Living in Gallus, Frankfurt

The Europaviertel - the "European quarter" - is the newest part of the Gallus district and the newest of Frankfurt's residential quarters. The site was the city's main freight yard (Hauptgüterbahnhof) until rail freight consolidated elsewhere and the roughly ninety hectares between the Hauptbahnhof, the trade fair (Messe) and the older blocks of Gallus were freed up. Construction began in 2008 and the master plan, still being completed, alternates residential towers, office blocks and the long Europaboulevard that runs east to west. The most visible landmark is the Grand Tower, at 180 metres Germany's tallest residential building.

Who lives here

A young, very international, mostly professional population. Bank and consulting employees on Frankfurt postings, ECB staff who want new buildings, Messe exhibitors and event organisers, expat couples on multi-year assignments, and a layer of well-paid IT and engineering professionals. The buildings are new, the lifts work, the layouts are generous by Frankfurt standards. Families with young children are well represented - there's a new school, a kindergarten, and the Europagarten park as a backyard. Older Frankfurters are rare here; almost everyone arrived within the last decade.

What it's like during the day

Wide boulevards, new sidewalks, more sun than the inner-city blocks. The Skyline Plaza shopping centre, opened in 2013, sits at the eastern end with around 180 stores, a food court and the Messeturm visible behind it. The Europagarten is a long linear park down the middle of the quarter, with playgrounds, an artificial pond and lawns. The Hilton Frankfurt Airport hotel chain operates several houses for Messe guests. The trade-fair grounds (Messe Frankfurt) are within walking distance on the southwestern edge.

What it's like in the evening

Newer and tamer than the Bahnhofsviertel. A handful of restaurants and bars along Europaboulevard, the rooftop bar on top of the Grand Tower, and the chains in the Skyline Plaza food court. The genuine nightlife is a tram ride east to the Bahnhofsviertel or south across the river. The streets are quiet after 10 PM, with the towers lighting up only on the upper floors.

Getting around

U-Bahn line U4 stops at Festhalle/Messe, and U5 has a recent extension into the quarter - Güterplatz, Emser Brücke/Messe, Europagarten and Wohnpark on its westward arm. Trams 16, 17 and 21 cross Europaviertel along Europaallee and Emser Straße. Hauptbahnhof is two stops east or a fifteen-minute walk; the airport is twelve minutes by S-Bahn from there. Cycling is easy on the new wide cycle lanes along Europaallee.

Eating and shopping

The Skyline Plaza is the daily shopping anchor - supermarkets (Rewe, Edeka), pharmacies, electronics, clothing, a multi-storey food court. Outside the mall, restaurants on Europaallee cover Italian, Japanese, burgers, healthier chains; a few independents have opened in the residential towers. For weekly markets and the more traditional Frankfurter food, you walk or tram east to the Gallus or the Bahnhofsviertel.

When NOT to pick it

If you want classic German Altbau with stucco and four-metre ceilings, Europaviertel has none of it - every building is post-2010. If you want narrow streets and a village feeling, the wide boulevards and new-master-plan layout will feel sterile. If you want established neighbourhood institutions - bakeries with grandparents, taverns where the Stammtisch has met for forty years - the neighborhood is too young for them. Construction continues on some plots, with attendant dust and noise.

Europaviertel is the right pick if you want a new apartment with working lifts, balcony, and a thirty-minute door-to-airport commute, the Messe on your doorstep, and a residential rhythm without the rough edges of older districts. For corporate transfers, ECB staff and trade-fair professionals it's the new default.