Days out with kids add up fast, so we keep a running list of the ones that cost nothing. Think city parks, forest playgrounds, libraries and the free family events that pop up through the year. The list updates itself as new free plans are added and old ones end, so check back before the weekend.
St. Martin's Day is when German kids carry lanterns through dark streets singing "Ich geh mit meiner Laterne". Most parades start at a church with a short service or the story of Martin sharing his cloak, then walk the neighborhood with brass music, sometimes behind St. Martin on horseback.
Some end at a Martin's fire with sweet bread and kids' punch. Nobody needs German to walk along.
On St. Martin's Day, kids across Germany carry glowing lanterns through dark streets, singing songs their parents still know by heart.
In Frankfurt, parishes lead short neighborhood walks, and some have St. Martin riding ahead on horseback. Several end at a bonfire with Martinswecken, sweet buns shared in honor of the soldier who split his cloak with a beggar.
An ecumenical St. Martin celebration put on by the parish at St. Josef church in Höchst.
After the service, families head outside and kids carry their lanterns in a procession to Schlossplatz. The service is in German, but the lantern walk needs no German at all, so it suits any family with a kid and a lantern.
The Martinsfeuer marks St. Martin's Day with a big bonfire, warm drinks and the story of the soldier who cut his cloak in half for a freezing beggar. Here, kids from the Günthersburg adventure playground tell that story as a shadow play, a church brass choir plays, and little ones ride a kids' carousel. The organizers call it Frankfurt's biggest Martinsfeuer, now in its 30th year.
An ecumenical St. Martin's celebration at St. Bartholomäus church in Zeilsheim, with a Martinsspiel, the St. Martin's play. Afterward everyone sets off together on a lantern procession.
Kids bring their own lantern and carry it on the walk. The service and play are in German, so it suits families happy to follow along in German, and kindergarten and primary-age kids most of all.
A small Christmas market at the edge of the Stadtwald, right under the Goetheturm, Sachsenhausen's wooden lookout tower. Stalls sell crepes, roasted chestnuts, potato pancakes, raclette and hot apple wine, alongside handmade crafts like glass-bead jewelry and lambskins.
For kids there is a carousel, and the big forest play park sits next door, so it suits families who want a run-around between snacks.
The Kinderweihnachtsmarkt is the kids' corner of the Frankfurt Christmas market, set on the Mainkai just east of the Eiserner Steg.
Kids get a mix of hands-on activities and festive attractions, so it suits families who want a market stop built around the children. Parents can carry on to the rest of the Christmas market afterward.
Hanau's main Christmas market fills the Marktplatz around the Brothers Grimm monument with lit wooden stalls that smell of roasted almonds, grilled sausages and mulled wine.
For kids, the draw is the Ferris wheel and a two-level carousel, with local bands, brass bands and choirs on the Christmas stage. It is smaller and calmer than Frankfurt's Römerberg market, which suits a late-afternoon wander with younger kids.
Frankfurt's Christmas market runs as one long string of stalls through the old center, with a giant tree on Römerberg square. Kids ride the carousels, try Bethmännchen (marzipan with three almonds) and spot trees decorated by local children.
For families, the stretch to aim for is the kids' market on the Mainkai by the river, with a craft room, a historic carousel and a lit-up Christmas ship.
Wiesbaden's main Christmas market fills the square around the Marktkirche with close to 100 stalls of gifts, decorations, jewelry and crafts, plus more than 20 food stands pouring kids' punch and hot drinks. A stage in front of the town hall runs a program, and the city nativity scene stands by the big tree.
A short walk away, the separate kids' market adds an elves' forest, a train and a carousel.
Mainz's historic Christmas market fills the square in front of the 1,000-year-old cathedral and spills onto the Höfchen and Liebfrauenplatz, under painted Renaissance house fronts.
Kids head for the two old-fashioned carousels, the stalls of handmade toys, and the 11-meter Christmas pyramid crowded with Mainz figures, from a carnival jester to Gutenberg. The life-size carved nativity sits beside the cathedral. Go once the lights come on.
A Christmas market set in and around the walls of Bad Homburg's old landgraves' palace, with each courtyard decorated in its own style. Stalls mix regional food and drink with a large share of handmade crafts.
For kids there are treats, small program moments, a children's carousel and a real miniature steam train running at the foot of the White Tower.
Fastnacht weekend brings two parades into Frankfurt's old town. Saturday's children's parade is short and made for kids, followed by the carnival prince and princess storming the Römer, the city hall, for its keys.
Sunday's big parade is the main event: floats, carnival guards in uniform, marching bands and dance troupes, with sweets thrown into the crowd. It suits families who can handle crowds and noise.
Mainz's Rosenmontagszug is the biggest day of the city's Fastnacht: a long parade of decorated floats, marching carnival guards in uniform, brass bands and the Schwellköpp, the oversized papier-mâché heads that star in the 2027 motto.
Kids line the curb in costume, shout "Helau" and catch sweets thrown from the wagons. It suits families happy in big crowds; with a stroller, pick a spot early or see little.
Klaa Paris, the local nickname for Heddernheim, has held a carnival parade through its narrow village lanes since 1839, making it the oldest in Frankfurt. Around 1,500 carnival club members, marching bands and floats wind through the old center, throwing sweets (Kamelle) into the crowd.
Expect big crowds, with around 100,000 people along the route, so it suits kids who don't mind noise and being packed in.
Dippemess is Frankfurt's big traditional funfair, held twice a year on the fairground next to the Eissporthalle. Kids ride classic carousels, spinning rides, a roller coaster and the Ferris wheel, which looks out over the city at dusk.
Between rides there's cotton candy, crêpes and candied almonds. It suits kids who love rides and can handle noise, bright lights and evening crowds.
Wäldchestag is Frankfurt's own folk festival, a fair that sets up among the trees of the Stadtwald around Oberforsthaus. Kids get a Ferris wheel, chair swings, carousels and prize stalls, while parents sit in beer gardens with apple wine and sausages in the shade.
Afternoons suit families best. Evenings lean toward adults, with stage music and drinks until late.
Hessentag is Hesse's state festival, hosted by a different town each year. In 2027 it comes to Idstein, a half-timbered old town in the Taunus hills that last hosted it in 2002. Expect live music, food stalls, local clubs and, by tradition, a big costume parade.
For kids, the draw is "Der Natur auf der Spur", a family nature area in the Wörsbachaue meadows, run by the state environment ministry with HessenForst.
Mainfest is Frankfurt's old riverside folk festival, rooted in a fishermen's feast from the Middle Ages. The Main embankment and the Römerberg fill with traditional rides, a Ferris wheel, regional food stalls and a culture program.
Kids tend to remember the Fischerstechen: jousters in historical costume stand on narrow boats and try to push each other into the river with padded poles. It suits families who enjoy a busy fair.
Bad Homburg's town festival has run since 1935, with children at its center. Lit floats built around a yearly theme roll through the streets on two evenings, and a Sunday-morning kids' fair on the Brunnenallee has games for points, face painting and a balloon race.
The finale is the children's parade: school and kindergarten groups carry homemade lanterns through the Kurpark to the Jubiläumspark, where fireworks close the festival.
The Bundesbank's museum about money and how it works. The exhibition sits on one level with a lift, and a coffee shop is on the same floor. It suits kids who like coins, cash and how banks work, and fits a short visit better than a full day.
A family-run organic fruit farm on the edge of Nieder-Erlenbach, growing more than 250 fruit varieties, 150 of them apples. The apple-wine tavern sets its tables under the orchard trees, in blossom in spring and heavy with fruit in fall, with a heated room for rain and winter.
Kids get a climbing frame and a sandbox, and a gravel path leads out to the meadow orchards.
Waldspielpark Tannenwald is a forest playground run by the city of Frankfurt on the edge of Neu-Isenburg. The big draw is the water play area: a spray field and jets on a natural-stone surface, with a red fish sculpture that spits water.
Frankfurt and Neu-Isenburg rebuilt it for €1.3 million after a four-year closure, adding a new building with toilets. It suits kids who want to get soaked on a hot day.
Schwanheimer Düne is a 58-hectare nature reserve on an inland sand dune, formed from Main riverbed sand after the last Ice Age. A wooden boardwalk loops through pine trees, silver grass and open sand, with information boards. Kids have to stay on the boards to protect the lichens, which makes it a car-free stretch for running. Look for herons fishing in the Schmitt'sche Grube, a former sand pit.
Kleinmarkthalle is the city's covered food market, open since 1954, with more than 60 stalls across over 1,500 square meters. Traders sell fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, bread and international deli food, and small food stands serve meals to eat on the spot.
Kids can try the local specialties at the stalls, like Frankfurter sausages and Grüne Soße, the city's green herb sauce.
Volkspark Niddatal, which locals call Niddapark or the BUGA grounds, is the city's largest park, with 168 hectares of riverside meadows along the Nidda. On its western edge sits a big play area with a climbing castle, a large sandbox, a double zip line, tire swings, ping-pong tables and a skate park. Next to it, a splash area sprays fountains with no pool, so even toddlers can run through.
KiBi is the city library's central branch for children and teens, on the ground floor of the Saalbau Bornheim. Shelves run from picture books and non-fiction to magazines and children's books in other languages.
Teens get their own TeenLounge with console games, DVDs and manga, and the weekly TechnoTHEK lets kids try hands-on tech kits alongside a parent.
Eiserner Steg is an iron footbridge over the Main, linking the old town by the Römerberg with Sachsenhausen. From the middle, kids can watch boats pass underneath, with the skyline on one side and the Museumsufer on the other.
Sightseeing boats leave from the old-town bank, and electric boats can be rented on the Sachsenhausen side, next to a restaurant ship.
Römerberg is Frankfurt's historic main square. On one side stands the Römer, city hall since the 15th century, with stepped Gothic gables; facing it is the Ostzeile, a row of half-timbered houses, each with its own name.
Kids can spot Justitia on the Justice Fountain, holding scales and a sword without a blindfold. Most buildings are reconstructions: the old town was largely destroyed in 1944.
Lohrberg is a 185-meter hill on the northeast edge of town, and the city's only vineyard grows on its south slope. Apple orchard meadows cover much of the hill, and the MainÄppelHaus orchard center explains the trees and Frankfurt's apple wine.
At the top, the Lohrpark has a big flat lawn for ball games, a playground, and wide views of the skyline. Walking and cycling paths wind through the orchards.
Waldspielpark Schwanheim is a water play park in the Schwanheim forest. A big spray field cools kids off on hot days, and a paddling pool is set aside for toddlers. Around them sit play equipment, a row of table tennis tables, an 18-hole mini golf course and a soccer field. A separate barbecue area has open and covered fire pits.
Waldspielpark Louisa is a city-run play park among the trees of the Frankfurt Stadtwald, with sandy play areas, swings and a big wooden ship to climb. In summer, a splash field and a paddling pool no deeper than 35 cm give kids a way to cool off.
Toilets are on site, and a kiosk sits on the road in front of the park. Dogs are not allowed inside.
Hafenpark is a 40,000-square-meter park on the Main riverbank, right below the European Central Bank tower. Its Concrete Jungle skate park draws amateur and pro skaters, and a second, smaller skate area is set aside for kids.
Around it sit basketball, volleyball, badminton and soccer courts, a climbing course, playgrounds, outdoor fitness equipment, and open lawns with wide wooden loungers for picnics.
Ostpark is the second-largest park in the city: 32 hectares of open lawns and old alders, poplars and willows around a 4.2-hectare pond. Geese, swans and coots crowd the reedy banks, and wild rabbits dart across the grass.
Kids can find their way through a maze, cross wooden bridges on the loop path, kick a ball on the hard courts or shoot hoops, and there are two playgrounds.
Alter Flugplatz Bonames was Maurice Rose Airfield, a US military airfield until 1992. Since the early 2000s it has been part of the GrünGürtel, the city's green belt: the fences came down, the asphalt was broken up, and ponds and wild meadows grew in.
Kids run, bike and scoot along the old runway, now narrowed and left to nature. A picnic meadow sits beside a snack kiosk with long tables.
Heinrich-Kraft-Park is a forest play park in the Fechenheim woods. Its centerpiece is a wooden climbing frame of tree towers joined by walkways, with two long steel tube slides.
The Tabaluga Village is an inclusive play area built so kids with and without disabilities can play side by side. Older kids head for the roller skating rink, the basketball court and the football pitches.
A former villa garden on the northern edge of the Stadtwald, now a city park of about 10 hectares. The play area is kept separate from the garden and built for under-12s: climbing castles, slides, swings, seesaws, sandpits, a merry-go-round and table tennis.
A big lawn draws older kids for football and frisbee, while clipped hedges and rhododendrons keep the garden side quiet.
A former Rothschild estate, opened as a public park in 1892, with old, dense trees in the south and wide lawns to the north. Kids head for the water play area with its spray field and for the adventure playground. Look for the life-size copper bull from 1910 on the west side.
Each summer the Stoffel open-air festival fills the park with concerts, a night flea market and a kids' program.
Holzhausenpark is a 3.5-hectare landscape garden in the Nordend, laid out around the Holzhausenschlösschen, a small baroque manor from 1729 that sits on its own moat pond. A chestnut avenue leads to it from an old wrought-iron gate on Oeder Weg.
Kids get open lawns for ball games and picnics, and a playground inside the park.
Grüneburgpark is the largest park inside Frankfurt's Alleenring: 29 hectares of open meadows, old tree groups and curving gravel paths that suit bikes and inline skates. Several playgrounds sit around the edges, and the Korean garden on the east side has pavilions, ponds and a small stream. The octagonal Schönhof pavilion houses a café, and the Palmengarten and Botanical Garden border the park.
The Stadtwald covers about 5,000 hectares on the city's south side, with some 450 km of paths for walking, biking and running. For kids, the main draws are the forest playgrounds (Waldspielparks).
The one at the Goetheturm sits under tall trees, with slides, swings, climbing towers, a wooden maze and a mud play area. Next door, 196 steps climb the 43-meter wooden tower to a skyline view.
A forest play park in the Stadtwald, built around a water spray field where kids run through the jets on hot days. There is a separate children's play area and an 18-hole mini golf course with large wooden figures.
The sports side has a roller skating rink, table tennis, a basketball court and a soccer field. A kiosk and toilets are on site.
A forest playground of almost three hectares at the foot of the Goetheturm, a 43-meter wooden lookout tower in the Stadtwald. Tall trees shade slides, swings, climbing towers, a wooden maze and a mud play area.
Climb the tower's 196 steps for a view over the southern woods to the skyline. The Goetheruh restaurant sits next door, and the Goetheweg walking trail passes right by.
A staffed adventure playground on the northwest edge of Günthersburgpark, where kids borrow hammers, saws and paint from the tool hut and build their own wooden huts. There is also a wooden climbing castle with a bouldering wall, a hillside slide, a campfire pit, a soccer field and a sand area.
The building zone keeps loose boards and nails on purpose, and staff teach kids to handle the risk.
A supervised adventure playground built as a Wild West town, a nod to the American families who once lived in the nearby housing areas. Kids find a stagecoach, wooden horses, a rocket with a roller slide, a mini Grand Canyon, and a water play area with streams for damming and mini canoes. Staff build huts with kids and fire up a bake house for flatbread and bread.
A staffed adventure playground on 5,000 square meters inside the Riederwald forest, open since 1973. Instead of ready-made equipment, kids get boards, beams, ropes, hammers, nails and saws from the tool hut and build their own towers and dens.
There is mud, sand and water to dig in, a fire pit, and a play house with a kitchen and toilet. Staff hand out tools and lend a hand when asked.
Days out with kids add up fast, so we keep a running list of the ones that cost nothing. Think city parks, forest playgrounds, libraries and the free family events that pop up through the year. The list updates itself as new free plans are added and old ones end, so check back before the weekend.
St. Martin's Day is when German kids carry lanterns through dark streets singing "Ich geh mit meiner Laterne". Most parades start at a church with a short service or the story of Martin sharing his cloak, then walk the neighborhood with brass music, sometimes behind St. Martin on horseback.
Some end at a Martin's fire with sweet bread and kids' punch. Nobody needs German to walk along.
On St. Martin's Day, kids across Germany carry glowing lanterns through dark streets, singing songs their parents still know by heart.
In Frankfurt, parishes lead short neighborhood walks, and some have St. Martin riding ahead on horseback. Several end at a bonfire with Martinswecken, sweet buns shared in honor of the soldier who split his cloak with a beggar.
An ecumenical St. Martin celebration put on by the parish at St. Josef church in Höchst.
After the service, families head outside and kids carry their lanterns in a procession to Schlossplatz. The service is in German, but the lantern walk needs no German at all, so it suits any family with a kid and a lantern.
The Martinsfeuer marks St. Martin's Day with a big bonfire, warm drinks and the story of the soldier who cut his cloak in half for a freezing beggar. Here, kids from the Günthersburg adventure playground tell that story as a shadow play, a church brass choir plays, and little ones ride a kids' carousel. The organizers call it Frankfurt's biggest Martinsfeuer, now in its 30th year.
An ecumenical St. Martin's celebration at St. Bartholomäus church in Zeilsheim, with a Martinsspiel, the St. Martin's play. Afterward everyone sets off together on a lantern procession.
Kids bring their own lantern and carry it on the walk. The service and play are in German, so it suits families happy to follow along in German, and kindergarten and primary-age kids most of all.
A small Christmas market at the edge of the Stadtwald, right under the Goetheturm, Sachsenhausen's wooden lookout tower. Stalls sell crepes, roasted chestnuts, potato pancakes, raclette and hot apple wine, alongside handmade crafts like glass-bead jewelry and lambskins.
For kids there is a carousel, and the big forest play park sits next door, so it suits families who want a run-around between snacks.
The Kinderweihnachtsmarkt is the kids' corner of the Frankfurt Christmas market, set on the Mainkai just east of the Eiserner Steg.
Kids get a mix of hands-on activities and festive attractions, so it suits families who want a market stop built around the children. Parents can carry on to the rest of the Christmas market afterward.
Hanau's main Christmas market fills the Marktplatz around the Brothers Grimm monument with lit wooden stalls that smell of roasted almonds, grilled sausages and mulled wine.
For kids, the draw is the Ferris wheel and a two-level carousel, with local bands, brass bands and choirs on the Christmas stage. It is smaller and calmer than Frankfurt's Römerberg market, which suits a late-afternoon wander with younger kids.
Frankfurt's Christmas market runs as one long string of stalls through the old center, with a giant tree on Römerberg square. Kids ride the carousels, try Bethmännchen (marzipan with three almonds) and spot trees decorated by local children.
For families, the stretch to aim for is the kids' market on the Mainkai by the river, with a craft room, a historic carousel and a lit-up Christmas ship.
Wiesbaden's main Christmas market fills the square around the Marktkirche with close to 100 stalls of gifts, decorations, jewelry and crafts, plus more than 20 food stands pouring kids' punch and hot drinks. A stage in front of the town hall runs a program, and the city nativity scene stands by the big tree.
A short walk away, the separate kids' market adds an elves' forest, a train and a carousel.
Mainz's historic Christmas market fills the square in front of the 1,000-year-old cathedral and spills onto the Höfchen and Liebfrauenplatz, under painted Renaissance house fronts.
Kids head for the two old-fashioned carousels, the stalls of handmade toys, and the 11-meter Christmas pyramid crowded with Mainz figures, from a carnival jester to Gutenberg. The life-size carved nativity sits beside the cathedral. Go once the lights come on.
A Christmas market set in and around the walls of Bad Homburg's old landgraves' palace, with each courtyard decorated in its own style. Stalls mix regional food and drink with a large share of handmade crafts.
For kids there are treats, small program moments, a children's carousel and a real miniature steam train running at the foot of the White Tower.
Fastnacht weekend brings two parades into Frankfurt's old town. Saturday's children's parade is short and made for kids, followed by the carnival prince and princess storming the Römer, the city hall, for its keys.
Sunday's big parade is the main event: floats, carnival guards in uniform, marching bands and dance troupes, with sweets thrown into the crowd. It suits families who can handle crowds and noise.
Mainz's Rosenmontagszug is the biggest day of the city's Fastnacht: a long parade of decorated floats, marching carnival guards in uniform, brass bands and the Schwellköpp, the oversized papier-mâché heads that star in the 2027 motto.
Kids line the curb in costume, shout "Helau" and catch sweets thrown from the wagons. It suits families happy in big crowds; with a stroller, pick a spot early or see little.
Klaa Paris, the local nickname for Heddernheim, has held a carnival parade through its narrow village lanes since 1839, making it the oldest in Frankfurt. Around 1,500 carnival club members, marching bands and floats wind through the old center, throwing sweets (Kamelle) into the crowd.
Expect big crowds, with around 100,000 people along the route, so it suits kids who don't mind noise and being packed in.
Dippemess is Frankfurt's big traditional funfair, held twice a year on the fairground next to the Eissporthalle. Kids ride classic carousels, spinning rides, a roller coaster and the Ferris wheel, which looks out over the city at dusk.
Between rides there's cotton candy, crêpes and candied almonds. It suits kids who love rides and can handle noise, bright lights and evening crowds.
Wäldchestag is Frankfurt's own folk festival, a fair that sets up among the trees of the Stadtwald around Oberforsthaus. Kids get a Ferris wheel, chair swings, carousels and prize stalls, while parents sit in beer gardens with apple wine and sausages in the shade.
Afternoons suit families best. Evenings lean toward adults, with stage music and drinks until late.
Hessentag is Hesse's state festival, hosted by a different town each year. In 2027 it comes to Idstein, a half-timbered old town in the Taunus hills that last hosted it in 2002. Expect live music, food stalls, local clubs and, by tradition, a big costume parade.
For kids, the draw is "Der Natur auf der Spur", a family nature area in the Wörsbachaue meadows, run by the state environment ministry with HessenForst.
Mainfest is Frankfurt's old riverside folk festival, rooted in a fishermen's feast from the Middle Ages. The Main embankment and the Römerberg fill with traditional rides, a Ferris wheel, regional food stalls and a culture program.
Kids tend to remember the Fischerstechen: jousters in historical costume stand on narrow boats and try to push each other into the river with padded poles. It suits families who enjoy a busy fair.
Bad Homburg's town festival has run since 1935, with children at its center. Lit floats built around a yearly theme roll through the streets on two evenings, and a Sunday-morning kids' fair on the Brunnenallee has games for points, face painting and a balloon race.
The finale is the children's parade: school and kindergarten groups carry homemade lanterns through the Kurpark to the Jubiläumspark, where fireworks close the festival.
The Bundesbank's museum about money and how it works. The exhibition sits on one level with a lift, and a coffee shop is on the same floor. It suits kids who like coins, cash and how banks work, and fits a short visit better than a full day.
A family-run organic fruit farm on the edge of Nieder-Erlenbach, growing more than 250 fruit varieties, 150 of them apples. The apple-wine tavern sets its tables under the orchard trees, in blossom in spring and heavy with fruit in fall, with a heated room for rain and winter.
Kids get a climbing frame and a sandbox, and a gravel path leads out to the meadow orchards.
Waldspielpark Tannenwald is a forest playground run by the city of Frankfurt on the edge of Neu-Isenburg. The big draw is the water play area: a spray field and jets on a natural-stone surface, with a red fish sculpture that spits water.
Frankfurt and Neu-Isenburg rebuilt it for €1.3 million after a four-year closure, adding a new building with toilets. It suits kids who want to get soaked on a hot day.
Schwanheimer Düne is a 58-hectare nature reserve on an inland sand dune, formed from Main riverbed sand after the last Ice Age. A wooden boardwalk loops through pine trees, silver grass and open sand, with information boards. Kids have to stay on the boards to protect the lichens, which makes it a car-free stretch for running. Look for herons fishing in the Schmitt'sche Grube, a former sand pit.
Kleinmarkthalle is the city's covered food market, open since 1954, with more than 60 stalls across over 1,500 square meters. Traders sell fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, bread and international deli food, and small food stands serve meals to eat on the spot.
Kids can try the local specialties at the stalls, like Frankfurter sausages and Grüne Soße, the city's green herb sauce.
Volkspark Niddatal, which locals call Niddapark or the BUGA grounds, is the city's largest park, with 168 hectares of riverside meadows along the Nidda. On its western edge sits a big play area with a climbing castle, a large sandbox, a double zip line, tire swings, ping-pong tables and a skate park. Next to it, a splash area sprays fountains with no pool, so even toddlers can run through.
KiBi is the city library's central branch for children and teens, on the ground floor of the Saalbau Bornheim. Shelves run from picture books and non-fiction to magazines and children's books in other languages.
Teens get their own TeenLounge with console games, DVDs and manga, and the weekly TechnoTHEK lets kids try hands-on tech kits alongside a parent.
Eiserner Steg is an iron footbridge over the Main, linking the old town by the Römerberg with Sachsenhausen. From the middle, kids can watch boats pass underneath, with the skyline on one side and the Museumsufer on the other.
Sightseeing boats leave from the old-town bank, and electric boats can be rented on the Sachsenhausen side, next to a restaurant ship.
Römerberg is Frankfurt's historic main square. On one side stands the Römer, city hall since the 15th century, with stepped Gothic gables; facing it is the Ostzeile, a row of half-timbered houses, each with its own name.
Kids can spot Justitia on the Justice Fountain, holding scales and a sword without a blindfold. Most buildings are reconstructions: the old town was largely destroyed in 1944.
Lohrberg is a 185-meter hill on the northeast edge of town, and the city's only vineyard grows on its south slope. Apple orchard meadows cover much of the hill, and the MainÄppelHaus orchard center explains the trees and Frankfurt's apple wine.
At the top, the Lohrpark has a big flat lawn for ball games, a playground, and wide views of the skyline. Walking and cycling paths wind through the orchards.
Waldspielpark Schwanheim is a water play park in the Schwanheim forest. A big spray field cools kids off on hot days, and a paddling pool is set aside for toddlers. Around them sit play equipment, a row of table tennis tables, an 18-hole mini golf course and a soccer field. A separate barbecue area has open and covered fire pits.
Waldspielpark Louisa is a city-run play park among the trees of the Frankfurt Stadtwald, with sandy play areas, swings and a big wooden ship to climb. In summer, a splash field and a paddling pool no deeper than 35 cm give kids a way to cool off.
Toilets are on site, and a kiosk sits on the road in front of the park. Dogs are not allowed inside.
Hafenpark is a 40,000-square-meter park on the Main riverbank, right below the European Central Bank tower. Its Concrete Jungle skate park draws amateur and pro skaters, and a second, smaller skate area is set aside for kids.
Around it sit basketball, volleyball, badminton and soccer courts, a climbing course, playgrounds, outdoor fitness equipment, and open lawns with wide wooden loungers for picnics.
Ostpark is the second-largest park in the city: 32 hectares of open lawns and old alders, poplars and willows around a 4.2-hectare pond. Geese, swans and coots crowd the reedy banks, and wild rabbits dart across the grass.
Kids can find their way through a maze, cross wooden bridges on the loop path, kick a ball on the hard courts or shoot hoops, and there are two playgrounds.
Alter Flugplatz Bonames was Maurice Rose Airfield, a US military airfield until 1992. Since the early 2000s it has been part of the GrünGürtel, the city's green belt: the fences came down, the asphalt was broken up, and ponds and wild meadows grew in.
Kids run, bike and scoot along the old runway, now narrowed and left to nature. A picnic meadow sits beside a snack kiosk with long tables.
Heinrich-Kraft-Park is a forest play park in the Fechenheim woods. Its centerpiece is a wooden climbing frame of tree towers joined by walkways, with two long steel tube slides.
The Tabaluga Village is an inclusive play area built so kids with and without disabilities can play side by side. Older kids head for the roller skating rink, the basketball court and the football pitches.
A former villa garden on the northern edge of the Stadtwald, now a city park of about 10 hectares. The play area is kept separate from the garden and built for under-12s: climbing castles, slides, swings, seesaws, sandpits, a merry-go-round and table tennis.
A big lawn draws older kids for football and frisbee, while clipped hedges and rhododendrons keep the garden side quiet.
A former Rothschild estate, opened as a public park in 1892, with old, dense trees in the south and wide lawns to the north. Kids head for the water play area with its spray field and for the adventure playground. Look for the life-size copper bull from 1910 on the west side.
Each summer the Stoffel open-air festival fills the park with concerts, a night flea market and a kids' program.
Holzhausenpark is a 3.5-hectare landscape garden in the Nordend, laid out around the Holzhausenschlösschen, a small baroque manor from 1729 that sits on its own moat pond. A chestnut avenue leads to it from an old wrought-iron gate on Oeder Weg.
Kids get open lawns for ball games and picnics, and a playground inside the park.
Grüneburgpark is the largest park inside Frankfurt's Alleenring: 29 hectares of open meadows, old tree groups and curving gravel paths that suit bikes and inline skates. Several playgrounds sit around the edges, and the Korean garden on the east side has pavilions, ponds and a small stream. The octagonal Schönhof pavilion houses a café, and the Palmengarten and Botanical Garden border the park.
The Stadtwald covers about 5,000 hectares on the city's south side, with some 450 km of paths for walking, biking and running. For kids, the main draws are the forest playgrounds (Waldspielparks).
The one at the Goetheturm sits under tall trees, with slides, swings, climbing towers, a wooden maze and a mud play area. Next door, 196 steps climb the 43-meter wooden tower to a skyline view.
A forest play park in the Stadtwald, built around a water spray field where kids run through the jets on hot days. There is a separate children's play area and an 18-hole mini golf course with large wooden figures.
The sports side has a roller skating rink, table tennis, a basketball court and a soccer field. A kiosk and toilets are on site.
A forest playground of almost three hectares at the foot of the Goetheturm, a 43-meter wooden lookout tower in the Stadtwald. Tall trees shade slides, swings, climbing towers, a wooden maze and a mud play area.
Climb the tower's 196 steps for a view over the southern woods to the skyline. The Goetheruh restaurant sits next door, and the Goetheweg walking trail passes right by.
A staffed adventure playground on the northwest edge of Günthersburgpark, where kids borrow hammers, saws and paint from the tool hut and build their own wooden huts. There is also a wooden climbing castle with a bouldering wall, a hillside slide, a campfire pit, a soccer field and a sand area.
The building zone keeps loose boards and nails on purpose, and staff teach kids to handle the risk.
A supervised adventure playground built as a Wild West town, a nod to the American families who once lived in the nearby housing areas. Kids find a stagecoach, wooden horses, a rocket with a roller slide, a mini Grand Canyon, and a water play area with streams for damming and mini canoes. Staff build huts with kids and fire up a bake house for flatbread and bread.
A staffed adventure playground on 5,000 square meters inside the Riederwald forest, open since 1973. Instead of ready-made equipment, kids get boards, beams, ropes, hammers, nails and saws from the tool hut and build their own towers and dens.
There is mud, sand and water to dig in, a fire pit, and a play house with a kitchen and toilet. Staff hand out tools and lend a hand when asked.
