Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Mountains & peaks
Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden
The Watzmann is the signature mountain of Bavaria's Berchtesgaden Alps, a jagged double-peaked massif rising above Lake Königssee and the villages of Ramsau and Schönau. At 8,901 feet (2,713 m), it is the highest mountain lying entirely wi…
Zoos
Walsrode
Pelicans, parrots and secretary birds rather than just falcons and eagles: the flight show is the highlight of a day at Walsrode World Bird Park, the largest bird park in the world. On 24 hectares at the northern edge of Walsrode live arou…
Mountains & peaks
Bayrischzell
The Wendelstein is a 6,030-foot (1,838 m) peak in the Bavarian Prealps, about an hour southeast of Munich, and one of the classic viewpoint mountains of Upper Bavaria. Its rocky summit, crowned by an observatory and a transmitter mast, can…
Nature parks
Pforzheim
The Westweg (West Way) is a classic long-distance hiking trail in the Black Forest, in existence since 1900. It runs for about 285 km (177 miles) from Pforzheim at the northern edge of the mountains to Basel, where Germany, France and Swit…
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…
Castles
Eichstätt
Willibaldsburg Castle towers over the town of Eichstätt and the Altmühl Valley in Upper Bavaria, roughly halfway between Munich and Nuremberg. For centuries it was the seat of the prince-bishops of Eichstätt. Today it houses the Jura Museu…
Mountains & peaks
Bispingen
The Wilseder Berg is the highest hill in Lüneburg Heath at 169.2 meters, and the summit of the district of Heidekreis. It rises in a car-free nature reserve near the heath village of Wilsede, with sweeping views over heather, juniper and w…
Nature
Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden
The Wimbach Gorge is short but striking: a wooden walkway leads just 200 metres or so through the narrow ravine, with the Wimbach roaring below and dozens of small waterfalls trickling down moss-covered rock on both sides. The gorge sits a…
Other
Hayingen
The Wimsener Höhle (Wimsen Cave) near Hayingen in the Swabian Jura is the only cave in Germany you can explore by boat. A boatman guides a small punt across crystal-clear, turquoise water into the mountain while explaining how the cave for…
Gardens & parks
Oranienbaum-Wörlitz
Wörlitz Park (Wörlitzer Park) in Saxony-Anhalt is one of the first English-style landscape gardens on the European continent and the centerpiece of the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Lakes, canal…
Churches & monasteries
Worms
Worms Cathedral (Wormser Dom St. Peter) is the landmark of Worms, one of Germany's oldest cities, on the Rhine River in Rhineland-Palatinate. The smallest and most slender of the three Romanesque imperial cathedrals of the Rhineland, it ri…
Old towns & squares
Worpswede
Worpswede is northern Germany's best-known artists' village, set in the Teufelsmoor moorland northeast of Bremen. Painters, sculptors and architects have settled here since 1889, and today you can wander past galleries, museums and cafés o…
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…
Churches & monasteries
Würzburg
Würzburg Cathedral (Dom St. Kilian) in Würzburg, Bavaria, is one of the largest Romanesque churches in Germany and the seat of the city's bishops. Behind its four austere towers lies a surprising interior that blends white Baroque stucco w…
Other
Bonndorf im Schwarzwald
The Wutach Gorge (Wutachschlucht) in the Black Forest is often called the "Grand Canyon of the Black Forest." It is one of the longest and wildest gorges in Germany and lies in southern Baden-Württemberg, near the towns of Bonndorf, Löffin…
Landmarks
Dresden
The Yenidze in Dresden is a former cigarette factory built to look like a mosque, complete with a colored glass dome and a chimney disguised as a minaret. Nicknamed the "Tobacco Mosque," this quirky landmark stands just west of the Old Tow…
Other
Jena
In July 1924, some 80,000 people flocked to the roof of the Zeiss works in Jena to see an artificial starry sky in a temporary dome. The press called it the "Miracle of Jena". Two years later, on 18 July 1926, a permanent planetarium opene…
Museums
Leipzig
The Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig (Forum of Contemporary History) is a free museum in the heart of Leipzig that tells the story of dictatorship and democracy in East Germany after 1945. Located on Grimmaische Strasse between the Market…
Museums
Friedrichshafen
The Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen holds the world's most important collection on the history of airships and is one of the top things to do on Lake Constance. Housed in a listed 1930s harbor station right on the waterfront, it tells t…
Fortresses
Mainz
On the Jakobsberg hill, right above Mainz Römisches Theater station, the city's history is stacked up in one place: a Roman monument at the bottom layer, traces of a medieval monastery, Baroque bastions all around and 19th-century barracks…
Fortresses
Erfurt
The Petersberg Citadel (Zitadelle Petersberg) in Erfurt is one of the largest and best-preserved Baroque city fortresses in Europe. Rising directly above Cathedral Square, its bastions offer the classic view of Erfurt Cathedral and St. Sev…
Fortresses
Berlin
The Spandau Citadel (Zitadelle Spandau) is one of the best-preserved Italian Renaissance fortresses in Europe and a rewarding day trip within Berlin. It sits at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers in the city's west, far from the…
Zoos
Dresden
Dresden Zoo sits in the leafy Großer Garten park, a short walk from the city's baroque old town. Opened in 1861, it is the fourth-oldest zoo in Germany and covers about 13 hectares, making it an easy half-day outing. Its newest attraction,…
Zoos
Duisburg
Duisburg Zoo, on the edge of the city forest in Germany's Ruhr region, is famous for animals you will not find anywhere else in North Rhine-Westphalia: koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils and dolphins. The zoo says it keeps more than 5,100 a…