Do kids need a museum button?

The festival itself is free. To get into the participating museums you buy one festival button that covers all of them for the weekend. In 2026 kids 6 and up needed one, but about 20 museums, including the Junges Museum and the Struwwelpeter Museum, let under-18s in free.

Where's the best spot for the fireworks?

They go up over the Main between the Untermainbrücke and the Holbeinsteg, so either bank along that stretch has a view. Thousands of people come for them, so claim a spot early and agree on a meeting point with older kids.

Where can we park our bikes?

A guarded Bike Area on the Sachsenhausen bank, by the Liebieghaus near the Holbeinsteg, takes bikes, kids' bikes and cargo bikes for a small fee. It is guarded until 9pm; after that you can still collect your bike.

Museumsuferfest: Frankfurt's Riverside Museum Festival

Featured inThe Museumsufer with Kids Along the Main: River Walks, Boats and Beer Gardens Dippemess, Wäldchestag and Frankfurt's Folk Festivals

Museumsuferfest: Frankfurt's Riverside Museum Festival photo 2

Museumsuferfest: Frankfurt's Riverside Museum Festival photo 3

FestivalSachsenhausen & Niederrad

Where

Sachsenhausen & Niederrad, Museumsufer

Ages

All ages

Setting

Outdoors, with museums open

Plan for

Half a day

Music

Live bands and DJs

What you need to know

Daytime suits small kids best, since evenings bring big crowds and DJ sets until midnight
Dragon boat races on the Main, the second-oldest in Germany, easy to watch from either bank
Leave the scooter at home, as bikes, e-scooters and skateboards are banned on the festival grounds

About

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.

Free

Dates to be announced

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Where it is

Museumsufer

Schaumainkai, Frankfurt am Main

Resources

Event website
Official page from the organizer.

Common questions

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Night of the Museums

Festival·Sachsenhausen & Niederrad

One ticket opens dozens of museums in Frankfurt and Offenbach after dark, with shuttle buses in between. With kids, the whole night hinges on your first stop.

Dates to be announced

Städel Museum

Museum·Sachsenhausen & Niederrad

Hunt for Dürer, Rembrandt and Picasso across 700 years of paintings, then pick up a brush in a kids' studio workshop and take your own artwork home.

Under 12 free, from €10

Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt

Museum·Sachsenhausen & Niederrad

Ask a talking portrait of Alan Turing a question, then follow how messages traveled from clay tablets to smart glasses.

Adults €9, ages 6-17 €3

DFF German Film Museum

Museum·Sachsenhausen & Niederrad

Spin a zoetrope, run a magic lantern and watch the river appear inside a camera obscura, then catch a family film in the cinema downstairs.

From €8

German Architecture Museum (DAM)

Museum·Sachsenhausen & Niederrad

Follow 25 detailed models from a primitive hut to a skyscraper, then climb through a white house built inside a villa.

Paid

More from Along the Main: River Walks, Boats and Beer Gardens

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Eiserner Steg

Attraction·Innenstadt

Watch river boats slide under the iron span, hunt for padlocks on the railings, then catch a sightseeing cruise from the bank below.

Free

Primus-Linie Main River Cruise

Things To Do·Innenstadt

Ride the open top deck past Frankfurt's skyscrapers and under a string of bridges, then pick the short loop or the full trip both ways along the Main.

Adults from €16, kids €10

Hafenpark

Park·Bornheim & Ostend

Watch skaters drop into a skate park billed as Germany's largest, then send kids to their own skate area, the climbing course and the playgrounds by the river.

Free

Gerbermühle Beer Garden

Things To Do·Sachsenhausen & Niederrad

Grab a garden table on the Main with the skyline across the water, then walk or bike the riverbank path.

Paid

Achter Restaurant & Café

Things To Do·Sachsenhausen & Niederrad

Kids climb the treehouse and dig in the sandbox while parents eat in a riverside garden, with an ice cream kiosk a few steps away.

Paid