Many Germans I know hate Frankfurt. I never fully understood why. Maybe it’s because I grew up in the southern region of Germany, and the Swabians have a reputation for using compliments very scarcely, if at all. There’s probably a lot of reasons why you can hate Frankfurt if you want to: It has one of the highest crime rates among German cities, it is not your typical German „schnuckeliges“ village, it’s full of bankers, junkies, and tourists. But I honestly think there is a lot to love about it, too. So I decided it's time to write a blog post about my top 5 things to love about Frankfurt.

1. Frankfurt lets the old and new coexist in harmony

For many, the first thing that comes to mind about Frankfurt is its skyline, which is arguably untypical for a German city (or any other European city for that matter). The city is often nicknamed „Mainhattan“ (as for the river „Main“ that flows through the city and „Manhattan“, downtown NYC). I love the big city feeling you get when you walk around the Taunusanlage park between the impressive skyscrapers and I think they are a fine piece of architecture - you may of course judge for yourself.

But the point is, Frankfurt is not only glass and steel. There are tons of charming old buildings, romantic churches, and green areas around the city too. The city invested enormous resources to increase its liability in the 1980s, and it really payed off. There’s even a charming old town with a lot of „Fachwerkhäuser“. At the Römer market square, there's even a cozy Christmas market in the winter.

But that isn’t all. The city is very rich in its cultural and intellectual tradition too. Obviously, the Frankfurter Schule got its name here. And Goethe was born here, so if that’s nothing I don’t know.

2. Frankfurt is a great place to work and a cool place to live

There are cool hipster cities in Germany like Berlin that are awesome to live in but not so great to work in. And then there are heavily industrialized cities in Germany like Stuttgart that are awesome to work in but could maybe emphasize the quality of life factor a little bit more (even though, having grown up around there, my love for Stuttgart is still endless and it is one of the best places to live in as well). But Frankfurt combines the two things in an elegant way. It's great place to work and to live in. There are many good companies with interesting jobs around here, the city is a hub for finance and digitalization, but there is also a sprawling cultural life and always something going on.

3. Frankfurters speak one of the loveliest German dialects

There are so many diverse dialects in Germany, but "hessisch", the regional dialect in the area of Frankfurt, is defintely one of the loveliest. Give it a try with the popular comic duo Badesalz:

4. Frankfurt has amazing regional food

There are obviously abundant restaurants that boast amazing food from all over the world in Frankfurt and that's great, but I am not going to elaborate on that here. Because Frankfurt actually has tons of amazing regional food to offer. There's for instance Grüne Soße ("green sauce"), a delicious mix of herbs which is traditionally served with potatoes, eggs, or Frankfurter Schnitzel.

(Image Credit: Top-Magazin-Frankfurt.de)

Or there's Frankfurter Rippchen, a hot cured cutlet, which is often served with Sauerkraut and Mashed Potatoes.

All rather heavy on the meat, but awesome.

5. Frankfurt is super bike-friendly

Despite being a major city, it is incredibly comfortable to get around by bike in Frankfurt. If you follow my blog regularly, you may have already heard that I cycled from Zurich to Copenhagen. One of my highlights was spontaneously staying a day longer in Frankfurt just to cycle around the city. There's lovely nature around the city too, such as the Odenwald. Check out my vlogstory:

Wrap up

Frankfurt is cool, lovely, busy, modern, traditional, and delicious. Give it a try. ❤