Bahnhofsviertel

The Bahnhofsviertel is the rectangle of streets between the Hauptbahnhof and the financial district, and it is the most concentrated and unselfconscious neighbourhood in Frankfurt. Migrants from every continent of the post-1960 economic boom settled here, and you can eat your way through Turkish, Eritrean, Senegalese, Vietnamese, Korean, Pakistani and Lebanese kitchens within five minutes' walk. Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage and Münchener Strasse are the busiest food streets; Kaiserstrasse runs straight from the station to the centre.

The district is also Frankfurt's red-light area, and the four-block strip around Taunusstrasse remains active with brothels, sex cinemas and open drug use. The contradiction sits comfortably enough — three-Michelin-star Lafleur is two blocks from the heroin clinic. Walk through during the day to see the texture; come back at night for the bars (Plank, The Cocktail Club, Bockenheimer Weinkontor).

things to do neighbourhood
A story
For most of the twentieth century the Bahnhofsviertel was Frankfurt's red-light and drug-injection district, and the city's tolerated open heroin scene was concentrated within a four-block radius of the central station. In the last twenty years the same streets have filled with Michelin-starred restaurants and cocktail bars, while the brothels and shooting rooms continue to operate next door — a coexistence that has become the district's identity.

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