Events and festivals in Hesse this weekend, October 10-11: the Frankfurt Book Fair opens its halls to the public, Grünberg starts its Gallusmarkt, and Marburg, Idstein and Weilburg hold autumn markets.
The 77th Frankfurt Book Fair opens to the general public on Saturday, October 10, 2026, with Czechia as guest of honour. There is a comic festival. Events and festivals in Hesse this weekend, October 10-11: the Frankfurt Book Fair opens its halls to the public, Grünberg starts its Gallusmarkt, and Marburg, Idstein and Weilburg hold autumn markets.
The 77th Frankfurt Book Fair and its guest of honour, Czechia
The Frankfurt Book Fair runs from October 7 to 11, 2026. Trade visitors have access on all five days, and the general public is welcome at the weekend. On Sunday, October 11, the fair closes at 5:30 pm.
The guest of honour for 2026 is Czechia. Each year a different country puts its literature and book production in the spotlight, and Chile follows in 2027, Romania in 2028.
Over five days, 238,000 visitors, around 4,350 exhibitors and some 3,500 individual events spread across the halls of Messe Frankfurt, with a new hall concept for 2026. Since 1949 the fair has been the central platform of the international publishing world and Germany's most important date for readers and the trade.
Saturday and Sunday are public days, with readings, author appearances, cosplay areas, a comic festival and audio and audiobook stages. Frankfurt is traditionally a stronghold of manga and comics as well.
The S8 and S9 suburban lines stop right at the fair, one station from the main station.
From the Römerberg to the Lahn
Alongside the fair, the city's reading festival Open Books runs until Saturday, October 10, with around 125 readings and panel discussions in the Römerhallen and at other venues around the Römerberg, curated by the Kulturamt Frankfurt am Main. Admission is free and no registration is needed. The Kasseler Herbst-Ausstellung at Messe Kassel ends on Sunday, October 11: around 400 exhibitors fill eleven halls across 30,000 square metres, daily from 9:30 am to 6 pm.
The Idstein autumn market takes over Löherplatz and König-Adolf-Platz in the half-timbered town with more than 100 exhibitors. At Paul's Bauernhof, children and adults carve pumpkins, and on Sunday the shops open from noon to 6 pm. The same hours apply in Weilburg on the Lahn, where the 37th Residenzmarkt shows costumed baroque figures, theatre performances and an agricultural machinery show on König-Konrad-Platz.
The Marburger Elisabethmarkt carries the motto "Goldener Herbst": a regional market on Barfüßerstraße and Steinweg, a creative market on Steinweg and, on Sunday, a social market around the Elisabethkirche. In Grünberg in the Gießen district, the 546th Grünberger Gallusmarkt starts on Saturday, one of the oldest fairs in Hesse, with roots in the 15th century. It runs until October 18. Rides and snack stands fill the festival ground by the Gallushalle, with a Krammarkt alongside, and admission is free.
Day tickets and weekend passes for the Book Fair are sold online at buchmesse.de.