Wäldchestag (Frankfurt's unofficial national holiday)

Frankfurt calls Wäldchestag its unofficial national holiday, and the nickname is earned. Well into the 1990s, employers downtown let their staff go at noon on the Tuesday after Pentecost so they could head into the city forest and celebrate. The festival takes place at the Oberforsthaus site in Niederrad, in the woods rather than on an asphalt fairground, which is what makes it feel different from every other funfair in the city.

The roots go back to the Middle Ages. There was already a spring festival on the Tuesday after Pentecost, which doubled as the bakers' guild feast, and in the 14th century there was a Kühtanz, a procession of herders and dairy maids driving cattle into the forest for summer grazing. Frankfurt has owned its city forest since 1372, and citizens were allowed to gather firewood there once a year. People brought food and drink along for the day, and eventually the wood-gathering turned into a party.

The setting changed over time. The old Oberforsthaus, where Goethe was once a guest, was destroyed in the war, and its stable block came down in 1963 to make way for the A3 autobahn. Better rail access brought the crowds back. Then the free afternoon was scrapped in the mid-1990s to save on labor costs, and attendance has never fully recovered.

What is left is a gentler kind of fair. There are more than 170 traders and showmen, a Ferris wheel, a small roller coaster with genuine vintage charm, shooting galleries, raffle booths, sweet stands and food stalls, but none of the extreme rides you find at the Dippemess. The food has gone international, though the classics hold: Handkäs mit Musik, a translucent sour milk cheese marinated with onions and vinegar, plus bratwurst, pretzels and Hartekuchen, a hard spiced cake that turns up at every Frankfurt festivity. There is a music program and a children's program, and the whole thing is built for lingering rather than screaming.

The transit companies add extra service for the day. Tram line 20 runs from the main station to the Oberforsthaus stop, and bus line 61V runs from the Südbahnhof, joined by two vintage buses shuttling back and forth. Many locals simply bike out through the forest, which is the nicest way to arrive.

The city knows the festival is under pressure from bigger, more central events like the Dippemess, the Museumsuferfest, the Rheingauer Weinmarkt and the Christmas market, and it has floated concepts to reduce the funfair element and lean into a family day with summer gardens, picnic space, tents and stage shows. If you want to see how Frankfurt celebrates when no tourists are watching, this is the day.