Upon arrival at Frankfurt train station or "Hauptbahnhof", you are greeted by the smell of food from two train-type food trucks positioned outside. They are offering food and drink for hungry travelers.
Looking around you have a mess where much of the carpark is cordoned off but nothing much is happening. In the skyline, you can see many of Frankfurt's banking high-rise buildings.
It is morning rush hour but there aren't so many people heading off into the banking area as before the pandemic.
Before going in, I walked around the station and took some photos of the building.
Once back at the main entrance, I go in and am greeted by a large open hall that feels very welcoming. To my right, there are two coffee shops. The first one is a Starbucks and they are both well visited. A bit further on you have the luggage storage area. People were busy depositing and withdrawing luggage as I was there.
Finally once in the main open area where the trains and platforms are, there are many shops too. I stumbled upon a tourist shop selling Frankfurt trinkets.
The train station is huge and I headed down towards where the regional and underground trains are. Here I saw some homeless people sleeping in makeshift beds.
There is also a huge underground area linking the train station with many of the nearby streets. Much of the roof was open for some reason.
Back overground again, I headed to some of the food stalls and saw plenty of fresh food available for commuters. I grabbed myself a bretzel from Ditzel. It is warm and with salt how I like it.
I continued walking around the main station area whilst refuelling on my bretzel. The day in the life of a trainspotter is never easy.
I see there is a double-decker regional train arriving plus the intercity "ICE" train.
I walk as far as I can outside the station to get some outside shots. You can see the many hangars here and the skyline of Frankfurt with its banking skyscrapers. I understand that the train station should be completely renovated and modernised, but I didn't see much progress on that today.
Back inside the station, I prepare to take my ICE train to my next destination. There is a sign Berlin or Dresden. Which one do I take? Let me know in the comments what you think!
Thanks for joining me on this walk today!
Credits:
All photos are my own.
