Castles, Cathedrals & the Open Road: 101 Things to Do in Germany

Germany contains more than any single country should reasonably possess. The most visited country in Europe that does not have an obvious beach holiday, it has assembled within its borders the world’s most significant modern history sites, the most extravagant royal palace in the German-speaking world, castles in quantities and variety unmatched anywhere, the finest Christmas market culture on earth, an Alpine landscape that rivals Switzerland, the world’s most celebrated beer festival, the Romantic Road, the Rhine, the Moselle, the Black Forest, the Saxon Switzerland rock formations, the Baltic Sea islands, the Hanseatic League’s perfectly preserved cities, the Bauhaus, and Berlin — a capital city of such creative intensity and historical density that it has become, in the space of 35 years since the Wall fell, one of the most compelling cities on the planet.

Germany also rewards those who leave the well-worn route: the wine towns of Franconia, the sandstone gorges of Elbe, the medieval streets of Görlitz, the half-timbered perfection of Quedlinburg, and the island of Rügen — where the Romantic painters went to capture the chalk cliffs and the Baltic light — all belong to a Germany that most visitors never reach.

This guide covers 101 things to do across all 16 states — from Berlin’s nightclubs to Bavaria’s Alpine meadows, from the Rhine Valley’s medieval towers to the silence of a Mecklenburg lake at dawn.

Berlin: The Capital That Became a Canvas

History & Memory

Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) — The 18th-century Neoclassical gate at the end of Unter den Linden was the symbol of division for 28 years and the symbol of reunification on the night of 9 November 1989. Standing beneath the Quadriga at dusk, when the crowds thin and the light turns the sandstone gold, is the most historically charged free experience in Germany. Walk through the gate and consider what it has witnessed.
Holocaust Memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) — Peter Eisenman’s 2,711 concrete stele field, south of the Brandenburg Gate: the most affecting public memorial in Germany, its concrete blocks arranged at subtly varying heights and angles, creating a disorienting landscape of narrow corridors and shifting perspectives that is simultaneously claustrophobic and open to the sky. The underground information centre below describes the lives of individual victims and families. Free; overwhelming.
Reichstag Building & Norman Foster’s Glass Dome — The German Parliament, rebuilt after reunification with Norman Foster’s iconic glass dome — a spiral ramp leading to the top, with the open core allowing visitors to look directly down into the debating chamber below, and the view of Berlin in every direction at the summit. Free; book a timed slot online weeks in advance.
Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Strasse — The most complete surviving section of the Wall’s death strip, with the original hinterland, the watchtower, and the preserved ghost of the buildings torn down to create the death strip. The outdoor memorial is free and open 24 hours; the documentation centre explains the full history of the Wall’s construction, surveillance, and the 140 deaths at its crossings.
East Side Gallery — The longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall (1.3 kilometres along the Spree), painted by 118 artists from 21 countries in 1990: the most famous mural is Dmitri Vrubel’s My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love (the Brezhnev–Honecker kiss). Free; best seen early morning when the light is on the east-facing murals.
Checkpoint Charlie & the Cold War — The former Allied checkpoint between West and East Berlin: the most visited site in Berlin, with the reconstructed guardhouse and the photographs of the original crossing. The nearby Haus am Checkpoint Charlie museum, despite its mixed reviews, tells the story of escape attempts across the Wall with impressive completeness.
Topography of Terror — The documentation centre built on the excavated basement of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters: the most thorough outdoor exhibition on the Nazi security state in existence, tracing the administration of terror from 1933 to 1945. Free; extraordinary; essential.
Jewish Museum Berlin (Jüdisches Museum) — Daniel Libeskind’s titanium zinc building of 1999 — with its shattered Star of David plan, its voids, its Holocaust Tower (a sealed concrete room of absolute darkness and silence), and its Garden of Exile (a field of slanting concrete pillars planted with olive trees) — is the most architecturally significant museum building in Germany. The collection inside traces 2,000 years of Jewish life in Germany.

Museums & Culture

Museum Island (Museumsinsel), UNESCO — Five world-class museums on an island in the Spree: the Pergamon (with the reconstructed Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon), the Neues Museum (Egyptian antiquities including the bust of Nefertiti — the most visited single object in Germany), the Altes Museum (Greek and Roman antiquities), the Bode Museum (sculptures and Byzantine art), and the Alte Nationalgalerie (19th-century German painting). A UNESCO World Heritage Site. Buy a day pass; allow a full day.
Nefertiti at the Neues Museum — The 3,400-year-old limestone and plaster bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti, found in 1912 and housed in the Neues Museum since its restoration: the most visited single object in any Berlin museum, displayed alone in a domed room designed specifically for its proportions. Thirty seconds in front of it reveals why it has been called the most beautiful face in the ancient world.
Berlin Philharmonie — Hans Scharoun’s 1963 concert hall — the tent-like building in the Kulturforum that places the orchestra at the physical centre of the audience rather than on a raised stage — is the most influential concert hall design of the 20th century and the home of the Berlin Philharmonic, consistently the finest orchestra in the world. Attend a concert if possible; the day-tour of the building is excellent.
Berlinische Galerie — The Berlin museum of modern, contemporary, and experimental art, in a converted glass and steel industrial building near the Jewish Museum: the finest collection of Berlin Dada, Berlin Expressionism, and contemporary Berlin art in the city. Less visited than the major institutions and considerably more interesting per square metre.

Neighbourhoods & Berlin Life

Prenzlauer Berg Walking Tour — The most architecturally complete Wilhelmine neighbourhood in Berlin: the streets around Kollwitzplatz, the Helmholtzplatz, and the Kastanienallee preserve the pre-war scale and character of Berlin’s residential districts better than any other area. The Saturday market at Mauerpark (the finest flea market in Berlin), the independent cafés of the Kastanienallee, and the evening restaurant culture make it the most liveable neighbourhood in the city.
Kreuzberg & Neukölln: Berlin’s Creative South — The neighbourhoods south of the Landwehrkanal: Kreuzberg’s Turkish food culture (Kottbusser Tor, the finest döner kebab in Berlin at Mustafa’s), the gallery district around Oranienstrasse, and Neukölln’s radical transformation from disadvantaged immigrant neighbourhood to Berlin’s most creative district. The canal-side at Schlesisches Tor on a summer evening, with the city’s entire young creative class apparently in attendance, is the most specifically Berlin experience available.
Tempelhof Field — The former Tempelhof Airport, closed in 2008 and converted into the largest public park in Europe: a 386-hectare flat field of asphalt runway, meadow, and community gardens. The runways are used by cyclists, skaters, and kite-flyers; the terminal building (the largest building in the world when completed in 1941) is the most monumental Nazi-era structure in Berlin. The horizon — a flat 360-degree view of the entire city skyline — is the most unexpected urban landscape in Germany.
Berlin Nightlife: Berghain & the Techno Culture — Berlin’s club scene is the most significant in the world: the Berghain (in a former power station, with a door policy so selective it has its own cultural mythology), Tresor, Watergate, and Sisyphus represent a techno tradition that began the weekend the Wall fell and has not stopped since. The scene is real, participatory, and entirely unlike any club culture in Western Europe.

Bavaria: Castles, Mountains & Beer

Munich

Marienplatz & the Glockenspiel, Munich — The central square of Munich: the neo-Gothic New Town Hall with its Glockenspiel carillon (the moving figures perform at 11am and noon, and at 5pm in summer), the Fischbrunnen (Fish Fountain), and the view of the Frauenkirche’s twin towers above the market stalls. Walk the entire square at 7am before the market opens for the finest light on the Gothic facades.
English Garden (Englischer Garten), Munich — One of the largest urban parks in the world (larger than Central Park): the Biergarten at the Chinese Tower, the Monopteros temple, the Eisbach wave (where surfers ride a standing river wave year-round in full view of the city), and the nude sunbathing areas that make the park the most convincingly Bavarian city experience in Munich. Free; always busy.
Deutsches Museum, Munich — The world’s largest museum of science and technology, on an island in the Isar: the original Focke-Wulf aircraft, the first electric generator, the reconstructed coal mine, the astronomy tower, and over 28,000 objects spanning the complete history of human technical achievement. Allow two days; one day is enough to see the highlights.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich — The finest collection of European Old Masters in Germany, in a purpose-built neoclassical gallery of 1836: Dürer’s Self-Portrait, Rubens’s Massacre of the Innocents, and the largest collection of Rembrandt paintings in a single German institution. The three Pinakotheken (Alte, Neue, and Moderne) together constitute the finest museum quarter in Germany outside Berlin.
Viktualienmarkt, Munich — The permanent outdoor food market in the city centre, operating on the same site since 1807: fresh Bavarian produce, the finest sausage and cheese stalls in the city, a central Biergarten, and the specific atmosphere of a Munich institution that has been feeding the city for two centuries. The sausage-and-pretzel combination at a Viktualienmarkt bench is the most Bavarian lunch available.
Oktoberfest, Munich (September–October) — The world’s largest folk festival, held on the Theresienwiese each year from the third Saturday of September for 16–18 days: 14 enormous tent-beer halls, each operated by a different Munich brewery, with lederhosen-clad waitresses carrying 10 litres of Märzenbier at a time, roast chicken, and the specific collective joy of 7 million visitors in two weeks. Book accommodation and reserve table seats in the main tents months in advance.

Castles & Alpine Bavaria

Neuschwanstein Castle — The most visited building in Germany outside Berlin and the definitive image of the German castle: the white neo-Romanesque turreted palace of King Ludwig II, perched on a rocky spur above the Alpsee lake near Füssen, whose silhouette inspired the Disney logo. The interior — the Throne Room, the Singers’ Hall, the bedroom — is extraordinary in its excessive Wagnerian detail. Book timed tickets months in advance; the view from Marienbrücke (Mary’s Bridge) above the castle is the best photograph in Bavaria.
Schloss Hohenschwangau — The yellow neo-Gothic castle below Neuschwanstein, where Ludwig II grew up, with a more intimate scale and a connection to the legends that shaped his building obsession. Less visited than its famous neighbour; the interior is more genuinely medieval in character.
King Ludwig II’s Other Palaces: Herrenchiemsee & Linderhof — Ludwig II built three palaces in Bavaria: the island palace of Herrenchiemsee (a larger-scale version of Versailles, built on an island in the Chiemsee lake, with the Hall of Mirrors exceeding Versailles’s in length), and the intimate forest palace of Linderhof (the only one completed in his lifetime, with a Venus Grotto). Together with Neuschwanstein they constitute the most extraordinary expression of 19th-century royal imagination in Europe.
Zugspitze — Germany’s Highest Peak — The 2,962-metre summit of Germany’s highest mountain, on the Austrian border: accessible by a combination of rack railway and cable car from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with the view from the summit covering six countries on clear days. The highest restaurant in Germany is at the summit; the sunrise from the Zugspitzplatt (the plateau below the summit) is extraordinary.
Berchtesgaden & the Eagle’s Nest (Kehlsteinhaus) — The Berchtesgaden valley in the extreme southeast of Bavaria, with the Eagle’s Nest (the Kehlsteinhaus) — the 50th-birthday present given to Hitler by the Nazi Party in 1939, now a restaurant open May to October. The drive up the mountain road and the lift through 124 metres of rock are extraordinary engineering achievements. The Documentation Centre in Obersalzberg below tells the full history of the Nazi leadership’s mountain retreat.
Königssee: The Emerald Alpine Lake — The most scenically perfect alpine lake in Germany: the electric silent boats that cross from Schönau to the pilgrimage church of St Bartholomä (where the famous echo is demonstrated) and the Salet landing stage. No motor boats permitted; the water is clean enough to drink. The surrounding mountains — the Watzmann (Germany’s second-highest peak) and the Reiteralpe — produce the finest fjord-like alpine landscape in Bavaria.
Berchtesgaden Salt Mine — Active since 1517, with a mine tour that includes a slide into the salt cavern, a boat ride across an underground salt lake, and 3-D light shows on the salt crystal walls. The longest-running mining tourism operation in Germany.

The Romantic Road & Medieval Franconia

Rothenburg ob der Tauber — The most perfectly preserved medieval walled town in Germany: a complete circuit of medieval walls and towers (walkable), the Market Square with its mechanical clock (the Meistertrunk), the Plönlein (the most photographed street junction in Germany), and the Christmas Village (Käthe Wohlfahrt) which sells Christmas decorations year-round. The Christmas market (December) is the most atmospheric in Germany outside Nuremberg.
Dinkelsbühl & Nördlingen — Two further medieval walled towns on the Romantic Road, both less visited than Rothenburg: Dinkelsbühl’s intact town walls and half-timbered houses, and Nördlingen (unique for being built entirely within a meteorite crater — the city wall follows the crater rim exactly, and the local stone contains diamond-dust from the impact). The nightly Night Watchman’s tour at Dinkelsbühl is the finest guided heritage walk in medieval Germany.
Nuremberg (Nürnberg): History & Lebkuchen — The second city of Bavaria: the Imperial Castle (Kaiserburg), the medieval Market Square with the beautiful Gothic Schöner Brunnen fountain, and the full weight of 20th-century history — the Nuremberg Rallies grounds (the largest preserved Nazi Party complex in the world, now a documentation centre), the Palace of Justice where the Nuremberg Trials were held (courtroom 600 is still in use, open for visits). Nuremberg’s Christmas market is the oldest and most famous in Germany.
Bamberg: The Undamaged Medieval City — Undamaged by the Second World War, Bamberg’s UNESCO-listed old town is the most completely preserved medieval city in Bavaria: the extraordinary four-towered Bamberg Cathedral (with the equestrian Bamberger Reiter — the finest medieval equestrian statue in Germany), the Old Town Hall on a bridge island in the Regnitz river, and the Rauchbier (smoked beer, specific to Bamberg and unlike any other beer in the world). The Schlenkerla tavern’s dark Märzen smoked beer, drunk in the 14th-century vaulted cellar, is the finest single beer experience in Germany.
Würzburg Residence (UNESCO) — The finest Baroque palace in Germany and one of the finest in Europe: the Residence of the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg, with the world’s largest fresco (by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, covering the entire ceiling and walls of the staircase hall, 18 metres × 32 metres) and the Imperial Hall of extraordinary gilded and stuccoed splendour. The Franconian wine cellars beneath the Marienberg fortress across the Würzburg Main serve the finest dry Silvaner in Germany.

Rhine & Moselle Valleys

Rhine Valley (Mittelrhein, UNESCO) — The 65-kilometre stretch of the Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz, lined with medieval castle ruins on every promontory and vineyard-covered terraces on every slope: UNESCO World Heritage Site. The finest experience is the Rhine ferry between Rüdesheim and Bingen, or the KD Rhine steamer between Koblenz and Bingen, with the Lorelei rock, the Maus and Cat castles, and the Pfalzgrafenstein island fortress visible from the water.
Burg Eltz Castle, Moselle — The most beautiful castle in Germany: a fairy-tale cluster of towers and gables rising from a forest above the Elzbach valley, owned by the same family for 33 generations and never damaged in war. The walk from the Münstermaifeld road through the forest reveals the castle gradually — one tower, then two, then the full extraordinary composition. Book timed tickets; come in the morning mist for the finest atmosphere.
Moselle Wine Route: Bernkastel-Kues to Cochem — The wine valley of the Moselle, with its impossibly steep slate vineyard terraces producing the finest dry Riesling in the world: the medieval wine town of Bernkastel-Kues (with the Bernkastel Doctor vineyard, one of the most valuable parcels of land in Germany), the river bend at Bremm (the steepest vineyard in the world), and the village of Cochem below the Reichsburg castle. Cycling the Moselle cycle path between the river towns is the finest wine-country cycling in Germany.
Trier & the Roman Monuments (UNESCO) — Germany’s oldest city, established in 17 BC as the Roman Augusta Treverorum: the Porta Nigra (the finest surviving Roman city gate in the world), the Imperial Baths, the Roman Basilica (the largest single-room Roman structure in the world, now a Protestant church), the Amphitheatre, and the birthplace of Karl Marx (now a museum). The most complete Roman urban heritage site in Germany.
Rhine Gorge Night of the Rhine in Flames — Five times a year (May, June, July, September, October), a different Rhine Valley town hosts a spectacular fireworks display over the river, with illuminated pleasure boats, the castle ruins lit in red and gold, and the entire river between Bingen and Koblenz celebrating its medieval theatrical heritage. The finest single evening spectacle in the Rhine Valley.

The Black Forest, Baden & Southwest Germany

Black Forest (Schwarzwald) Walking — The dense spruce and fir forests of Baden-Württemberg, with the highest point at the Feldberg (1,493 metres): the Westweg (the 285-kilometre long-distance trail from Pforzheim to Basel) is the finest long-distance walk in the Black Forest. Day walks from Freiburg, Triberg (the Triberg waterfalls — the highest in Germany), and Titisee (the glacial lake at the heart of the Black Forest) are accessible without a car.
Freiburg im Breisgau: The Sunny City — The sunniest city in Germany, at the foot of the Black Forest: the Gothic Freiburg Minster (the most beautiful cathedral tower in Germany, completed after 300 years of construction in 1330), the Bächle (the small water channels running through the city streets, an original medieval fire-prevention system), and the finest university-town café culture in southwest Germany.
Baden-Baden Spa & Casino — The most elegant spa town in Germany: the Friedrichsbad (a 19th-century Roman-Irish bath house, with 17 stages of hot and cold mineral water treatments in rooms of marble and mosaic) and the Caracalla Terme (modern thermal pools). The Baden-Baden Casino is the oldest in Germany (1824) and was called by Marlene Dietrich the most beautiful casino in the world.
Heidelberg Castle & the Old Town — The most visited castle in Germany: the half-ruined red sandstone castle above the Neckar river, with the world’s largest wine barrel (the Heidelberger Fass, capacity 221,726 litres), and the finest view of the Neckar valley from the castle terrace. The old town below, with Heidelberg University (the oldest in Germany, 1386), the Hauptstrasse, and the bridge over the Neckar are the finest university town heritage experience in the country.
Bodensee (Lake Constance) & Mainau Island — The German side of Lake Constance: the Bodensee is the largest lake in the German-speaking world and the finest wine-growing lake in Germany. Mainau Island (a sub-tropical garden island owned by the Swedish royal family’s Bernadotte branch) and the town of Konstanz (the only city in Germany not destroyed by the Second World War, because the Swiss border was too close) make it the most varied single lake destination in Germany.

Northern Germany: Hanseatic Cities & the Coast

Hamburg: Germany’s Second City — Germany’s most international city: the Speicherstadt (the UNESCO-listed red brick warehouse district in the harbour, now a museum and gallery complex), the Elbphilharmonie (Herzog & de Meuron’s 2017 concert hall on the harbour, one of the finest pieces of architectural design in 21st-century Germany), the Reeperbahn (St Pauli’s legendary entertainment mile, where the Beatles played their first engagements in 1960–62), and the finest fish sandwich in Germany at the Fischmarkt.
Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg — The concert hall built on a 19th-century warehouse in the Hamburg harbour: the wave-shaped glass superstructure atop the red brick base, with the Grand Hall’s 10,000 individually shaped gypsum acoustic panels forming the finest concert acoustic in Germany. The Plaza (the observation deck between old and new) is free to access with a timed ticket and gives the finest view of the Hamburg harbour. One of the greatest pieces of 21st-century architecture in Europe.
Hamburg Speicherstadt (UNESCO) — The largest warehouse district in the world, built 1883–1927 in red neo-Gothic brick on oak piles above the harbour canals: now housing the Museum of Miniature Wonders (Miniatur Wunderland, the world’s largest model railway installation, open 24 hours), the Spice Museum, the Hamburg Dungeon, and dozens of design offices and creative businesses. The canal-side walk through the Speicherstadt at dusk is the finest heritage walk in Hamburg.
Lübeck: The Queen of the Hanseatic League (UNESCO) — The former capital of the Hanseatic League: the Holstentor (the twin-towered city gate, the symbol of Lübeck, on every 50 Pfennig coin until the Euro), the Marienkirche (the model for the brick Gothic churches of Northern Europe, with the world’s largest mechanical organ), the Buddenbrooks House (Thomas Mann’s family home, the setting for his Nobel Prize-winning novel), and the marzipan tradition (the finest marzipan in the world, produced by Niederegger since 1806).
Sylt Island & the North Sea — The northernmost German island, 40 kilometres long and 12 kilometres wide at its widest, connected to the mainland by a causeway: the finest white-sand beaches in Germany, the North Sea light, the Watt (the intertidal mudflat UNESCO World Heritage Site), and the specific mix of celebrity-holiday glamour and genuine North Sea wildness. The Sylt-Shuttle train from Niebüll (no road bridge, cars must take the train) is the most cinematic approach.
Rügen: The Baltic Chalk Cliffs — Germany’s largest island, in the Baltic Sea: the chalk cliffs of Jasmund National Park (the white cliffs painted by Caspar David Friedrich in the most famous German Romantic landscape paintings), the Prora holiday resort (the Nazi “Strength through Joy” development, the longest building complex in the world at 4.5 kilometres, now partially converted), and the Binz beach resort (the finest Wilhelmine resort architecture in Germany). The view from the Königsstuhl cliff, of the white chalk faces above the Baltic, is the finest coastal view in Northern Germany.

Eastern Germany: History, Art & Landscapes

Dresden: The Baroque City — The finest Baroque city in Germany, rebuilt after the catastrophic Allied bombing of February 1945: the Frauenkirche (the Lutheran church destroyed in 1945 and reconstructed stone by stone in 2005), the Zwinger palace complex (with the Old Masters Picture Gallery — Raphael’s Sistine Madonna is here, and the finest collection of Dresden porcelain), and the Dresden Semperoper (one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world). The Saxon State Art Collections in Dresden constitute the finest single art museum complex in eastern Germany.
Raphael’s Sistine Madonna, Dresden — The painting that inspired Sigmund Freud, Dostoyevsky, and Rilke: Raphael’s Madonna di San Sisto (1512), with the two cherubs at the base looking upward in the most famous compositional detail in Western art. Displayed alone at the end of its own gallery in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister; the experience of standing before it — knowing everything that has been said about it — is the finest single painting encounter in Germany.
Saxon Switzerland National Park (Sächsische Schweiz) — Germany’s only rock national park, in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains near Dresden: the Bastei Bridge (the most dramatic viewpoint in eastern Germany, a stone bridge over a 194-metre gorge above the Elbe valley), the Schrammsteine (a row of sandstone towers accessible by walking trail), and the Kuhstall (a rock arch large enough for cattle to shelter within). The finest landscape walking in eastern Germany.
Weimar: Goethe, Schiller & the Bauhaus — The small Thuringian city where Goethe and Schiller lived and worked, where the Weimar Republic was founded, and where the Bauhaus school began: the Goethe National Museum (Goethe’s house, preserved as he left it), the Duchess Anna Amalia Library (UNESCO-listed for its Rococo hall, one of the most beautiful library rooms in the world), and the Bauhaus Museum (2019, the finest new museum in Thuringia). Three distinct historical layers in a city of 65,000.
Erfurt: Luther & the Medieval City — The capital of Thuringia and one of the finest medieval cities in Germany: the Cathedral Square (Domplatz), where Martin Luther was ordained as priest, the Krämerbrücke (the Merchants’ Bridge, a 62-metre medieval bridge entirely covered with half-timbered houses — the finest inhabited bridge in Europe), and the Zitadelle Petersberg (the most complete Baroque fortress complex in central Germany).
Leipzig: Bach, Gutenberg & Contemporary Art — The city of Johann Sebastian Bach (he worked at the Thomaskirche for 27 years; his grave is before the altar), Felix Mendelssohn, Richard Wagner (born here), and the Peaceful Revolution (the Monday Demonstrations of 1989 that contributed to the fall of the Wall). The Spinnerei (a former cotton mill now housing the finest concentration of contemporary art galleries in eastern Germany) and the Auerbach’s Keller (the wine cellar where Mephisto first appears in Goethe’s Faust) are the most culturally specific Leipzig experiences.
Quedlinburg (UNESCO) — The most completely preserved medieval town in the Harz mountains: the Collegiate Church of St Servatius on the castle hill (the finest Romanesque church in the Harz), the Treasury (with the most important collection of medieval reliquaries in northern Germany), and the intact half-timbered town below the hill — 1,300 buildings registered as heritage monuments. The most complete small-city medieval ensemble in eastern Germany.
Görlitz: Germany’s Most Complete Old Town — The easternmost city in Germany, on the Polish border (the Polish side of the city, Zgorzelec, was separated by the post-war border): the most completely intact old city in Germany, entirely undamaged in the Second World War, with Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Gründerzeit architecture on every street. Regularly used as a film location for period productions. The Görlitz Synagogue (the only intact pre-war synagogue in Silesia) and the Nikolaikirche cemetery complete the most extraordinary heritage town in eastern Germany.

Beer, Wine & the German Table

Oktoberfest Beer & the Wiesn — Already listed (item 22), but the beer itself deserves separate attention: the six Munich breweries licensed for Oktoberfest (Augustiner, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, and Spaten) each brew a special Märzenbier for the festival — a stronger, darker, more malty version of Munich lager. Drinking it from a 1-litre Masskrug in the tent, standing on a bench, is one of the defining German experiences.
Riesling Tasting on the Moselle or Rhine — Germany produces the finest Riesling in the world: the bone-dry Mosel Auslesen from producers like Ernst Loosen, Müller-Catoir, and the JJ Prüm estate, and the Rhine Rheingau Rieslings from Schloss Johannisberg (the oldest Riesling estate in the world) and Kloster Eberbach. Tasting the great German Rieslings at the source — in a slate-cellar winery on a river bend — is the finest wine experience in Germany.
Bavarian Beer Garden at Sunset — The Biergarten tradition of Munich — outdoor tables beneath chestnut trees, where citizens bring their own food and buy only the beer from the brewery (a right established by royal decree in the 19th century) — is the finest free urban outdoor experience in Bavaria. The Hirschgarten (the largest beer garden in the world, 8,000 seats), the Englischer Garten’s Chinese Tower garden, and the Augustinerkeller are the finest. Come at 6pm on a warm Thursday in June.
Franconian Wine & the Bocksbeutel — The dry white wines of Franconia, sold in the distinctive flat-sided Bocksbeutel bottle: the Silvaner and Scheurebe of the Würzburg area, tasted in the wine cellar of the Juliusspital (the finest wine estate in Franconia, operating since 1576 for the benefit of the hospital it was founded to support) or at the wine market on the Würzburg old bridge.
Christmas Markets: Nuremberg, Cologne & Strasbourg — Germany’s Christmas markets (Christkindlmärkte) are the finest in Europe: Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt (the oldest and most famous, running since 1628), Cologne’s six simultaneous markets (including the one at the Cathedral), Dresden’s Striezelmarkt (the oldest in the world, 1434), and the Hamburg Hamburgischer Weihnachtsmarkt. The combination of mulled wine (Glühwein), gingerbread (Lebkuchen), and the smell of pine and roasted nuts in the cold air of a medieval square is entirely German and entirely unrepeatable.
Currywurst in Berlin — The Berlin street food invention of 1949: sliced pork sausage with ketchup and curry powder, served in a cardboard tray with a small wooden fork. The Currywurst Museum in Berlin traces the history; Curry 36 in Mehringdamm and Konnopke’s Imbiss under the elevated railway at Schönhauser Allee are the finest addresses.
Bratwurst in Nuremberg & Thuringia — The Nuremberg Bratwurst (the thin, spiced pork sausage grilled over beechwood, served in groups of six or twelve on a pewter plate with sauerkraut and fresh horseradish) is the finest sausage in Germany. The Thuringian Rostbratwurst — 200 millimetres of pure pork, grilled at every festival, football match, and street market in Thuringia — is the most widely consumed. A city, a sausage, and a beechwood fire: Germany distilled.

Nature & the Outdoors

The Bavarian Alps: Zugspitze, Berchtesgaden & Garmisch — The German Alps are the finest mountain landscape in Northern Europe: the Zugspitze (item 26), the Berchtesgaden National Park (the only Alpine national park in Germany, with the highest peaks, the Königssee, and the Watzmann), and the Garmisch-Partenkirchen valley (with the Partnach Gorge, a 700-metre-long ice-carved gorge accessible by foot in all seasons).
Black Forest Long-Distance Walking: Westweg — The 285-kilometre trail from Pforzheim in the north to Basel in the south, through the highest sections of the Black Forest: the Feldberg (the highest point, 1,493 metres), the Belchen (with the finest panoramic view of the Alps from the Black Forest), and the gorges and valleys of the southern Black Forest. The finest long-distance walk in southwest Germany.
Saxon Switzerland Climbing & Hiking — The Elbe Sandstone Mountains offer the finest rock climbing in Germany: a tradition of sandstone climbing ethics (knotted sling anchors only, no metal protection) that predates those of Yosemite and has produced some of Germany’s finest climbers. The non-climber routes through the Schrammsteine, the Papstdorf area, and the Kirnitzschtal gorge are equally rewarding.
Spreewald Biosphere Reserve — The unique landscape southeast of Berlin: a network of over 200 waterways through an ancient Slavic forest, navigated by punt-boat (the traditional flat-bottomed Spreewald boat). The Sorbian cultural minority — one of the four recognized national minorities in Germany — lives here, maintaining their own language and the Spreewald Gurke (pickled gherkin, the only UNESCO-registered food tradition in Germany).
Müritz National Park, Mecklenburg — Germany’s second-largest national park, in the Lake Mecklenburg plateau of the northeast: 117 lakes, ancient beech forests (UNESCO Primeval Beech Forests), white-tailed eagles, ospreys, and the finest canoe-camping circuit in Germany. The most remote and most tranquil national park landscape in mainland Germany.
Wattenmeer (Wadden Sea, UNESCO) — The largest tidal flat system in the world, along the German North Sea coast from the Danish border to the Elbe estuary: UNESCO World Heritage Site, with guided mudflat walking (Wattwandern) from the mainland at low tide to the North Frisian Islands, seals, migratory birds, and the extraordinary quality of the North Sea light on the exposed tidal flats.
Berchtesgaden National Park: Alpine Wilderness — The most alpine national park in Germany: the Watzmann east face (the largest rock face in Germany), the Königssee valley, and the Steinernes Meer (Stone Sea — a high plateau of ancient limestone). The national park trail from Berchtesgaden to the Austrian border crosses the finest alpine wilderness in the German Alps.

History, Culture & German Heritage

Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom, UNESCO) — The most visited landmark in Germany: the Gothic cathedral begun in 1248 and completed — after a 600-year interruption — in 1880, with the world’s tallest twin spires (157 metres) and the Shrine of the Three Kings (the largest medieval shrine in the Western world). The south tower climb (533 steps) gives the finest view of the Rhine from any point in Cologne. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Quedlinburg UNESCO Collegiate Church — Already mentioned (item 57), but the church deserves separate emphasis: St Servatius, built between 936 and 1129, is the finest Romanesque church in Germany and contains the graves of Heinrich I (the first King of Germany) and St Mathilde (the patron saint of the Ottonian dynasty). Standing in the crypt above the original floor level, with the earliest German royal graves beneath the stone, is the most direct encounter with the founding of Germany available in any building.
Wartburg Castle (UNESCO), Eisenach — The medieval hilltop castle above Eisenach, in Thuringia: the site where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German (hiding under the name Junker Jörg after his excommunication), where Elisabeth of Hungary performed miracles of charity in the 12th century, and where Wagner set Tannhäuser. The Luther Room (with the inkspot stain on the wall where Luther threw his inkwell at the Devil) and the Knights’ Hall (with the finest Romanesque secular interior in Germany) are the highlights.
Bauhaus Sites: Dessau & Weimar (UNESCO) — The Bauhaus school, which invented modern design, operated in Weimar (1919–1925) and Dessau (1925–1932): the Bauhaus Dessau building (Walter Gropius’s 1926 masterpiece — the single most influential building in 20th-century architecture) and the Bauhaus Masters’ Houses (the residences of the Bauhaus faculty, an entire housing estate as a manifesto of modern living) are UNESCO-listed and accessible.
Documentation Centre Reichsparteitagsgelände, Nuremberg — The most important documentation of the Nazi Party rally system in Germany, in the unfinished Congress Hall of the Nazi Party Congress Grounds: the largest surviving unfinished building of the Third Reich, with the museum inside telling the full story of the political spectacle that made Nuremberg synonymous with Nazi power. The rally grounds themselves — the Tribune, the Luitpoldarena — are walkable and free.

Festivals & Events

Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale, February) — One of the three most important film festivals in the world: an annual programme of 400 films in 18 official sections, with the Golden Bear as the top prize. Public screenings are available in all sections; the festival transforms Berlin for 11 days each February into the most cinematically alive city in Europe.
Cologne Carnival (Kölner Karneval, February) — The largest Carnival in Germany: the three days of the Hauptkarneval (Weiberfastnacht, Rosenmontag, and Veilchendienstag) before Ash Wednesday transform Cologne into a city of costumes, street parties, and the Rosenmontagszug (the Rose Monday Procession — Germany’s largest street parade). The most participatory public celebration in the Rhineland.
Wagner Festival, Bayreuth (July–August) — The annual Wagner Festival in the Festspielhaus, built by Wagner himself on a hill above Bayreuth in 1876: the complete Wagner operas performed over five weeks with waiting lists of 10–15 years for tickets. The most exclusive and the most debated cultural event in Germany, but the Festspielhaus (purpose-built with its extraordinary acoustic) and the town of Bayreuth (with the Wagner Archive, the Villa Wahnfried, and the surrounding Franconian countryside) are rewarding even without a ticket.
Luther Year & Reformation Sites, Wittenberg & Erfurt — The town of Wittenberg (where Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door on 31 October 1517, beginning the Protestant Reformation) and Erfurt (where he was educated and ordained) are the two most important Reformation heritage sites in the world. The Luther House in Wittenberg, now a museum with Luther’s original manuscripts and personal possessions, is the most visited Reformation museum in Germany.

Hidden Gems & Unexpected Germany

Monschau: The Half-Timbered Hill Town — A small town in the Eifel hills near the Belgian border, with the finest concentration of intact slate-roofed half-timbered houses in the Rhineland-Palatinate region: the Rotes Haus (the Red House museum, the finest preserved 18th-century cloth merchant’s house in Germany), the Burg Monschau above the town, and the Rur valley walk. The Christmas market here is the finest small-town Christmas market in western Germany.
Wuppertal Suspension Railway (Schwebebahn) — Germany’s most remarkable piece of urban infrastructure: a monorail suspended above the Wupper river since 1901, carrying passengers through the city on an elevated track directly above the river. The ride — particularly the stretch above the water — is the most unexpected 15 minutes in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Pina Bausch Wuppertal Tanztheater (the choreographer’s company, still performing after her death) and the Von der Heydt Museum make Wuppertal one of the most culturally significant industrial cities in Germany.
Quedlinburg Half-Timbered Town — Already mentioned (item 57), but the town deserves emphasis beyond the castle: the Quedlinburg old town contains the finest ensemble of half-timbered houses in the Harz region, dating from the 16th to 18th centuries, with over 1,300 registered heritage buildings in a compact medieval town plan. Free to walk; extraordinarily intact.
Spreewald Canal Canoe Circuit — The canoe circuit through the Spreewald Biosphere Reserve south of Berlin: paddling the narrow forest channels between the Sorbian villages, with the punt boats carrying tourists in the main channels and the wildlife — herons, beavers, and the extraordinary birdlife of the wetland forest — in the side channels. The finest half-day canoe experience within reach of Berlin.
Rügen Jasmund National Park & the Chalk Cliffs — The chalk cliffs of Jasmund on the island of Rügen: the Königsstuhl (the highest cliff, 117 metres above the Baltic), the Stubbenkammer viewpoint (from which Caspar David Friedrich painted Chalk Cliffs on Rügen, the most famous German Romantic landscape painting), and the beech forest between the cliff edge and the Schmaler Bodden lagoon. Free to walk; the chalk cliffs are best seen from the water (boat tours from Sassnitz).
Zugspitze via the Reintal Valley — The long approach to Germany’s highest peak from the valley floor via the Reintal gorge: a full-day, 23-kilometre route that ascends from Garmisch through the river gorge to the Zugspitzplatt above the snowline, arriving at the summit by the cable car’s back stairs rather than by the railway and cable car approach. The finest mountain walking day in the German Alps.
Mecklenburg Lake Plateau Cycling — The flat lake district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: 1,000 lakes in 5,800 square kilometres of gentle glacial landscape, with the finest cycling infrastructure in northern Germany. The route from Waren (Müritz) to Neustrelitz through the Müritz National Park is the finest cycling day in the German northeast.
Hamburg Elbphilharmonie Evening Concert — The combination of the approach (the harbour front approach by ferry, or the walk from the Speicherstadt), the escalator ride through the building, and the acoustic of the Grand Hall (its individually shaped gypsum panels producing the finest concert acoustic in Germany) make the Elbphilharmonie the most complete single arts building experience in contemporary Germany.
Berchtesgaden Salt Mine & the Alpine Underground — The salt mine that has been operating since 1517 — Germany’s oldest continuously operating industrial facility — with a tour that includes a salt-mine boat ride, a salt crystal grotto, and a 40-metre slide between levels. The most fun heritage tour in Bavaria.
The Harz Mountains & Brocken Summit — The highest mountain in northern Germany (1,141 metres), shrouded in Walpurgisnacht mythology (30 April, when witches were believed to gather on its summit) and accessible by the Harz narrow-gauge steam railway from Nordhausen or Wernigerode: a 19th-century rack railway still using steam locomotives. The combination of the steam train, the summit, and the mythology of the Brocken Spectre (the shadow cast on the clouds) makes it the most atmospherically specific mountain experience in northern Germany.
Quedlinburg to the Kyffhäuser: Imperial Germany Walk — The route from Quedlinburg south through the Harz foothills to the Kyffhäuser Memorial (the enormous 19th-century monument to Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa and Kaiser Wilhelm I, one of the most grandiose monuments in Germany) connects two of the most historically significant sites in early German history. Free to walk; the Kyffhäuser monument is the most monumental piece of the German Empire’s self-representation in stone.
Fehmarn Island & the Baltic Bridge — The German Baltic Sea island connected to the mainland by the Fehmarnsund Bridge (Germany’s most distinctive modern bridge), with some of the finest windsurfing and kitesurfing conditions in Europe, the Burg Fehmarn resort, and the perspective of the future Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link (the tunnel being bored beneath the Baltic between Germany and Denmark, the world’s longest immersed tunnel, under construction). The island’s eastern coast has the finest empty beaches in the German Baltic.

Walhalla Temple, Regensburg — A copy of the Athenian Parthenon, built by Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1842 on a promontory above the Danube near Regensburg: the Hall of Fame of the German-speaking world, with 130 busts of the distinguished dead from Arminius the Germanic chieftain to Dürer to Leibniz. The approach by Danube boat from Regensburg (the finest medieval city in Bavaria) and the view of the Danube from the temple’s staircase are extraordinary.
Regensburg Old Town (UNESCO) — The most completely preserved medieval city in Bavaria, largely untouched by the Second World War: the 12th-century Stone Bridge (Germany’s oldest intact bridge), the Cathedral of St Peter (the finest Gothic cathedral in Bavaria), the medieval towers (the Patrician Towers — the medieval merchant families’ status symbols, 20 of which still stand), and the Wurstküche (Germany’s oldest continuous sausage restaurant, operating since 1146 beside the bridge). Free to walk; the medieval cityscape is the finest in Bavaria outside Bamberg.
Frankfurt’s Museum Embankment (Museumsufer) — The southern bank of the Main river in Frankfurt, lined with 12 museums in a kilometre-long cultural promenade: the Städel (the finest art museum in Hesse, with the largest permanent collection of European art from the 14th century to the present of any German museum), the Museum of Applied Arts, the Museum of World Cultures, and the Architecture Museum. Free entry on certain evenings; the finest concentrated museum experience in central Germany.
Rothenburg Christmas Market at Night — The medieval walls of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, illuminated at night during the December Christmas market: walking the complete town wall circuit by night, with the half-timbered houses and the towers lit within the walls and the market stalls below illuminated, is the finest Christmas evening in Germany. The Night Watchman’s tour (9pm, year-round) is the most entertaining guided heritage walk in the country.
Cochem Castle & Moselle Village — The Reichsburg Cochem — the most dramatically sited castle on the Moselle, above the vineyard town of Cochem — is the best-restored medieval hilltop castle on the Moselle wine route. The combination of the castle, the river bend below, the vineyards, and the quality of the Moselle wine served in the castle’s own wine cellar makes Cochem the finest single overnight destination on the wine route.
Spreewald Gherkin & the Sorbian Culture — The Spreewald biosphere reserve south of Berlin is the heart of Sorbian culture: the west Slavic minority language that is still taught in local schools, the traditional Easter customs (Sorbian Easter egg painting, with geometric patterns specific to each village), and the Spreewald Gurke (the EU-protected pickled gherkin, grown in the biosphere’s rich soil and preserved in the traditional way since the Middle Ages). The Freilandmuseum Lehde (the open-air ethnographic museum of Sorbian life) is the finest heritage experience in the Spreewald.
The Deutsche Bahn ICE on the Frankfurt–Cologne High-Speed Line — The most impressive train journey in Germany: the ICE Cologne–Frankfurt line (187 kilometres in 65 minutes) passes through the Rhine valley and the Taunus hills on a purpose-built high-speed track of extraordinary engineering, with the train reaching 300 km/h through a landscape of half-timbered villages and forest. The most technically impressive passenger experience in the German transport network.
Watch the Sunrise Over the Rhine from the Loreley Rock — Drive to the Loreley rock above St Goarshausen in the predawn dark and stand on the viewpoint terrace as the Rhine valley below emerges from the mist: the river bends in both directions, the medieval castle ruins on every promontory gradually revealing themselves, the vineyard terraces green in the first light, and the Rhine itself — still and silver and ancient — connecting everything it passes. Germany, in this moment, is completely, unhurriedly itself: the history and the landscape and the wine and the music and the complexity all dissolving in a single morning view of a river that has been flowing through the centre of European civilization since before the Roman roads arrived on its banks and looked east into the barbarian forest and decided to stay.

Quick Facts for Visitors


Best time to visit	April–June and September–October (mild, fewer crowds, autumn colours)
Summer	July–August — warm, busy; beer gardens and outdoor festivals
Winter	November–January — Christmas markets (peak December); skiing in the Alps
Currency	Euro (€)
Language	German (Deutsch); English widely spoken in cities and tourist areas
Getting around	Deutsche Bahn (excellent rail network) · Deutschland-Ticket (€49/month all regional transport)
Capital	Berlin
Beer note	Germany has over 1,300 breweries and 5,000 registered beer brands. Regional variation is the point.
Oktoberfest	Third Saturday of September to first Sunday of October, Munich
Ideal trip length	5–7 days for one or two regions · 2–3 weeks for a cross-country tour

Germany is a country that rewards depth over breadth. Spend a week in one region — the Moselle valley, the Bavarian Alps, the Hanseatic north — and it gives you everything. The mistake is trying to see all of it at once. Germany has been here for a very long time. It can wait.