Frankfurt summers run hot, and the city answers with outdoor pools, a forest lake with a sandy beach, and festivals that take over the banks of the Main. On a scorcher we head for water; on a cooler day, the riverside festivals with their rides, stages and dragon boat races. Here's what we checked, from the diving tower at Stadionbad to the lantern parade in Bad Homburg.
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.
Sommerwerft is an international theater festival on the Main riverbank, in the shadow of the European Central Bank. Around 200 artists and groups bring theater, dance, music, poetry and performance to open-air stages, and you can wander between them.
Kids get their own stage and a children's area with workshops like acrobatics and crafts. Run by volunteers, it suits families who like to drop in for an hour or stay into the evening.
One of Europe's largest culture festivals fills both banks of the Main along the Museumsufer, Frankfurt's row of riverside museums. Museums open late with special programs, stages run from local bands to DJs, and stalls sell crafts and food from around the world.
For kids, the draws are the dragon boat races on the river, stilt walkers in the crowds, and the music fireworks that close the weekend.
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.
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.
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 high-ropes climbing forest beside the Waldstadion, the Eintracht Frankfurt stadium, with 13 courses and about 150 climbing elements. Younger kids start on the Bambini courses, older ones move up through intermediate and expert routes to the Skyline course 30 meters up. Five tall towers look out over the stadium and the skyline. Everyone climbs on a continuous safety system after a briefing from staff.
Stadionbad is a big city outdoor pool beside the football stadium in the Stadtwald forest. It has a 50m lap pool, a diving tower with boards from 1m up to 10m, and an adventure pool with a waterfall, a current channel and slides.
Toddlers get their own splash pool and a playground, there is a separate non-swimmer pool, and wide lawns leave room for a picnic blanket and a long afternoon.
Brentanobad is a municipal outdoor pool in Rödelheim. Its main pool stretches over 220 meters, sloping from zero depth to 1.80m, with a grille marking off a non-swimmer zone that has its own slide. A 16-meter wide slide drops into the swimmer section.
Toddlers get a paddling pool with water play features under a sun sail, and the grounds add a playground with a huge sandbox.
Strandbad Langener Waldsee is the bathing beach on the Langener Waldsee, a lake of about 75 hectares in the woods between Langen, Walldorf and Dreieich. Kids get 900 meters of sand and lawns, water to swim and splash in, and sailboats and windsurfers to watch on the lake.
Beach volleyball courts, a restaurant, showers and a campground share the grounds. Dogs and barbecues are not allowed.
Freizeitpark Lochmühle grew out of a farm and pony stable in the Taunus hills and keeps that rural feel across 16 hectares. There are about 20 rides, from carousels and a western railway to the Wasserbob and the Taunus-Tower, plus a treehouse playground with a tube slide, water play and a petting zoo with goats, sheep and donkeys. Families bring picnics or book one of nearly 50 barbecue huts.
Frankfurt summers run hot, and the city answers with outdoor pools, a forest lake with a sandy beach, and festivals that take over the banks of the Main. On a scorcher we head for water; on a cooler day, the riverside festivals with their rides, stages and dragon boat races. Here's what we checked, from the diving tower at Stadionbad to the lantern parade in Bad Homburg.
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.
Sommerwerft is an international theater festival on the Main riverbank, in the shadow of the European Central Bank. Around 200 artists and groups bring theater, dance, music, poetry and performance to open-air stages, and you can wander between them.
Kids get their own stage and a children's area with workshops like acrobatics and crafts. Run by volunteers, it suits families who like to drop in for an hour or stay into the evening.
One of Europe's largest culture festivals fills both banks of the Main along the Museumsufer, Frankfurt's row of riverside museums. Museums open late with special programs, stages run from local bands to DJs, and stalls sell crafts and food from around the world.
For kids, the draws are the dragon boat races on the river, stilt walkers in the crowds, and the music fireworks that close the weekend.
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.
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.
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 high-ropes climbing forest beside the Waldstadion, the Eintracht Frankfurt stadium, with 13 courses and about 150 climbing elements. Younger kids start on the Bambini courses, older ones move up through intermediate and expert routes to the Skyline course 30 meters up. Five tall towers look out over the stadium and the skyline. Everyone climbs on a continuous safety system after a briefing from staff.
Stadionbad is a big city outdoor pool beside the football stadium in the Stadtwald forest. It has a 50m lap pool, a diving tower with boards from 1m up to 10m, and an adventure pool with a waterfall, a current channel and slides.
Toddlers get their own splash pool and a playground, there is a separate non-swimmer pool, and wide lawns leave room for a picnic blanket and a long afternoon.
Brentanobad is a municipal outdoor pool in Rödelheim. Its main pool stretches over 220 meters, sloping from zero depth to 1.80m, with a grille marking off a non-swimmer zone that has its own slide. A 16-meter wide slide drops into the swimmer section.
Toddlers get a paddling pool with water play features under a sun sail, and the grounds add a playground with a huge sandbox.
Strandbad Langener Waldsee is the bathing beach on the Langener Waldsee, a lake of about 75 hectares in the woods between Langen, Walldorf and Dreieich. Kids get 900 meters of sand and lawns, water to swim and splash in, and sailboats and windsurfers to watch on the lake.
Beach volleyball courts, a restaurant, showers and a campground share the grounds. Dogs and barbecues are not allowed.
Freizeitpark Lochmühle grew out of a farm and pony stable in the Taunus hills and keeps that rural feel across 16 hectares. There are about 20 rides, from carousels and a western railway to the Wasserbob and the Taunus-Tower, plus a treehouse playground with a tube slide, water play and a petting zoo with goats, sheep and donkeys. Families bring picnics or book one of nearly 50 barbecue huts.
