Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Old towns & squares
Bautzen
Bautzen's Old Town sits on a granite bluff above the Spree River in eastern Saxony, crowned by medieval towers, bastions and Baroque townhouses. Often called the "city of towers," it is also the cultural capital of the Sorbs, a Slavic mino…
Old towns & squares
Celle
The old town of Celle is one of Germany's most complete half-timbered townscapes: around the market square, the Stechbahn and Zöllnerstraße, the town counts nearly 500 timber-framed houses with painted facades, carved beams and gilded insc…
Old towns & squares
Düsseldorf
The Altstadt (Old Town) of Düsseldorf is the historic heart of the city and one of Germany's liveliest nightlife districts. Packed into roughly half a square kilometer on the Rhine are churches, museums, a Renaissance town hall and around…
Old towns & squares
Freiburg im Breisgau
The old town of Freiburg im Breisgau is one of the most charming city centers in southern Germany, set at the edge of the Black Forest. Its lanes are crowned by the Gothic Freiburg Minster and laced with the famous Bächle, small water chan…
Old towns & squares
Goslar
The old town of Goslar on the northern edge of the Harz mountains has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, together with the Rammelsberg mine and the Upper Harz water management system. More than 1,500 half-timbered houses, slate-…
Old towns & squares
Lüneburg
Lüneburg's old town is one of the finest examples of brick Gothic architecture in northern Germany, a place of stepped gables, leaning facades and cobbled squares built on the wealth of salt. The town hall on the market square, the long sq…
Old towns & squares
Passau
Passau's Old Town sits on a narrow peninsula where the Danube and Inn rivers meet, with the smaller Ilz joining just opposite, which is why Passau is called the "City of Three Rivers." Pastel Baroque houses, the green-domed St. Stephen's C…
Old towns & squares
Pirna
Pirna's Old Town and Sonnenstein Castle make a rewarding stop on the Elbe River between Dresden and the sandstone cliffs of Saxon Switzerland. The market square still looks much as the painter Canaletto (Bernardo Bellotto) captured it in t…
Old towns & squares
Rostock
Rostock's old town is the historic core of the largest city in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a Hanseatic port on the Warnow River just inland from the Baltic Sea. Brick Gothic churches, colorful gabled houses, medieval city gates and a li…
Old towns & squares
Stralsund
The Old Town of Stralsund is one of the top things to do on Germany's Baltic coast: a medieval Hanseatic port set on an island between the sea and three town ponds, crowned by a spectacular brick Gothic town hall and three giant churches.…
Old towns & squares
Tübingen
The old town of Tübingen is one of the most charming historic centers in southern Germany: colorful half-timbered houses lining the Neckar River, steep cobbled lanes, a painted town hall and a Renaissance castle on the hill above. Only a s…
Old towns & squares
Wismar
The Old Town of Wismar is one of the best things to do on Germany's Baltic coast: a remarkably intact Hanseatic port with a vast market square, towering red-brick Gothic churches and an old harbor where fishing boats still tie up. Together…
Coast & islands
Wittdün auf Amrum
Amrum is one of the three large North Frisian islands and is famous for the Kniepsand, a sand beach up to 1.5 kilometers wide. Behind the beach rise dunes, heath and pine forest, and inland lie thatched-roof Frisian villages. The island is…
Historic sites & memorials
Perl
The Roman Villa Borg in Perl-Borg is an archaeological open-air museum in the far west of Saarland, just a few miles from Luxembourg and France. On original foundations, archaeologists have fully rebuilt a Roman country estate, or villa ru…
Historic sites & memorials
Kempten (Allgäu)
The Cambodunum Archaeological Park in Kempten preserves the remains of one of the most important Roman towns in what is now southern Germany. On a hill above the Iller River in the Allgäu region, you can walk through a rebuilt Gallo-Roman…
Museums
Nebra (Unstrut)
The Nebra Sky Disc visitor center (Arche Nebra) in Saxony-Anhalt is the best place to understand one of the most important archaeological finds in the world, a Bronze Age bronze disc inlaid with gold astronomical symbols. A striking golden…
Caves
Attendorn
The Atta Cave (Atta-Höhle) in Attendorn is one of the largest and most beautiful show caves in Germany, tucked into the wooded Sauerland hills about 80 km east of Cologne. A guided tour of roughly 40 minutes takes you past rust-tinted flow…
Museums
Ingolstadt
The Audi museum mobile in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, tells the story of the four-ring brand inside a striking round glass building at the Audi Forum, next to the company's headquarters and main plant. About 100 cars, motorcycles and bicycles tra…
Museums
Wolfsburg
The Autostadt in Wolfsburg is Volkswagen's combined theme park, car museum and new-car delivery center, set in a 69-acre (28 ha) landscaped park on the Mittelland Canal right next to the company's main factory. You can explore brand pavili…
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
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…
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…