Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
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…
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…
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…
Industrial heritage
Dortmund
Zollern Colliery (Zeche Zollern) in Dortmund is often called the "Palace of Work," and with good reason. Its brick buildings with gables and turrets, two winding towers and an Art Nouveau machine hall make it one of the most beautiful form…
Museums
Düsseldorf
Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf is the city's big art museum, set in the brick Ehrenhof complex on the banks of the Rhine, a short walk north of the Old Town. Under one roof it brings together Flemish Baroque painting including Rubens, th…
Viewpoints
Düsseldorf
The Rheinturm in Düsseldorf is the city's tallest structure at 240.5 m (789 ft) and its best-known landmark. This telecommunications tower rises right on the Rhine between the state parliament and the MedienHafen, and its observation deck…
Museums
Köln
The Romano-Germanic Museum in Cologne (Römisch-Germanisches Museum) tells the story of how a Roman colony on the Rhine became one of Germany's great cities, with a world-class collection of Roman glass, sculpture and everyday objects. Befo…
Palaces
Brühl
Augustusburg Palace in Brühl, between Cologne and Bonn, is one of Europe's finest Rococo palaces and, together with the nearby Falkenlust hunting lodge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. Its grand staircase by Balthasar Neumann is a…
Palaces
Düsseldorf
Benrath Palace (Schloss Benrath) in southern Düsseldorf is a pink late-baroque pleasure palace built between 1755 and 1771 for Elector Palatine Karl Theodor by his court architect Nicolas de Pigage. Together with its wings, a long reflecti…
Castles
Solingen
Schloss Burg (Burg Castle) in Solingen rises above the Wupper River as the ancestral seat of the Counts and Dukes of Berg and the landmark of the Bergisches Land region. Behind its gates, curtain wall and keep you will find a museum devote…
Palaces
Selm
Cappenberg Castle (Schloss Cappenberg) in Selm sits on a wooded ridge on the edge of the Münsterland, just north of the Ruhr region. This gleaming white Baroque complex grew out of the first Premonstratensian monastery in the German-speaki…
Palaces
Königswinter
Schloss Drachenburg in Königswinter looks like a castle straight out of a fairy tale: perched halfway up the Drachenfels hill, it bristles with towers, turrets and lavish halls high above the Rhine. Built in the 1880s, it is one of Germany…
Palaces
Jüchen
Schloss Dyck near Jüchen is one of the most important moated castles in the Rhineland, set in a 53-hectare English landscape garden. The yellow main castle with its outer courtyards sits on four islands in a small stream and mirrors itself…
Palaces
Bedburg-Hau
Moyland Castle near Bedburg-Hau on the Lower Rhine is a neo-Gothic moated castle that doubles as one of the region's most important museums of modern art. It holds the world's largest collection of works by Joseph Beuys, and its historic p…
Palaces
Mönchengladbach
Schloss Rheydt (Rheydt Castle) in Mönchengladbach is a Renaissance moated castle on the Lower Rhine and now a city museum. Surrounded by water-filled moats, the complex of gatehouse, outer court and manor house is a rewarding stop in North…
Churches & monasteries
Höxter
Corvey Abbey near Höxter on the Weser River is one of Germany's most important monastic sites and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014. Its centerpiece is the Carolingian westwork, built in the 9th century and the oldest surviving struc…
Churches & monasteries
Münster
St. Paul's Cathedral in Münster (St.-Paulus-Dom) is the seat of the Diocese of Münster and, together with the historic town hall, the defining landmark of this university city in Westphalia. Its twin Romanesque towers, Gothic interior and…
Castles
Büren
Wewelsburg is a triangular Weser Renaissance castle near Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia, and a place with a difficult history. Built as a residence of the prince-bishops of Paderborn, it was chosen by Heinrich Himmler as an ideologica…
Industrial heritage
Wuppertal
The Wuppertal Schwebebahn is the world's oldest electric suspended monorail still in regular service and the symbol of the city of Wuppertal in western Germany. Since 1901 its cars have hung from a steel frame, gliding mostly above the Wup…