Langen is a city in Hesse that is mainly known as the seat of some important federal authorities, including the German air traffic control and the Paul Ehrlich Institute. In Langen there is also the 27-storey Alpha high-rise, the tallest residential building in Hesse - Frankfurt's impressive skyscrapers are all office buildings or other nonresidential buildings.

Understand

In 2018, it had a population of about 38,000 people. Langen is the headquarters of DFS (Deutsche Flugsicherung), which is responsible for air traffic control in Germany. It is also the home of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut.

History

View of the old town

The earliest community here may have arisen about AD 500 or 600, settled by Frankish migrants. Langen had its first documentary mention in 834 in a donation document from King Ludwig II to the Lorsch Abbey under the name Langungon.

In 1414, the village burnt down in the midst of a dispute between the city of Frankfurt and the then owners of Langen, the Archbishop of Trier, Werner von Falkenstein. When the Lords of Falkenstein saw their male line come to an end in 1418, the County of Isenburg inherited the lordship over Langen. Surviving from the Middle Ages are, among other things remains of the fortifications with the spitzer Turm and the stumpfer Turm ("Sharp Tower" and "Blunt Tower") from Falkenstein times (1336), and from the Renaissance the Vierröhrenbrunnen ("Four-Pipe Spring") from 1553.

In 1600, Langen, along with the whole Amt of Kelsterbach was sold by the Counts of Isenburg to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. Langen has belonged to Hesse since then.

After the First World War, Langen was occupied by French troops until 1930. In 1959, the first new town development, Oberlinden, was built.

Get in

By plane

Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, Germany's busiest general aviation airport, lies in the neighbouring community of Egelsbach some 3 km away, while Germany's busiest airport, Frankfurt Airport, is found about 10 km from Langen.

• 1 Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport. For private aircraft. 

By train

Regional trains connecting with Frankfurt and Darmstadt.

• 2 Langen (Hess) station. Langen station is on the Rhine-Main S-Bahn network running on the Main-Neckar line and is served by S-Bahn lines S3 and S4. The travel time to downtown Frankfurt is roughly 20 minutes with trains running every 15 minutes. Moreover, regional trains on the Frankfurt-Mannheim and Frankfurt-Heidelberg runs stop here. 
• 3 Langen-Flugsicherung station. 

By car

Langen is linked to the north-south Autobahnen A5 (Junction 24, Langen/Mörfelden interchange in the town's west) and A661 (Langen interchange in the east). Both interchanges are linked by the east-west Bundesstraße 486, which at the same time also forms the Langen north bypass. This new link also connects the industrial area in the northwest, in which are found, among other things, Federal authorities. Along Bundesstraße 486 towards the west, after about 15 km, drivers reach the Rüsselsheimer Dreieck ("Rüsselsheim Triangle"), where the A 60 towards Mainz branches off the A67 (Darmstadt-Mönchhof).

Running across the municipal area is also the former Bundesstraße 3 from Frankfurt am Main to Darmstadt.

Do

• 1 Langener Waldsee, Sehringstraße, ☏ +49 69 692688. A popular man-made lake and beach. (updated Oct 2015)
• 2 Kletterwald Langen, Mörfelder Landstraße (On the western edge of town), ☏ +49 6103 7019981. High ropes course through the trees. (updated Oct 2015)

Events

• Ebbelwoi-Fest: . A large city festival focus around apple wine every year in June. (date needs fixing)
• Das Fürstliche Gartenfest Schloss Wolfsgarten: . A garden festival in mid-September is one of the few time the palace grounds are open to the public. (date needs fixing)

Eat

Protected buildings along Fahrgasse

• 1 Metzgerei Jost-Rauth, Schnaingartenstraße 1, ☏ +49 6103 204794. Butchers shop with cafeteria upstairs serving lunch. 
• 2 Das neue Schuhbeck's Check Inn (in Egelsbach (not Langen) next to the airfield), ☏ +49 6103 4859380. Very good quality restaurant. 

Sleep

• 1 Steigenberger Hotel Frankfurt-Langen, Robert-Bosch-Straße 26, ☏ +49 6103 972-0. 
• 2 ACHAT Hotel Airport Frankfurt-Langen, Robert-Bosch-Straße 58, ☏ +49 6103 7560. 
• 3 Dreieich, Frankfurter Str. 49, ☏ +49 6103 9150. Also has a reasonable Italian restaurant. 

Go next

• Mörfelden
• Erzhausen
• Dreieich