Festive Season in Frankfurt

I can highly recommend this 4-star hotel, available at 3-star prices. From the moment we arrived, late at night, and throughout our stay, the service was perfect.

The room was spacious with everything you could ever need -- wonderfully comfortable beds and a view of the impressive skyline (at no extra cost). The breakfast buffet contains both hot and cold options and is the best hotel breakfast I've ever come across; even though it wasn't included in our room price, we gladly paid the extra. It was a relaxing start to the day to eat good food in the elegant surroundings. The bar and restaurant are also open in the evening serving good food at reasonable prices -- less than 30 euros for 2 people.

This hotel is at the opposite end to town than the most, but that’s no problem: it’s 10 minutes walk to the start of the Ziel or the markets. Even better, it’s only 2 minutes across a bridge to Sachenhausen, the main drinking area. It’s a quiet location on the riverside and more pleasant at night than the area around the train station where most other hotels are. Highly recommended.

This small restaurant is tucked away in the oldest part of Frankfurt, the Sachenhausen. It's immediately appealing to anyone that likes the cozy look, with a bit of romance thrown in! Luckily we were eating around 7pm on a Friday so it was still quiet and easy to get a table. Any later and it's filled with locals, so you'll probably need to book.

The menu is Spanish with a large number of tapas and fish dishes, all at reasonable prices. The biggest problem was choosing! If you're not a big eater, then a main course alone is large. I chose fresh battered fish and my partner had a beef steak. Both were very fresh, well-cooked, and with good accompaniments. I can recommend this restaurant to anyone not keen on German food, or just overwhelmed with meat!

Wherever you approach the Christmas markets from you will quickly be impressed with the sights, sounds and smells all around you. The markets are so much more that the individual stalls or items; it’s the atmosphere of what is best described as seasonal joy that make them a true pleasure to walk around. Once you enter the area, you forget about the gloomy weather, finding that perfect present or the usual crush and stress of shopping. Here you are guaranteed to find something for (nearly) everyone. The vast array of fairy lights, decorations, and warm barbeques keep out the cold day. Plus, there's always a friendly spot at one of the many apple wine stalls where you can revive yourself with a hot mug of this local specialty. It’s an acquired taste, being a lot sourer than cider and certainly not a sipping wine, yet it’s strangely reviving.

The majority of stalls are based around the Romer, a magnificent looking building covered in wood carvings, it was mostly burnt down during allied bombing raids, like most of the city, but was reconstructed later on. It had one of the biggest and best lit Christmas trees I've ever seen outside of it and is a stunning sight with the banking districts high-rises as a contrast behind in the night sky.

From here, stalls stretch down to the river and up to and along the Zeil, the 1500m long 40m wide shopping street. The stalls are attractions in themselves, most of them are of wood construction and very well decorated. A lot of the items for sale are handcrafts: wood carvings, beautiful decorations, jewellery, and, of course, candles. If you’re traveling on a budget, this is the place to look for reasonable and unusual gifts; it’s also a cheap area to eat, with many stalls offering hotdogs, snitzels and fish. You can easily spend a day and night here -- there are not a lot of seating areas if you do get tired, so cafe stops are also necessary occasionally!