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Frankfurt am Main: the city that rules Europe's finances

Frankfurt am Main is a city where medieval half-timbered houses stand alongside the glass skyscrapers of the Bankenviertel. It is the fifth-largest city in Germany with a population of about 778,589, located in the very heart of the state of Hesse. Despite the fact that many tourists from the Czech Republic reach it by train in a few hours, Frankfurt remains a distinctly German city — there are no Czech roots here, but there is Roman history, Gutenberg's heritage, and the status of the financial capital of continental Europe.

The city stands on the Main River, and its name literally translates to "ford of the Franks" (Frankenfurt) — it was here that Frankish tribes crossed the river in the early Middle Ages. Today, millions of transit passengers pass through Frankfurt: the local airport is the largest in the country, and the train station receives high-speed trains from Prague, Berlin, Munich, and Paris.

Roman traces and medieval trade

Frankfurt's history begins long before the Franks. The Romans founded a settlement on the banks of the Main in the last quarter of the 1st century AD — archaeologists have found remains of a Roman bath here, which likely belonged to a larger complex, possibly a fortress. The Roman road that passed through this area connected Mainz (Mogontiacum) with Regensburg, and Frankfurt was one of the intermediate stations.

After the Romans left in the 5th–6th centuries, Frankish tribes established a permanent settlement here. Under Charlemagne, the city became an important political center — in 794, the Frankfurt Synod was convened here. And in the 12th century, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa granted the city the right to hold fairs, which predetermined its commercial future.

The Book Fair: from Gutenberg to the present day

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the oldest and largest in the world. Its roots go back to the 15th century, when after Johannes Gutenberg's invention of printing in Mainz, Frankfurt became one of the main centers of book trade in the Holy Roman Empire. Today, every October week the city welcomes thousands of publishers from around the world, and the fair remains the main place for concluding international copyright agreements.

Incidentally, it was the book fair that made Frankfurt a place where works banned in other countries were first published. In the 19th century, the works of Marx and Engels were published here, and in the 20th century — émigré literature that had not passed censorship in its homeland.

Bankenviertel: the German Manhattan

Modern Frankfurt is unimaginable without its financial district. About 280 financial institutions are located here, including the European Central Bank, the German Federal Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Commerzbank. The skyscrapers of the Bankenviertel form a silhouette that locals call "Mainhattan" — this is the only place in Germany where the cityscape resembles New York.

The European Central Bank moved to Frankfurt in 2014 to a new building in the Ostend district — a 185-meter tower that became the new dominant of the city. Every day the fate of the euro is decided here, and around the bank life boils: restaurants, parks, the Main embankment, where locals and tourists gather on weekends.

Airport: the gateway to Europe

Frankfurt Airport served about 61 million passengers in 2024, making it the largest in Germany and one of the four busiest in Europe. Flights depart from here to virtually all major cities in the world, and for tourists from the Czech Republic it is a convenient hub: a direct train from Prague takes about 5–7 hours, and the flight takes just over an hour.

The airport itself is an attraction: there is a covered observation deck, an aviation museum, and free SkyLine trains run between terminals. If you arrive in Frankfurt with a long layover, you can take the S-Bahn electric train to the center — the journey takes just 15 minutes.

The Römer and Altstadt: the heart of the old city

The historic center of Frankfurt is Römerplatz with the Römer town hall, which has served as the mayor's residence since the 15th century. Nearby is St. Bartholomew's Cathedral (Dom), where Holy Roman Emperors were crowned from the 10th to the 16th centuries. And just a few steps away is the house where Johann Wolfgang Goethe, one of the greatest German poets, was born.

The Altstadt (old city) was almost completely destroyed in World War II but was rebuilt in the 1970s–80s. Today it is a pedestrian zone with restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops where you can try traditional Frankfurt green sauce (Grüne Soße) or local cider — Apfelwein.

The Main embankment and museums

The Main embankment (Mainufer) is a favorite walking spot for Frankfurt residents. Three main museums of the city are located here: the Städel with its collection of European painting, the Museum of Applied Arts, and the German Film Museum. In summer, beaches, food trucks, and open bars operate on the embankment — the atmosphere resembles a Mediterranean resort rather than a financial capital.

In the Sachsenhausen district on the southern bank of the Main, nightlife is concentrated: dozens of bars, clubs, and restaurants serving traditional Hessian cuisine. This is a place where bankers meet artists and musicians after work — Frankfurt is surprisingly diverse for a city with a population of less than a million.

How to get there from the Czech Republic

For tourists from the Czech Republic, Frankfurt is one of the most accessible destinations in Germany. A direct train from Prague (Praha Hlavni Nadrazi) takes about 5–7 hours depending on the route: via Dresden or via Nuremberg. Tickets cost from 10–15 euros with early booking. By car, the journey takes about 3.5–4 hours via the D5/A6 highway.

Many Czech tourists use Frankfurt as a transfer point: they arrive at FRA airport and then continue their journey to other European countries. But the city itself deserves at least one full day — there is plenty to see here besides the Bankenviertel skyscrapers.

What the cameras show

This page collects webcams of Frankfurt am Main — from panoramic views of the Bankenviertel to live streams from the Main embankment and Römerplatz. Choose a camera to see the city in real time: how traffic moves across the Eiserner Steg bridge, how the sun sets behind the roofs of the Altstadt, how planes take off at the airport. Frankfurt webcams are a chance to peek into Germany's financial capital without leaving home.