Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Other
Kyffhäuserland
The Barbarossa Cave (Barbarossahöhle) near Rottleben in northern Thuringia is one of only two accessible anhydrite caves in the world and the only anhydrite show cave in Western Europe. Instead of stalactites, you will see glassy blue-gree…
Palaces
Mannheim
Mannheim Palace (Barockschloss Mannheim) is one of the largest palaces in Europe, a red sandstone Baroque residence more than 400 meters wide in the middle of Mannheim's city center. Built for the Electors of the Palatinate, it now houses…
Churches & monasteries
Köln
St. Gereon in Cologne is one of the city's twelve great Romanesque churches and one of its most unusual: a basilica with a ten-sided domed hall that grew out of a late Roman oval building. If you have already seen the cathedral and want to…
Churches & monasteries
Weingarten
The Basilica of St. Martin in Weingarten is the largest Baroque church in Germany. Its 67-meter dome, 102-meter length and twin-towered facade make it one of the highlights of the Upper Swabian Baroque Route, and inside you will find a fam…
Churches & monasteries
Bad Staffelstein
The Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (Basilika Vierzehnheiligen) near Bad Staffelstein in Upper Franconia is one of the finest Baroque churches in Germany. Designed by Balthasar Neumann, the architect of the UNESCO-listed Würzburg Res…
Museums
Weimar
The Bauhaus Museum Weimar tells the story of the 20th century's most influential design school in the very city where it was founded in 1919. Housed in a stark concrete cube that opened for the Bauhaus centenary, it holds the oldest Bauhau…
Viewpoints
Unstrut-Hainich
The Hainich Treetop Walk (Baumkronenpfad Hainich) in Hainich National Park is one of the best-known canopy walkways in Germany and a fine stop if you want to see an ancient beech forest from above. A 540-meter path winds through the canopy…
Museums
Bonn
The Beethoven House in Bonn (Beethoven-Haus) is the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven and home to the world's largest Beethoven collection. In this modest pink townhouse on Bonngasse, the composer was born in December 1770. Today its crea…
Monuments
Kelheim
The Befreiungshalle, or Hall of Liberation, is a massive rotunda on the Michelsberg hill above Kelheim in Lower Bavaria, where the Altmühl River meets the Danube. King Ludwig I built it to celebrate the victories over Napoleon in the Wars…
Landmarks
Berlin
The Berlin Philharmonie, in the Kulturforum district next to Potsdamer Platz, is one of the world's most famous concert halls and a landmark of postwar architecture. Designed by Hans Scharoun, the golden building is home to the Berlin Phil…
Other
Wiesenttal
Bing Cave (Binghöhle) in Streitberg is one of the best-known show caves in Franconian Switzerland, a hilly region of limestone cliffs and castles north of Nuremberg. A level path about 270 m (885 ft) long follows the bed of an ancient unde…
Museums
Berlin
The Bode Museum (Bode-Museum) sits at the northern tip of Berlin's Museum Island, a striking neo-Baroque building with a green dome rising above the River Spree. It holds the Sculpture Collection, the Museum of Byzantine Art, and the Coin…
Churches & monasteries
Bonn
Bonn Minster is the main church of Bonn, the former West German capital on the Rhine, and one of the city's oldest landmarks. The Romanesque basilica with its 81-meter crossing tower has dominated Münsterplatz for nearly a thousand years.…
Gardens & parks
Berlin
The Berlin Botanical Garden (Botanischer Garten Berlin) in the Dahlem district covers more than 43 hectares (about 106 acres) and grows around 22,000 plant species, making it one of the largest and most important botanical gardens in the w…
Gardens & parks
Leipzig
The Leipzig University Botanical Garden is a calm green pocket close to the city center. On about 3.5 hectares you will find roughly 10,000 plant species, from medicinal herbs and water lilies to tropical greenhouse plants. If you are look…
Gardens & parks
München
The Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg covers 21.2 hectares and is one of the larger botanical gardens in Germany. It lies just north of the Nymphenburg palace park and grows about 16,000 plant species, from alpine flowers and rhododendro…
Landmarks
Bremen
Böttcherstraße in Bremen is a short lane of barely 100 yards that ranks among the most unusual streets in Germany. Rebuilt in the 1920s by a coffee magnate as a "city within the city," it is a rare piece of German Expressionist architectur…
Churches & monasteries
Brandenburg an der Havel
Brandenburg Cathedral (Dom St. Peter und Paul) stands on its own island between the Havel River and Beetzsee lake in the city of Brandenburg an der Havel. It is one of the oldest brick cathedrals in northern Germany and the mother church o…
Castles
Altena
Altena Castle (Burg Altena) towers on a rocky spur above the Lenne River in Germany's Sauerland region. It is famous as the birthplace of the world's first permanent youth hostel, opened here in 1914, and today combines free museums, prese…
Castles
Falkenstein/Harz
Falkenstein Castle in the Harz Mountains is one of the most atmospheric medieval castles in Saxony-Anhalt. It stands on a rocky ridge high above the Selke Valley, surrounded by forest and a nature reserve. According to tradition, Eike von…
Castles
Haßmersheim
Guttenberg Castle (Burg Guttenberg) rises above the Neckar valley near Haßmersheim, between Heidelberg and Heilbronn. It is one of the few castles in Germany that was never destroyed and has been lived in for almost 800 years. The main att…
Castles
Kriebstein
Kriebstein Castle in Saxony is one of the best-preserved late Gothic knight's castles in Germany. It sits on a rock spur high above the Zschopau river, with a keep about 45 meters tall, and houses a museum with rooms, murals and furnishing…
Castles
Lahnstein
Lahneck Castle (Burg Lahneck) in Lahnstein sits on a rocky spur above the point where the Lahn river meets the Rhine, and forms part of the UNESCO Upper Middle Rhine Valley World Heritage Site. With its rare pentagonal keep and neo-Gothic…
Castles
Krefeld
Burg Linn in Krefeld-Linn is a medieval moated castle with a rare hexagonal plan, surrounded by a wide water-filled moat and a park. The Burg Linn Museum covers three buildings: the castle, a Baroque hunting lodge in the outer courtyard an…