Volkspark Niddatal, Frankfurt/Main

With 168 hectares, the park is Frankfurt's largest contiguous green space after the city forest.
Nature and man should get their right in the Volkspark Niddatal. The planning for the Federal Garden Show in 1989 was based on this principle, and it was only for this purpose that the area was turned into the city's largest park. There had already been plans in 1914 to use the Niddaauen as a leisure area, but until the garden show it was wasteland next to agricultural land. The aim was to create as natural an impression as possible of the park as a whole. To achieve this, a network of wide paths and an avenue of lime trees were laid out, and the water play park and sandstone bastions were built. These elements are still reminiscent of the garden show today, the elaborate model and show gardens have long since disappeared. The park is currently being carefully restored piece by piece. In order to preserve the diversity of plants, overgrown wild growth and brambles are being cut back, and the paths are being renewed piece by piece. A new fitness trail has also been added, where recreational athletes can complete their exercise sessions in the fresh air.
Frankfurt's largest green area is part of the green belt around the city and is designated as a landscape conservation area.

Winding paths lead through the dense mixed forest on the east side of the Volkspark Niddatal in the middle of the landscape conservation area. Left to nature, it appears as if far away from city life, a paradise for runners, walkers and cyclists. To the west, the forest opens up with a magnificent view over seemingly endless flower and herb meadows with groups of trees, criss-crossed by narrow paths and bordered by groves and shrub zones. In the distance rise the Taunus and Feldberg - or, in a south-easterly direction, the Europaturm and the Frankfurt skyline.
The meadows in the centre of the park offer pure relaxation and are ideal for flying kites in autumn. Nightingale grove, Praunheimer grove and Niedwiesen are grouped around it. Wetland biotopes and orchards alternate with spacious playgrounds, the new water playground on Lindenallee and allotments and sports facilities near Bockenheim.