Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Theme parks
Leipzig
Belantis on the southern edge of Leipzig is the largest theme park in central Germany and a popular family day out in Saxony. Built on a former open-cast lignite mine next to today's lake district, it spreads eight themed worlds across the…
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…
Old towns & squares
Bernkastel-Kues
Bernkastel-Kues is one of the most charming wine towns on the Moselle River and one of the best things to see in the Moselle Valley. Its medieval market square is lined with colorful half-timbered houses, a castle ruin watches over the old…
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…
Old towns & squares
Hamburg
Blankenese is Hamburg's most picturesque Elbe suburb: a former fishing village on a hillside, with white villas, narrow lanes and a beach on the river. Its famous stair quarter with about 5,000 steps, the Süllberg hill with views of contai…
Lakes
Blaubeuren
The Blautopf in Blaubeuren is a spring of almost unreal color: a funnel-shaped pool on the edge of the Swabian Alb that glows turquoise to deep blue, about 10 miles west of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg. It is the source of the Blau River, the…
Gardens & parks
Ludwigsburg
Blühendes Barock ("Baroque in Bloom") in Ludwigsburg is one of Germany's best-known garden shows, covering about 30 hectares (74 acres) around Ludwigsburg Residential Palace. Formal Baroque flower beds, English-style landscape gardens, a f…
Nature parks
Thale
The Bode Gorge (Bodetal) near Thale is the most dramatic canyon in Germany's Harz Mountains and one of the country's classic hikes. Over roughly 6 miles (10 km) between Thale and Treseburg, the Bode River has carved deep into granite, leav…
Lakes
Nohfelden
Lake Bostal (Bostalsee) near Nohfelden is Saarland's largest leisure lake and a favorite for anyone who wants water, forest and open views in one trip. The reservoir lies in the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park and offers sailing, stand-up paddli…
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…
Waterfalls
Oberstdorf
The Breitachklamm near Oberstdorf in Bavaria's Allgäu Alps is one of the most dramatic gorges in the Alps. Over about 1.5 miles (2.5 km), the Breitach River has cut up to 490 feet (150 m) deep into the rock, and a secured walkway leads you…
Monuments
Bremen
The Town Musicians of Bremen statue by Gerhard Marcks is the city's most photographed landmark: a bronze donkey, dog, cat and rooster stacked on top of each other beside Bremen's Town Hall, just off the Market Square. Inspired by the Broth…
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
Lennestadt
Bilstein Castle (Burg Bilstein) in Lennestadt is a striking medieval hilltop castle perched on a steep rock spur above the Veischede valley in the Sauerland, the wooded upland region of southern Westphalia. It has been a youth hostel since…
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
Falkenstein
Falkenstein Castle (Burg Falkenstein) crowns a granite cone about 60 m (200 ft) above the small spa town of Falkenstein in the Upper Palatinate, on the edge of the Bavarian Forest. Surrounded by a wooded park full of huge granite boulders,…
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
Neuffen
Hohenneuffen Castle (Burg Hohenneuffen) is a large fortress ruin high above the town of Neuffen on the Swabian Jura escarpment in Baden-Württemberg. From its white-limestone rock in the Esslingen district you get wide views over the Alb fo…
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…