Brno
Brno had a reputation in the 1920s as a centre for modern architecture in the Bauhaus style. Arguably the finest example is this family villa, designed by…
Must-see attractions in Central Europe
Potsdam
This glorious park and palace ensemble is what happens when a king has good taste, plenty of cash and access to the finest architects and artists of the…
Warsaw
The fully interactive, push-the-buttons-and-see-what-happens Copernicus Science Centre pulls off that tricky feat of being both hugely fun and educational…
Vienna
The Kaiserappartements, once the official living quarters of Franz Josef I and Empress Elisabeth, are dazzling in their chandelier-lit opulence. The Sisi…
Hohe Tauern National Park
Bad Gastein’s star attraction is this 341m waterfall, which rages over rugged cliff faces and through thick forest to tumble into three turquoise pools…
Budapest
The one-time home of the eponymous first director (1828–1905) of the Museum of Applied Arts has recently opened and is a shrine to art nouveau…
Trier
Trier's most famous landmark, this brooding 2nd-century Roman city gate – blackened by time, hence the name, which is Latin for ‘black gate’ – is a marvel…
The Salzkammergut
This castle, set just beyond the lake's edge and reached by a walkway, is believed to have been built on the ruins of a Roman fortress. It dates from 909…
Schloss Belvedere to the Canal
Rising splendidly above the gardens and commanding sweeping views of Vienna’s skyline, the Oberes Belvedere, at Schloss Belvedere, is one of Vienna’s…
Potsdam
Frederick the Great's famous summer palace, this rococo gem was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in 1747 and sits daintily above vine-draped…
Trier
Constructed around AD 310 as Constantine’s throne room, the brick-built basilica is now an austere Protestant church. With built-to-impress dimensions …
Staré Město
This museum consists of six Jewish monuments clustered together in Josefov: the Maisel Synagogue; the Pinkas Synagogue; the Spanish Synagogue; the Klaus…
Danube Bend & Western Transdanubia
In a country filled with religious sites, nothing comes close to the hilltop Pannonhalma Abbey in terms of architectural splendour and historical…
Wielkopolska
Gniezno’s history and character are inextricably intertwined with its cathedral, an imposing, double-towered brick Gothic structure. The present church…
Gedenkstätte und Museum Sachsenhausen
Around Berlin
About 35km north of Berlin, Sachsenhausen was built by prisoners and opened in 1936 as a prototype for other camps. By 1945, some 200,000 people had…
The Great Masurian Lakes
Hidden in thick forest near the hamlet of Gierłoż, 8km east of Kętrzyn, is one of Poland’s eeriest historical relics – 18 overgrown hectares of huge,…
Lower Saxony & Bremen
The Nazi-built camp at Bergen-Belsen began its existence in 1940 as a POW camp, but became a concentration camp after being taken over by the SS in 1943,…
Kraków
Wawel Cathedral has witnessed many coronations, funerals and burials of Poland’s monarchs and nobles. The present cathedral is basically a Gothic, but…
Paulite Monastery of Jasna Góra
The Kraków−Częstochowa Upland
Poland’s spiritual capital began with the arrival of the Paulite order from Hungary in 1382, who named the 293m hill in the western part of the city …
Bavaria
Officially called the KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, this was the Nazis’ first concentration camp, built by Heinrich Himmler in March 1933 to house political…
Southwestern Slovenia
The jaw-dropping Postojna Cave system, a series of caverns, halls and passages some 24km long and two million years old, was hollowed out by the Pivka…
Munich
This commanding palace and its lavish gardens sprawl around 5km northwest of the Altstadt. Begun in 1664 as a villa for Electress Adelaide of Savoy, the…
Southwestern Slovenia
Touring the huge, spectacular subterranean chambers of the 6km-long Škocjan Caves is a must. This remarkable cave system was carved out by the Reka River,…
Munich
Home to Bavaria's Wittelsbach rulers from 1508 until WWI, the Residenz is Munich's number-one attraction. The amazing treasures, as well as all the…
Lower Silesia
This impossibly photogenic castle, the largest in Silesia, commands a thickly wooded prominence in Książ. Following the destruction of an earlier…
Ljubljana
Crowning a 375m-high hill east of the Old Town, this castle is an architectural mishmash, with most of it dating from the early 16th century when it was…
City West & Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg Palace is one of Berlin's few sites that still reflect the one-time grandeur of the Hohenzollern clan, which ruled the region from 1415 to…
Prague
Strahov Library is the largest monastic library in the country, with two magnificent baroque halls dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. You can peek…
Kraków
This striking brick church, best known simply as St Mary’s, is dominated by two towers of different heights. The first church here was built in the 1220s…
Treblinka
In a remote clearing, hidden in a Mazovian pine forest, stands a granite monolith; around it is a small field of 17,000 jagged, upright stones, many…
Southwestern Slovenia
Predjama Castle, 9km from Postojna, is one of Europe's most dramatic castles. It teaches a clear lesson: if you want to build an impregnable fortification…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
When it comes to medieval castles and their importance in German history, Eisenach's Unesco-listed Wartburg dominates the landscape. This huge medieval…
Eastern Slovakia
Slovenský Raj's rocky plateaus, primeval forests and interlacing streams form some of Slovakia's most picturesque hiking terrain. Treks often involve…
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
Serenely tucked within beautiful Eifel countryside, Abteikirche Maria Laach is one of the finest examples of a Romanesque church in Germany. Part of a 900…
Würzburg
The vast Unesco-listed Residenz, built by 18th-century architect Balthasar Neumann as the home of the local prince-bishops, is one of Germany’s most…
Bełżec
This subdued memorial and museum bears witness to the 600,000 Jews killed here in 1942 by the Nazis as part of their ‘Operation Reinhard’, the German plan…
Munich
Munich's main repository of Old European Masters is crammed with all the major players who decorated canvases between the 14th and 18th centuries. This…
Staré Město
Prague’s most exuberantly art-nouveau building is a labour of love, with every detail of its design and decoration carefully considered, and every…
Prague
While this monument's massive functionalist structure has all the elegance of a nuclear power station, the interior is a spectacular extravaganza of…
Budapest
Housed in a grand Renaissance-style building and once again opened after three years' renovations in late 2018, the Museum of Fine Arts is home to the…
