Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
Bad Staffelstein
The Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (Basilika Vierzehnheiligen) near Bad Staffelstein in Upper Franconia is one of the finest Baroque churches in Germany. Designed by Balthasar Neumann, the architect of the UNESCO-listed Würzburg Res…
Monuments
Kelheim
The Befreiungshalle, or Hall of Liberation, is a massive rotunda on the Michelsberg hill above Kelheim in Lower Bavaria, where the Altmühl River meets the Danube. King Ludwig I built it to celebrate the victories over Napoleon in the Wars…
Other
Wiesenttal
Bing Cave (Binghöhle) in Streitberg is one of the best-known show caves in Franconian Switzerland, a hilly region of limestone cliffs and castles north of Nuremberg. A level path about 270 m (885 ft) long follows the bed of an ancient unde…
Gardens & parks
München
The Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg covers 21.2 hectares and is one of the larger botanical gardens in Germany. It lies just north of the Nymphenburg palace park and grows about 16,000 plant species, from alpine flowers and rhododendro…
Castles
Riedenburg
Prunn Castle (Burg Prunn) stands on a limestone cliff 70 meters above the Altmühl Valley and is one of the most picturesque castles in Bavaria. The whitewashed hilltop castle with its massive keep dates in part to around 1200 and is famous…
Castles
Landshut
Trausnitz Castle (Burg Trausnitz) towers above the old town of Landshut in Lower Bavaria and was for centuries a seat of the Wittelsbach dukes. Behind its medieval walls you'll find an elegant Renaissance courtyard with arcades, the "Fools…
Castles
Burghausen
Burghausen Castle in the Bavarian town of Burghausen, right on the Austrian border, is listed by Guinness World Records as the longest castle in the world, stretching 1,051 meters (about two-thirds of a mile) along a narrow ridge. Six cour…
Historic sites & memorials
Nürnberg
The Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg (Dokuzentrum) is one of Germany's most important places to learn about the Nazi era. It occupies the north wing of the Congress Hall, a vast, never-finished Nazi building, and…
Fortresses
Würzburg
Marienberg Fortress in Würzburg crowns a hill about 100 m above the Main River and is the city's most famous landmark. For nearly five centuries it was the seat of Würzburg's prince-bishops, before they moved into the grand Residence in to…
Museums
Bad Windsheim
The Franconian Open-Air Museum in Bad Windsheim (Fränkisches Freilandmuseum) is the largest open-air museum in Bavaria and shows how people in Franconia once lived and worked. Across 45 hectares, more than 120 historic buildings from all o…
Museums
Nürnberg
The Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg is the largest museum of cultural history in the German-speaking world and one of the top things to do in Nuremberg. Spread across a medieval Carthusian monastery and striking modern wings, it t…
Viewpoints
Berchtesgaden
The Kehlsteinhaus, better known as the Eagle's Nest, sits on a rocky ridge high above Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps. Built in the late 1930s for the Nazi party, it is now a mountain restaurant with one of the finest views in Germany,…
Churches & monasteries
Andechs
Andechs Abbey (Kloster Andechs) crowns the "Holy Mountain" above the Ammersee lake, about 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Munich, and is one of the most rewarding day trips from the city. Here a dazzling Rococo pilgrimage church, a working B…
Churches & monasteries
Bad Staffelstein
Banz Abbey (Kloster Banz) crowns a hill above the Main valley near Bad Staffelstein in Upper Franconia. Facing the Basilica of Vierzehnheiligen across the valley, the former Benedictine monastery forms the heart of the scenic area known as…
Churches & monasteries
Ettal
Ettal Abbey (Kloster Ettal) is a Benedictine monastery in the Bavarian Alps, about 90 minutes south of Munich, and one of the most impressive baroque buildings in Upper Bavaria. Its huge green dome rises from a narrow valley between Oberau…
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…
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…
Historic sites & memorials
Flossenbürg
The Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial (KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg) in eastern Bavaria preserves the site of one of the major Nazi concentration camps, close to the Czech border roughly halfway between Nuremberg and Prague. Around 10…
Museums
München
The Museum Brandhorst in Munich's Maxvorstadt district is a contemporary art museum in one of the most eye-catching buildings in Germany. Its facade of thousands of colorful ceramic rods, designed by Sauerbruch Hutton, makes it easy to rec…
Museums
München
The Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich's Maxvorstadt district is one of Germany's largest museums for modern art, architecture, graphic art and design. Opened in 2002 and designed by Stephan Braunfels, it houses four independent museums unde…
Castles
Kulmbach
Plassenburg is a massive hilltop castle above the town of Kulmbach in northern Bavaria, and one of the most impressive Renaissance fortresses in southern Germany. Once a stronghold of the Hohenzollern dynasty, the family that later ruled P…
Churches & monasteries
Regensburg
Regensburg Cathedral (Dom St. Peter) is the finest Gothic church in Bavaria and the centerpiece of Regensburg's UNESCO-listed Old Town on the Danube. Its twin spires rise 105 m above the medieval rooftops, and inside you will find one of t…
Gardens & parks
Feldafing
Rose Island (Roseninsel) is the only island in Lake Starnberg, a short boat ride from the shore at Feldafing, about 30 km (19 miles) southwest of Munich. King Maximilian II of Bavaria turned it into a romantic retreat with a rose garden an…
Industrial heritage
Berchtesgaden
The Berchtesgaden Salt Mine (Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden) is Germany's oldest working salt mine and one of the top things to do in the Berchtesgaden Alps, close to the Austrian border near Salzburg. Miners have extracted salt here continuou…