Hessen sits in the heart of Germany and manages to be both the country's financial engine and one of its most rewarding regions for travellers. Frankfurt am Main -- known locally as Mainhattan for its improbable skyline -- is home to the European Central Bank and one of Europe's busiest airports, but also to a superb row of museums along the Main river and some of the liveliest apple wine taverns in the country.
The state capital Wiesbaden has been a spa town since Roman times, its hot springs and elegant Kurhaus drawing visitors for two millennia. Further up the Rhine, the wine town of Rudesheim packs tourists into the narrow Drosselgasse but rewards anyone who ventures beyond it with vineyards, hilltop monuments and sweeping river views.
Away from the Rhine-Main corridor, Hessen turns green and hilly. The old university town of Marburg, with its early Gothic Elisabethkirche and castle-topped skyline, is one of Germany's most picturesque small cities. Wetzlar offers a remarkably preserved Altstadt and an unfinished cathedral that spans eight centuries of architectural styles. The Edersee in the north draws sailors and windsurfers, the Wasserkuppe in the Rhön attracts glider pilots, and the Taunus hills above Frankfurt provide hiking and skiing within easy reach of the city.
Hessen is well connected. Frankfurt's airport and central station make it a natural gateway, and the state's compact geography means that most destinations are reachable as day trips from the Rhine-Main area.
