15 attractions in Saarland, including Saar Loop (Saarschleife), Völklingen Ironworks and Mettlach Abbey. Map, details and practical tips before you go.
Viewpoints
Mettlach
The Saarschleife near Mettlach is the symbol of Saarland, Germany's smallest non-city state, and one of the most dramatic river views in the country. Here the Saar River doubles back on itself in a near-perfect hairpin bend through a deep,…
Industrial heritage
Völklingen
The Völklingen Ironworks (Völklinger Hütte) in Völklingen, Saarland, is a vast former ironworks and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. It was the first industrial monument from the age of industrialization to receive that status, and…
Churches & monasteries
Mettlach
Mettlach Abbey on the Saar River is a former Benedictine monastery and today the headquarters of Villeroy & Boch, the ceramics company. Inside the Baroque Old Abbey a modern visitor experience about ceramics awaits you, and in the abbey pa…
Churches & monasteries
Tholey
On 30 December 634 a Frankish nobleman named Adalgisel Grimo drew up his will, bequeathing his property in Tholey along with a church he had built there. The document is considered the oldest surviving charter of the Rhineland and makes St…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Fortresses
Saarlouis
Saarlouis Fortress is a fortified town on the Saar River designed by the French military engineer Vauban, and its hexagonal outline still shapes the city center today. King Louis XIV had it founded in 1680 to secure France's eastern border…
Churches & monasteries
Saarbrücken
The Ludwigskirche (Ludwig's Church) in Saarbrücken is the landmark of the Saarland's capital and one of the most important Protestant Baroque churches in Germany. Designed by architect Friedrich Joachim Stengel as the centerpiece of Ludwig…
Museums
Homburg
The Schwarzenacker Roman Museum in Homburg is an open-air archaeological museum in Saarland where you walk through the excavated remains of a Gallo-Roman village. Reconstructed houses, columns and a Baroque garden bring the everyday life o…
Zoos
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken Zoo sits on the southern slope of the Eschberg hill and is the most visited zoo in Saarland. More than 1,000 animals live across its hilly grounds, including gorillas, giraffes, Humboldt penguins, meerkats and cheetahs. It make…
Viewpoints
Ensdorf
The Saar Polygon (Saarpolygon) in Ensdorf is a walk-up steel landmark on a former coal spoil heap and the best-known monument to the end of hard coal mining in Saarland. Depending on where you stand it looks like a gate, a triangle or a cr…
Palaces
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken Palace (Schloss Saarbrücken) rises above the Saar River in the old part of Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland on the French border. The white Baroque facade is the city's best-known landmark, but the real surprise lies beneat…
Caves
Homburg
Yellow, ochre, rust-red: in the Schlossberg Caves in Homburg, coloured bands swirl across walls and ceilings as if someone had pasted marbled paper inside the hill. Yet water did not shape these passages and halls, people did. Over centuri…