Things to do in the Frankfurt-Rhine-Main Region

Neroberg Mountain Railway (Wiesbaden) - a one hundred year old railway driven by water tanks.  Fun for the whole family, it zips you to the top of Neroberg Mountain in just a few minutes.  At the top is a park, a high ropes course, a pool, and the Opelbad restaurant for a coffee.

English Theater Frankfurt (Frankfurt) - English-language live theater with a variety of performances on the program.  James the Bar is good for a drink at intermission or before/after the show.

Palmengarten (Frankfurt) - large botanical garden with restaurants and playgrounds.

Boat trips along the Rhine River (Rhine) - a nice one-day trip is to go to the famous Loreley rock (summer toboggan run).  Or, drive to Rüdesheim and park your car, take the chair lift up to the top of the ridge where you will see the Niederwald monument.  Hike about 6km to Assmannshausen, take the chair lift back down, and eat at one of the restaurants in this town.  Take the riverboat back to Rüdesheim.  A perfect day trip!

Grube Messel (Darmstadt) - archaeological excavation of fossils at at UNESCO World Heritage site.

Rettershof (Königstein/Kelkheim) - horse stable, farm animals, and a few restaurants at this beautiful rural site with plenty of walking paths for all experience levels

Hiking in the Taunus (Bad Homburg/Oberursel/Kronberg/Königstein/Kelkheim/Hofheim/Wiesbaden) - over 2,000km of hiking paths in our beautiful local forest.  Check out the Taunus Information Center for information on hiking paths and highlights.  The attached Waldtraut Restaurant is recommended for an after-hike coffee or beer, family gatherings, and celebrations.

Hessenpark (Bad Homburg) - outdoor-air village museum featuring homes, buildings, and traditionally dressed people behaving as if from earlier Hessian times

Cinestar Frankfurt Movie Theater often has the latest movies in English (look for the (OV) designation - this means 'Original Version', i.e. it will be shown in English)

Castles (throughout the area) - Frankenstein Castle is close to Darmstadt; you will find other great castles throughout the Taunus (Königstein, Eppstein, Kronberg, Falkenstein); in the Rhine-Moselle area there are some amazing castles like Burg Rheinfels, Schloss Vollrads (with vineyard), Schloss Johannisberg (wine village), Burg Eltz, and Burg Thurant

Swimming Pools (throughout the area) :

• Seedammbad in Bad Homburg has a great indoor 'adventure' area with slides and fountains
• Opelbad in Neroberg, Wiesbaden has a great view of the city and surrounding vineyards
• TaunaBad is Oberursel's new-ish swimming pool
• Kronberg's Waldschwimmbad has a 50-m pool
• Darmstadt has a natural pool at Grosser Woog

Things to do with Kids (or kids-at-heart):  

• Freizeitpark Lochmühle - small amusement park and playground with rides that you can operate yourself, along with some farm animals, near Bad Homburg (up to around age 10)
• EuropaPark (Rust) - big amusement park with plenty of rides for all ages, including roller coasters, as well as themed 'lands' based on many European countries.  
• Rulantica (Rust) - big indoor/outdoor waterpark adjacent to EuropaPark
• Communications Museum (Frankfurt) - you can experience the spectrum of TVs, radios, internet, etc,
• Experimenta Science Museum (Frankfurt) - a hands-on science center
• Senckenberg Naturmuseum (Frankfurt) - fossils, dinosaur bones, natural history
• Money Museum (Frankfurt) - check out all kinds of old and new money from countries around the world, hold a real gold brick, and very interactive & interesting exhibits on how money and financial systems work (information is in English, too)
• Opel Zoo (Kronberg/Königstein)
• High ropes forests/"Kletterwald" - in Neroberg Wiesbaden, Bad Homburg/Friedrichsdorf, and Offenbach, among others
• Bowling - Oberursel's Magic Bowl, or Wiesbaden's City Bowling

Another nice site to explore:  www.kultur-in-hessen.de - cultural places to visit in Hessen, great info