Frankfurt is a city that punches well above its weight. Despite its diminutive size--it has fewer than a million inhabitants--it is a financial centre of global importance, named alongside metropolises and capitals such as Tokyo, London, and New York. Yet Frankfurt is a city that is also continually underestimated: many of the millions who visit it on business--both German and from other countries--see little more of it than its airport and its skyscrapers.
Frankfurt has always been a capital without a country: the capital of the book trade, the capital of modern social studies, the capital of the Eurozone. Today, it rivals Brussels, Berlin, Paris, and London, and yet retains a deeply provincial, down-to-earth identity interwoven with the thick forests and farming country of its Hessian hinterland.
While its population is one of the worlds most international, its dialect is one of Germanys most impenetrable. For those looking to do more than just change flights or sign a contract, this cultural guide takes a closer look at Frankfurt, exploring and explaining these dichotomies.
