rankfurt is Germany’s capital of finance, that sounds a little dry, but there’s a lot to do that doesn’t involve Bloomberg terminals and financial algorithms. At the heart of Frankfurt is Central station, just like many German cities, everything seems to flow out from the main station hubs called Hbf (Hauptbahnhof) In recent years there’s been a flood of immigration which has significantly changed the face of the area around Central Station. There are now more kebab and hijab shops, cheap euro stores, and people aimlessly hanging out asking if you want to buy drugs – in a way it’s sad to see Germany lose its German culture. But, everything changes. Germany too.

Frankfurt’s red-light district is also located almost adjacent to Central Station, a series of blocks where the 5 story walkup buildings act as brothels. Each floor having multiple rooms. As a girl, I wasn’t allowed in to take a look. But from the outside, it appears this district does a brisk business. The area is also being gentrified as more small bars are opening up and younger business people spill into the street after work.

1. Things to see

Große Bockenheimer Straße is another shopping area I kept returning to. Home of an Apple store and loads of small delis selling yummy sausages, meatballs, salads, and other delicacies. It’s also home to possibly the best soup shop on the planet (more on that later). I was there during the Christmas season so of course all the decorations were out, small stands selling glühwein (‘a hot mulled beverage made from red wine along with various mulling spices and sometimes raisins’).

The main body of the Christmas market is located a 20 min walk from Central Station in Romberg, a beautiful square surrounded by reconstructed half-timber medieval buildings and a small gothic church. If you’ve never been to a Christmas market, imagine a square filled with dozens (hundreds?) of small kiosks decorated for Christmas selling everything from wooden toys, winter clothes, Christmas ornaments, Istanbul lights, handmade gingerbread, candy and food – lots of food; Currywurst, chocolate covered fruit skewers, candied apples, potato pancakes, roasted almonds and chestnuts, fried dough, and Schupfnudeln – potato noodles similar to gnocchi that are fried in bacon with sauerkraut thrown in… The other main draw is the alcohol – the mulled wine, Eirpunsche (a warm egg-based drink that must be an acquired taste), and Kinderpunsch: essentially the mulled wine without the alcohol.

Candy at Roomers Hotel

Statue in the park near the shopping district towards GroBe Bockenheimer

Christmas market, hotel life, and Central Station

Pretzels !!!

Sculpture in one of the many parks

Posing on the divided bus?

More offerings at the Xmas Market in Römerberg

These strings of candy were my fave!

2. Nightlife

Besides the Christmas market, my favorite bar was the Cigar Bar under Roomers Hotel (where I stayed), it’s a decadent wood filled bar with excellent cocktails, inexpensive beer, good people watching and light snacks – if you can take the cigar smoke. With a few erotic (artistic) photos on the wall, giving an old-world avant-garde feel and the bartenders are always kind even if you don’t speak German.

There’s a dive bar right across from Central Station called O’Reilly’s – a place I kept gravitating to for the comfort food, and to have a few drinks to close off the night. I’m not a sports bar fan, but unless a big game is underway it’s pretty tame.

Berger Strasse is another area of town lined with wine bars, pubs, cafes, and restaurants. However, when the Christmas market is in session I think it gets fewer drinkers as many gravitate over to the market, at least until it closes. They also have some unusual shops where you can buy curiosities during the day.

There are plenty of other bars and clubs around town that I didn’t get to try this trip, a lot of them sound great – Naiv, Bockenheimer Weinkontor, Mantis, Cocoon Club, Odeon, Robert Johnson, Jimmy’s Bar and Velvet

Roomers cigar bar and other nightlife spots

3. Spend

Frankfurt has a lot of curiosity shops, not sure what that means – except that you walk in and there’s just a lot of knick-knacks, antiques, and ‘curious’ objects for sale. Most of my spending money went to the Christmas markets and buying some of the fragile glass Christmas tree ornaments to carefully wrap and bring home.

4. Food

Frankfurt Central Station (train food) is some of the best. 0.90 euro huge warm pretzels, baguettes filled with ham and cheese, tuna, or chicken, good Asian fast food, Berliners and pastries, fresh fish, grapes and other fruits far bigger than you can find in the Philippines – everything is on offer and it’s all super affordable. Each day I had to take the train it was easy to bring a bag full of goodies back to the hotel.

Ebert’s Suppenstrube was my second favorite place to eat, there are a few locations in town and they sell a daily selection of soups – liver dumplings, local sausage, lentil, ravioli, and the best chili. It comes with several big pieces of bread and you sit outside on wooden tables and watch the world pass.

So much good food…

5. Getting Around

Using your feet will take you most places you want to go. If you get tired after a long day or are headed out a night, plenty of taxis can get you there cheaply. There’s also an underground Metro I took several times which will always bring you back to Central Station.

6. Costs

I found Frankfurt pretty inexpensive for being the financial hub of the country. If you stick to Station Food, smaller eateries, and a few cocktails a night there’s not a lot to spend on. Hotels can also be pretty affordable.

7. Tips

Enjoy Frankfurt for what it is, and not what it’s not, while there aren’t a lot of typical tourist attractions, the city is quintessential Germany. There’s a lot of nightlife, shopping, and food on offer an easy to jump off to other places via their excellent rail network.

Tall buildings, big brands, lots of bars, good food, too many street people, curiosity shops and a big beautiful Central station to glue them all together.