Frankfurt

Here's how a first evening works off an overnight flight. Follow the signs marked S and T at Terminal 1 down to the regional station on the lowest level, where the S8 and S9 leave for central Frankfurt. If your airline uses the new Terminal 3, the airport says the SkyLine train takes about 10 to 15 minutes to reach the stations, so add that to your plan. Ride to Hauptbahnhof if your hotel is there, or to Hauptwache if you want to walk straight into the market, because the Hauptwache and Roßmarkt stalls begin at the top of the station steps.

Drop your bags, sleep for two hours at most, and head out around dusk. Walk south from Hauptwache through Paulsplatz to the Römerberg, where the tree and the Römer's stepped gables make the picture everyone came for. If you land on 23, 25 or 28 November or on 2, 5, 9, 12, 16 or 19 December 2026, be on the square at 18:00, when the tower brass play from the balcony of the Alte Nikolaikirche. Keep the first evening short and close to the Römer. Drink a hot Apfelwein, eat something from the stalls and be back in bed before the market shuts at 21:00, so the jet lag doesn't swallow the next day.

For a sit-down supper cross the Eiserner Steg to Sachsenhausen and eat at an Apfelwein tavern on Schweizer Straße. Zum Gemalten Haus has served cider since 1936 and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Apfelwein Wagner a few doors along opens from 11:00 to midnight. Order Grüne Soße or Rippchen mit Kraut, and know that cider comes in a grey stoneware jug called a Bembel.