5 Best Sights in Frankfurt, Germany

Bad Homburg's greatest attraction has long been the Kurpark, a 116 acre park in the heart of the Old Town, with more than 30 mineral springs and fountains, golf, tennis courts, restaurants, and playgrounds. Romans first used the springs, which were rediscovered and made famous in the 19th century. In addition to the popular (and highly salty) Elisabethenbrunnen spring, look for a Thai temple and a Russian chapel, mementos left by royal guests—King Chulalongkorn of Siam and Czar Nicholas II.

Containing hundreds of moss-covered gravestones, this cemetery was in use between the 13th- and mid-19th centuries and is one of the few reminders of prewar Jewish life in Frankfurt. Surprisingly, it suffered minimal vandalization in the Nazi era, even though its adjoining grand Börneplatz Synagogue was destroyed on Kristallnacht, in 1938. That space is now part of Museum Judengasse; ask the admissions desk for the key to open the vandal-proof steel gates to the cemetery. Mayer Amschel Rothschild, founder of the banking family, who died in 1812, is buried here, along with some family members (the Rothschild mansion is now the main Jewish Museum). The wall around the cemetery is dotted with more than 1,000 small memorial plaques, each with the name of a Jewish Frankfurter and the concentration camp where they died. The newer Jewish cemetery on Rat-Beil-Strasse in the North End contains more than 800 graves dating from 1828 to 1929, including that of Nobel Prize winner Paul Ehrlich. Free tours are offered every other Sunday and by appointment.

This is the center of Germany's stock and money market. The Börse was founded in 1585, but the present domed building dates from the 1870s. These days computerized networks and telephone systems have removed much of the drama from the dealers' floor, but it's still fun to visit the visitor gallery and watch the hectic activity. You must reserve your visit 24 hours in advance.

A pedestrian walkway and the first suspension bridge in Europe, the Eiserner Steg connects the city center with Sachsenhausen aross the Main River and offers great views of the Frankfurt skyline. Boat excursions leave from here.

The first all-German parliament was held here in 1848 but lasted only a year, achieving little more than offering the Prussian king the crown of Germany. Today the church, which has been extensively restored, remains a symbol of German democracy and is used mainly for ceremonies. The most striking feature of the interior is a giant, completely circular mural showing an "endless" procession of the people's representatives into the Paulskirche. The plenary chamber upstairs is flanked by the flags of Germany, the 16 states, and the city of Frankfurt.