Frankfurt City Guide

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City Profile

Frankfurt is a versatile and culturally diverse city. The population is almost 690.000, of which

a quarter has a non-German passport. In addition, there are commuters, who come on week

days to Frankfurt in order to work in one of the 570.000 jobs the city provides.

Today, Frankfurt is one of the world’s most important international stock exchange and

finance centres. The reason for this is that there are around 370 domestic and foreign credit

institutes, the German Federal Bank, the European Central Bank and the stock-exchange.

Germany’s fifth-largest city has an impressive skyline (locally called “Mainhattan”), an

excellent transportation system and the third largest continental airport in Europe (“Gateway

to Europe”). Each year, around 2.7 million people come to Frankfurt to attend the Frankfurt

trade fairs. In particular, the Book Fair and the IAA (the international motor show) are known

all over the world.

Frankfurt has many museums, galleries, theatres and more than 50 cinemas and numerous

other attractions. Besides cultural entertainment, Frankfurt also offers a wide range of

different cafés, bars and clubs. There are also leisure activities for the whole family like the

botanical gardens, the zoo and other municipal parks.

Living in Hesse

Hesse, with its capital Wiesbaden is located in the heart of Germany, surrounded by six

regional states. It is the fifth largest regional state of Germany with a population of approx. 6

million people. 40% of the Hesse area is woodland and 45% is agriculture. Hesse offers an

undulating landscape with a low mountain range, green hills and soft valleys, a perfect

holiday attraction for active people. A wide range of leisure activities is on offer: Windsurfing

and sailing on the Edersee, hang-gliding and gliding on the Wasserkuppe, skiing and

tobogganing on the Feldberg in the Taunus, in addition to horse riding, golf, tennis, bicycling

and last but not least fishing.

Numerous castles and ruins on the steep slopes of the river Rhine, the hills of the Odenwald

and the delightful scenery along the Bergstrasse are well worth a visit. The most famous

stretch of the Rhine, from near Wiesbaden to Koblenz, can be explored by car or viewed

from a river boat trip.

Hesse’s economic strength is considerably higher than that of other German states. A

characteristic feature of industry in Hesse is the variety of sectors and company sizes: more

than 90% are small and medium-sized enterprises, many of them offering technological

proficiency. The most important industrial sectors in Hesse are the chemical industry,

automobile industry, electrical and electronics industry and mechanical engineering.