The tripto catalogue lists 50 old towns, market squares and plazas. More than two thirds of them are marked as free in the catalogue – you only pay for towers, museums and guided tours.
The old town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, with the Plönlein, the walkable town wall and the town hall tower, is a highlight of the Romantic Road. Explore the old town of Bamberg (UNESCO) on foot: the Old Town Hall in the Regnitz river, Little Venice and the Imperial Cathedral. Quedlinburg (UNESCO) has more than 2,100 half-timbered houses, and Henry I's tomb lies on the castle hill. Marienplatz in Munich, with the New Town Hall and its Glockenspiel, is the starting point for any old-town stroll. In Frankfurt, the Römer and the half-timbered Ostzeile frame the Römerberg, and the Imperial Hall is free. Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt, with Schinkel's Konzerthaus and the German and French Cathedrals, is considered the city's most beautiful square.
Most old towns and squares in the catalogue are in Bavaria (close to 10), followed by Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg. Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin have three each.
In practice: an hour is enough for a square; for a whole old town such as Rothenburg or Bamberg, plan half a day to a full day. Mornings and evenings are the quietest. Small fees apply for viewpoints, such as the lift up Munich's town hall tower from €7. In Advent, many squares host Christmas markets.
Old towns & squares
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the picture-perfect medieval town many visitors imagine when they think of Germany. Its old town of half-timbered houses, towers and gates sits high above the Tauber River valley, enclosed by a nearly complete c…
Old towns & squares
Bamberg
The Old Town of Bamberg in northern Bavaria is one of the best-preserved historic city centers in Germany and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Built across seven hills and a river island, it blends medieval street plans with Baroqu…
Old towns & squares
Quedlinburg
The old town of Quedlinburg is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Germany and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. More than 2,100 half-timbered houses spanning eight centuries line its cobbled lanes, watched over by a castle…
Old towns & squares
Munich
Marienplatz is the central square of Munich and the best place to start exploring the Bavarian capital. Framed by the ornate neo-Gothic New Town Hall, the Old Town Hall and the golden Column of the Virgin Mary, it has been the heart of the…
Old towns & squares
Frankfurt
The Römerberg in Frankfurt is the city's historic town hall square and the most photographed spot in Germany's banking capital. Framed by the stepped gables of the Römer, Frankfurt's city hall since 1405, and a row of colorful half-timbere…
Old towns & squares
Berlin
Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin is widely considered the most beautiful square in the German capital. Framed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Konzerthaus and two near-identical domed churches, the French and the German Cathedral, it feels more like a…
Old towns & squares
München
Marienplatz is the central square of Munich and the best place to start exploring the Bavarian capital. Framed by the ornate neo-Gothic New Town Hall, the Old Town Hall and the golden Column of the Virgin Mary, it has been the heart of the…
Old towns & squares
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the picture-perfect medieval town many visitors imagine when they think of Germany. Its old town of half-timbered houses, towers and gates sits high above the Tauber River valley, enclosed by a nearly complete c…
Old towns & squares
Bamberg
The Old Town of Bamberg in northern Bavaria is one of the best-preserved historic city centers in Germany and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Built across seven hills and a river island, it blends medieval street plans with Baroqu…
Old towns & squares
Quedlinburg
The old town of Quedlinburg is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Germany and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. More than 2,100 half-timbered houses spanning eight centuries line its cobbled lanes, watched over by a castle…
Old towns & squares
Frankfurt am Main
The Römerberg in Frankfurt is the city's historic town hall square and the most photographed spot in Germany's banking capital. Framed by the stepped gables of the Römer, Frankfurt's city hall since 1405, and a row of colorful half-timbere…
Old towns & squares
Berlin
Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin is widely considered the most beautiful square in the German capital. Framed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Konzerthaus and two near-identical domed churches, the French and the German Cathedral, it feels more like a…
Old towns & squares
Berlin
The Nikolaiviertel (Nikolai Quarter) in Berlin is where the city was born. Around the Nikolaikirche, Berlin's oldest church, a medieval trading settlement grew in the 13th century into what would become the German capital. Today's quarter…
Old towns & squares
München
The Viktualienmarkt in Munich is the city's famous open-air food market, set right in the Old Town just a few minutes' walk from Marienplatz. For more than 200 years, locals have shopped here for fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat and flowers…
Old towns & squares
Hamburg
The Altona Fish Market (Altonaer Fischmarkt) in Hamburg is a Sunday-morning ritual that has been running for more than 300 years. Before most of the city wakes up, the Elbe waterfront between St. Pauli and Altona fills with market criers,…
Old towns & squares
Köln
The Alter Markt in Cologne (Old Market) is the heart of the city's Old Town: a car-free square between the historic City Hall and the Rhine, lined with colorful gabled houses, traditional brewpubs and outdoor terraces. It is where Cologne'…
Old towns & squares
Frankfurt am Main
The New Frankfurt Old Town (Neue Frankfurter Altstadt), between the cathedral and Römerberg square, is the youngest and one of the most photographed parts of Frankfurt am Main. Built between 2012 and 2018 on the site of a 1970s concrete of…
Old towns & squares
Berlin
Alexanderplatz in Berlin's Mitte district, known to locals simply as "Alex," is one of the most famous squares in the German capital and a major transport hub. It is where the TV Tower, the World Clock, and the fountain of the former East…
Old towns & squares
Amberg
Amberg's old town in the Upper Palatinate lies on the Vils river about 55 km east of Nuremberg and has kept much of its medieval layout. An almost complete ring of walls encloses the market square, churches and the former electors' palace.…
Old towns & squares
Bad Münstereifel
In Bad Münstereifel the River Erft flows right through the old town, lined with walls and crossed by little bridges. Around it stands an almost completely preserved town wall with four gate towers, enclosing half-timbered houses, a Romanes…
Old towns & squares
Bautzen
Bautzen's Old Town sits on a granite bluff above the Spree River in eastern Saxony, crowned by medieval towers, bastions and Baroque townhouses. Often called the "city of towers," it is also the cultural capital of the Sorbs, a Slavic mino…
Old towns & squares
Celle
The old town of Celle is one of Germany's most complete half-timbered townscapes: around the market square, the Stechbahn and Zöllnerstraße, the town counts nearly 500 timber-framed houses with painted facades, carved beams and gilded insc…
Old towns & squares
Düsseldorf
The Altstadt (Old Town) of Düsseldorf is the historic heart of the city and one of Germany's liveliest nightlife districts. Packed into roughly half a square kilometer on the Rhine are churches, museums, a Renaissance town hall and around…
Old towns & squares
Freiburg im Breisgau
The old town of Freiburg im Breisgau is one of the most charming city centers in southern Germany, set at the edge of the Black Forest. Its lanes are crowned by the Gothic Freiburg Minster and laced with the famous Bächle, small water chan…
Old towns & squares
Friedrichstadt
Stepped gables of small bricks, canals with rowing boats, bridges over still water: stroll through Friedrichstadt and you might think you were in North Holland. In fact this small town lies between the Eider and Treene rivers in North Fris…
Old towns & squares
Goslar
The old town of Goslar on the northern edge of the Harz mountains has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, together with the Rammelsberg mine and the Upper Harz water management system. More than 1,500 half-timbered houses, slate-…
Old towns & squares
Hameln
On 26 June 1284, so the story goes, a stranger with a pipe walked through Hamelin and led 130 children out of town, never to be seen again. Nobody knows what really happened. What is certain is that the legend of the Pied Piper made this t…
Old towns & squares
Koblenz
Most visitors stand at the Deutsches Eck, look out over the Rhine and Moselle and then ride the cable car up to the fortress. Yet the real Koblenz is just a few steps inland: the Old Town is the city's original core, with three Romanesque…
Old towns & squares
Lüneburg
Lüneburg's old town is one of the finest examples of brick Gothic architecture in northern Germany, a place of stepped gables, leaning facades and cobbled squares built on the wealth of salt. The town hall on the market square, the long sq…
Old towns & squares
Monschau
In Monschau, grey slate roofs and black-and-white half-timbering are packed so tightly into the narrow Rur valley that there is barely room for streets. A castle and the ruin of a second defensive tower look down on the old town, while the…
From this category, among others, the old towns of Bamberg and Quedlinburg.
No – walking through old towns and squares is free. You pay for towers, museums and guided tours, such as the lift up Munich's town hall tower from €7.
An hour is enough for a square such as Marienplatz or the Römerberg. For Rothenburg, Bamberg or Quedlinburg, plan half a day to a full day.
Updated: · Opening hours and prices can change — check the attraction page before you go.