Public Waterplay parks
A wonderful attraction that the Frankfurt area provides (totally free of charge, by the way) are playgrounds with water play areas. These are just great for those hot days when you want to cool the children down but perhaps don’t fancy going swimming. Here you can sit on the grass, often in the shade, and watch your children play in the fountains that spurt gloriously cooling water. They have people who check the water quality daily. Many of these have little or no standing water; others have knee high pools; check out a few and find the ones you like. They all now have places to buy food and drink. The Waldspielpark’s Schwanheim, Tannenwald and Scheerwald also have BBQ areas which are all well maintained, a great place to get a group of friends together and the children are entertained.
Waldspielpark Schwanheim A lovely water play area, snacks, toilets and BBQ’s nearby. They have recently renovated their playground area with a Dinosaur theme. Situated on the edge of the forest you can also take a lovely walk. Across the road you will also find a privately owned zoo (free entrance and donations are welcome) and the tram museum. Unfortunately, they are both only open on weekends and holidays. Park in Schwanheimer Bahr Strasse.
www.verkehrsmuseum.info
www.kobelt-zoo.de
Waldspielpark Tannenwald Neu Isenburg. Again on the edge of the forest so take a walk and do the exercise trail. Playground area, spray park (no standing water) plus small paddling area, roller skating area, football, table tennis, snacks, toilets and more. Friedensallee/corner Goetherstr., 63263 Neu Isenburg
(PS: If you have the time check out Café Wessinger on Friedensallee/corner of Alicestraße for some of the best cakes in town – expensive, but worth it!)
The following two parks are on the edge of the forest and about 500 meters apart along a pedestrian path. The car parks are completely separate so check a map if you intend to take a BBQ along as it’s definitely no fun trying to reach one from the other with picnic hampers!
Waldspielpark Scheerwald On the edge of the forest and offers lots of distractions, e.g., exercise trail, water play area, playground, minigolf (recently renovated), BBQ area, toilets.
Park in Buchrain Strasse, Frankfurt-Oberrad or Sachsenhäuser Landwehrweg, Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen
Waldspielpark Goetheturm Huge playground with super steep slides, fabulous climbing frame and enough to do for the young and not so young. The paddling pool is about knee-high and the kids love climbing onto the huge water-spouting fish that presides over the pool. This is also the home of the famous Goetheturm. To my knowledge this is the largest wooden structure in Germany; it is fun to climb and gives wonderful views of Frankfurt, out to the airport and across to the Taunus. Well worth the climb. It is only open in the summer months. There is a restaurant near the bottom of the tower.
Park in Sachsenhäuser Landwehrweg, Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen.
Louisa Park Smaller than the others but has an excellent playground which is also suitable for the disabled. Older boys love the vast wooden fort structure and the younger ones happily play in the sandpits. The water play area is only ankle high so it attracts a lot of tiny tots. Cafe and toilets are available.
Park along the Mörfelder Landstrasse, Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen.
Günthersburgpark This delightful park has a wonderful playground area, cafe, toilets and water play area: wonderful gargoyles spurt water and there’s a slide hidden amongst the rocks.
Park in Comeniusstr., Frankfurt-Nordend
Palmengarten Apart from being Frankfurt’s botanical gardens, the Palmengarten offers a wonderful playground area, water play area, boating lake, and mini-train. There is a snack bar near the Spielplatz and two restaurants. On summer Sunday afternoons at 15.30 they have music in the music pavilion and on some Tuesday evenings at 19.30 too. It is wonderful to sit on the grass with a picnic and listen to music. You will have to look at their website for more details. There is an entrance fee for the Palmengarten.
Park in Siesmayerstr 61., Frankfurt-Westend
www.palmengarten.frankfurt.de