Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
Chorin
Chorin Abbey, about an hour northeast of Berlin, is one of the finest examples of North German brick Gothic architecture. The roofless red-brick ruins of this former Cistercian monastery rise beside a quiet lake in the Schorfheide-Chorin B…
Churches & monasteries
Kamp-Lintfort
Kamp Abbey (Kloster Kamp) in Kamp-Lintfort, in Germany's Lower Rhine region, was founded in 1123 as the first Cistercian monastery in the German-speaking world. Today it is best known for its spectacular Baroque terraced garden, which step…
Churches & monasteries
Dormagen
Knechtsteden Abbey near Dormagen, between Cologne and Düsseldorf, is a former Premonstratensian monastery founded in the 12th century and one of the finest Romanesque complexes in the Lower Rhine region. Its basilica, with tall towers and…
Churches & monasteries
Kloster Lehnin
Lehnin Abbey (Kloster Lehnin) in Brandenburg is one of the most important brick monasteries in the Mark Brandenburg region, founded in 1180. The red brick church of St. Marien, the gate chapel and the old monastery buildings sit in a quiet…
Churches & monasteries
Lorsch
Lorsch Abbey (Kloster Lorsch) in southern Hesse is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important relics of the Carolingian era in Germany. The once-powerful imperial abbey survives mainly through its famous Königshalle, a gate…
Churches & monasteries
Ottobeuren
Ottobeuren Abbey in the Bavarian Allgäu is one of the finest Baroque monasteries in Germany, often called the "Swabian Escorial." The Benedictine community has lived here since 764, and its basilica, with three domes, frescoes and white-an…
Palaces
Salem
Salem Abbey (Kloster und Schloss Salem) on Lake Constance is one of the most important baroque monastery complexes in southern Germany. This former imperial Cistercian abbey blends a Gothic minster with baroque state rooms, and in the 19th…
Churches & monasteries
Walkenried
Walkenried Abbey (Kloster Walkenried), on the southern edge of the Harz mountains in Lower Saxony, is one of Germany's most atmospheric Cistercian monasteries and, since 2010, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The soaring ruins of its…
Churches & monasteries
Kelheim
Weltenburg Abbey near Kelheim sits on a bend of the Danube River, right at the entrance to the Danube Gorge, where the river squeezes between towering limestone cliffs. This Benedictine monastery is famous for three things: a breathtaking…
Churches & monasteries
Reichenau
Reichenau Island, the "Monastic Island" in Lake Constance near Konstanz, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. It preserves three Romanesque churches whose origins reach back to a Benedictine abbey founded in the 8th century, s…
Lakes
Kochel am See
Lake Kochel (Kochelsee) is a clear Alpine foothill lake in Upper Bavaria with views of the Herzogstand, Heimgarten and Jochberg mountains. It lies about 70 kilometers south of Munich and works as an easy day trip: you can swim, walk the sh…
Industrial heritage
Köln
The Cologne Cable Car (Kölner Seilbahn) has been carrying passengers across the Rhine in small four-seat gondolas since 1957, linking a station next to Cologne Zoo with the Rheinpark on the opposite bank. The six-minute ride is one of the…
Museums
Köln
Kolumba is the art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne, built by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor on top of the ruins of a late Gothic church in the heart of Cologne's old town. If you are visiting Cologne and want something quieter than the…
Landmarks
Düsseldorf
The Königsallee in Düsseldorf, known locally as the "Kö," is Germany's most famous luxury shopping boulevard and one of the most elegant city streets in the country. A tree-lined canal runs down the middle, framed by stone bridges and foun…
Old towns & squares
München
Königsplatz in Munich is a neoclassical square in the Maxvorstadt district and a centerpiece of the "Athens on the Isar" that King Ludwig I wanted to build. The Propylaea to the west, the Glyptothek to the north and the State Collections o…
Viewpoints
Heidelberg
The Königstuhl in Heidelberg is the city's local mountain, rising 567.8 m (1,863 ft) directly behind Heidelberg Castle. A historic funicular climbs to the summit, where you'll find sweeping views over the Old Town, the Neckar Valley and th…
Churches & monasteries
Konstanz
Konstanz Minster (Konstanzer Münster) in Konstanz on Lake Constance served for more than a thousand years as the cathedral of one of the largest dioceses in the German-speaking world. Today, the Basilica of Our Lady is the landmark of the…
Museums
Bremen
The Kunsthalle Bremen is the city's leading art museum, set on the green ramparts park at the edge of Bremen's Old Town. Its collection spans six centuries, from Old Masters to French Impressionism, the pioneering painter Paula Modersohn-B…
Museums
Düsseldorf
The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf is one of Germany's leading museums of 20th- and 21st-century art, spread across two buildings: K20 on Grabbeplatz in the Old Town, home to modern classics from Paul Klee to Jackson Pollo…
Monuments
Kyffhäuserland
The Kyffhäuser Monument (Kyffhäuserdenkmal) in northern Thuringia is one of Germany's largest national monuments, an 81-meter (266-foot) sandstone tower on a forested ridge above the Golden Meadow plain. It links the medieval legend of Emp…
Lakes
Glees
Lake Laach (Laacher See) in the Eifel is a round, deep-blue crater lake ringed by forested slopes, right beside Maria Laach Abbey. It is the only water-filled caldera in Central Europe and a popular spot for walking, volcano geology and a…
Industrial heritage
Duisburg
Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord is a former steelworks in Duisburg that has been transformed into a public park, one of the most striking examples of industrial heritage in Europe. Across some 445 acres (180 ha), rusting blast furnaces stand…
Coast & islands
Helgoland
The Lange Anna ("Long Anna") is a free-standing sea stack of red sandstone off the northwest tip of Helgoland, Germany's only high-sea island, and the island's best-known landmark. At roughly 47 meters tall, it is one of the most photograp…
Landmarks
Leipzig
Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) is the largest terminal station in Europe by covered floor area and one of Germany's most impressive railway buildings. A sandstone facade 298 meters wide, soaring halls and a three-level shopping mal…