Accessibility options


Frankfurt City Guide - overview

City Guides - Frankfurt

Overview | Airports | Attractions | Excursions | Events | Restaurants
Visitors to Germany do not find much to make them linger in the sprawling city of Frankfurt on the River Main, unless their purpose is business rather than pleasure. For most visitors to the country, however, Frankfurt's huge showpiece airport is the point of arrival and departure. The city is a major transport hub and an industrial and financial metropolis that ensures it is the economic powerhouse not only of Germany, but central Europe. Frankfurt is home to Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank and Europe's most important stock exchange, which has been trading since 1585.

For tourists Frankfurt does offer some sights, some intriguing restaurants in the Nordend, a variety of artistic and cultural events, and excellent shopping opportunities. Sightseeing opportunities are mostly confined to the historical core of the city, known as the Romerberg, where Charlemagne erected his fort in medieval times. Most of the original buildings were destroyed during World War II, but some have been reconstructed, including the home of Goethe, Frankfurt's famous son who became Germany's greatest writer. For shopping it is hard to beat the Zeil, Germany's equivalent to New York's Fifth Avenue.

With its excellent rail connections and Autobahn system, Frankfurt is the natural hub for travellers wishing to explore the surrounding towns and countryside. It is also the venue for numerous trade fairs, exhibitions and congresses, drawing about 12-million visitors a year to these events. The largest and best known is the annual International Book Fair, which is attended by thousands of publishers.

Getting around: Public transport in the city is expensive, but efficient, consisting of an integrated network of fast, modern underground U-Bahn lines, S-Bahn city trains, trams and buses that operate from 4am to 2am. Several night bus routes also operate from 1am. Fares are standard and are based on a zone system; most tickets are valid for an hour and can be used for any amount of transfers between all modes of public transport within that time. A variety of tickets can be bought from machines at most stops including hourly and daily passes, and tickets must be bought prior to boarding; single ticket fares are more expensive during rush hours. The Frankfurt Card (available from the tourist office) is good value allowing for unlimited travel within greater Frankfurt, plus airport shuttle transport and half price admission to museums. For those attending a conference in Frankfurt, the tourist office has a one-day Congress Ticket valid for unlimited travel in the city and to the airport. Taxis are safe and plentiful, but expensive. Driving a car in the city involves rush hour congestion, expensive parking lots and confusing road systems so it's best to park and use public transport while in the city.

Travel Guides Search

Essential information to plan the perfect trip.
 
 

Hotel Deals

Price £41.00
Price £53.00
Price £56.00

Flight + Hotel

Price £245
Price £255
Price £270
Price £281
Price £308

Advertisement starts



Advertisement ends


wordtravels Travel guide powered by wordtravels.com, © Globe Media

By its very nature much of the information in this travel guide is subject to change at short notice and travellers are urged to verify information on which they're relying with the relevant authorities. Globe Media cannot accept any responsibility for any loss or inconvenience to any person as a result of information contained above.

Advertisement starts



Advertisement ends

Before you go

Buy currency online
Buy currency online
Commission-free and delivered to your door.
Insurance quotes
Insurance quotes
Don't leave home without it.
Weather forecast
Weather forecast
Check the weather before you go.
Holiday shop
Holiday shop
Cameras, sunglasses, bags and other essentialas.
Maps and directions
Maps and directions
Find your way from A to B with our maps.

Advertisement starts



Advertisement ends

Travel
Skip to page content | Text onlyGraphical version of this page

Tiscali Quicklinks. Please visit our Accessibility Page for a list of the Access Keys you can use to find your way around the site, skip directly to the main navigation, to the page content, or to more links within travel.

web |  shopping |  this site |  video |  local services

Page Footer


Access keys


You will need to use different key combinations in order to use access keys depending on your internet browser, find out which on our accessibility page.
  • (0) Navigate to Accessibility page.
  • (1) Navigate to Home page.
  • (2) Navigate to My email.
  • (3) Navigate to My Account.
  • (4) Navigate to Site Map page.
  • (5) Navigate to Contact us page.
  • (6) Navigate to Members channel.
  • (7) Navigate to Services channel.
  • (8) Navigate to News & Info channel.
  • (9) Navigate to Entertainment channel.
  • ([) Skip down to the Primary navigation block.
  • (]) Skip down to the more links within this section block.
  • (=) Bypass all navigation and jump to the content.
  • (x) Text only version of this page.
Background images used:
furniture images used in the site icons used in the site images used in the header