Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Castles
Riedenburg
Prunn Castle (Burg Prunn) stands on a limestone cliff 70 meters above the Altmühl Valley and is one of the most picturesque castles in Bavaria. The whitewashed hilltop castle with its massive keep dates in part to around 1200 and is famous…
Castles
Querfurt
Burg Querfurt in Saxony-Anhalt is one of the largest medieval castles in Germany, a sprawling hilltop fortress said to cover enough ground to hold the famous Wartburg several times over. Romanesque towers, a cross-shaped castle church, art…
Castles
Trechtingshausen
Reichenstein Castle in Trechtingshausen perches on a rocky spur just above the Rhine and is one of the most photogenic castles in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Rebuilt around 1900 as a neo-Gothic residence, i…
Castles
Trechtingshausen
Rheinstein Castle (Burg Rheinstein) clings to a rocky spur above the Rhine near Trechtingshausen, just downstream from Bingen. It was the first ruined Rhine castle to be rebuilt in the Romantic era, and it lies within the Upper Middle Rhin…
Castles
Mechernich
Satzvey Castle (Burg Satzvey) in Mechernich, on the northern edge of the Eifel hills, is regarded as the best-preserved moated castle in the Rhineland in terms of original medieval fabric. With its pointed towers, twin-towered gatehouse, a…
Castles
Stolpen
Stolpen Castle (Burg Stolpen) in Saxony stands on a basalt hill about 27 kilometers east of Dresden and is best known as the prison of Countess Cosel, the former mistress of Augustus the Strong. The medieval fortress of the bishops of Meis…
Castles
Alken
Thurant Castle (Burg Thurant) near Alken is the largest castle on the Moselle River and a landmark of the region. This twin castle crowns a slate ridge above vineyards, and a visit takes you through courtyards, a chapel, a dungeon and a ro…
Castles
Landshut
Trausnitz Castle (Burg Trausnitz) towers above the old town of Landshut in Lower Bavaria and was for centuries a seat of the Wittelsbach dukes. Behind its medieval walls you'll find an elegant Renaissance courtyard with arcades, the "Fools…
Castles
Lüdinghausen
Vischering Castle (Burg Vischering) in Lüdinghausen is one of the oldest and best-preserved moated castles in the Münsterland, the flat, green region of northwestern Germany famous for its water castles. Set on two islands and surrounded b…
Castles
Burghausen
Burghausen Castle in the Bavarian town of Burghausen, right on the Austrian border, is listed by Guinness World Records as the longest castle in the world, stretching 1,051 meters (about two-thirds of a mile) along a narrow ridge. Six cour…
Museums
Hamburg
The Cap San Diego in Hamburg is the largest operational museum cargo ship in the world, and it is moored at the Überseebrücke in the middle of the harbor. The white ship with a red hull once carried cargo and a few passengers between Hambu…
Theme parks
Baden-Baden
The Caracalla Therme (Caracalla Spa) in Baden-Baden is the modern thermal bath of Germany's most famous spa town, on the edge of the Black Forest. It sits in the historic bath quarter next to the Friedrichsbad, and its round domed hall, ou…
Caves
Iserlohn
The Dechen Cave (Dechenhöhle) in Iserlohn is one of Germany's most beautiful show caves, set in a wooded valley where the Sauerland hills meet the Ruhr area. A guided tour of about 40 minutes leads through winding passages full of stalacti…
Museums
Bremerhaven
The German Emigration Center (Deutsches Auswandererhaus) in Bremerhaven is an immersive museum about emigration and immigration, built on the very harbor where millions of Europeans boarded ships for America. You walk through a recreated q…
Museums
Bochum
The German Mining Museum (Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) in Bochum is one of the largest mining museums in the world and one of the essential things to do in the Ruhr region. Beneath its towering green headframe, it tells the story of coal, ore…
Museums
Hamburg
The German Port Museum (Deutsches Hafenmuseum) in Hamburg is an open-air museum on the working waterfront of one of Europe's biggest ports. Set on the quay of the Hansahafen in the Kleiner Grasbrook district, it combines a protected brick…
Museums
Dresden
The German Hygiene Museum (Deutsches Hygiene-Museum) in Dresden is one of Germany's most unusual museums: not a medical collection but a museum about the human being, covering the body, health, emotions and society. Its white 1930 building…
Museums
Berlin
The German Museum of Technology (Deutsches Technikmuseum) in Berlin's Kreuzberg district is one of the largest technology museums in Germany and among the most popular things to do in Berlin, with more than 700,000 visitors in 2023. Set on…
Churches & monasteries
Bad Doberan
Doberan Minster (Doberaner Münster) in Bad Doberan is one of the finest brick Gothic churches in northern Germany and one of the most important surviving monuments of the Cistercians in Mecklenburg. The vast former abbey church, with its s…
Historic sites & memorials
Nürnberg
The Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg (Dokuzentrum) is one of Germany's most important places to learn about the Nazi era. It occupies the north wing of the Congress Hall, a vast, never-finished Nazi building, and…
Churches & monasteries
Marburg
St. Elisabeth's Church (Elisabethkirche) in Marburg is considered Germany's oldest purely Gothic hall church, and its two 80-meter towers rise above the old town on the Lahn River. Built from 1235 over the grave of Saint Elisabeth of Thuri…
Churches & monasteries
Erfurt
Erfurt Cathedral (Erfurter Dom, St. Mary's Cathedral) and the neighboring Church of St. Severus rise side by side above Erfurt's vast Domplatz square, forming one of Germany's most striking city skylines. A broad flight of 70 steps leads u…
Churches & monasteries
Beuron
Beuron Archabbey (Erzabtei St. Martin zu Beuron) is a working Benedictine monastery in the scenic Upper Danube Valley in southwestern Germany, set among pale limestone cliffs and forests. Its Baroque abbey church and the richly painted Cha…
Historic sites & memorials
Gersheim
The European Archaeological Park of Bliesbruck-Reinheim straddles the German-French border in southeastern Saarland and Lorraine, and lets you step from Celtic times into Roman Germany within a single day. Across roughly 700,000 square met…