Höchst Old Town

Höchst Old Town is one of the best-preserved medieval cores in the Rhine-Main region — a compact half-timbered island on the south bank of the Main, seemingly untouched by Frankfurt's skyline just a few kilometers away. Its Justinuskirche, founded in 830, is among the oldest surviving churches in Hesse, with Carolingian masonry still visible beneath its later Romanesque additions. By the 16th century, dye trading and an early porcelain manufactory brought considerable wealth to the settlement, legible today in the richly decorated timber-frame facades around Bolongaroplatz. Every summer, the Höchster Keramikmarkt draws ceramicists and potters from across Europe to its narrow lanes — one of the largest craft markets of its kind in Germany. Outside market season, antique dealers, pottery workshops, and traditional Apfelwein taverns make the district well worth a slow afternoon.

West of the city: Bolongaro Palace, Justinus Church and timber-framed lanes by the Main.