Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Landmarks
Trier
The Porta Nigra in Trier is a massive Roman city gate begun in 170 AD and the symbol of what is often called Germany's oldest city. Built from huge sandstone blocks and darkened by centuries of weathering, the "Black Gate" survived because…
Landmarks
Lübeck
The Holsten Gate (Holstentor) in Lübeck is the brick city gate that has become a symbol of northern Germany: two squat round towers with conical roofs flanking a stepped gable, completed in 1478. It guards the western entrance to Lübeck's…
Landmarks
Bremen
Bremen City Hall and the Roland statue on the city's Market Square form a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the showpiece of the old Hanseatic city of Bremen in northern Germany. Built from 1405 and later given a lavish Weser Renaissance faca…
National parks
Sassnitz
Jasmund National Park near Sassnitz on the island of Rügen is Germany's smallest national park and home to its most famous coastal scenery: brilliant white chalk cliffs up to 118 meters high, topped by ancient beech forests that are part o…
Castles
Nürnberg
Nuremberg Castle (Kaiserburg Nürnberg) crowns a sandstone ridge above the old town of Nuremberg in Bavaria and is the city's defining landmark. From the early 12th century until 1571, every emperor and king of the Holy Roman Empire stayed…
Palaces
Würzburg
The Würzburg Residence is the grand Baroque palace of the former prince-bishops of Würzburg and one of the finest palaces in Europe. Together with its Court Garden and Residence Square, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.…
Churches & monasteries
Ulm
Ulm Minster in southern Germany is one of the country's greatest Gothic churches, and its 161.53-meter (530 ft) spire is the tallest church tower in Germany. For about 135 years it was the tallest in the world. Rising above the old town of…
Churches & monasteries
Speyer
Speyer Cathedral, known in German as the Kaiserdom, is the largest surviving Romanesque church in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Rising above the Rhine in the Palatinate region, this massive red-sandstone basilica s…
Palaces
Moritzburg
Moritzburg Castle near Dresden is one of the most photogenic palaces in Germany: a Baroque hunting lodge with four round, red-domed towers, set on an artificial island in a lake. Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, t…
Fortresses
Königstein (Sächsische Schweiz)
Königstein Fortress in Saxon Switzerland is one of the largest hilltop fortresses in Europe. Perched on a flat-topped sandstone mountain 240 meters (790 ft) above the Elbe River, it combines more than 50 historic buildings, a well cut over…
Palaces
Schwerin
Schwerin Castle is the fairy-tale palace of northern Germany. Rising from an island in Lake Schwerin, with golden domes, dozens of turrets, and terraced gardens reaching down to the water, it was the residence of the Grand Dukes of Mecklen…
Churches & monasteries
Steingaden
The Wieskirche (Pilgrimage Church of Wies) near Steingaden in Upper Bavaria is often called the most perfect Rococo church in the world, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. From the outside it looks like a modest white…
Churches & monasteries
Maulbronn
Maulbronn Monastery in Baden-Württemberg is considered the best-preserved medieval monastery complex north of the Alps and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Behind its fortified walls lies a complete Cistercian abbey, with…
Castles
Cochem
Reichsburg Cochem (Cochem Imperial Castle) is the fairy-tale castle that crowns the hill above Cochem, one of the prettiest wine towns on Germany's Moselle River. With its slender octagonal keep, pointed turrets and battlements rising abov…
Monuments
Leipzig
The Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal) in Leipzig is a colossal stone memorial, 91 meters (299 feet) tall, built to mark the centenary of Napoleon's decisive defeat near Leipzig in October 1813. With its brooding…
Churches & monasteries
Leipzig
St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) in Leipzig is where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as cantor for the last 27 years of his life, and where he is buried today. Home of the famous St. Thomas Boys Choir (Thomanerchor), founded in 1212, this lat…
Churches & monasteries
Hamburg
St. Michael's Church (Hauptkirche St. Michaelis), known to locals simply as the "Michel," is Hamburg's most famous landmark and the most important Baroque church in northern Germany. Its 132-meter (433-foot) green copper tower rises above…
Museums
München
The BMW Museum in Munich is one of the top things to do in the Bavarian capital for anyone who loves cars, motorcycles or bold architecture. Housed in a silver "bowl" next to BMW's four-cylinder headquarters tower and opposite BMW Welt, it…
Museums
Stuttgart
The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart is one of Germany's great car museums and a must for anyone interested in how the automobile was born. It sits in the Bad Cannstatt district beside the company's Untertürkheim plant and tells the brand…
Zoos
Stuttgart
The Wilhelma in Stuttgart is a rare combination of zoo and botanical garden, and one of the most popular things to do in southwest Germany. Set in the Bad Cannstatt district, it houses around 11,000 animals of about 1,200 species among Moo…
Zoos
Leipzig
Leipzig Zoo is one of the most highly rated zoos in Europe and one of the best things to do in Leipzig, Saxony. Just a short walk from the main train station, it swaps old-fashioned cages for immersive themed worlds, including the giant tr…
Zoos
Berlin
Berlin Zoo (Zoologischer Garten Berlin) is Germany's oldest zoo that is still operating and one of the most species-rich zoos in the world. Set in the heart of West Berlin, right next to Zoologischer Garten station, it is home to more than…
Zoos
Hamburg
Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg is one of the most historic zoos in the world. Opened in 1907 by animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck, it was the first zoo to show animals in open, bar-free enclosures, a concept later copied around the globe. Today…
Palaces
Berlin
Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg) is the largest and most important palace complex of the Prussian kings and German emperors in Berlin. With its green dome, lavish baroque and rococo rooms and a sprawling palace garden, it is…