Frankfurt is known for Apfelwein, tart fermented apple wine served in ribbed glasses from a stoneware Bembel. It’s as local as a drink can be, and the city’s traditional taverns in Sachsenhausen are a genuine part of the culture here. But Frankfurt also has a strong restaurant and hotel bar scene, an international business crowd with a taste for something more celebratory, and one of Germany’s great wine regions right on its doorstep.
Champagne fits into that picture more naturally than the city’s reputation might suggest.
All the venues we’ve found are in our Frankfurt Champagne City Guide, updated as we discover new places.
Explore our complete Frankfurt City Guide
Table of contents
- Frankfurt’s Champagne scene
- Apfelwein, Riesling and Champagne
- The Rheingau: a day trip worth making
- Frequently asked questions
- Explore the Frankfurt City Guide
Frankfurt’s Champagne scene
The most distinctive Champagne experience in Frankfurt may be the simplest one: a glass at the Main Tower Restaurant & Bar, 53 floors above the city, with the banking district’s skyline spread out below. Frankfurt’s famous cluster of skyscrapers is unusual for Germany, and seeing it from above with something sparkling in hand is hard to beat as an opener to an evening.
At ground level, the options are more varied. Villa Merton is a long-established fine dining address with a serious wine list. Seven Swans, one of Frankfurt’s most talked-about restaurants, takes a plant-forward approach that makes Champagne — particularly a mineral, low-dosage style — an interesting pairing challenge. Tigerpalast Restaurant combines dinner with a variety show, making it one of the more unusual settings in the city for a celebratory bottle. Restaurant Français, Lohninger and the Parlour Bar at Jumeirah Frankfurt round out the more formal end, while Bar Shuka and Emma Metzler (inside the Städel museum) offer a slightly more relaxed atmosphere.
Apfelwein, Riesling and Champagne
Part of what makes Frankfurt interesting for a drinks lover is that you don’t have to choose just one thing.
A Champagne aperitif before dinner sits perfectly well alongside an evening in a Sachsenhausen Apfelwein tavern the next night — they’re completely different experiences, and both are worth having. The tartness and carbonation of Apfelwein is its own kind of refreshment; Champagne is something else entirely. Frankfurt is one of the few cities where you can genuinely compare the two in their natural environments.
Add Riesling from the nearby Rheingau into the picture and you have three quite different expressions of what a crisp, acid-driven drink can be. Frankfurt’s better restaurants carry Rheingau wines alongside their Champagne lists, and the contrast is worth exploring.
The Rheingau: a day trip worth making
The Rheingau is one of Germany’s most important wine regions, and it starts almost at Frankfurt’s western edge. Vineyards run along the north bank of the Rhine between Wiesbaden and Rüdesheim, and the combination of river, steep slopes and centuries-old wine estates makes it a genuinely beautiful stretch of countryside to visit.
Riesling is the dominant grape here — typically dry and precise, with the kind of minerality that makes it a natural companion to Champagne on the same table. If you’re spending more than a day or two in Frankfurt, the Rheingau is an easy and rewarding half-day trip. The annual Rheingau Wine Festival in late summer brings many of the region’s producers into the city itself, which is another way to explore without leaving Frankfurt at all.
Frequently asked questions
Our Frankfurt City Guide collects the city’s Champagne venues in one place — from rooftop bars and hotel lounges to fine dining restaurants and museum restaurants. Use the map to find what’s nearby.
Apfelwein is Frankfurt’s traditional fermented apple wine — dry, tart and served in a ribbed glass from a stoneware Bembel. It’s an integral part of the city’s food and drink culture, particularly in the Sachsenhausen neighbourhood. Yes, try it — it’s a completely different experience from Champagne, and that’s exactly the point.
Easily. The Rheingau begins just west of the city and is reachable by train or car in well under an hour. Rüdesheim and the villages along the Rhine make for a good half-day trip, and the region’s Riesling estates are well set up for visitors.
Explore the Frankfurt City Guide
Our Frankfurt City Guide brings together the best Champagne venues in the city — restaurants, hotel bars and rooftop spots — all on the map.
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