Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Castles
Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Hambach Castle (Hambacher Schloss) near Neustadt an der Weinstraße is called the cradle of German democracy. In May 1832 about 25,000 people gathered here for the Hambach Festival, calling for freedom, a free press and German unity under b…
Museums
Berlin
The Hamburger Bahnhof is Berlin's national museum of contemporary art, set inside a grand 1840s railway terminus just a few minutes' walk from Berlin Central Station. Part of the Nationalgalerie, it shows Joseph Beuys and Andy Warhol along…
Museums
Bonn
The Haus der Geschichte (House of History) in Bonn is Germany's national museum of contemporary history, telling the story of the country from the end of World War II to today. Located in the former government quarter of the West German ca…
Palaces
Rudolstadt
Heidecksburg Palace (Residenzschloss Heidecksburg) in Rudolstadt is a Baroque palace that stands about 200 feet (60 m) above the old town, on a ridge above the Saale river in Thuringia. It was the residence of the counts and princes of Sch…
Churches & monasteries
Heidelberg
The Church of the Holy Spirit (Heiliggeistkirche) in Heidelberg is the red sandstone Gothic church that anchors the Market Square in the heart of the Old Town. It was the burial church of the Electors Palatine, once housed the legendary Bi…
Museums
Weimar
The Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar is home to one of the most beautiful library halls in the world: the oval, three-story Rococo Hall, lined with books, portraits, and marble busts. Goethe ran the library for more than three decades…
Churches & monasteries
Hildesheim
Hildesheim Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 together with nearby St. Michael's Church. It holds bronze masterpieces made around the year 1000, a gilded Romanesque chandeli…
Museums
Peenemünde
The Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum on the island of Usedom tells one of the most consequential and troubling stories of the 20th century. Here, at Germany's secret weapons research site, engineers developed the world's first cruise…
Churches & monasteries
Trier
Trier Cathedral (Trierer Dom) in Trier is considered the oldest cathedral in Germany and one of the most remarkable churches in Europe. Its fortress-like Romanesque walls hide masonry from the age of Emperor Constantine, and its story span…
Palaces
Binz
Granitz Hunting Lodge (Jagdschloss Granitz) near Binz on the island of Rügen looks like a fairy-tale castle hidden in a beech forest: four crenellated corner towers, a slender central tower and pale pink walls. Built for the princes of Put…
Palaces
Berlin
Jagdschloss Grunewald, a Renaissance hunting lodge on the shore of Grunewaldsee lake, is the oldest surviving palace in Berlin. Hidden in the Grunewald forest in the leafy Dahlem district, it combines a lakeside walk with an excellent art…
Caves
Sonnenbühl
The Bärenhöhle (Bear's Cave) in Sonnenbühl-Erpfingen is one of the best-known show caves of the Swabian Alb, about an hour south of Stuttgart. It combines two caves: the Karlshöhle, known since 1834, and the Bärenhöhle, discovered in 1949…
Viewpoints
Berchtesgaden
The Kehlsteinhaus, better known as the Eagle's Nest, sits on a rocky ridge high above Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps. Built in the late 1930s for the Nazi party, it is now a mountain restaurant with one of the finest views in Germany,…
Old towns & squares
Frankfurt am Main
The Kleinmarkthalle in Frankfurt is the city's best-known indoor food market, a lively hall in the old town where regional produce, sausages, cheese, spices and international delicacies are sold side by side. If you want a taste of Frankfu…
Museums
Bremerhaven
The Klimahaus Bremerhaven is a climate science center on the harbor front of Bremerhaven, in northern Germany, where you travel around the world in a single afternoon. Following one line of longitude, you walk through desert heat, tropical…
Churches & monasteries
Alpirsbach
Alpirsbach Abbey (Kloster Alpirsbach) is a former Benedictine monastery in the Black Forest, founded in 1095 and famous for its plain Romanesque church built of red sandstone. A Gothic cloister, a museum and a quiet village setting make it…
Churches & monasteries
Andechs
Andechs Abbey (Kloster Andechs) crowns the "Holy Mountain" above the Ammersee lake, about 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Munich, and is one of the most rewarding day trips from the city. Here a dazzling Rococo pilgrimage church, a working B…
Churches & monasteries
Bad Staffelstein
Banz Abbey (Kloster Banz) crowns a hill above the Main valley near Bad Staffelstein in Upper Franconia. Facing the Basilica of Vierzehnheiligen across the valley, the former Benedictine monastery forms the heart of the scenic area known as…
Churches & monasteries
Tübingen
Bebenhausen Abbey (Kloster Bebenhausen), just north of Tübingen, is one of the best-preserved medieval monasteries in Germany. The former Cistercian house sits in a forest clearing inside the Schönbuch Nature Park, with a late Gothic clois…
Churches & monasteries
Chorin
Chorin Abbey, about an hour northeast of Berlin, is one of the finest examples of North German brick Gothic architecture. The roofless red-brick ruins of this former Cistercian monastery rise beside a quiet lake in the Schorfheide-Chorin B…
Churches & monasteries
Eltville am Rhein
Eberbach Abbey (Kloster Eberbach), near Eltville am Rhein in Hesse's Rheingau wine region, is one of the best-preserved medieval monasteries in Europe. Cistercian monks founded it in 1136, built a severe Romanesque church and vast Gothic h…
Churches & monasteries
Ettal
Ettal Abbey (Kloster Ettal) is a Benedictine monastery in the Bavarian Alps, about 90 minutes south of Munich, and one of the most impressive baroque buildings in Upper Bavaria. Its huge green dome rises from a narrow valley between Oberau…
Churches & monasteries
Kamp-Lintfort
Kamp Abbey (Kloster Kamp) in Kamp-Lintfort, in Germany's Lower Rhine region, was founded in 1123 as the first Cistercian monastery in the German-speaking world. Today it is best known for its spectacular Baroque terraced garden, which step…
Churches & monasteries
Dormagen
Knechtsteden Abbey near Dormagen, between Cologne and Düsseldorf, is a former Premonstratensian monastery founded in the 12th century and one of the finest Romanesque complexes in the Lower Rhine region. Its basilica, with tall towers and…