Mainhattan runs on bank money, but the best of it is free: Rothschild parkland, a subtropical river terrace, a 43-metre wooden tower in the city forest and a vineyard viewpoint above the skyline. Here is Frankfurt on roughly €25 a day.
Frankfurt's largest inner-city park at 29 hectares, laid out on former Rothschild estate land and open around the clock without a gate or ticket. The Korean Garden in the northwest corner has a carved wooden pavilion and stone lanterns.
A south-facing terrace on the Untermainkai where palms, citrus, agaves and bananas survive the German winter outdoors — the mildest microclimate north of the Alps. Unfenced, unstaffed and free, with benches and gravel paths above the water.
The red sandstone Gothic cathedral where Holy Roman Emperors were elected from 1356 and crowned from 1562 to 1792. Entry to the nave, the election chapel and the choir stalls costs nothing; only the 328-step tower climb is ticketed.
The 1869 iron footbridge linking the old town to Sachsenhausen, rebuilt after the Wehrmacht blew it up in 1945. A Greek line from Homer's Odyssey runs along the arch and the padlocks weigh several tonnes. Skyline light is best at dusk.
Frankfurt's covered market hall since 1954, with roughly 150 stalls of cheese, olives, Turkish börek and Hessian sausage. A hot Fleischwurst roll from the butchers on the ground floor is the classic standing breakfast for a few euros.
The Frankfurt currywurst institution on the Nordend's long shopping street, with a heat scale that runs from mild to a signed-waiver chilli sauce. A sausage with fries lands well under €10 and the queue moves fast at lunchtime.
The producers' market on the square above the U-Bahn, held Thursdays and Saturdays, where Hessian farmers sell direct. Apple wine straight from the barrel, Handkäse, bread and cheese cost a fraction of restaurant prices.
The station quarter's late-opening kiosks sell cold bottled beer for around €2 and the surrounding blocks have some of the cheapest Eritrean, Thai and Turkish kitchens in the city. Drinking on the pavement outside is entirely normal here.
The city's only working vineyard, on a Riesling slope in the northeast at Frankfurt's highest point. The terrace above the vines looks straight across orchards to the banking towers, and access is free at any hour on foot or by bike.
A 43-metre wooden lookout tower in the city forest south of the Main, rebuilt in 2020 after arsonists destroyed the 1931 original. Climbing the staircase costs nothing and the platform clears the treetops for a full skyline panorama.
The central bank's own money museum in Dornbusch, covering cash, the gold standard and monetary policy across four halls. Admission is free, there is a real gold bar to lift, and the euro-crisis section is unusually blunt for a state institution.
An 8,000 m² public roof garden on top of the Europaviertel shopping centre, with lawns, a running path and an open terrace facing the Messeturm and the banking district. Free to enter by lift from inside the mall.