The Skyscraper Festival (in German “Wolkenkratzer-Festival“) is a festival that focuses on Frankfurt’s skyline and its high-rise buildings. The Skyscraper Festival first took place in 1996 and has since been repeated several times at irregular intervals. The last Skyscraper Festival took place in 2013 and attracted about 1.2 million visitors. The Skyscraper Festival is open to all visitors (even without a ticket) and is free of charge.

The Skyscraper Festival is an event for the city and the region Frankfurt, which is supported by about 100 sponsors and partners. It is strongly promoted by the media partners in newspapers, radio, television, Internet and social networks.

The festival takes place mainly along the skyscraper course, a running route between the skyscrapers. Numerous shows and attractions take place near the skyscrapers, such as base jumping, parachuting, bungee jumping, high-wire artistry, street theater, concerts and fireworks. In addition, permanent attractions and refreshment stands are set up.

As part of the Skyscraper Festival, the participating skyscrapers are also open to the public. However, guests need tickets to enter these selected towers. These tickets have been issued free of charge via the Internet since 2007. Every single ticket is only valid for a certain tower and a fixed time window.

The festival was organized and centrally coordinated by Hit Radio FFH. Other sponsors of the Skyscraper Festival have been Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Frankfurter Neue Presse for the first time in 2013.

At the last Skyscraper Festival in 2013, 18 buildings took part, more than ever before. For example, Tower 185, OpernTurm, and Jumeirah Frankfurt opened their doors. Main_Forum (IG Metall) and Eurotheum (Innside Frankfurt) were also there for the first time. The 80,000 tickets for all skyscrapers were completely sold within only three hours.

According to an answer of Hit Radio FFH to a request of SKYLINE ATLAS, there is currently no planning going on for the next issue of the Skyscraper Festival (as of autumn 2018).

The Skyscraper Festival was born from the idea of Hans-Dieter Hillmoth, who was managing director of Radio/Tele FFH until summer 2019 and was also program director since 1989. Under the direction of Mr. Hillmoth, the several high-rise owners were convinced to participate in the first event in 1996. He then approached the City of Frankfurt. The city officials were not immediately enthusiastic about the idea, but after numerous meetings and phone calls, Hans-Dieter Hillmoth was finally able to convince Lord Mayor Petra Roth of the idea.