Must-see attractions in Frankfurt & Southern Rhineland

  • Heidelberg castle

    Schloss Heidelberg

    Heidelberg

    Towering over the Altstadt, Heidelberg’s ruined Renaissance castle cuts a romantic figure, especially across the Neckar River when illuminated at night…

  • Germany, Hesse, Frankfurt, view of Frankfurt Cathedral, Kaiserdom Sankt Bartholomaus.

    Kaiserdom

    Frankfurt am Main

    Frankfurt’s red-sandstone cathedral is dominated by a 95m-high Gothic tower, which can be climbed via 328 steps. Construction began in the 13th century;…

  • Exterior of Staedelsches Kunstinstitut museum (Museum Staedel), Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany.

    Städel Museum

    Frankfurt am Main

    Founded in 1815, this world-renowned art gallery has an outstanding collection of European art from masters including Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir,…

  • Germany, Frankfurt, Senckenberg Museum; Shutterstock ID 443693980; Your name (First / Last): Gemma Graham; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: 100 Cities Guides app image downloads

    Senckenberg Museum

    Frankfurt am Main

    Life-size dinosaur mock-ups guard the front of Frankfurt’s natural history museum. Inside the early 1900s neo-baroque building, exhibits cover…

  • Römerberg square and Justice fountain, Frankfurt

    Römerberg

    Frankfurt am Main

    The Römerberg is Frankfurt’s old central square. Ornately gabled half-timbered buildings, reconstructed after WWII, give an idea of how beautiful the city…

  • Grube Messel

    Frankfurt & Southern Rhineland

    A Unesco World Heritage Site, this one-time coal and oil shale quarry 10km northeast of Darmstadt is renowned for its superbly preserved animal and plant…

  • Burg Eltz

    Moselle Valley

    At the head of the beautiful Moselle side-valley the Eltz, Burg Eltz is one of Germany's most romantic medieval castles. Never destroyed, this fairy-tale…

  • Barockschloss Mannheim

    Mannheim

    Mannheim’s most famous sight is the yellow and red sandstone Schloss, Germany’s largest baroque palace. Now occupied by the University of Mannheim, the…

  • Hambacher Schloss

    German Wine Route

    Atop a forested Pfälzerwald hill 6km southwest of the centre, this 'cradle of German democracy' is where idealistic locals, Polish refugees and French…

  • Trierer Dom

    Trier

    Looming above the Roman palace of Helena (Emperor Constantine's mother), this cathedral is Germany's oldest bishop's church and still retains Roman…

  • Gutenberg-Museum Mainz

    Mainz

    A heady experience for book lovers, the Gutenberg Museum commemorates native son Johannes Gutenberg, who in the 15th century ushered in the information…

  • Kloster Machern

    Moselle Valley

    The Moselle might be better known for its wine, but a former Cistercian monastery, founded in the 13th century, now houses this extraordinary brewery,…

  • Festung Ehrenbreitstein

    Koblenz

    On the right bank of the Rhine, 118m above the river, this fortress proved indestructible to all but Napoleonic troops, who levelled it in 1801. To prove…

  • Heiligtum der Isis und Mater Magna

    Mainz

    In a darkened, dungeon-like space, a glass walkway leads you around this extraordinary Roman archaeological site, which was discovered in 1999 during the…

  • Porta Nigra

    Trier

    Trier's most famous landmark, this brooding 2nd-century Roman city gate – blackened by time, hence the name, which is Latin for ‘black gate’ – is a marvel…

  • Landesmuseum Mainz

    Mainz

    Highlights of this well laid-out state museum include an ensemble of exquisite Jugendstil pieces, outstanding collections of Renaissance and 20th-century…

  • Mainzer Dom

    Mainz

    Topped by an octagonal tower, Mainz’ immense cathedral, built from deep red sandstone in the 12th century, is quintessentially Romanesque. Its predecessor…

  • Rheinisches Landesmuseum

    Trier

    A scale model of 4th-century Trier and rooms filled with tombstones, mosaics, rare gold coins (including the 1993-discovered Trier Gold Hoard, the largest…

  • Konstantin Basilika

    Trier

    Constructed around AD 310 as Constantine’s throne room, the brick-built basilica is now an austere Protestant church. With built-to-impress dimensions …

  • Liebfrauenbasilika

    Trier

    Germany’s oldest Gothic church was built in the 13th century. It has a cruciform structure supported by a dozen pillars symbolising the 12 Apostles (look…

  • Kaiserthermen

    Trier

    Get a sense of the layout of this vast Roman thermal bathing complex with its striped brick-and-stone arches from the corner lookout tower, then descend…

  • Amphitheatre

    Trier

    Trier’s mighty Roman amphitheatre could accommodate 20,000 spectators for gladiator tournaments and animal fights. Beneath the arena are dungeons where…

  • Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte

    Völklinger Hütte

    Frankfurt & Southern Rhineland

    The hulking former ironworks of Völklinger Hütte, 14km northwest of Saarbrücken, are one of Europe’s great heavy-industrial relics. Opened in 1873, 17,000…

  • IG-Farbenhaus

    Frankfurt am Main

    The monumental seven-storey IG-Farbenhaus was erected in 1931 as the headquarters of IG-Farben (pronounced ‘ee geh far-behn’), the mammoth German…

  • Germany, Hesse, Frankfurt am Main, Museum fur Moderne Kunst (Museum of Modern Art), MMK, wedge-shaped exterior, designed by Hans Hollein

    Museum für Moderne Kunst

    Frankfurt am Main

    The outstanding Museum of Modern Art focuses on European and American art from the 1960s to the present, with frequent temporary exhibits. The permanent…

  • Goethe House, where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749 - Frankfurt, Hesse

    Goethe-Haus

    Frankfurt am Main

    Completely rebuilt after WWII (only the cellar survived Allied bombing), the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) is furnished in the…

  • Germany, Hesse, Frankfurt, Old Opera

    Alte Oper

    Frankfurt am Main

    Inaugurated in 1880, the Italian Renaissance-style Alte Oper anchors the western end of the Zeil-Fressgass pedestrian zone. Burnt out in 1944, it narrowly…

  • Stock Exchange, Frankfurt, Germany

    Frankfurt Stock Exchange

    Frankfurt am Main

    The famous old Börse, built in 1843, is an impressively colonnaded neoclassical structure. The porch is decorated with allegorical statues of the five…

  • Frankfurt, Skyline, Winter, Germany.

    Riverfront Promenade

    Frankfurt am Main

    Beautiful parkland runs along both banks of the Main River – perfect for strolling, running, cycling or a picnic. The most popular section is between the…

  • Museum Judengasse

    Frankfurt am Main

    Most of Frankfurt’s medieval Jewish ghetto – Europe's first, dating from 1460 – on narrow Judengasse (Jews’ Street) was destroyed by a French bombardment…

  • Kloster Eberbach

    Rhine Valley

    Dating from the 12th century, this one-time Cistercian monastery, in an idyllic little valley 15km northeast of Rüdesheim, went through periods as a…

  • Reichsburg

    Moselle Valley

    Like many others in the area, Cochem's original 11th-century castle fell victim to French troops in 1689, then stood ruined for centuries until wealthy…

  • Burg Trifels

    German Wine Route

    Thought to be of Celtic origins, this enormous red-sandstone hilltop castle was first documented in 1081. Between 1125 and 1298 it was the repository of…

  • Burg Frankenstein

    Frankfurt & Southern Rhineland

    Built by Lord Konrad II Reiz von Breuberg around 1250, this hulking, partly ruined hilltop castle was visited by Mary Shelley on her German travels in…

  • Burg Rheinstein

    Rhine Valley

    In the 1820s, privately owned Rheinstein, 6km downriver from Bingen, became the first Rhine castle to be converted – by Prussian royalty (a branch of the…

  • Mathildenhöhe

    Frankfurt & Southern Rhineland

    Established in 1899 at the behest of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, the former Künstlerkolonie (artists' colony) at Mathildenhöhe is famous for its Darmstädter…

  • Burg Thurant

    Moselle Valley

    Built on Roman foundations from 1197, this mighty castle on the hilltop above Alken has an intriguing history. From 1246 to 1248 it was fought over by the…

  • Wollheim Memorial

    Frankfurt am Main

    This memorial is housed in a little pavilion marked ‘107984’ – the prisoner number of Norbert Wollheim, a forced labourer at the IG Farben’s corporate…

  • Oberwesel Kulturhaus

    Rhine Valley

    Every April, Oberwesel crowns not a Weinkönigin (wine queen), as in most Rhine towns, but a Weinhexe (wine witch) – a good witch who is said to protect…

  • Ruprecht-Karls-Universität

    Heidelberg

    Established in 1386 by Count Palatinate Ruprecht I, Germany’s oldest and most prestigious university comprises 12 faculties with 30,000 German and…

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