Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Industrial heritage
Blumberg
The Sauschwänzlebahn near Blumberg is a historic heritage railway in the southern Black Forest that runs about 25 kilometers (15 miles) through the Wutach valley. The nickname, roughly "piglet's tail railway," comes from the curly route an…
Other
Breitscheid
The Herbstlabyrinth (Autumn Labyrinth) near Breitscheid is the show cave of the largest cave system in the German state of Hesse. Hidden in the Westerwald hills, it leads you down a staircase into the Knöpfchenhalle, a tall chamber packed…
Mountains & peaks
Freiburg im Breisgau
Schauinsland is Freiburg's own mountain and one of the best viewpoints in the southern Black Forest. Rising to 4,213 feet (1,284 m) about six miles southeast of the old town, it is reached by Germany's longest circulating cable car. At the…
Industrial heritage
Waltrop
Ships rising 14 metres into the air together with a basin of water: the Henrichenburg Boat Lift near Waltrop, inaugurated on 11 August 1899 in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm II, was the world's first multi-float boat lift ever built and t…
Industrial heritage
Niederfinow
The Niederfinow Boat Lifts, about 60 km northeast of Berlin, are one of the most impressive things to see for anyone fascinated by engineering. Two giant elevators raise and lower entire ships, together with the water they float in, by 36…
Industrial heritage
Scharnebeck
The Scharnebeck ship lift (Schiffshebewerk Scharnebeck, also called Lüneburg ship lift) is a giant double vertical boat elevator on the Elbe Lateral Canal in Lower Saxony. Two huge troughs raise and lower inland vessels by up to 38 meters,…
Museums
Frankfurt am Main
The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is one of Europe's best-known venues for modern and contemporary art. Its original building between the cathedral and the Römerberg is being renovated for energy efficiency, so for now the Schirn presents it…
Churches & monasteries
Schleswig
Schleswig Cathedral (St. Petri-Dom) is the landmark of the town of Schleswig and one of the most important historic churches in Schleswig-Holstein. Its tall neo-Gothic tower rises above the Schlei inlet, and inside you will find the Bordes…
Palaces
Ahrensburg
Ahrensburg Palace (Schloss Ahrensburg) is a white Renaissance moated palace in the Hunnau valley near Hamburg and one of the best-known manor houses in Schleswig-Holstein. Completed in 1585, it mirrors its green-capped turrets in the surro…
Palaces
Dresden
Albrechtsberg Palace (Schloss Albrechtsberg) in Dresden's Loschwitz district is the grandest of the three Elbe palaces, a Neoclassical villa-palace on a hillside above the river with terraces, ponds and landscaped parkland. If you are look…
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
Augustusburg
Augustusburg Castle (officially a hunting lodge) crowns a hilltop on the edge of the Ore Mountains near Chemnitz in Saxony. Built in the 16th century for Elector Augustus, the white Renaissance complex is nicknamed the "Crown of the Ore Mo…
Palaces
Potsdam
Babelsberg Palace in Potsdam is the Gothic Revival summer home of Prince William of Prussia, later Emperor William I, and his wife Augusta. With turrets, battlements and bay windows inspired by English country houses, it rises above the Ha…
Palaces
Berlin
Bellevue Palace (Schloss Bellevue) in Berlin is the official residence and workplace of the German Federal President and one of the capital's best-known neoclassical buildings. The white palace stands on Spreeweg on the northern edge of th…
Palaces
Weimar
Schloss Belvedere is a Baroque summer palace perched on a wooded hill about four kilometers south of central Weimar. Surrounded by an orangery, a Russian garden and a sprawling landscape park, it is part of the Classical Weimar UNESCO Worl…
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…
Palaces
Wiesbaden
Biebrich Palace (Schloss Biebrich) in Wiesbaden is one of the finest baroque palaces on the Rhine. Its pink-and-white facade and domed central rotunda face the river directly, while behind it stretches a large landscaped park with ponds, o…
Palaces
München
Blutenburg Castle in Munich's Obermenzing district is a late medieval moated castle on the Würm river and one of the few medieval castle complexes near the city center. A small lake, a manor house, defensive walkways and a late Gothic chap…
Palaces
Klütz
Schloss Bothmer in Klütz is one of the largest Baroque palace complexes in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, set just four kilometers from the Baltic Sea coast. Its red-brick wings, moats and pavilions look more like an English country house…
Palaces
Cottbus
Branitz Palace in Cottbus is the centerpiece of Branitz Park, the landscape garden that Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau created from 1845 and one of the finest in Germany. The palace has salons from around 1860, and the prince is buried…
Castles
Braunfels
Braunfels Castle (Schloss Braunfels) in central Hesse is a neo-Gothic palace perched on a basalt cone above the small half-timbered town of Braunfels. It has belonged to the same noble family for almost 800 years, and part of it is still l…
Palaces
Bruchsal
Bruchsal Palace (Schloss Bruchsal) was the residence of the prince-bishops of Speyer and is billed as the oldest ecclesiastical Baroque residence on the Upper Rhine. Its pink-and-yellow facades, forecourt and gardens make a rewarding stop…
Palaces
Bückeburg
Bückeburg Palace (Schloss Bückeburg) is the residence of the princes of Schaumburg-Lippe and one of the most striking palaces in the Weser Uplands of Lower Saxony. It grew from a medieval border fortress into a Renaissance palace with a mo…
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…