Itinerary · Frankfurt · Germany
One day in Frankfurt
A day-by-day plan grouped by neighbourhood, so you spend your time seeing Frankfurt, not crossing it.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Taken May 2005 by Popie ( de:Benutzer:Popie ), CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
1 days covers the main sights, though 2 lets you slow down. Day 1: Römerberg and the Römer and Frankfurt Cathedral. Base yourself in Altstadt and Innenstadt.
Key facts
- Days
- 1
- Sights covered
- 5
- Day trips
- None
- Best base
- Altstadt and Innenstadt
- Book ahead
- Nothing essential
Day by day
Day 1: Römerberg and the Römer and Frankfurt Cathedral
Römerberg and the Römer, Frankfurt Cathedral, New Old Town (DomRömer quarter) and Schirn Kunsthalle, then Apple-wine taverns in the evening.
Morning
Römerberg and the Römer
Come early in the morning for photographs before tour groups arrive, and look into the Kaisersaal if it is open. Allow 45 minutes.
Late morning
Frankfurt Cathedral
The tower climb has around 300 steps and is open in fair weather; check at the entrance. Allow 1 hour.
Lunch
Lunch: Frankfurt green sauce
Apple-wine taverns and traditional restaurants; best from spring to autumn when the herbs are local.
Afternoon
New Old Town (DomRömer quarter)
Follow the Krönungsweg, the coronation route from the cathedral to the Römer that the emperors walked. Allow 45 minutes.
Late afternoon
Schirn Kunsthalle
Check what is showing before you go; exhibitions change every few months. Allow 1.5 hours.
Evening
Apple-wine taverns
Order a Bembel to share and ask for Handkäs or Grüne Soße; sit where there is space at a shared table.
Before you go
If it rains
- Swap in Städel Museum (Sachsenhausen): Start with the old masters upstairs, then finish in the underground galleries, which are usually quieter.
- Swap in Goethe House and German Romantic Museum (Innenstadt): Use the audio guide in the Goethe House; the rooms make much more sense with context.
- Swap in Palmengarten (Westend): On a cold or wet day, spend most of your time in the tropical glasshouses.
Where to stay for this itinerary
$$$ · Best for first-timers, shopping and couples
Altstadt and Innenstadt
Römerberg, the cathedral and the Zeil shopping street between the river and the old walls
Pace and daylight
The sights in this plan add up to roughly 6–7 hours of visiting over one day, before meals and getting between them. Daylight runs from about 8.1 hours in December to 16.4 hours in June, so in winter start early and keep museums for the afternoon.
Getting between stops: Walking. Walking covers the old town, the shopping streets and the Museumsufer; footbridges cross the Main every few hundred metres.
More or fewer days
Questions travellers ask
+Is one day enough in Frankfurt?
1 days covers the main sights, though 2 lets you slow down. How many days Frankfurt needs.