Frankfurt’s Business Focus Has A Soft Side

The smart eyes look to Frankfurt this month. ;-)

Most people will be looking at Southern Germany right now, with the big Canstatter Wasen in Stuttgart and the opening of Oktoberfest in Munich (as mentioned in the G-ZINE). However, if you are looking to visit Germany this month, you may want to include Frankfurt am Main on your itinerary.

Frankfurt has quite a business reputation — we Germans sometimes refer to it as Bank-furt or even die heimliche Haupstadt, our secret capital. Yet underneath that fine patina of high commerce, there is much more to than meets the eye.

One element that makes Frankfurt very inviting is that it is not actually very big. Only about 660,000 people live here, which allows Frankfurt to maintain a small town feel that surprises many visitors. For all its fancy skyscrapers — we call the skyline here Mainhattan, naturally — there is a tight-knit community under all that steel and glass.

Wandering down the Zeil, one of Frankfurt’s main shopping avenues, you will find that you can be warmly greeted just as though you were in a smaller town. Sit out in the square in front of the Römer, and you might think you’d slipped back into a medieval village.

You can get even more of a feel for the historic side of Frankfurt riding on the Ebbelwei Express. It’s an old tram car and a bit kitschy, but the rides are cheap at 6 euros and the tickets include a salt biscuit snack and some of the region’s famous Apfelwein or apple juice if you like (hence its name Ebbelwei, Frankfurt’s slang for Apfelwein).

To properly end a day out in Frankfurt, you have to go out for a decent meal. It’s a good thing locals like to work hard all day, or they’d never burn off the calories from the more than 3,000 Frankfurt restaurants. Executive Travel Magazine’s July issue named Gargantua as one of the best restaurants in the country, which of course you will have to test for yourself!

September is also a time of year when the weather in Frankfurt is very good. Why fight the crowds elsewhere?

Come to an easily explored and historically inviting destination of Germany this month to experience Frankfurt’s softer side for yourself.

—Marcus