The tripto catalogue lists 105 churches and monasteries – Gothic cathedrals, Romanesque imperial cathedrals, Baroque pilgrimage churches and medieval abbeys. More than half of them are free to enter.
Cologne Cathedral by the main station, with its 157-metre towers and the Shrine of the Three Kings, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; since July 2026 a visit costs €12, while entry for prayer through the north portal remains free. The Frauenkirche in Dresden, destroyed in 1945 and reconsecrated in 2005, is free to visit; only the dome climb charges. Aachen Cathedral, with Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel, was Germany's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ulm Minster has the tallest church spire in the country at 161.53 metres. The Wieskirche in the Pfaffenwinkel is a Rococo masterpiece by the Zimmermann brothers, and Maulbronn Monastery is considered the best-preserved medieval monastery north of the Alps.
Most churches and monasteries in the catalogue are in Bavaria (over a dozen), Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia (about 10 each). Munich and Cologne have three each.
In practice: a visit usually takes one to two hours. The church itself is often free, while towers, crypts and treasuries charge – for example €7.50 for the south tower of Munich's Frauenkirche or €8 for the Michel tower in Hamburg. Sightseeing is not possible during services. With children, tower climbs are the highlight, for example in Ulm, Dresden and Frankfurt Cathedral.
Churches & monasteries
Cologne
Cologne Cathedral is the soaring Gothic landmark of Cologne, Germany, and one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Its twin spires rise about 157 m (515 ft) right next to the main train station, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage S…
Churches & monasteries
Dresden
The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) in Dresden is a magnificent Baroque church on the Neumarkt square and one of Germany's most powerful symbols of reconciliation. Destroyed in the Allied bombing of February 1945, it lay in ruins for alm…
Churches & monasteries
Aachen
Aachen Cathedral (Aachener Dom) in the city of Aachen, right on Germany's border with Belgium and the Netherlands, is the church Charlemagne built as the heart of his empire around the year 800. It became Germany's first UNESCO World Herit…
Churches & monasteries
Ulm
Ulm Minster in southern Germany is one of the country's greatest Gothic churches, and its 161.53-meter (530 ft) spire is the tallest church tower in Germany. For about 135 years it was the tallest in the world. Rising above the old town of…
Churches & monasteries
Steingaden
The Wieskirche (Pilgrimage Church of Wies) near Steingaden in Upper Bavaria is often called the most perfect Rococo church in the world, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. From the outside it looks like a modest white…
Churches & monasteries
Maulbronn
Maulbronn Monastery in Baden-Württemberg is considered the best-preserved medieval monastery complex north of the Alps and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Behind its fortified walls lies a complete Cistercian abbey, with…
Churches & monasteries
Köln
Cologne Cathedral is the soaring Gothic landmark of Cologne, Germany, and one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Its twin spires rise about 157 m (515 ft) right next to the main train station, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage S…
Churches & monasteries
Dresden
The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) in Dresden is a magnificent Baroque church on the Neumarkt square and one of Germany's most powerful symbols of reconciliation. Destroyed in the Allied bombing of February 1945, it lay in ruins for alm…
Churches & monasteries
Berlin
Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) on Museum Island is the largest Protestant church in Germany and one of the most striking landmarks in the city center. Under its huge green dome you'll find a lavish main church, a historic organ with more…
Churches & monasteries
Aachen
Aachen Cathedral (Aachener Dom) in the city of Aachen, right on Germany's border with Belgium and the Netherlands, is the church Charlemagne built as the heart of his empire around the year 800. It became Germany's first UNESCO World Herit…
Churches & monasteries
Ulm
Ulm Minster in southern Germany is one of the country's greatest Gothic churches, and its 161.53-meter (530 ft) spire is the tallest church tower in Germany. For about 135 years it was the tallest in the world. Rising above the old town of…
Churches & monasteries
Speyer
Speyer Cathedral, known in German as the Kaiserdom, is the largest surviving Romanesque church in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Rising above the Rhine in the Palatinate region, this massive red-sandstone basilica s…
Churches & monasteries
Steingaden
The Wieskirche (Pilgrimage Church of Wies) near Steingaden in Upper Bavaria is often called the most perfect Rococo church in the world, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. From the outside it looks like a modest white…
Churches & monasteries
Maulbronn
Maulbronn Monastery in Baden-Württemberg is considered the best-preserved medieval monastery complex north of the Alps and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Behind its fortified walls lies a complete Cistercian abbey, with…
Churches & monasteries
Leipzig
St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) in Leipzig is where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as cantor for the last 27 years of his life, and where he is buried today. Home of the famous St. Thomas Boys Choir (Thomanerchor), founded in 1212, this lat…
Churches & monasteries
Hamburg
St. Michael's Church (Hauptkirche St. Michaelis), known to locals simply as the "Michel," is Hamburg's most famous landmark and the most important Baroque church in northern Germany. Its 132-meter (433-foot) green copper tower rises above…
Churches & monasteries
Berlin
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche) on Breitscheidplatz in western Berlin is one of the city's most powerful landmarks: the bomb-damaged tower of a 19th-century church, flanked by a modern church whose wall…
Churches & monasteries
München
The Frauenkirche in Munich, officially the Cathedral of Our Dear Lady, is the city's best-known landmark and one of the first things to see on any visit to the Bavarian capital. Its twin brick towers with their rounded green caps have defi…
Churches & monasteries
Köln
Great St. Martin Church in Cologne (Groß St. Martin) is one of the city's twelve great Romanesque churches, and its massive crossing tower is the second landmark on Cologne's riverfront skyline after the cathedral. Rising above the colorfu…
Churches & monasteries
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt Cathedral – officially the Imperial Cathedral of St. Bartholomew (Kaiserdom St. Bartholomäus) – is the largest church in Frankfurt am Main and one of the most important sites of German history. For centuries the prince-electors c…
Churches & monasteries
Leipzig
St. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche) in Leipzig is where the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 began. Weekly prayers for peace held inside this church grew into the Monday Demonstrations that helped bring down the East German regime and, ultimate…
Churches & monasteries
Glees
Maria Laach Abbey (Abtei Maria Laach) stands on the southwest shore of Lake Laach in the Eifel volcanic region and is famed for its six-towered Romanesque basilica, one of the finest in Germany. The Benedictine abbey was founded in 1093 an…
Churches & monasteries
Marienmünster
Marienmünster Abbey (Abtei Marienmünster) is a former Benedictine monastery founded in 1128 in the rolling Weser Uplands of eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. Its church, with twin pointed west towers and a Baroque crossing dome, rises above…
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…
Churches & monasteries
Odenthal
Altenberg Cathedral does not stand in a city but in the middle of the wooded Dhünn valley, a good 20 kilometres north-east of Cologne. That makes the tall Gothic church rising between meadows and monastery buildings all the more surprising…
Churches & monasteries
München
The Asam Church (St. Johann Nepomuk) on Sendlinger Straße in Munich is one of the most striking Baroque churches in southern Germany. In the heart of the old town, a few minutes from Marienplatz, a narrow facade hides a tiny space packed w…
Churches & monasteries
Augsburg
High up in the south wall of the nave are five stained-glass windows older than almost anything you will see in other churches: the Prophet Windows of Augsburg Cathedral date from the late 11th or early 12th century and are relics of the o…
Churches & monasteries
Erfurt
The Protestant Augustinian Monastery (Augustinerkloster) in Erfurt is where Martin Luther lived as a monk from 1505 to 1511. It sits in the old town of Thuringia's capital and combines Luther history, a Gothic church, historic monastery bu…
Churches & monasteries
Bamberg
Bamberg Cathedral (Bamberger Dom) is the crown of Bamberg's UNESCO-listed old town and one of Germany's great imperial cathedrals. Its four towers rise from Cathedral Hill above a sea of red roofs in this beautifully preserved Franconian c…
Most churches are free, such as the Dresden Frauenkirche, Aachen Cathedral, the Wieskirche and Speyer Cathedral. Since July 2026 Cologne Cathedral costs €12 (reduced €6); towers, crypts and treasuries charge almost everywhere.
Among others: Cologne Cathedral, Aachen Cathedral, Speyer Cathedral, the Wieskirche and Maulbronn Monastery.
Ulm Minster at 161.53 metres – the tallest church spire in Germany. The tower climb costs €9, reduced €6.
In Bavaria (over a dozen in the catalogue), followed by Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia (about 10 each).
Updated: · Opening hours and prices can change — check the attraction page before you go.