Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
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…
Castles
Mettlach
Montclair Castle (Burg Montclair) near Mettlach is a medieval ruin high above the Saar Loop and one of the finest hiking destinations in Saarland. From the restored towers you look down into the deeply cut Saar valley, and in the courtyard…
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
Sankt Goar
Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar is the largest castle ruin on the Middle Rhine and one of the most exciting castles to explore in the Rhine Valley. Perched high above the river, it lets you wander through courtyards, ramparts and dark undergr…
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
Bacharach
Stahleck Castle (Burg Stahleck) towers on a rocky spur above the wine town of Bacharach in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the oldest castle sites on the Rhine, it is now a youth hostel, which means you…
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
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…
Landmarks
Hamburg
The Chilehaus in Hamburg is one of Germany's most famous office buildings and a landmark of brick expressionism. Its dark clinker walls form a sharp point at the eastern corner that looks like the bow of a ship. It has been part of a UNESC…
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…
Monuments
Koblenz
The Deutsches Eck (German Corner) in Koblenz is the headland where the Moselle River flows into the Rhine, and one of Germany's most recognizable landmarks. A colossal equestrian statue of Emperor William I towers over the tip, while Ehren…
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…
Old towns & squares
Dinkelsbühl
Dinkelsbühl is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Germany, a postcard-perfect stop on Bavaria's Romantic Road between Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Nördlingen. Behind an almost complete ring of walls and four gate towers, you'll fi…
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…