How about a trip from the urban jungle to the tropics? In the Palmengarten, you can travel to different climate zones, explore different plant worlds and observe butterflies. But the Westend and Bockenheim districts also have a lot to offer in addition to the popular Palmengarten. Here, architectural history and botany meet student flair! Both districts are directly adjacent to the city centre and can be reached in just a few minutes by bus and train. Or take a long walk on foot.
On a walk, you will discover the unique cityscape with all its facets: On the one hand, it is characterised by the noble, upper-class Wilhelminian architecture, but also by residential complexes and office buildings from the 1950s to 1970s and by buildings that tell Frankfurt's history back to the Middle Ages. Such as the "Bockenheimer Warte" tower, a remnant of the city wall around Frankfurt that gives the surrounding square its name.
You can take cool photos at the entrance to the "Bockenheimer Warte" underground station, which looks as if an underground railway carriage is breaking through the earth's surface to travel underground, or with the Tyrannosaurus rex in front of the Senckenberg Nature Museum. With life-size dinosaur skeletons, mummies, minerals and many other exciting exhibits, the Senckenberg Nature Museum is one of the largest and most important natural history museums in Europe and regularly amazes children and adults alike.
The former campus of Goethe University, which has characterised the district for over 100 years and filled it with student flair, also borders the Bockenheimer Warte. Opposite is the Bockenheimer Depot, which makes the hearts of dance and theatre fans beat faster. The large hall, where trams were once repaired, now serves as an impressive backdrop for the Frankfurt Theatre, the Opera and the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company.
A stone's throw away is Leipziger Strasse with its colourful, multicultural mix of small shops and restaurants. Here, extravagant shops such as small designer jewellery shops and esoteric bookshops meet Turkish vegetable markets and charming courtyards in which, for example, an old traditional coffee roastery and a wine shop are hidden.
Not far from the former site of Goethe University is the new Westend campus. The monumental ensemble of buildings around the Poelzig Building - with its chequered history - is the centre of much of student life today. Other university campuses are located in Bockenheim (University Library), Ginnheim, Niederrad and Riedberg. The parks bordering the green university campus merge into one another and form a green oasis in the centre of the city. From here you can stroll through the Korean Garden, have a picnic in Grüneburgpark and explore the neighbouring Botanical Garden.