The Brothers Grimm's birthplace
The tales every child knows were collected from this town.
Reinhard Dietrich — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Reinhard Dietrich — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Reinhard Dietrich — CC0 · Carl Wilhelm Woerishoffer — Public domain
Yes, and it is among the better options near Frankfurt for families: the park is large and free, the town's Grimm connection gives children a context they already know, and the summer festival stages the tales in an open-air theatre. The trip is only half an hour by train.
The Brothers Grimm statue on the main square is the town's emblem, and the gold and jewellery museum explains the industry Hanau lived on. The town itself is modern because of the war damage, so do not expect a historic centre — the palace and its park are the visit.
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A baroque palace on the bank of the Main in Hanau, east of Frankfurt, built in the early eighteenth century and now holding the town's historical museum. Hanau is the birthplace of the Brothers Grimm, collectors of the German folk tales that became the best-known children's stories in the world, which gives the place a dimension any visitor recognises at once: Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood came from here. The museum inside the palace covers Hanau's history and the jewellery manufacture it was known for, with a section on the Grimms. The riverside park is extensive and free, and in summer hosts a fairy-tale festival in an open-air theatre. The town was almost entirely destroyed in the Second World War and the palace is among the few things that survived, which makes a visit a visit to what remains rather than to what was. It is not in Frankfurt: about 25 kilometres east, reached by local train in around half an hour.
The tales every child knows were collected from this town.
An extensive free riverside space worth the time on its own.
Hanau was almost entirely destroyed; the palace is among the few survivals.
Hanau, about 25 km east of Frankfurt on the Main