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…
Industrial heritage
Köln
The Cologne Cable Car (Kölner Seilbahn) has been carrying passengers across the Rhine in small four-seat gondolas since 1957, linking a station next to Cologne Zoo with the Rheinpark on the opposite bank. The six-minute ride is one of the…
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…
Landmarks
Düsseldorf
The Königsallee in Düsseldorf, known locally as the "Kö," is Germany's most famous luxury shopping boulevard and one of the most elegant city streets in the country. A tree-lined canal runs down the middle, framed by stone bridges and foun…
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
Duisburg
Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord is a former steelworks in Duisburg that has been transformed into a public park, one of the most striking examples of industrial heritage in Europe. Across some 445 acres (180 ha), rusting blast furnaces stand…
Historic sites & memorials
Xanten
The LVR Archaeological Park Xanten on the Lower Rhine is an open-air museum built on the site of the Roman city of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. You can walk Roman streets, climb into a rebuilt amphitheater, admire a reconstructed harbor temple a…
Museums
Detmold
On the edge of Detmold stands a whole village that never existed in this form: half-timbered houses, a church, a school and a fire station from the Paderborn region, taken down piece by piece and rebuilt here. The LWL-Museum Hellerlecht, k…
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…
Landmarks
Düsseldorf
The MedienHafen (Media Harbor) in Düsseldorf is the city's showcase of contemporary architecture. On the site of an old Rhine cargo port, you now find Frank Gehry's famous twisting buildings, colorful office towers, design hotels and water…
Theme parks
Bottrop
Movie Park Germany in Bottrop-Kirchhellen is a movie-themed amusement park on the northern edge of Germany's Ruhr region, about an hour's drive from Cologne and Düsseldorf. Spread over roughly 45 hectares (110 acres), it mixes roller coast…
Industrial heritage
Solingen
The Müngsten Bridge between Solingen and Remscheid is the tallest railway bridge in Germany, rising 107 meters above the Wupper valley. The delicate steel arch, finished in 1897, is a landmark of the Bergisches Land and a popular day trip…
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…
National parks
Schleiden
Eifel National Park near Schleiden in western Germany is North Rhine-Westphalia's only national park and an easy nature escape from Cologne, Bonn and Aachen. Its beech forests, winding reservoirs and open uplands sit close to the Belgian b…
Museums
Mettmann
In August 1856 two workers in a limestone quarry east of Düsseldorf were clearing out a small cave and tossed a few bones down the slope with the clay. Those bones gave a whole human species its name. The Neanderthal Museum stands just a f…
Historic sites & memorials
Schleiden
From the Urft dam the ridge above the water looks almost peaceful, until you notice the massive tower and the long rows of buildings. Here, in what is now Eifel National Park, the Nazi Party began building a training castle for its future…
Churches & monasteries
Paderborn
Paderborn Cathedral stands right where the River Pader bubbles up from the ground, and its 93-metre west tower is visible from almost anywhere in town. Inside you find one of Germany's great episcopal churches: a wide Gothic hall, a crypt…
Old towns & squares
Münster
The Prinzipalmarkt in Münster is one of the most photogenic old-town streets in northern Germany: a curving row of tall sandstone gabled houses above a continuous arcade, framed by the Gothic tower of St. Lambert's Church. It is also a key…
Gardens & parks
Köln
Rheinpark is the large park on the east bank of the Rhine in Cologne's Deutz district, and it offers some of the best views of the cathedral and old town. Lawns, flower gardens with waterfalls, an open-air stage and the cable car station s…
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…
Lakes
Heimbach
Green slopes, bays, sailing boats and a dam holding back the water at a height of 77.4 metres: the Rursee, officially the Rurstausee, holds 203 million cubic metres and is the second-largest reservoir in Germany after the Bleiloch reservoi…
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…