Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Castles
Haßmersheim
Guttenberg Castle (Burg Guttenberg) rises above the Neckar valley near Haßmersheim, between Heidelberg and Heilbronn. It is one of the few castles in Germany that was never destroyed and has been lived in for almost 800 years. The main att…
Castles
Neuffen
Hohenneuffen Castle (Burg Hohenneuffen) is a large fortress ruin high above the town of Neuffen on the Swabian Jura escarpment in Baden-Württemberg. From its white-limestone rock in the Esslingen district you get wide views over the Alb fo…
Castles
Lörrach
Drive across the Wiesental viaduct on the A 98 near Lörrach and you spot it at once: two square towers on a wooded spur above the valley. Rötteln Castle, locally called the "Röttler Schloss", was one of the most powerful castles in south-w…
Castles
Kirchheim unter Teck
Even from the A8 motorway near Kirchheim you can see it high above the Lauter valley: Burg Teck at 773 metres, its tower and long wall perched on a spur at the edge of the Swabian Jura. Only fragments of the medieval castle survive, but th…
Castles
Beuron
Look up from the Upper Danube Valley near Beuron and you will spot white walls and red roofs high on the cliff edge, as if they had grown out of the limestone. Wildenstein Castle stands a good 200 metres above the Danube and is one of the…
Theme parks
Baden-Baden
The Caracalla Therme (Caracalla Spa) in Baden-Baden is the modern thermal bath of Germany's most famous spa town, on the edge of the Black Forest. It sits in the historic bath quarter next to the Friedrichsbad, and its round domed hall, ou…
Churches & monasteries
St. Blasien
Coming over the hills from Bernau or Todtmoos into St. Blasien, you do not expect this sight: in a narrow Black Forest valley rises a green dome that looks more like Rome than the high Black Forest. St. Blasien Cathedral, locally called th…
Theme parks
Cleebronn
Erlebnispark Tripsdrill in Cleebronn, between Stuttgart and Heilbronn in southwest Germany, is widely described as the country's oldest amusement park. Instead of movie sets, it recreates a Swabian village of around 1880, complete with hal…
Churches & monasteries
Beuron
Beuron Archabbey (Erzabtei St. Martin zu Beuron) is a working Benedictine monastery in the scenic Upper Danube Valley in southwestern Germany, set among pale limestone cliffs and forests. Its Baroque abbey church and the richly painted Cha…
Gardens & parks
Weinheim
In Germany you usually see giant sequoias as single specimens in a palace park. In the Weinheim Exotic Forest they grow as an entire forest, some now up to 60 m tall. This arboretum on the slope above the old town covers around 60 hectares…
Fortresses
Singen (Hohentwiel)
The Hohentwiel in Singen is an extinct volcanic cone in the Hegau region near Lake Constance, crowned by the ruins of one of Germany's largest fortresses. Spread over about 9 hectares (22 acres), the ruins offer sweeping views across the H…
Old towns & squares
Ulm
Just a few hundred metres from the Minster, the River Blau splits into several arms shortly before it flows into the Danube, and between them half-timbered houses, footbridges and little bridges crowd together. The Fishermen's and Tanners'…
Churches & monasteries
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg Minster (Freiburger Münster) is the landmark of Freiburg im Breisgau and one of the finest Gothic churches in Germany. Built of red sandstone on the edge of the Black Forest, it is crowned by an openwork spire that the Swiss histo…
Landmarks
Baden-Baden
The Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden is a grand 19th-century bathhouse and one of the most beautiful historic thermal baths in Europe. Behind its Renaissance Revival facade in the old spa quarter, you follow a fixed ritual – the Roman-Irish ba…
Old towns & squares
Heidelberg
The Hauptstrasse in Heidelberg is the long, car-free main street of one of Germany's most romantic old towns. Running from Bismarckplatz almost to the Karlstor gate, parallel to the Neckar River, it links baroque mansions, churches, museum…
Churches & monasteries
Heidelberg
The Church of the Holy Spirit (Heiliggeistkirche) in Heidelberg is the red sandstone Gothic church that anchors the Market Square in the heart of the Old Town. It was the burial church of the Electors Palatine, once housed the legendary Bi…
Historic sites & memorials
Sigmaringen
White mud-brick walls, a timber wall-walk on top and thatched half-timbered houses behind: what stands on the Heuneburg above the upper Danube looks more Mediterranean than Swabian, and that is exactly what makes it special. In the 6th cen…
Mountains & peaks
Göppingen
Hohenstaufen is the cone-shaped mountain near Göppingen, east of Stuttgart, that gave its name to the Hohenstaufen dynasty, the medieval emperors who included Frederick Barbarossa. At 684 meters (2,244 feet), it is the westernmost of the "…
Caves
Schelklingen
From outside, Hohle Fels looks unremarkable: a pale limestone crag at the edge of the Ach valley, with a gated entrance at its foot. Yet this cave near Schelklingen has yielded some of the oldest artworks and musical instruments known. In…
Landmarks
Bad Wimpfen
Look up from the Neckar bridge at Bad Wimpfen and you see a picture-book skyline: towers, gables and walls on a ridge above the river. What stands up there is what remains of the largest Hohenstaufen imperial palace in Germany, about 215 m…
Caves
Sonnenbühl
The Bärenhöhle (Bear's Cave) in Sonnenbühl-Erpfingen is one of the best-known show caves of the Swabian Alb, about an hour south of Stuttgart. It combines two caves: the Karlshöhle, known since 1834, and the Bärenhöhle, discovered in 1949…
Churches & monasteries
Alpirsbach
Alpirsbach Abbey (Kloster Alpirsbach) is a former Benedictine monastery in the Black Forest, founded in 1095 and famous for its plain Romanesque church built of red sandstone. A Gothic cloister, a museum and a quiet village setting make it…
Churches & monasteries
Tübingen
Bebenhausen Abbey (Kloster Bebenhausen), just north of Tübingen, is one of the best-preserved medieval monasteries in Germany. The former Cistercian house sits in a forest clearing inside the Schönbuch Nature Park, with a late Gothic clois…
Churches & monasteries
Schwäbisch Hall
From below, Großcomburg looks like a castle: a ring wall, defensive towers and, above them, three pointed Romanesque towers on a spur of rock around which the river Kocher makes a loop. In fact it was a monastery and collegiate foundation…