Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Old towns & squares
München
The Viktualienmarkt in Munich is the city's famous open-air food market, set right in the Old Town just a few minutes' walk from Marienplatz. For more than 200 years, locals have shopped here for fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat and flowers…
Viewpoints
München
St. Peter's Church in Munich, known to locals as "Alter Peter" (Old Peter), is the city's oldest parish church and home to one of the best viewpoints in town. Climb the tower right next to Marienplatz and you look straight down on the New…
Landmarks
München
The Hofbräuhaus am Platzl in Munich is probably the most famous beer hall in the world and a must on many first trips to Bavaria. In the heart of the Old Town, a few minutes' walk from Marienplatz, locals, regulars' clubs and visitors from…
Zoos
München
Hellabrunn Zoo (Tierpark Hellabrunn) in Munich is one of Germany's most popular zoos and a top family day out in the Bavarian capital. Set on about 40 hectares (100 acres) of riverside meadows along the Isar in the south of the city, it is…
Historic sites & memorials
Dachau
The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau), just northwest of Munich, preserves the grounds of the first long-running concentration camp set up by the Nazis. Between 1933 and 1945, more than 160,000 people were im…
Museums
Nürnberg
Albrecht Dürer's House in Nuremberg is the former home and workshop of Germany's most celebrated Renaissance artist. Dürer lived and worked in this striking half-timbered house by the Tiergärtnertor gate for almost two decades. Today it is…
Theme parks
Rammingen
The Allgäu Skyline Park in Rammingen, near the spa town of Bad Wörishofen in Bavaria, is one of the largest amusement parks in southern Germany. It sits right beside the A96 autobahn, roughly 50 miles (80 km) west of Munich, and its towers…
Landmarks
München
The Allianz Arena in Munich is the home of FC Bayern and one of the most recognizable sports venues in the world. Its inflated, diamond-patterned skin glows red on match nights and can be seen for miles across the plains north of the city.…
Nature
Berchtesgaden
At the foot of the Untersberg, the Almbach stream has been cutting deep into limestone and dolomite since the end of the last Ice Age. In the Almbachklamm between Marktschellenberg and Berchtesgaden you follow a trail of about 3 km with 29…
Landmarks
Würzburg
The Old Main Bridge (Alte Mainbrücke) in Würzburg is the city's oldest crossing over the Main River and one of the most photographed spots in Franconia. Twelve Baroque statues of saints line the stone arches, with the old town and cathedra…
Castles
Bamberg
It appears on every old view of Bamberg: the round tower of the Altenburg, rising out of the woods west of the city. At about 400 metres above sea level, the castle is Bamberg's highest landmark. At the top you will find curtain walls, a g…
Old towns & squares
Amberg
Amberg's old town in the Upper Palatinate lies on the Vils river about 55 km east of Nuremberg and has kept much of its medieval layout. An almost complete ring of walls encloses the market square, churches and the former electors' palace.…
Old towns & squares
Nördlingen
Nördlingen's old town is almost perfectly round and sits in the middle of a meteorite crater: the Nördlinger Ries, formed by an impact around 15 million years ago. A fully preserved town wall encloses its lanes, half-timbered houses and ch…
Old towns & squares
Passau
Passau's Old Town sits on a narrow peninsula where the Danube and Inn rivers meet, with the smaller Ilz joining just opposite, which is why Passau is called the "City of Three Rivers." Pastel Baroque houses, the green-domed St. Stephen's C…
Historic sites & memorials
Kempten (Allgäu)
The Cambodunum Archaeological Park in Kempten preserves the remains of one of the most important Roman towns in what is now southern Germany. On a hill above the Iller River in the Allgäu region, you can walk through a rebuilt Gallo-Roman…
Churches & monasteries
München
The Asam Church (St. Johann Nepomuk) on Sendlinger Straße in Munich is one of the most striking Baroque churches in southern Germany. In the heart of the old town, a few minutes from Marienplatz, a narrow facade hides a tiny space packed w…
Museums
Ingolstadt
The Audi museum mobile in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, tells the story of the four-ring brand inside a striking round glass building at the Audi Forum, next to the company's headquarters and main plant. About 100 cars, motorcycles and bicycles tra…
Churches & monasteries
Augsburg
High up in the south wall of the nave are five stained-glass windows older than almost anything you will see in other churches: the Prophet Windows of Augsburg Cathedral date from the late 11th or early 12th century and are relics of the o…
Museums
Augsburg
For generations of German children, TV time began with a box lid slowly opening. Behind it, Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver, the Urmel or Kater Mikesch danced on strings. The Augsburger Puppenkiste has performed since 1948 in the his…
Landmarks
Augsburg
Augsburg Town Hall (Augsburger Rathaus) is the landmark of one of Germany's oldest cities and one of the finest Renaissance civic buildings north of the Alps. Designed by Elias Holl, the 187-foot building with its twin onion-domed towers a…
Churches & monasteries
Bamberg
Bamberg Cathedral (Bamberger Dom) is the crown of Bamberg's UNESCO-listed old town and one of Germany's great imperial cathedrals. Its four towers rise from Cathedral Hill above a sea of red roofs in this beautifully preserved Franconian c…
Churches & monasteries
Augsburg
At the southern end of Maximilianstraße stands Augsburg's most striking monument to its religious history: two churches, one Catholic and one Protestant, wall to wall. The larger one, the Basilica of St Ulrich and St Afra, is one of the la…
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
München
The Bavaria statue in Munich is a huge bronze figure on a hill above the Theresienwiese fairground, in front of the Hall of Fame (Ruhmeshalle). It is one of the more unusual things to do in Munich, because you can climb up inside the statu…