Stadtmuseum & Kunstsammlung Jena
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
This handsome fachwerk townhouse at the northern end of the market square dates in part to the 13th century. It now houses the Stadtmuseum (city museum)…
Must-see attractions in Central Germany
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Goethe is credited with recruiting Schiller to Jena University in 1789. The poet, playwright and philosopher enjoyed Jena so much that he stayed for 10…
Fairy-Tale Road
Species native (and often those that have been reintroduced) to the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, including wolves, red deer, eagle owls, lynx, bison,…
Weimar
Set amid Belvedere Park's lovely 43 hectares, this early-18th-century palace was once the hunting lodge of Duke Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach…
Weimar
At the western edge of Park an der Ilm, this is the house where Franz Liszt lived during his second stint in Weimar, from 1869 to his death in 1886…
Weimar
Weimar's expertly curated city museum occupies the handsome late 18th-century Bertuchaus, named for the publisher and entrepreneur who built it. The story…
Central Germany
Take a ‘magical mystery tour’ through the life and music of the Fab Four at the only year-round, though overly commercial, dedicated Beatles Museum on the…
Central Germany
The biggest sparkling-wine producer in Germany, the Rotkäppchen Sektkellerei was established in 1856. It is one of the few companies that survived the GDR…
Kurt Weill Zentrum in Haus Feininger
Central Germany
Haus Feininger, former home of artist Lyonel Feininger, now pays homage to Dessau-born Kurt Weill, who later became playwright Bertolt Brecht’s musical…
Harz Mountains
This 12th-century church is one of Germany’s most significant from the Romanesque period. Its treasury contains valuable reliquaries and early Bibles. The…
Central Germany
Schloss Mosigkau is a petite rococo palace that’s been called a ‘miniature Sanssouci’. Many of its 17 rooms retain their original furnishings, although…
Erfurt
Behind the magnificent chequerboard facade of the late-Renaissance Haus am Stockfisch ('House of Stockfish', or dried cod) lies a fascinating exploration…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Housed in the 1936 Automobilwerk Eisenach (AWE) factory, this museum celebrates a history of auto-manufacture dating to 1896, when the first 'Wartburg' …
Central Germany
Visitors are free to roam the delightful gardens, which include vineyards and partially restored fruit plantations. The neoclassical Schloss Grosskühnau,…
Erfurt, Weimar & Thuringia
One of the best places to admire the beauty of Mühlhausen's Altstadt is from the 370m section of the town fortification accessible through Inneres…
Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen
Central Germany
Magdeburg’s oldest building, a decommissioned medieval monastery, is now a museum presenting regional sculptures and contemporary art from Saxony-Anhalt…
Fairy-Tale Road
Sitting on a crag in a loop of the Weser River in the little village of Polle, 15km from Bodenwerder, this wonderfully accessible castle ruin (c 1200),…
Central Germany
This museum, expanded and updated in 2013, focuses on three themes: how the culture of death has evolved over the centuries; Eisleben native son Martin…
Central Germany
The former residence and workplace of Lucas Cranach, considered to be among the most prolific German painters and printmakers of the Reformation, have…
Museum für Thüringer Volkskunde
Erfurt
This folklore museum is one of the largest of its kind in Germany, with an interesting collection focused on the applied arts, with household objects,…
Brüder Grimm-Haus and Museum Steinau
Fairy-Tale Road
The famous German folklorists, born in nearby Hanau, lived in this handsome Renaissance stone house as children, from 1791 to 1796. It now houses exhibits…
Fairy-Tale Road
One of the most complete surviving early-modern castles in Europe, Steinau Castle is well worth a visit. Built for the Count of Hanau in the mid-16th…
Thuriningian Museum of Pre- & Ancient History
Weimar
Four-hundred-thousand years of Thurinigian history and prehistory are entertainingly charted in this multistorey museum, including remains of proto-humans…
Erfurt, Weimar & Thuringia
Thuringia’s second-largest church (after the Dom in Erfurt, also dedicated to Mary), the striking, five-naved, 14th-century Gothic Marienkirche was…
Central Germany
Walter Gropius' house is the most recently reconstructed of the Masters' Houses, opened to the public in 2014. It contains the ticket office for the…
Weimar
This handsome neoclassical palace was home to the Duchess Anna Amalia from 1774, after the residential palace (today the Schlossmuseum) burned. Visitors…
Central Germany
This gallery sells ancient-looking black-and-white sketches of Martin Luther, both typeset and printed by hand. Take a tour to hear the owner explain the…
Central Germany
The house in which Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759) was born is now the Händel-Haus. An exhibit inside charts the composer’s life, achievements and…
Weimar
Belgian architect, designer and painter, Henry van de Velde added some art-nouveau touches to this house, where the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche spent…
Harz Mountains
The impressive late-Gothic Rathaus is most beautiful at night, when light shining through its stained-glass windows illuminates the stone-patterned town…
Central Germany
Ongoing restoration is underway at this delightful Dutch-inspired baroque ensemble, south of Wörlitz, but visitors can access most of the rooms and in…
Central Germany
This house where the famous religious reformer Martin Luther was born has been a memorial site since 1693, though it has been updated since then. The…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Goethe himself planted the ginkgo tree in these wonderful botanic gardens, which have grown since their inception in 1794 to a collection of more than 12…
Erfurt, Weimar & Thuringia
Dating in parts to the early 14th century, Mühlhausen’s Rathaus is an architecturally intriguing hotchpotch of Gothic, Renaissance and baroque styles…
Harz Mountains
This beautifully presented little museum boasts a colourful collection of painted pewter figures and depicts scenes of daily life in Goslar from the…
Harz Mountains
Wernigerode's magnificent Marktplatz is presided over by its towering Rathaus. In the middle of the square, a neo-Gothic fountain (1848) was dedicated to…
Central Germany
Schloss Luisium is an intimate neoclassical refuge framed by an idyllic English garden scattered with neo-Gothic and classical follies. East of central…
Harz Mountains
Of the two rocky bluffs flanking the Bode Valley, Hexentanzplatz is the most developed and popular. Take the cable car to the top for spectacular views…
Musikinstrumenten- und Puppenmuseum
Harz Mountains
A private museum sprawling over five floors, containing musical instruments, dolls and a porcelain collection housed in the cellar.
Central Germany
How would you like to study grammar and algebra in a building where trees sprout from the windows and gilded onion domes balance above a rooftop garden?…
