Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
Rehburg-Loccum
Loccum Abbey (Kloster Loccum) in Rehburg-Loccum, near Lake Steinhude west of Hanover, is one of the best-preserved Cistercian monasteries north of the Alps. Behind its old enclosure wall you will find a serene late-Romanesque church, a pea…
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…
Viewpoints
Heidelberg
The Königstuhl in Heidelberg is the city's local mountain, rising 567.8 m (1,863 ft) directly behind Heidelberg Castle. A historic funicular climbs to the summit, where you'll find sweeping views over the Old Town, the Neckar Valley and th…
Historic sites & memorials
Flossenbürg
The Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial (KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg) in eastern Bavaria preserves the site of one of the major Nazi concentration camps, close to the Czech border roughly halfway between Nuremberg and Prague. Around 10…
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…
Industrial heritage
Leipzig
The Leipzig Cotton Mill (Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei) in the Plagwitz district is an industrial monument that now thrives as an art district. On about ten hectares of red-brick halls, artists work in studios while galleries and workshops o…
Waterfalls
Sebnitz
The Lichtenhain Waterfall in the Kirnitzsch Valley near Sebnitz is one of the oldest visitor attractions in Saxon Switzerland, the sandstone region southeast of Dresden. It is a small cascade with a twist: a weir holds the stream back and…
Churches & monasteries
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg Cathedral (Limburger Dom) in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, is one of Germany's most photogenic churches: seven towers and a white-and-red painted facade rise from a limestone cliff above the Lahn River. Consecrated in 1235, the Cathe…
Churches & monasteries
Saarbrücken
The Ludwigskirche (Ludwig's Church) in Saarbrücken is the landmark of the Saarland's capital and one of the most important Protestant Baroque churches in Germany. Designed by architect Friedrich Joachim Stengel as the centerpiece of Ludwig…
Mountains & peaks
Neuschönau
Lusen is one of the most distinctive peaks in the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany's oldest national park, on the border with the Czech Republic. Instead of trees, its 1,373-meter (4,505-foot) summit is capped by a vast field of gran…
Churches & monasteries
Magdeburg
Magdeburg Cathedral (Magdeburger Dom), dedicated to Saints Maurice and Catherine, is the landmark of Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt, and the first cathedral in Germany designed in the Gothic style from the start. It is also the bu…
Churches & monasteries
Mainz
Mainz Cathedral (Mainzer Dom, officially the Hoher Dom St. Martin) is the landmark of Mainz, the Rhineland-Palatinate capital on the Rhine River. Together with the cathedrals of Speyer and Worms, it is one of the three great Romanesque "im…
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…
National parks
Kargow
Müritz National Park in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is Germany's largest national park on land and one of the best places in the country to see wild nature without mountains or crowds. Spread out east of Lake Müritz, it is a mosaic of mo…
National parks
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden National Park in the far southeast corner of Bavaria is Germany's only Alpine national park. Stretching from the emerald Königssee lake to the 8,900-foot summit of the Watzmann, it packs fjord-like scenery, high pastures, lim…
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…
National parks
Unstrut-Hainich
Hainich National Park in Thuringia, between Eisenach, Mühlhausen and Bad Langensalza, protects one of the largest unmanaged deciduous forests in Germany and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its star attraction is the treetop walkwa…
National parks
Wernigerode
Harz National Park in central Germany, between Wernigerode, Bad Harzburg and the Brocken summit, is one of the country's largest forest national parks and the best place to experience real mountain wilderness in the north. Steam trains puf…
National parks
Hilscheid
Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park in southwestern Germany, spanning the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland between Trier and Idar-Oberstein, is one of the country's newest national parks. Its quiet beech and spruce forests, hillside…
National parks
Vöhl
Kellerwald-Edersee National Park in northern Hesse protects one of the last large old-growth beech forests in Central Europe, rising straight from the shores of the Edersee reservoir. Its steep slopes, gnarled oaks and quiet trails earned…
National parks
Wilhelmshaven
Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park stretches along Germany's North Sea coast from the Dutch border to Cuxhaven, taking in all seven East Frisian Islands. Its main UNESCO visitor center is in Wilhelmshaven, about an hour and a quarter fr…
National parks
Baiersbronn
Black Forest National Park at Ruhestein, on the scenic Black Forest High Road between Baden-Baden and Freudenstadt, is the first national park in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Here the dark fir and spruce forests of the northern B…
National parks
Schwedt/Oder
Lower Oder Valley National Park near Schwedt in Brandenburg, about 1.5 hours northeast of Berlin by public transportation, is Germany's only river floodplain national park. Every winter the Oder River is allowed to flood the valley, turnin…
National parks
Zingst
Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park, on Germany's Baltic Sea coast around Zingst, the Darss peninsula, Hiddensee island and western Rügen, is the largest national park in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It is famous for wind-sculpte…