you book, not after.

Nordend and Bornheim

Suits longer stays, visiting family and anyone who wants a real neighbourhood: leafy residential streets, the Berger Strasse run of cafés, bars and weekly markets, apple-wine taverns without the tour buses, and quiet evenings. Reach them on the U5 through the Nordend or the U4 out to Bornheim Mitte. Does NOT suit a sightseeing-first weekend — everything on the standard list is a U-Bahn ride away, which is fine over a week and irritating over two days.

What to eat

Eating in Frankfurt

Apfelwein (Ebbelwoi)

Frankfurt's own drink: dry, tart, cloudy fermented apple wine, poured from a blue-and-grey salt-glazed jug called a Bembel into a diamond-ridged glass called a Geripptes. If the straight version is too sharp, order it sauergespritzt with sparkling water or süssgespritzt with lemonade — nobody will judge you, though they may smile. The taverns cluster in Alt-Sachsenhausen and along Schweizer Strasse, with less touristed ones in Bornheim and the Nordend.

Grüne Sosse

The city's signature dish: a cold green sauce of exactly seven herbs — borage, chervil, cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel and chives — blitzed with sour cream or yoghurt and ladled over halved boiled eggs and potatoes, or served with Rippchen. It is seasonal and belongs to spring and summer, when the tied herb bundles appear on the Kleinmarkthalle counters and on market stalls across the city.

Kleinmarkthalle

The covered market off the Zeil near Liebfrauenberg, and the best single food stop in Frankfurt: butchers, cheesemongers, bakers, Italian and Turkish traders, spice stalls and a hot-sausage counter culture that draws queues of office workers at midday, plus a wine bar on the upper gallery. This is where to try Handkäs mit Musik — a translucent sour-milk cheese marinated in vinegar, oil and raw onion, the onions being the 'music'. Closed Sundays.

Frankfurter classics

Rippchen mit Kraut, a cured pork cutlet poached and served on sauerkraut, is the standard tavern main. Frankfurter Würstchen are the slender smoked-and-poached sausages the city lent its name to, traditionally eaten in pairs with bread and mustard rather than in a bun. At Christmas, look for Bethmännchen — small marzipan balls scored with almonds — at the Römerberg market stalls.

If you only have 48 hours

Two days in Frankfurt

1

Morning

Start underground at Hauptwache, where the S-Bahn trunk line and the U1, U2, U3, U6, U7 and U8 all meet, and come up into daylight. Walk five minutes south into the Neue Altstadt: the half-timbered Römerberg square, the Römer town hall with its stepped gables, the red sandstone Kaiserdom where Holy Roman Emperors were crowned, and the Schirn Kunsthalle. This is all within a few hundred metres and needs no transit at all.

2

Late morning

Walk back north to the Kleinmarkthalle for an early lunch — Handkäs, a sausage from the counter, a glass of wine upstairs. It closes on Sundays, so if your one full day is a Sunday, swap this block for the Museumsufer and eat in Sachsenhausen instead.

3

Midday

West along the Zeil, then into the banking cluster for the Main Tower on Neue Mainzer Strasse — the only Frankfurt skyscraper with a public observation deck. Nearest station is Taunusanlage on the S-Bahn trunk. Be clear on the access: the lift goes to the enclosed viewing level, and the open-air platform above it is reached only by a flight of stairs. The open deck closes in strong wind or rain, so go on a clear day and go early if the forecast is turning.

4

Afternoon

Cross the river on the Eiserner Steg, the iron pedestrian bridge, and turn onto the Museumsufer along Schaumainkai — the Städel Museum, the Liebieghaus, the Museum Angewandte Kunst, the film museum and the Museum für Kommunikation strung out along one leafy embankment. No tram runs along the embankment itself, but the row is a flat walk end to end and Schweizer Platz and Südbahnhof (U1, U2, U3, U8) sit a few minutes inland if you want to shortcut.

5

Late afternoon

Carry on into Sachsenhausen proper along Schweizer Strasse for the shops and cafés, or take a tram down to Südbahnhof and work back on foot. If the light is good, the north bank promenade opposite gives you the skyline reflected in the Main.

6

Evening

Apfelwein in Alt-Sachsenhausen, in one of the courtyard taverns rather than the first place with an English menu. At weekends and on most public holidays there is also the Ebbelwei-Expreß, a 1950s tram fitted out as a rolling cider bar that loops past the sights, with apple wine or juice and mini pretzels included in the fare. Getting home: on Friday and Saturday nights the S-Bahn and some U-Bahn and tram lines keep running into the small hours, and n-prefixed night buses cover the rest of the week — check the last departure on rmv.de.

Worth a day

Day trips from Frankfurt

Rüdesheim and the Rhine Gorge

The single best day out of Frankfurt. The RB10 Rheingau line goes direct from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof along the river to Rüdesheim in a bit over an hour, and Rüdesheim sits inside the RMV network so a regional day ticket covers it. From the town, the Seilbahn cable car lifts you over the vineyards to the Niederwald monument, and Rhine boats run downstream through the UNESCO-listed Loreley stretch to Bacharach and St. Goar, with regional trains on both banks to bring you back. Trains are roughly hourly, so check the return before you settle into a wine tavern.

Heidelberg

The ruined red sandstone castle on its terrace above the Neckar, Germany's oldest university, the Alte Brücke and a long pedestrianised Hauptstrasse. ICE and IC trains from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof are quickest; slower regional services via Mannheim also work and are usually cheaper. For anyone who should not be climbing, the Bergbahn funicular from Kornmarkt runs up to the castle and onward to the Königstuhl summit, which turns a strenuous afternoon into an easy one.

Cologne

Roughly an hour and a quarter on the ICE via the dedicated Cologne–Rhine/Main high-speed line, and the payoff is immediate: the twin-spired Kölner Dom stands directly outside the station exit, so you walk out of the train and into the cathedral. Add the Ludwig Museum's modern art, the medieval Old Town and Kölsch beer served in small glasses by aproned waiters who keep replacing them until you put a coaster on top. Note that the Romano-Germanic Museum's own building has been closed for a long renovation, with the highlights shown in the interim at the Belgisches Haus near Neumarkt. Reserve a seat if you are travelling on a Friday or Sunday.

Travelling with family

Bringing parents, or kids

Frankfurt is the least glamorous of these three cities and by some distance the easiest to move around with older parents, a stroller or a wheelchair — and on a trip with visiting relatives that is worth more than charm. The old city was destroyed by bombing in 1944 and rebuilt in concrete and glass, which means modern kerbs, wide pavements, lifts and escalators almost everywhere rather than medieval steps. The central tunnel stations — Hauptwache, Konstablerwache, Hauptbahnhof, Willy-Brandt-Platz — are large lift-served interchanges, trams are low-floor, and the genuinely cobbled part of the city is tiny: the Römerberg and the reconstructed Dom-Römer lanes, which you cross in ten minutes rather than navigate for a week. Compare that to Prague or Porto and it is a different category of trip. Two honest warnings. The first is the Bahnhofsviertel: many of the cheapest and most convenient hotels are in it, and a few of its streets carry an open drug scene that grandparents and children will find upsetting to walk through. If you are travelling as a family, book on the river side, in Sachsenhausen or in the Nordend instead; if you do end up near the station, use Kaiserstrasse rather than the side streets after dark, and take the S-Bahn rather than walking to the centre at night. The second is summer — the Main valley is humid and gets hot, the Museumsufer path has patchy shade, and older buildings have no air conditioning. What actually works with children: the Palmengarten's glasshouses, playgrounds and little train; Frankfurt Zoo; the Senckenberg Naturmuseum, which has Germany's largest dinosaur display and is a dependable rainy-day rescue; and the car-free riverbank paths on both sides of the Main, which are flat enough for prams and scooters for kilometres. One correction to a common tip: the Main Tower is only a partial win for anyone with mobility limits — the lift reaches the enclosed viewing level, but the open-air deck above is stairs only, the operator asks wheelchair users to bring a companion, and the top platform shuts in wind and rain, so keep it flexible.

Before you go

Practical basics

Currency

The euro, and Frankfurt is where the European Central Bank actually sets policy for it. That does not protect you from dynamic currency conversion, which is worse here than almost anywhere because of the airport and station traffic: terminals and cash machines will offer to bill you in Canadian dollars at their own rate. Always decline and pay in euro. Avoid the freestanding Euronet machines in the Hauptbahnhof concourse and around the Zeil; withdraw inside a bank branch.

Cards and cash

For Germany's financial capital, Frankfurt runs on a surprising amount of cash. Contactless works in supermarkets, department stores and larger restaurants, but apple-wine taverns, Kleinmarkthalle stalls, Imbiss counters, kiosks and some taxis take cash or the domestic Girocard only, and no German business is obliged to accept your Visa or Mastercard. Carry euro notes and keep coins — station toilets and the ones at the airport want them.

Tipping

Round up rather than compute a percentage; five to ten per cent covers good table service. The mechanism is the part Canadians get wrong: German card terminals generally do not offer a tip screen, so you tell the server the total you want charged before they process the card. In an apple-wine tavern where the Bembel keeps arriving, settle up at the end and round the whole thing. Cash tips handed over directly are preferred.

Power and plugs

Type F Schuko sockets, round and recessed with earth clips at the sides; Type C europlugs fit the same hole. Mains is 230 volts at 50 hertz, roughly double Canada's 120. Phone and laptop chargers marked '100–240V' just need an adapter; Canadian hair dryers, straighteners and travel kettles marked 120V only will fail, sometimes spectacularly. A bulky North American grounded plug will not seat in a recessed socket, so buy a proper Schuko adapter.

Water and language

Tap water is safe throughout Germany under the Trinkwasserverordnung — fill your bottle from any tap, including at the airport. Restaurants still expect to sell bottled water and a request for Leitungswasser may be politely turned down, so do not plan on free tap water with a meal. Frankfurt has one of the highest shares of residents with foreign roots of any big German city and English is spoken almost everywhere, but the local dialect is Hessian and the apple-wine vocabulary is worth knowing before you sit down: Ebbelwoi, Bembel, Geripptes, Schoppen.

Safety

Frankfurt is safe by any Canadian standard, with one district that genuinely warrants specific advice rather than generic caution. The Bahnhofsviertel between the Hauptbahnhof and the banking towers has an open drug scene concentrated on Taunusstrasse, Elbestrasse, Moselstrasse and parts of Niddastrasse; by day it is busy and manageable, at night it can feel unpleasant, and the standard local advice is to stick to Kaiserstrasse and the well-lit main roads rather than cutting through side streets. Pickpocketing follows the usual pattern at the Hauptbahnhof, on the airport S-Bahn and in Zeil crowds — keep bags in front of you on the S8 and S9 with your luggage, which is exactly where opportunists work.

When to go

Timing your trip

May to September is the reliable window: the Main embankment, the Apfelwein gardens and the riverside walk are the whole point of Frankfurt in summer. The Museumsuferfest takes over both riverbanks on the last weekend of August and museums extend their hours for it. The other genuine reason to come is the Weihnachtsmarkt, which runs through Advent from late November until just before Christmas and fills Römerberg and Paulsplatz then spills onto Mainkai, Hauptwache and Friedrich-Stoltze-Platz; first recorded in 1393, it is one of Germany's oldest. Winter into early spring is grey but cheapest — with one enormous caveat: check the Messe Frankfurt trade-fair calendar before booking anything, because a big fair (the Buchmesse in October is the famous one) empties the city of affordable rooms. What actually closes: many museums shut Mondays, the Städel included, and Germany's shop-closing law keeps retail shut all day Sunday. The exceptions are the shops inside Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and at the airport, which trade seven days. Restaurants, cafés and museums are unaffected by the Sunday rule.

Do it on a budget

Smart-money tips

The Frankfurt Card is the pass that actually fits a short visit: sold as a one-, two- or three-day ticket, individual or as a group card for up to five people (all names written on it, and the group has to stay together). It gives unlimited travel on RMV services in fare zones 5000 AND 5090 — meaning it covers the airport run that a plain Frankfurt day ticket explicitly does not — plus reduced admission at 38 museums, five stages and theatres, and 16 tours and attractions. Its discounts cannot be combined with other reductions such as children's or family tickets.
The single most useful structural fact here is negative: a Frankfurt single or day ticket for zone 5000 does not include the airport, which sits in its own zone 5090. If your plan involves the S8 or S9 to FRA, you need a ticket bought for both zones, the Frankfurt Card, or the Deutschlandticket — and nothing at the station will stop you boarding on the wrong one.
The Deutschlandticket is a nationwide monthly pass valid on every S-Bahn, U-Bahn, tram, bus, RB and RE in Germany, including the airport S-Bahn run, and it sidesteps the zone 5000/5090 problem entirely. It is NOT valid on ICE, IC or EC long-distance trains. It is also a rolling subscription that auto-renews and must be actively cancelled, so it only makes sense if your trip covers a decent chunk of one calendar month.

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FAQ

Frankfurt — common questions

How do I get to Frankfurt?

Yes, there is a real nonstop: Toronto Pearson (YYZ) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) is flown year-round by Air Canada, Lufthansa and Condor, and eastbound it is roughly an eight-hour overnight that puts you on the ground mid-morning. Air Canada and Lufthansa both use Terminal 1, which matters, because the trains are underneath it. FRA has TWO separate train stations and mixing them up is the classic first mistake. The Regionalbahnhof (regional station) sits on Level 0 directly beneath Terminal 1, concourse B — follow the signs for the S-Bahn — and that is where lines S8 and S9 leave for the city, calling at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (tief, the underground platforms), Taunusanlage, Hauptwache and Konstablerwache before continuing east towards Offenbach and Hanau. The same station handles regional RE2, RE3, RE59 and RB58 services out into the wider RMV area. The Fernbahnhof (long-distance station) is a physically separate building a short signposted walk from Terminal 1, and it handles ICE and IC trains to the rest of Germany and neighbouring countries; it also houses the AIRail terminal, where Lufthansa Express Rail passengers check in and hand over baggage. One recent change worth knowing: Terminal 3 opened in 2026 and Terminal 2 has closed completely, so every airline that used to operate from T2 is now in T3 and further from the trains. The free Sky Line people mover links the terminals.

How do I get around Frankfurt?

The umbrella authority is RMV — the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund — which covers the entire Frankfurt Rhine-Main region. Underneath it, VGF runs Frankfurt's U-Bahn, trams and city buses and DB Regio runs the S-Bahn, but one RMV ticket is valid across all of them, so you never buy separate tickets to change from S-Bahn to U-Bahn to tram. Now the quirk that catches almost every visitor: Frankfurt city is fare zone 5000, but the AIRPORT IS ITS OWN SEPARATE ZONE, 5090. RMV states plainly that a Frankfurt single ticket or day ticket for zone 5000 is valid across the whole city EXCEPT the airport. So the day pass you buy for sightseeing will not legally get you back out to FRA. What does cover the airport: a ticket bought explicitly for both zones, the Frankfurt Card (valid in 5000 and 5090), or the Deutschlandticket. Buy on the platform from the machine or in RMV's app before you board — there is no ticket office on the train and no gate to remind you.

When is the best time to visit Frankfurt?

May to September is the reliable window: the Main embankment, the Apfelwein gardens and the riverside walk are the whole point of Frankfurt in summer. The Museumsuferfest takes over both riverbanks on the last weekend of August and museums extend their hours for it. The other genuine reason to come is the Weihnachtsmarkt, which runs through Advent from late November until just before Christmas and fills Römerberg and Paulsplatz then spills onto Mainkai, Hauptwache and Friedrich-Stoltze-Platz; first recorded in 1393, it is one of Germany's oldest. Winter into early spring is grey but cheapest — with one enormous caveat: check the Messe Frankfurt trade-fair calendar before booking anything, because a big fair (the Buchmesse in October is the famous one) empties the city of affordable rooms. What actually closes: many museums shut Mondays, the Städel included, and Germany's shop-closing law keeps retail shut all day Sunday. The exceptions are the shops inside Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and at the airport, which trade seven days. Restaurants, cafés and museums are unaffected by the Sunday rule.