The Best Museums in Frankfurt

By
Birge Amondson
Birge Amondson
Birge is a German-born travel writer based in Berlin and Los Angeles who has written for Zagat and Northstar Travel Media.
TripSavvy's editorial guidelines
Updated on 06/03/19
Museum für Moderne Kunst (Museum of Modern Art), particular of the building
Atlantide Phototravel / Getty Images

If you are looking for some great museums in Frankfurt, head to the river Main, which runs through Frankfurt's city center and is lined on both sides by some of best museums in Germany. The area is called Museumsufer (Museum riverbank) and you can buy a Museumsufer-Ticket which offers admission to 33 exhibition locations in Frankfurt.

Another attraction in the area is the city's largest flea market on Saturdays. Other noteworthy museums are located in Frankfurt’s Old Town.

01 of 06

Städel Museum

Entrance to the Stadel Museum

TripSavvy / Christopher Larson

Set on the riverbank, this fine art museum is home to one of Germany’s most important collections of the old masters. The Städel, which is often compared to the Louvre in Paris, gives a fascinating overview of seven hundred years of European art history, from the 14th century all the way to the 20th century. You will see masterworks by Dürer, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Kirchner, Beckmann, Klee, Bacon, Richter, and Kippenberger.

  • Address: Schaumainkai 63 60596 Frankfurt am Main   
  • Info: info@staedelmuseum.de; 49(0)69-605098-200 
  • Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday 10 am–6 pm; Thursday, Friday 10 am–9 pm; closed Mondays 
02 of 06

Museum fuer Moderne Kunst Frankfurt

Exterior of the Museum of Modern Art

TripSavvy / Christopher Larson

Frankfurt's Museum of Modern Art is not only famous for its extensive collection, which focuses on international art since the 1960 and presents masterworks by Roy Lichtenstein, Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, and Gerhardt Richter, but also for its impressive architecture. Designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollering, the museum has a triangular shape and is called "the slice of cake" by locals. Opened in 1991, the collections include over 5,000 works of international art.

  • Address: Domstraße 10, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
  • Info: mmk(at)stadt-frankfurt.de
  • Hours: MMK1/3: Tuesday to Sunday 10:30–6 pm; Wednesday 10 am–8pm; closed Mondays
    MMK2: Tuesday to Sunday 11 am–6 pm; Wednesday 11 am–8 pm; closed Mondays
03 of 06

German Film Museum

Vintage camera

TripSavvy / Christopher Larson

Film buffs shouldn’t miss the Deutsches Filmmuseum (German Film Museum), located on Frankfurt’s river bank. The museum explores the art and history of the moving picture, from its early beginnings with the laterna magica and camera obscura, to the replica studios and special effects of the today's movie industry.

There are lots of hands-on exhibits too; you can re-enact a car chase or take a magic carpet ride over Frankfurt with the help of a blue screen. And of course, there’s a movie theatre, which presents all movies in its original version.

  • Address: Schaumainkai 41, 60596 Frankfurt am Main
  • Information & Reservation:  49 (0)69 961 220 220
  • Opening Hours: Tuesday 10 am–6 pm; Wednesday 10 am–8 pm; Thursday to Sunday 10 am–6 pm
04 of 06

Senckenberg Museum

Dinosaur skeletons in the Senckenberg Museum

TripSavvy / Christopher Larson

The Senckenberg Museum is one of largest museums dedicated to natural history in Germany, and it’s a fascinating place for young and old.

The museum showcases more than 400,000 exhibits, ranging from fossil amphibians, American mammoths, and Egyptian mummies, to many more of the museum's most famous attractions. This includes Europe’s most diverse exhibitions of large dinosaur skeletons, including an impressive Tyrannosaurus Rex. Discover the universe with exhibits covering everything from the "big bang" to the origin of our planet.

  • Address: Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt 
  • Info: info@senckenberg.de; 49 (0)69/7542-0
  • Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 am–5 pm; Wednesday 9 am–8 pm; Saturday, Sunday 9 am–6 pm
Continue to 5 of 6 below.
05 of 06

Schirn Kunstalle

German museum in snow.
Ingolfson / Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

Located in the center of Frankfurt’s Old Town, the Schirn Kunsthalle is the city’s premier exhibition venue for modern and contemporary art. The Schirn works closely together with renowned museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and its changing exhibits and retrospectives presented masters such as Vassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Frida Kahlo, Yves Klein, Arnold Schönberg, and Edvard Munch.

  • Address: Römerberg, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
  • Information & Reservation:  49 069 299882-112 
  • Opening Hours: Tuesday, Friday to Sunday 10 am–7 pm; Wednesday, Thursday 10 am–10 pm; closed on Mondays
06 of 06

Liebighaus

'Eindeutig bis zweideutig. Skulpturen und ihre Geschichten' Exhibition Preview In Frankfurt am Main
Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images

Set in a 19th-century villa close to the river Main, the Liebighaus offers a fantastic sculpture collection; over 5000 pieces are on display, from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The café, set in the surrounding garden, offers wonderful home-made cakes.

  • Address: Schaumainkai 71, 60596 Frankfurt am Main
  • Information & Reservation:  49 069 605098200 
  • Opening Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday to Sunday 10 am–6 pm; Thursday 10 am–9 pm; closed Mondays.