Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
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…
Landmarks
Hamburg
The St. Pauli Piers (Landungsbrücken) in Hamburg are the city's floating harbor terminal and one of the top things to do in Hamburg. Behind a long stone hall crowned with green copper domes, ferries, harbor cruise boats and launches come a…
Industrial heritage
Hamburg
The Old Elbe Tunnel (Alter Elbtunnel, officially St. Pauli Elbtunnel) in Hamburg has carried people beneath the Elbe River since 1911. You ride vintage elevators down a domed shaft, walk through two tiled tubes about 24 meters (80 feet) be…
Museums
Hamburg
The Hamburger Kunsthalle is Hamburg's great art museum, set right beside the main train station, with eight centuries of art from medieval altarpieces to contemporary installations. It is home to Caspar David Friedrich's "Wanderer above th…
Museums
Hamburg
The International Maritime Museum Hamburg (Internationales Maritimes Museum, IMMH) fills nine floors of a historic red-brick warehouse with ship models, paintings, navigation instruments and naval history. It sits between the UNESCO-listed…
Gardens & parks
Hamburg
Planten un Blomen is Hamburg's central city park, a free green space of about 47 hectares (116 acres) stretching from Dammtor station past the trade fair grounds to St. Pauli. The Low German name simply means "plants and flowers." With a J…
Nature parks
Lübbenau/Spreewald
The Spreewald (Spree Forest) in Brandenburg is a magical wetland where the Spree River splits into more than 970 km (600 miles) of narrow channels winding through alder forests and meadows. A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1991, it is famo…
Old towns & squares
Hamburg
The Altona Fish Market (Altonaer Fischmarkt) in Hamburg is a Sunday-morning ritual that has been running for more than 300 years. Before most of the city wakes up, the Elbe waterfront between St. Pauli and Altona fills with market criers,…
Landmarks
Hamburg
The Jungfernstieg is Hamburg's most famous waterfront promenade, running along the Binnenalster (Inner Alster Lake) in the heart of the city. From its wide steps you look across the water to the Alster Fountain, white excursion boats and t…
Museums
Stralsund
The Ozeaneum in Stralsund is one of northern Germany's most popular museums: a large aquarium and marine museum on the Baltic coast, with life-size whale models and Humboldt penguins on the roof. Its striking white, sail-like building stan…
Palaces
Dresden
Dresden Castle, known locally as the Residenzschloss, was the seat of Saxony's electors and kings for some four centuries and is now one of the richest museum complexes in Europe. Behind its Renaissance towers in the heart of Dresden's Old…
Viewpoints
Dresden
Brühl's Terrace (Brühlsche Terrasse) is Dresden's grand riverside promenade, raised high above the Elbe and nicknamed the "Balcony of Europe" since the early 19th century. Stretching for about half a kilometer between the palace square and…
Gardens & parks
Bad Muskau
Muskau Park (Fürst-Pückler-Park Bad Muskau) in eastern Saxony is one of Europe's great English-style landscape gardens, and one of the few that spans two countries. Its roughly 830 hectares (2,050 acres) stretch across both banks of the Ne…
Landmarks
Dresden
The Procession of Princes (Fürstenzug) in Dresden is a porcelain mural about 102 meters (335 feet) long, made of some 23,000 Meissen tiles and widely described as the largest porcelain artwork in the world. It shows the rulers of Saxony's…
Palaces
Dresden
Pillnitz Palace (Schloss Pillnitz) is the former summer residence of Saxony's electors and kings, set right on the Elbe River on the eastern edge of Dresden. Its three palaces, with curving Chinese-style roofs, are surrounded by about 25 h…
Industrial heritage
Dresden
The Blue Wonder (Blaues Wunder), officially the Loschwitz Bridge, is a steel bridge across the Elbe River in eastern Dresden, opened in 1893 and now one of the city's best-loved landmarks. It links the elegant villa districts of Blasewitz…
Gardens & parks
Dresden
The Großer Garten (Great Garden) is Dresden's largest park, a Baroque landscape stretching almost 2 km (1.2 miles) just east of the Old Town. At its heart stands the Palais im Großen Garten, one of the city's earliest Baroque buildings, su…
Landmarks
Dresden
The Kunsthofpassage (Art Courtyard Passage) is a chain of five whimsically designed courtyards in Dresden's Outer Neustadt district and one of the city's most photographed spots. Its star is a sky-blue facade covered in funnels and drainpi…
Museums
Dresden
The Old Masters Picture Gallery (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister) in Dresden is one of the great art museums of the world. Housed in the Semper Building at the Zwinger palace complex, it displays around 700 masterpieces from the 15th to the 18…
Industrial heritage
Köln
The Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne is the steel arch railroad bridge that frames the city's most famous view: the twin spires of Cologne Cathedral rising above the Rhine. It is one of the busiest railroad bridges in Germany, and its walkwa…
Zoos
Köln
The Cologne Zoo (Kölner Zoo) in the city's Riehl district is one of Germany's oldest and most popular zoos, welcoming visitors since 1860 and well over a million people a year today. Across about 20 hectares (50 acres), you can see Asian e…
Museums
Köln
The Chocolate Museum in Cologne (Schokoladenmuseum Köln) is the city's most visited museum and one of the most popular museums in Germany. Set in a ship-shaped glass building at the tip of the Rheinauhafen harbor peninsula, it follows coco…
Old towns & squares
Köln
The Alter Markt in Cologne (Old Market) is the heart of the city's Old Town: a car-free square between the historic City Hall and the Rhine, lined with colorful gabled houses, traditional brewpubs and outdoor terraces. It is where Cologne'…
Viewpoints
Köln
The KölnTriangle in Cologne's Deutz district is a glass office tower on the east bank of the Rhine whose observation deck offers arguably the best view of Cologne Cathedral. From more than 100 meters up, the river, the Hohenzollern Bridge…