Get tips, join events & make friends in Frankfurt
Discover the ins and outs of living in Germany and meet other Canadians through the InterNations expat community.
Exploring German culture and all that Frankfurt has to offer can be fun and exciting. But sometimes, you just need some quality time with your fellow countrymen. Are you looking for someone to spend the holidays with? Need a buddy to watch NHL games? Desperately searching for Canadian snacks but don’t know where to find them? Our community for expats in Frankfurt has got you covered.
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Francis White
I had the pleasure to meet so many interesting expats at a Frankfurt bar night that I found myself a new social circle in no time at all.
Caroline Stiles
Cultural events, aperitivos, Cantonese dinners - there's so much going on in InterNations Frankfurt that I don't know where to start.
Why you'll love InterNations in Frankfurt
and countless possibilities for fun and friendship!
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Why Canadians move abroad … (and do they like it?)
Every year, we run one of the biggest global surveys on living and working abroad: Expat Insider. In it, we ask expats about various aspects of their life. Learn what motivates our Canadian members to move abroad, what keeps them there, and what they struggle with or miss about home.
The pros & cons of living in Frankfurt
No place is perfect, there’s always the good, the bad, and the ugly. Find out what our Canadian members love about Frankfurt, as well as the challenges they face.
Pros:
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Ease of travel: Frankfurt’s very central location in Europe allows you to easily travel to neighboring countries and other cities in Germany — whether by plane, train, or car. Frankfurt Airport is located just a 30-minute drive from the city center with direct flights to various Canadian destinations. Flights to other European countries are also cheap from Frankfurt, allowing you to explore the continent easily.
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Vacation days: The work–life balance in Germany is great. On average, you get around 28 vacation days, with 20 days the absolute minimum for those working a five-day week. Plus, employees enjoy up to 10 public holidays a year. So you’ll have plenty of time to travel around, spend time with your family, or go back home to Canada when you need to.
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Weather: Canadian winters can be quite harsh. Luckily, winters in Frankfurt are much milder. Frankfurt’s climate in general is much warmer compared to most German cities.
Cons:
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Bureaucracy: There are many horror stories about German bureaucracy. It can be difficult to navigate, few things can get done online, and often the offices are not too helpful or friendly, either.
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Language barrier: Normal day-to day activities and interactions are passable without knowing of German. But doctor appointments, official paperwork, finding rental apartments, and so on are much harder without local language skills, as is connecting with the locals. And most Canadians find learning German quite difficult, too …
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Taxes: Living in Germany means you may have to pay a large percentage of taxes. Taxes can go up to 42% of your income, depending on how much you earn. And this is in addition to social security contributions.
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What Canadian expats have to say about living in Frankfurt
We asked tens of thousands of expats about their lives abroad in our Expat Insider surveys. In addition to our standard questions, we invite them to share what they like or dislike about their experiences in their own words. Here, we’ve selected some of the most interesting or representative quotes about expat life in Frankfurt from Canadians, grouped into positive and negative opinions.
Let’s start with the positive ones.
On the downside, here's are some negative experiences from Canadian expats in Frankfurt
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Meet Canadian expats at our events in Frankfurt
Making friends and building a network in a new city can be hard. At our events, everyone is from somewhere else and it’s completely normal to introduce yourself to people and ask them about their own expat journey. You’ll get to know a bunch of international people and other Canadians in no time and get first-hand information about your new home.
Check out our upcoming events and become part of Frankfurt’s large expat family. Our Newcomers’ Events are specially geared towards people that are new to the city. Our welcoming event hosts, called Ambassadors, will greet you with open arms and introduce you to other internationals in Frankfurt.
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Frequent questions about Frankfurt
Are you looking to make some friends from home, but you’re not sure how to meet fellow Canadians in Frankfurt? You can try your luck at a bar. Yours Sportsbar shows NBA games and, if you’re lucky, some NHL games as well — so you might meet some Canadians there. You could also visit other popular bars like Champions Frankfurt and O’Reillys.
However, in our opinion, that’s doing it the hard way. Why not try joining events specifically for Canadians and other English-speaking expats instead? Our InterNations events offer a great opportunity to meet global minds in Frankfurt. The Newcomers’ Events in particular are designed to introduce you to the community, making it much easier to make friends than in a bar.
The average cost of living in Frankfurt can range from 1,800 to 2,700 EUR depending on if you’re a single person or a family of four. Most people say to live comfortably in Germany with your family, you should earn about 5,000 EUR monthly.
Let’s break down the costs of living in Frankfurt:
| CAD per month | Local currency per month | |
Rent for a studio apartment | 1,800 CAD | 1,200 EUR |
Rent for a small family home | 3,300 CAD | 2,200 EUR |
Utilities (power, water, etc.) | 450 CAD | 300 EUR |
Mobile phone & internet | 40 CAD | 25 EUR |
Basic health insurance | min. 14.6% of gross salary | |
Public transportation | 75 CAD | 50 EUR |
Groceries (per person) | 300-450 CAD | 200-300 EUR |
Meal at a restaurant (per person) | 30 CAD | 20 EUR |
Frankfurt is a very international city that receives many foreign tourists every year. So, it’s not too hard to get around with no to very limited German skills.
But you’ll still run into the proverbial language barrier more than once. So ideally, you treat your time in Frankfurt as an opportunity to learn some German — or ideally pick up some phrases before your move already. The most challenging moments usually occur when you need to get official paperwork done, find a flat, see a doctor, and similar.
There’s a wide variety of affordable language schools to get you started, or you make use of a language app that allows you to improve on your own time and budget.
To make your time in Frankfurt a bit easier, we’ve have collected some services that cater to English speakers (these services are not affiliated with or endorsed by InterNations):
General practitioner (GP) |
A list of English-speaking doctors in Frankfurt and their locations to find one close to you |
Dentist |
A list of English-speaking dentists in Frankfurt am Main |
Urgent care |
The airport hospital located in terminal 1 provides emergency care in English |
Immigration assistance |
Immigration lawyers for immigration in Germany and the EU |
Tax advisor |
Tax lawyer in Frankfurt; speaks fluent English |
Instant interpreting service |
Get connected to a native German speaker on your phone and use the loudspeakers to have an instant interpreter with you |
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Our Global Partners
Find friends who share your passion
Do you want to continue with your hobbies — or discover new ones — while living in Frankfurt?
There’s a variety of InterNations Groups you can join, including everything from after-work activities to joint exercise sessions. These groups are run by dedicated Consuls with at least one activity each month, such as visiting Frankfurt’s finest restaurants with the Lunch & Dinner Group or going for a swim with the Fitness & Fun Group.
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Enjoy the international experience with InterNations
We’re not just active in Frankfurt! InterNations offers lively communities in most of Germany’s major cities.
Whether you’re traveling or moving to another German city, check out our Canadian communities in Berlin, Hamburg , Munich, Düsseldorf, Essen, Cologne, Bonn, Regensburg, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, and many more ...
But that’s not all! If you’re in the mood for a nice night out while traveling further abroad, you’re in luck. We’ve communities in over 420 cities worldwide.
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Canadian expats in Germany
Other Nationalities in Frankfurt
Germany Guide Topics
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