Must-see attractions in Germany

  • BERLIN, GERMANY- October 15, 2014: Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed starting on 13 August 1961. East Side Gallery is an international memorial for freedom. October 15, 2014 in Berlin

    East Side Gallery

    Friedrichshain

    The East Side Gallery is the embodiment of Berlin’s grit and guts.

  • Interior Of Cologne Cathedral

    Kölner Dom

    Cologne

    Cologne’s geographical and spiritual heart – and its single-biggest tourist draw – is the magnificent Kölner Dom. With its soaring twin spires, this is…

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    Aachener Dom

    Aachen

    It’s impossible to overestimate the significance of Aachen’s magnificent cathedral. The burial place of Charlemagne, it’s where more than 30 German kings…

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    Schloss Linderhof

    Bavarian Alps

    A pocket-sized trove of weird treasures, Schloss Linderhof was Ludwig II’s smallest but most sumptuous palace, and the only one he lived to see fully…

  • Fussen, Germany - August 7, 2015: Beautiful view of world-famous Neuschwanstein Castle, the nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival palace built for King Ludwig II on a rugged cliff, with scenic mountain landscape near Fussen, southwest Bavaria, Germany.

    Schloss Neuschwanstein

    Füssen

    Appearing through the mountaintops like a mirage, Schloss Neuschwanstein was the model for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle. King Ludwig II planned this…

  • The Zwinger Palace, baroque architecture

    Zwinger

    Dresden

    A collaboration between the architect Matthäus Pöppelmann and the sculptor Balthasar Permoser, the Zwinger was built between 1710 and 1728 on the orders…

  • Schloss Hohenschwangau, Bavaria, Germany

    Schloss Hohenschwangau

    Füssen

    King Ludwig II grew up at the sun-yellow Schloss Hohenschwangau and later enjoyed summers here until his death in 1886. His father, Maximilian II, built…

  • Freiburg Minster cathedral night view

    Freiburger Münster

    Freiburg

    With its lacy spires, cheeky gargoyles and intricate entrance portal, Freiburg’s 11th-century minster cuts an impressive figure above the central market…

  • Germany, Bavaria, Wetterstein mountains, Zugspitze, Summit cross

    Zugspitze

    Garmisch-Partenkirchen

    On good days, views from Germany’s rooftop extend into four countries. The return trip starts in Garmisch aboard a cogwheel train (Zahnradbahn) that chugs…

  • Exterior of Staedelsches Kunstinstitut museum (Museum Staedel), Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany.

    Städel Museum

    Frankfurt am Main

    Founded in 1815, this world-renowned art gallery has an outstanding collection of European art from masters including Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir,…

  • Herrenhäuser Gärten

    Hanover

    Proof that Hanover is not all buttoned-down business are the grandiose Baroque Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen, about 5km north of the city centre, which…

  • Ulmer Münster

    Ulm

    'Ooh, it’s so big'… First-time visitors gush as they strain their neck muscles gazing up to the Münster. It is. And rather beautiful. Celebrated for its…

  • Schloss & Park Sanssouci

    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…

  • Porta Nigra

    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…

  • Schloss Sanssouci

    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…

  • Konstantin Basilika

    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 …

  • 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…

  • Munich/Germany-September 8 2017:.Exterior of camp facilities with memorial sculpture and wall,  at Dachau Concentration Camp, Munich, Germany.; 
KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau

Shutterstock ID 760718488; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau

    Bavaria

    Officially called the KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, this was the Nazis’ first concentration camp, built by Heinrich Himmler in March 1933 to house political…

  • 500px Photo ID: 141403461 - Photo by Savvy Gao

    Schloss Nymphenburg

    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…

  • Residenzmuseum

    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…

  • Statue of the Great Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg standing in grand courtyard of Charlottenburg Palace.

    Schloss Charlottenburg

    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…

  • Maria Laach Abbey, the west end with the paradisium, a narthex enclosing a garden. Maria Laach Abbey (iAbtei Maria Laach) is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See (Lake Laach), near Andernach, in the Eifel region of the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany in July 2020.

    Abteikirche Maria Laach

    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…

  • Residenz, Wurzburg, Germany

    Würzburg Residenz

    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…

  • Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

    Alte Pinakothek

    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…

  • Isar Cycle Route, Monopteros in background, English Garden, Munich, Upper Bavaria, Germany

    Englischer Garten

    Munich

    The sprawling English Garden is among Europe's biggest city parks – it even rivals London's Hyde Park and New York's Central Park for size – and is a…

  • Interior view of the Pinakothek der Moderne, Rotunda, Munich, Bavaria, Germany, Europe

    Pinakothek der Moderne

    Munich

    Germany's largest modern-art museum unites four significant collections under a single roof: 20th-century art, applied design from the 19th century to…

  • Streetview on Luitpold Prinzregent Statue and Bavarian National Museum Munich

    Bayerisches Nationalmuseum

    Munich

    Picture the classic 19th-century museum, a palatial neoclassical edifice overflowing with exotic treasure and thought-provoking works of art, a repository…

  • Schloss Herrenchiemsee

    Chiemsee

    An island just 1.5km across the Chiemsee from Prien, Herreninsel is home to Ludwig II’s Versailles-inspired castle. Begun in 1878, it was never intended…

  • A vertical shot of the Hercules monument in Wilhelmshoehe Castle Park in Kassel, Germany.

    Herkules

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Erected between 1707 and 1717 by Landgrave Karl and declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 2013, the 8.25m-high copper Herkules statue stands atop a…

  • The historical townhall and market place of Marburg, Germany.

    Altstadt

    Fairy-Tale Road

    One of the joys of Marburg is simply strolling around its steeply winding medieval core. Its focal point is the Marktplatz; on the southern side is the…

  • Schwerin Castle, Schwerin, Germany; Shutterstock ID 418483972; Your name (First / Last): Gemma Graham; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Northern Germany destination page

    Schloss & Gardens

    Northern Germany

    Gothic and Renaissance turrets, Slavic onion domes, Ottoman features and terracotta Hanseatic step gables are among the mishmash of architectural styles…

  • Wörlitz Park, Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

    Wörlitz Park & Schloss Wörlitz

    Central Germany

    With peacocks feeding on the lawn before a neo-Gothic house, a tree-lined stream flowing towards a Grecian-style temple and a gap in a hedge framing a…

  • The Bauhaus master house building designed by architect Walter Gropius in 1925, Dessau, Germany.

    Meisterhäuser

    Central Germany

    You’ll find the four surviving Meisterhäuser – Gropiushaus, Haus Feininger, Haus Muche/Schlemmer and Haus Kandinsky/Klee – on leafy Ebertallee, a 15…

  • BERLIN - JANUARY 10: Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin was founded in 1982 in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin and exhibits a large collection of historical technical artifacts January 10, 2010 in Berlin.; Shutterstock ID 70200388; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    Deutsches Museum

    Munich

    If you’re one of those people for whom science is an unfathomable turn-off, a visit to the Deutsches Museum might just show you that physics and…

  • View at the Konigssee from Malerwinkel

    Königssee

    Berchtesgaden

    Gliding serenely across the wonderfully picturesque, emerald-green Königssee makes for some unforgettable memories and photo opportunities. Cradled by…

  • Kaiserburg (Imperial castle) & Sinwellturm (tower), N|rnberg (Nuremberg), Bavaria, Germany

    Kaiserburg

    Nuremberg

    This enormous castle complex above the Altstadt poignantly reflects Nuremberg's medieval might. The main attraction is a tour of the renovated residential…

  • Old tree and roots at Edersee lake, at Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, Waldeck-Frankenburg, Hessen, Germany.

    Nationalpark Kellerwald-Edersee

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Hesse's first national park encompasses the Kellerwald, one of the largest extant red-beech forests in Central Europe and a rare survivor of the last Ice…

  • Heidelberg castle

    Schloss Heidelberg

    Heidelberg

    Towering over the Altstadt, Heidelberg’s ruined Renaissance castle cuts a romantic figure, especially across the Neckar River when illuminated at night…

  • Sunday morning market in Fischmarkt

    Fischmarkt

    St Pauli & Reeperbahn

    Here's the perfect excuse to stay up all Saturday night. Every Sunday in the wee hours, some 70,000 locals and visitors descend upon the famous Fischmarkt…

  • Gemaldegalerie, Gallery

    Gemäldegalerie

    Berlin

    This museum ranks among the world's finest and most comprehensive collections of European art with about 1500 paintings spanning the arc of artistic…

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