Cologne & Northern Rhineland
The 1913 Nibelungenhalle is a temple-like shrine to the composer Richard Wagner, decorated with scenes from his opera cycle Ring of the Nibelungen. Part of the ensemble is the Drachenhöhle, a musty walkway that wraps around the hall and culminates at a pond inhabited by a 13m-long moss-draped stone dragon. Tickets are also good for the small reptile zoo with pythons, anacondas and crocodiles.
Tram 66 heads to the bottom of the hill from Bonn Hauptbahnhof; from here it's a 1.2km walk.
21.57 MILES
Cologne’s geographical and spiritual heart – and its single-biggest tourist draw – is the magnificent Kölner Dom. With its soaring twin spires, this is…
18.69 MILES
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…
21.52 MILES
Sculptures and ruins displayed outside the entrance are merely the overture to a full symphony of Roman artefacts found along the Rhine. Highlights…
16.94 MILES
The favourite palace of archbishop and prince-elector Clemens August, Schloss Augustusburg is a precious rococo symphony designed by François Cuvilliés…
27.84 MILES
On the right bank of the Rhine, 118m above the river, this fortress proved indestructible to all but Napoleonic troops, who levelled it in 1801. To prove…
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud
21.34 MILES
One of Germany's finest art museums, the Wallraf-Richartz presents a primo collection of European art from the 13th to the 19th centuries in a minimalist…
6.41 MILES
Star composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770 in this rather humble townhouse, where today original scores, letters, paintings and instruments,…
4.93 MILES
The Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland presents a smart, fun romp through recent German history, starting from the end of WWII. Walk…
0.19 MILES
The neo-Gothic Schloss Drachenburg looks medieval but was actually built in the 1880s. It houses exhibits on the building's history, the ongoing…
3.12 MILES
Did you know that the airbag and MP3 technology were invented in Germany? You will, after visiting the Deutsches Museum Bonn. This pint-size subsidiary of…
4.67 MILES
Adjoining the Kunstmuseum Bonn, the Bundeskunsthalle (Federal Art Hall) is another striking space that brings in blockbuster exhibits from around the…
4.76 MILES
Beyond its dramatic foyer, the Kunstmuseum Bonn presents 20th-century works, especially by August Macke and other Rhenish expressionists, as well as such…
4.93 MILES
The Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland presents a smart, fun romp through recent German history, starting from the end of WWII. Walk…
5.32 MILES
The Museum Koenig is a natural history museum but it’s hardly your usual dead-animal zoo. The ‘Savannah’ exhibit re-creates an entire habitat with…
6.01 MILES
If memories of math class give you nightmares, this museum may not be for you. If they don't, you may well find this expansive collection of mechanical…
6.21 MILES
This rococo gem is lavishly decorated with gilded faux marble, frescoes and a Balthasar Neumann–designed version of the Holy Steps.