Frankfurt isn’t a city we hear mentioned all that often when people are plotting a European weekend away. Paris, Rome, Copenhagen? Constantly. Frankfurt tends to enter the conversation somewhere around business trips and connecting flights.
We recently had a very good reason to change that. The RASK team headed to Frankfurt for a few days of celebrations ahead of our beloved finance man Naor’s new arrival, and checked into The Florentin by Althoff Collection for the occasion.
By the end of the weekend, we’d found both a hotel we’ll happily return to and a city we think deserves rather more attention.
The Florentin
Those familiar with Frankfurt’s hotel scene may recognise the address. Now part of The Leading Hotels of the World, The Florentin occupies the former Villa Kennedy in Sachsenhausen, but after a major renovation by German hotel group Althoff Collection, very little feels familiar.
At its centre is Villa Speyer, the handsome historic house built in 1901 for the banking family of the same name. It’s connected to the newer parts of the hotel but has a character entirely of its own: art, original architectural details, beautifully restored rooms, and little spaces you keep discovering as you wander through.
That sense of discovery was one of the things we liked most. Despite being a substantial city hotel, The Florentin never feels anonymous or overly polished. There are salons and corners to disappear into, while the central courtyard – planted with olive and lemon trees – becomes its natural meeting point.
It also happens to be an excellent spot for breakfast outside, something we made full use of.
The renovation has been done particularly well. There are 147 rooms and suites, including nine suites within Villa Speyer, and throughout the hotel the materials feel tactile and considered: timber, stone, soft fabrics, warm lighting. Everything is new, but the history hasn’t been scrubbed away in the process.
A spa worth staying in for
We’re quite capable of constructing an entire afternoon around a good hotel spa, and The Florentin made that very easy.
The 1,000-square-metre spa has a 14-metre indoor pool looking towards the garden, five saunas, treatment rooms, and quiet areas designed for properly switching off. Treatments use Dr Barbara Sturm products, should you need another reason to block out a few hours.
It’s a particularly good counterpoint to a day in the city. Our formula of spa appointment, pool, sauna, and absolutely no urgency to be anywhere else worked very nicely.
Dinner, drinks, and one very good cheesecake
Food is another reason we’d recommend spending time at the hotel rather than treating it simply as a base.
The Garden spills into the courtyard and handles everything from breakfast through to dinner, mixing European cooking with a few Frankfurt signatures. We should also record, for journalistic integrity, that its cheesecake was one of the culinary highlights of our stay.
For a bigger evening, there’s the dune, the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant from chef Niclas Nussbaumer. Nussbaumer made his name with two Michelin stars at Mühle Schluchsee, and his cooking brings together classical technique and more subtle Asian influences.
Then there’s the bar, which is exactly where you want to end up after dinner: smart without feeling stiff, with cocktails overseen by Frankfurt bartender Maxime Kilian.
For a celebration, having all of this under one roof made The Florentin particularly easy. We could spend the day together without feeling as though we’d spent the whole day in the same place.
And what about Frankfurt?
This was perhaps the bigger surprise.
The Florentin sits in Sachsenhausen, south of the River Main and close to Frankfurt’s Museum Embankment, where many of the city’s major museums sit within a relatively compact stretch of riverfront. The area feels markedly different from the glass towers of the financial district across the water.
We took a boat along the Main, which is a lovely way to get your bearings and see the contrast properly: Frankfurt’s famous skyline in one direction, older neighbourhoods and riverfront museums in the other.
It’s also an incredibly manageable city for a short break. There’s serious art, excellent restaurants and bars, traditional apple-wine taverns, and enough contemporary architecture to keep design-minded travellers occupied, without the sense that you need four days and a spreadsheet to see everything.
Would we suggest Frankfurt instead of Paris for somebody’s first European city break? Probably not. But for travellers who have done the obvious weekends and want somewhere different – particularly somewhere easy for two or three nights – it makes much more sense than we’d previously given it credit for.
Who is The Florentin for?
We’d particularly recommend The Florentin for couples, solo travellers, art and design lovers, and anyone looking for a sophisticated European city weekend that isn’t on everybody else’s list.
It also works extremely well for a celebration. Ours involved courtyard breakfasts, spa time, a boat trip along the Main, cocktails, plenty of food, and the small matter of celebrating Naor before his next, rather life-changing chapter begins.
A successful weekend all round.
And while we went to Frankfurt for one of our favourite people, The Florentin is the reason we’ll be going back.
As a partner of The Leading Hotels of the World, RASK can also arrange your stay at The Florentin with the benefits available on eligible Leading Hotels bookings, from daily breakfast for two and upgrade priority to early check-in and late check-out considerations, subject to availability.
Thinking about Frankfurt? Fill out our contact form, and we’ll take care of the rest – from choosing the right room or suite at The Florentin to planning your time in the city.
