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Top 100 Tourist Attractions in Germany

Popular Germany landmarks and tourist spots

  • 1 The Reichstag

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    The Reichstag thumbnail
    Part of the Reichstag building in Berlin.
    Constructed to house the Imperial Diet of the German Empire, the Reichstag was created as a massive Neo-Renaissance palace, with the Emperor himself's foundation stone in 1884. It opened ten years later but was severely damaged after being set on fire in 1933. In the aftermath of World War II, the building largely fell into disuse, with the German Democratic Republic parliament meeting in East Berlin’s Palast der Republik and the Bundestag parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany meeting in Bonn’s Bundeshaus ...

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  • Gottorf Castle thumbnail
    The exterior of the Gottorf Castle.
    Located on an island in the Schlei, a narrow inlet of the Baltic Sea, Schloss Gottorf is a historic castle estate that served as the House of Oldenburg's ancestral home. It lies just a couple of kilometers from the Old Town of Schleswig and boasts two of the state’s most significant museums. The island was first settled as an estate in the 12th century as Bishop Occo of Schleswig's residence before being transferred to the Count of Holstein of the House of Schauenburg in 1340 ...

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  • Brandenburg Gate thumbnail
    The top of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
    Built by Prussian king Frederick William II during the early Batavian Revolution, the Brandenburg Gate is one of Germany's most iconic landmarks. This 18th-century Neoclassical sandstone monument was modeled on the Acropolis in Athens and is located at the start of the road that extends from Berlin to Brandenburg an der Havel. It lies just to the west of the Pariser Platz and provides a monumental entry to Unter den Linen (the boulevard of linden trees), which once led directly to the City Palace of the Prussian monarchs ...

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  • Mainz Cathedral thumbnail
    The exterior of the Mainz Cathedral in Germany.
    Nestled in the historic heart of Mainz is St. Martin’s Cathedral, a 1000-year-old cathedral that serves as the episcopal see of the Bishop of Mainz. Its soaring towers dominate the pedestrianized Old Town's half-timbered houses, and it represents the high point of Romanesque cathedral architecture in Germany ...

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  • Eekholt Wildlife Park thumbnail
    Deers in the Eekholt Wildlife Park.
    Located on the northern edge of the Segeberger Forest between the towns of Bad Bramstedt and Bad Segeberg, the Eekholt Wildlife Park is home to around 100 different species of native wildlife. It showcases the animals in their natural habitats while raising awareness about sustainability in nature. The Eekholt Wildlife Park was founded in 1970 and is still privately run to this day. It was created to convey awareness about plants, animals, and humans' ecological interdependence, with diagrams and exhibits illustrating the role each plant or animal plays in maintaining the ecological balance ...

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  • Neuschwanstein Castle thumbnail
    Neuschwanstein Castle exterior in Bavaria, Germany.
    The Neuschwanstein Castle, located in Germany's Bavarian region, is the ultimate when you are thinking of fantasy castles. It is the quintessential 19th-century romantic palace. 
    Commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and homage to Richard Wagner, Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the world’s most photographed royal residences ...

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  • Maybach and Zeppelin bunker complex thumbnail
    A tunnel in the Maybach and Zeppelin bunker complex.
    Built to house the High Command of the Army and the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces during World War II, the Maybach I and II were a cluster of above and below ground bunkers built near Zossen in Brandenburg. They were named after the Maybach automobile engine, and together with the nearby military complex, they played an instrumental role in the planning of field operations for the Wehrmacht, connecting the military with civilians along the front lines ...

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  • Stretching for 98 kilometers through the countryside of Schleswig-Holstein, the Kiel Canal links the North Sea with the Baltic Sea between the towns of Brunsbüttel and Kiel. It was built in the late 19th century to prevent ships from having to make the much longer journey around the northern tip of Denmark and was originally called the Kaiser-Wilhelm Canal. The first connection between the North and Baltic Seas was the Eider Canal that was completed under the reign of Christian VII of Denmark in 1784 ...

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  • 11 Zugspitze

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    Germany's largest Mountain, the Zugspitze forms part of the Wetterstein Alpine mountain range that straddles the border with Austria. It lies just south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with its summit soaring to 2,962 meters and renowned for its gilded cross and magnificent views. On a clear day, Zugspitze boasts panoramas across four different countries and as far as the Eastern Alps, with the peaks ranging in height from 2,000-4,000 meters ...

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  • Sprawling along the border between Germany and the Czech Republic, the Bavarian Forest is an extensive area of woodland that once covered much of southern Germany. During Roman times it was known as the Hercynian Forest and today extends across the same mountain range as the Bohemian Forest in the Czech Republic. It includes the walking trails of the Bavarian Forest National Park (the first of its kind in Germany), the Bavarian Forest Nature Park and the Eastern Bavarian Forest Nature Park, as well as the ski slopes of the Great Arber ...

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  • One of the most popular resort towns in the Bavarian Alps is Berchtesgaden, which lies at one end of the German Alpine Highway. Soaring mountains surround the town on all sides and have long drawn hikers and sightseers, including Adolf Hitler who built his Eagle’s Nest retreat here. Follow the 6.5-kilometer-long Kehlsteinstrasse (a private road built for Adolf Hitler) to the Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest), which now features a restaurant boasting panoramic views of the region ...

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  • Originally established in 1679 as a herb garden for the Royal Palace, the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Gardens are now one of the largest and most important of their kind in the world. They sprawl across more than 100 acres in the Lichterfelde area of Berlin, with around 22,000 different plant species represented. The Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Gardens as they are known today were designed under the guidance of architect Adolf Engler, with the main purpose of displaying exotic plant species brought back from Germany’s colonies ...

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  • Situated between the River Spree and the Kupfergraben, Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s packed with many of Berlin’s most important cultural institutions. It’s here that the historic Altes Museum is found, having been built in 1830 to house the Crown Jewels, as well as the Neues Museum that was established in 1855 and rebuilt following World War II. It was designed to house collections that could not fit in the Altes Museum, including ancient Egyptian artifacts and the ethnographic collection, and stands as an important monument to the innovations that were taking place in building construction during the mid-19th century ...

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  • Established in 1961 to help stem the flow of refugees from East Germany to West Germany, the Berlin Wall has become synonymous with the city. When it was torn down in 1989, the graffiti-covered wall extended for 155 kilometers and rose four meters high, with almost 300 observation towers and more than 50 bunkers. Today just a small stretch of the wall has been preserved as part of the Berlin Wall Memorial, which was established by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal State of Berlin in 1998 ...

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  • Of note is the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, a museum dedicated to what was the best-known crossing point between East and West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie was the name given by Western Allies to the crossing during the Cold War (1947-1991) and it was here that Soviet and American tanks came face-to-face during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 ...

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  • Once the most important residence for German royalty, Charlottenburg Palace is a lavish, 17th-century estate and the largest palace in Berlin. It is renowned for its opulent baroque and rococo interiors that include a 50-meter-high central dome, as well as a stunning formal garden surrounded by woodlands. It was the wife of Friedrich III, Sophie Charlotte, who originally commissioned the palace and it was designed by architect Johann Arnold Nering ...

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  • Stretching from the Brandenburg Gate to the Lustgarten, Unter den Linden is Berlin’s most famous street. Its name translates as “Under the Lime Trees Avenue” and it began as a 16th-century riding track for royalty to go hunting in the Tiergarten. It was formally established in 1647 when its famous lime trees were planted and now features a grassed pedestrian mall and two broad carriageways on either side ...

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  • Originally used as a hunting reserve for Berlin royalty, the Grosser Tiergarten was transformed into a public oasis in 1700 and now spans more than 500 acres of English-style parklands. It’s planted with an abundance of trees, large expanses of grassy lawns and picturesque floral borders, as well as being home to a number of important monuments. These include a late-19th-century statue of Queen Luise and a monument to Frederick Wilhelm III that features reliefs illustrating his peaceful reign ...

    Read more about the Grosser Tiergarten and the Victory Column

  • Nicknamed “the hollow tooth” by Berliners, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is one of Berlin’s most interesting landmarks and located on the Kurfürstendamm in the center of Breitscheidplatz. It includes the damaged spire of a late-19th-century church, as well as a modern church and belfry dating to the 1960s. The original church was built by Kaiser Wilhelm II, countering the socialist and labor movements taking place in Germany during the late-19th century with a Protestant church-building programme that sought a return to traditional religious values ...

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  • One of Berlin’s largest squares, the Gendarmenmarkt is a charismatic corner of the city and a popular meeting point for both locals and tourists. It’s flanked by three historic buildings - the Konzerthaus, the Französischer Dom and the Berliner Dom - and was named after a regiment of the Gendarmerie that once had their stables here. The Gendarmenmarkt was originally laid out at the end of the 17th century as the Linden-Markt and created by Johann Arnold Nering, with Georg Christian Unger reconstructing the square in 1773 ...

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  • The largest model railway in the world, Miniatur Wunderland features more than 12,000 meters of track and almost 900 different trains, set within Hamburg’s historic warehouse district of Speicherstadt. It includes areas dedicated to railways of the United States and Scandinavia, as well as different regions across Germany. In addition to its railways and trains, Miniatur Wunderland also features meticulously recreated airports, planes, buildings and humans, all of which are illuminated by more than 300,000 lights ...

    Read more about the Miniatur Wunderland

  • Nicknamed the “Gateway to the World”, the Port of Hamburg is the largest in Germany and the second-busiest port in Europe. It was founded in 1189 by Frederick I due to its strategic location along the River Elbe and enabled Hamburg to emerge as a leading trade city in Central Europe. Today the Port of Hamburg (the Hamburger Hafen) is home to many of the city’s most famous attractions and ideally explored by boat tours that depart from Landungsbrücken ...

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  • Hamburg boasts a fascinating seafaring history and the best place to discover the maritime events and people that have shaped the city is at the International Maritime Museum. It’s housed in an immense red-brick heritage building in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg and traces more than 3,000 years of maritime history through artifacts, model ships and artworks. The International Maritime Museum Hamburg is based around the private collection of Peter Tamm, which was begun in 1934 when he was just six years old ...

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  • Set across three connected buildings in Hamburg’s Altstadt district, the Kunsthalle is one of Germany’s most prestigious art galleries and one of the largest museums in the country. It nestles between the two Alster lakes and the Hauptbahnhof and is designed around four different sections: the Gallery of Old Masters, the Gallery of 19th-century Art, the Gallery of Classical Modernism and the Gallery of Contemporary Art ...

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  • Dominating the Rathausmarkt square in the Altstadt quarter of the city is the sumptuous neo-Renaissance Hamburg Rathaus (City Hall). It was completed in 1897 and serves as the seat of the Hamburg government, with offices for the First Mayor of Hamburg and meeting spaces among its 647 rooms. Guided tours of this Hamburg landmark enable you to see the government in action and many rooms are opened during the annual Long Night of Museums event that takes place each April ...

    Read more about the Hamburg Rathaus (City Hall)

  • The most famous church in Hamburg is St. Michael’s, which was built in an opulent Baroque style during the mid 18th century. Unlike many of the churches in the city that were built by Roman Catholics and later converted to Protestantism during the Reformation, St ...

    Read more about the St. Michael's Church

  • Ohlsdorf Cemetery thumbnail
    The statue of a soldier in the Ohlsdorf Cemetery.
    The largest rural cemetery in the world, the Ohlsdorf Cemetery sprawls across 966 acres in Hamburg’s Ohlsdorf quarter. More than 1.5 million burials have taken place throughout its history and there are around 280,000 burial sites within the cemetery, together with 12 chapels. While most of the people buried at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery are civilians, there are also a large number of prisoners-of-war in the Hamburg Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery ...

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  • One of the most important museums of applied arts in Europe, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg is situated within a 19th-century building that resembles a neo-Renaissance palace. It showcases china, furniture and silver from Northern Germany, applied arts from East Asia and an impressive collection of keyboard instruments and porcelain. There are works dating from the ancient era, right up to pieces from present-day craftspeople ...

    Read more about the Museum of Arts and Crafts

  • While the Elbe River has long been the focal point of Hamburg’s trade and port, one of its tributaries, the Alster, also plays an important role in the social life of the city. Originating as a small bog in the Timhagen Brook near Henstedt-Ulzburg, the Alster flows around 25 kilometers north to Hamburg. It’s here that the Inner and Outer Alster have been created, two artificial lakes that are connected to the river and surrounded by many of Hamburg’s most scenic recreational areas and historic avenues ...

    Read more about the Great Lakes: Inner and Outer Alster

  • Sprawling on the edge of the St. Pauli Piers, Wallringpark consists of four beautifully maintained gardens to the west of the Altstadt and Alster Lake. It includes the Kleine and Grosse Wallanlagen, which are laid out along the line of the old fortifications, and the Old Botanic Garden, together with the 116-acre Planten und Blomen that was created in 1821 ...

    Read more about the Wallringpark and Planten und Blomen

  • 33 Ozeaneum

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    Located in the Hanseatic town of Stralsund is North Germany’s most visited museum - the German Oceanographic Museum. It’s set across numerous buildings, including the Nautineum, the Natureum and the Ozeaneum, with the main Oceanographic Museum housed within a former hall of St. Catherine’s Church. The main Oceanographic Museum features exhibits detailing Germany’s marine environment, including its fishing industries, the flora and fauna of the Baltic Sea and ongoing conservation and research projects ...

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  • Home to the largest chalk cliffs in Germany, the Jasmund National Park is located on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen. It’s the smallest national park in Germany and features ancient beech forests that have been dated to more than 700 years of age, forming part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany ...

    Read more about the Jasmund National Park

  • Situated within an observation bunker of Peenemünde’s former power station, the Historical Technical Museum explores the development of rockets and missiles here in the lead up to and during World War II. It has become a landmark stop on the European Route of Industrial Heritage, following the history of the Peenemünde Army Research Centre and the Luftwaffe test site of Peenemünde-West that once formed the largest armaments center in Europe ...

    Read more about the Historical Technical Museum

  • Situated on an island in the middle of the Schweriner See lake, Schwerin Palace is the opulent former home of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg. It’s regarded as one of the most important works of romantic Historicism and has been nicknamed the "Neuschwanstein of the North”. Schwerin Palace has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and today serves as the seat of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliament ...

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  • 37 Rostock Zoo

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    Founded in 1899, Rostock Zoo sprawls across 56 hectares to the southwest of the city center. It is one of the largest zoos in Northern Germany, with around 4,500 animals across more than 350 species, including orangutans, gorillas and polar bears. Its animal enclosures are set within a landscaped park that’s dotted with sculptures and artworks while featuring a vast range of plant species from across the globe ...

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  • Established in 1882 by Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Staatliches Museum Schwerin is a renowned art gallery and museum. When the gallery opened to the public in the late 19th century, it was considered a pioneering piece of modern architecture, with anti-burglary and fire-protection measures installed, together with a state-of-the-art lighting system ...

    Read more about the Staatliches Museum Schwerin

  • 39 Cape Arkona

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    Located at the northern tip of Rügen Island, Cape Arkona forms part of the Wittow Peninsula that stretches to the north of Jasmund National Park. It’s home to two historic lighthouses and the Baltic temple fortress of Jaromarsburg, as well as a navigation tower and two military bunker complexes. Admire the brick architecture of the Schinkelturm, an early-19th-century light-house that stands as the second oldest lighthouse on the German Baltic Sea coast ...

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  • The second largest lake in Germany, Lake Müritz sprawls across 117 square kilometers in the south of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It’s fed by the River Elbe and descends to a maximum depth of 31 meters, with its surrounding forests and wildlife-rich wetlands protected as the Müritz National Park. It’s easily accessed from the town of Waren on its northern tip or Röbel, which overlooks the Binnensee on the lake’s western shores ...

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  • Featuring historic steam locomotives and coaches, the Rügen narrow-gauge railway chugs its way from Putbus to Göhren on the island of Rügen. The first stretch of the railway was originally opened in 1895, with the network being extended to more than 100 kilometers by the end of the 19th century. The Rügensche BäderBahn railway (nicknamed the “Rushing Roland”) is all that remains of this former narrow gauge railway, allowing visitors to explore the magnificent countryside of southeast Rügen in vintage comfort ...

    Read more about the Rügen narrow-gauge railway

  • Considered the greatest collection of Dutch buildings outside of the Netherlands, Potsdam’s Dutch Quarter (Holländisches Viertel) was designed by Jan Bouman and built between 1733 and 1740. It is clustered with 169 red brick buildings, most of which have been beautifully restored and renovated, now housing boutique shops and eclectic cafes. Also known as “Little Amsterdam”, the Dutch Quarter was originally commissioned by Frederick William I to attract skilled workers to the area from the Netherlands ...

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  • Established in 1936 as a Nazi concentration camp for political prisoners, Sachsenhausen (“Saxon’s House”) is situated near the town of Oranienburg to the north of Berlin. It served as an administrative center for concentration camps across Germany, with Schutzstaffel (SS) officers being trained here before being posted elsewhere. Initially Sachsenhausen was not intended as an extermination camp, with executions of Soviet prisoners of war done primarily by hanging or shooting ...

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  • Established in 1826 at the request of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III, Alexandrowka is a Russian colony located in the north of Potsdam. It was named in honor of the recently deceased Tsar Alexander I and was originally built as a home for the Russian singers of the First Prussian Regiment of the Guards. Today Alexandrowka is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features 13 wooden houses designed in a quintessential Russian style ...

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  • Founded by Ascanian margraves in 1258, the former Cistercian abbey of Chorin is situated around an hour’s drive from Berlin in the Schorfheide. It is considered one of the most important monuments of early brick Gothic architecture in Brandenburg and played a significant role in the Ascanians' influential sphere along the border with the yet-to-be-conquered Slavs ...

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  • Combining history, architecture and nature, the Tree & Time Treetop path Baumkronenpfad Beelitz-Heilstätten is located a short drive from Berlin. This 320-meter-long wood and steel walkway leads through the picturesque grounds and atmospheric ruins of a 19th-century sanatorium, offering a unique perspective on this historic area. It was in 1898 that the Landesversicherungsanstalt Berlin bought a 140-hectare parcel of woodland near the town of Beelitz, with a lung clinic and sanatorium opening in the spring of 1902 ...

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  • One of the largest tracts of forest in Germany, the UNESCO-listed Schorfheide Chorin Biosphere Reserve lies to the northeast of Berlin. It features deep valleys and vast open landscapes that were carved by immense moving glaciers during the last Ice Age, resulting in a variety of different terrains and an abundance of plant and animal species ...

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  • One of Brandenburg’s most popular family-friendly attractions is the theme park of Tropical Islands Resort, which is housed in a former hangar of the Brand-Briesen Airfield in Halbe. It holds the title of being the largest indoor waterpark in the world, occupying what is the biggest free-standing hall in the world. The Brand-Briesen Airfield was established for the Luftwaffe in 1938 and taken over by the Soviet Red Army in May 1945 ...

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  • At the heart of Bremen lies its charismatic Marktplatz, a lively square that is home to many of the city’s attractions. It’s here that the beautiful Gothic Town Hall is located, as well as a prominent statue of Germany’s most famous knight, Roland. Both were established during the Holy Roman Empire and stand as powerful representations of the city’s autonomy and sovereignty ...

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  • Located on the Marktplatz in the heart of Bremen, the Cathedral of St. Peter was first established in the 11th century and is largely medieval in its architectural style. Additions were made in the 13th and 16th centuries, followed by extensive restorations at the end of the 19th century and today it stands as one of the largest historic brick structures in Europe ...

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  • Explore the nature, culture and trade history of overseas regions at the Übersee-Museum Bremen, an ethnographic “Overseas Museum”. It boasts outstanding collections relating to the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania, as well as an exhibition exploring the effects of globalization. The Übersee-Museum Bremen is located within a heritage-listed building adjacent to the Bremen Central Station, with its collection established as the “Municipal Collections of Natural History and Ethnography” back in 1875 ...

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  • Set across 114 acres to the northeast of the city, the Rhododendron-Park Bremen is an extensive botanical garden that’s famed for its vibrant displays of rhododendrons and azaleas. It was established in 1905 by businessman Ernst Franz Schütte along the banks of the Weser River. Plants were organized in geographical zones from the Orient, Mexico and Caucasus and the gardens featured collections of medicinal herbs and poisonous plants ...

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  • Despite stretching only around 100 meters in length, Bremen’s narrow Böttcherstraße is one of the city’s most popular cultural landmarks. It’s renowned for its unusual expressionist architecture, with most of its buildings erected between 1922 and 1931 following the initiative of a Bremen-based coffee merchant, Ludwig Roselius. He was a strong believer in National Socialism and Völkisch-Nordic cultural ideas, which he sought to highlight in Böttcherstraße’s architecture ...

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  • One of the oldest parts of Bremen is the medieval district of Schnoor, which is clustered with historic houses that were once inhabited by merchants and fishermen. Today it’s renowned for its handicraft shops and cafes, making it a popular spot to stroll in the city and discover its rich and storied history. In the Hanseatic city of Bremen, rich merchants tended to settle in the Obernstraße (Upper Street) while poorer merchants and fishermen settled in Schnoor ...

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  • Located on the “Culture Mile” near the Old Town of Bremen, the Kunsthalle is a renowned art museum. It houses an extensive collection of European paintings dating back to the 14th century, together with sculptural works and a new media collection. The building in which it is located was constructed in 1849 and later enlarged by architect Eduard Gildemeister before being heritage listed in 1977 ...

    Read more about the Kunsthalle Bremen

  • Experience Bremen’s history brought to life at the award-winning Bremer Geschichtenhaus, a “living” museum in Schnoor where historical events are vividly conveyed by costumed actors. What’s particularly unique about this museum is that all of the actors are long-term unemployed, with the project designed to help them find stable work and a new self-confidence. The Bremen Story House immerses you in historical settings from the mid-17th century right through to the 20th century, with the actors sharing their knowledge and skills in different areas ...

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  • Located a 50-minute train ride north of Bremen at Bremerhaven, the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum or German Maritime Museum showcases the country’s rich seafaring history. It forms part of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community and consists of a building designed by Hans Scharoun and a number of museum ships moored in the Old Harbour of Bremerhaven. The German Maritime Museum is dedicated to exploring the pre-industrial shipping of Central Europe and the impact of industrialization on German commercial shipping, as well as how man has used the sea’s resources throughout the centuries ...

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  • Situated near the University of Bremen, the Universum Science Center is one of the city’s newest attractions. It covers more than 4,000 square meters and is packed with interactive exhibits related to humans, technology and nature, offering an engaging and hands-on experience. The Universum Science Center's architecturally impressive building is a work of art in itself, appearing like a partially-opened mussel or a whale (depending on your perspective) ...

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  • 59 Römer

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    Serving as the city hall of Frankfurt am Main for over 600 years, the Römer is situated in the Altstadt and is one of the city’s most distinctive landmarks. The three-story complex consists of nine houses encircling six courtyards and exhib-its medieval architectural elements, including its iconic stepped gable facade. The Alt-Limpurg building displays the Frankfurtia, which is the female embodi-ment of the city, while the Haus Römer exhibits the four kaisers of the Holy Ro-man Empire - Frederick Barbarossa, Louis the Bavarian, Charles IV and Maximilian II ...

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  • Boasting one of the most important collections of art in Germany, the Städel Museum has a history that dates back to 1815 when it was founded by Frankfurt banker Johann Friedrich Städel. It was moved to its current Gründerzeit-style building in Frankfurt’s Schaumainkai museum district in 1878 and has grown its collection to more than 2,700 paintings and around 600 sculptures, as well as a significant number of drawings and prints ...

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  • Set within the family’s former residence, Goethe’s birthplace is now open to the public as a house museum celebrating the writer’s life and work. Goethe lived here until 1765 when, at the age of 16, he moved to Leipzig to study law. He de-scribed his childhood spent in the family home in his autobiography “Out of my Life: Poetry and Truth”, which was written between 1811 and 1833 ...

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  • 62 Edersee Dam

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    Spanning the Eder River in northern Hesse, the Edersee Dam was constructed between 1908 and 1914 near the small town of Waldeck. It was breached by Allied bombs during World War II in an event that was portrayed in the 1955 film, “The Dam Busters”. Unlike the Mohne Dam that had anti-torpedo nets and anti-aircraft guns installed, the Edersee Dam had little defense as the Germans believed it impossible to penetrate ...

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  • Overlooking the city of Darmstadt in southern Hesse, the Frankenstein Castle is a hilltop landmark that is believed to have inspired Mary Shelley’s 1818 Gothic novel “Frankenstein”. It’s one of many historic castles that dot the Hessische Bergstrasse (“Hessian Mountain Road”), which winds through the Odenwald Mountains and is renowned for its vineyards. The name “Frankenstein” translates from German as “Stone of the Franks” and the castle was built in the early 13th century by Lord Conrad II Reiz of Breuberg, the founder of the free imperial Barony of Frankenstein ...

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  • 64 Saalburg

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    The most completely reconstructed Roman fort in Germany, the Saalburg lies on the main ridge of the Taunus mountain range, part way between Bad Homburg and Wehrheim. It has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and forms part of the Limes Germanicus, a line of frontier fortifications that bound the ancient Roman provinces. Evidence indicates that a simple wood and earth fort was first established here in 90 AD before being replaced by a larger cohort fort in 135 AD ...

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  • Home to the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony, Mathildenhöhe was founded in 1899 by Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse with the aim of radically reforming the arts in his region. Art Nouveau artists Peter Behrens, Paul Bürck, Rudolf Bosselt, Hans Christiansen, Ludwig Habich, Patriz Huber and Joseph Maria Olbrich were invited to live and work in the colony, with their work financed by wealthy patrons ...

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  • Showcasing an impressive range of armored fighting vehicles, the German Tank Museum is situated at the Munster Training Area. Its collection evolved from the Bundeswehr instructional school for training officers, with its tanks, military vehicles, weapons, uniforms and decorations now open to the public. Witness tanks once belonging to the East German military and Wehrmacht vehi-cles from World War II, as well as tanks used by the British, United States and Soviet Red armies ...

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  • Sprawling across the northeast of Lower Saxony, the Lüneburg Heath is an extensive region of heath and farmland that forms part of a culturally rich landscape. Its heathland is typical of that which blanketed much of North Germany until the early 19th century, having been formed as a result of overgrazing during the Neolithic period. Today its remaining areas are kept cleared through grazing of Heidschnucke, a North German breed of moorland sheep ...

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  • Straddling the border between Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, the Harz Mountain National Park protects extensive tracts of spruce and beech woodlands, as well as several bogs that provide a habitat for rare black storks, peregrine falcons, European wildcats and Eurasian lynx. It’s a walkers paradise and crisscrossed with themed trails that form part of the Harzer Wandernadel network, with badges awarded based on the number of checkpoints visited. Follow in the footsteps of Goethe along the Goethe Way, which leads from Torfhaus through the Brockenfeld Moor to the summit of Mount Brocken and forms part of the 100-kilometer-long Harz Witches’ Trail ...

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  • Nestled at the foot of Rammelsberg hill, the Imperial Palace of Goslar is an ex-tensive complex of historical buildings and one of the most impressive tourist attractions in the Harz region. The grounds include the magnificent Kaiserhaus, the Collegiate Church of St. Simon and St. Jude and the Palace Chapel of St. Ul-rich. Together with Goslar’s Old Town and the Rammelsberg, the Imperial Pal-ace of Goslar has been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

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  • Built in the mid-19th century by King George V of Hanover as a birthday present for his wife, the Marienburg Castle is a Gothic revival landmark to the northwest of Hildesheim. It was designed by architect Conrad Wilhelm Hase and served as a summer seat for the House of Hanover and the House of Guelph whose yellow and white flag flies on the main tower. The Marienburg Castle has remained relatively well preserved after being left un-inhabited for 80 years when the royal family went into exile during Hanover’s annexation by Prussia in 1866 ...

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  • Set within the glacial landscapes to the northwest of Hanover, the Steinhuder Meer is a picturesque lake and recreational hub that’s named after the nearby village of Steinhude. While it’s the largest lake in northwest Germany, it only drops to around three meters in depth and is surrounded by the rolling landscapes of the Hanoverian Moor Geest. Follow one of the walking paths that weave through the Steinhuder Meer Nature Park, with a 32-kilometer-long loop following the lake’s perimeter ...

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  • Located in the town of Brühl, Phantasialand is a popular theme park that has been attracting punters since 1967. It was created as a family-oriented destination by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt but has since grown to include nu-merous thrill rides that make it a popular destination for young and old alike ...

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  • Rising spectacularly out of the wooded hills near the town of Horn-Bad Meinberg, the Externsteine is a collection of distinctive sandstone rock formations. They are considered one of the most impressive natural features of the Teutoburg Forest region, having been shifted into their vertical position millions of years ago and carved by the friction of ice during the Ice Age ...

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  • Positioned overlooking the Rhine River on the Drachenfels near the town of Königswinter, Schloss Drachenburg was built as a private villa by Baron Stephan von Sarter between 1882 and 1884. It features a diverse array of architectural styles, including medieval castle elements and Gothic cathedral-like spires that have made it one of Germany’s most striking and unusual landmarks. Drachenburg translates as “Dragon’s Castle” and this eclectic villa was recently restored by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia because of a mounting apprecia-tion for “historicism” ...

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  • Translating as “King's Avenue”, the Königsallee is the most famous boulevard in North Rhine-Westphalia, carving its way through the center of Düsseldorf. It's affectionately known as Kö by local residents and lined with designer fashion boutiques, jewelry stores and high-end hotels, making it the city’s most exclusive address. Königsallee was created following the removal of Düsseldorf’s fortifications at the end of the 19th century, with the spacious boulevard designed by court architect Caspar Anton Huschberger ...

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  • Located on the outskirts of Düsseldorf, Schloss Benrath is an opulent Baroque-style pleasure palace. It was built in the mid-18th century by court architect Nicolas de Pigage for the Elector Palatine Charles Theodor and his wife, Countess Palatine Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach. Its central corps de logis was occupied by the couple, with two symmetrical arched wings on either side where the servants resided ...

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  • Located in the Meiderich quarter of Duisburg, the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord is a unique park that combines industrial heritage elements with natural landmarks and a fascinating light installation. It was created in 1991 to celebrate the industrial heritage of the area (rather than eliminate it), encompassing the abandoned coal and steel production plant of the Duisburg-Meiderich steelworks and agricultural land that had been in use prior to the mid-19th century ...

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  • 79 Eltz Castle

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    Perched in the hills overlooking the Moselle River, Eltz Castle was established in the 12th century and has been owned by the same family ever since. It stands positioned on a rocky spur along what was an important Roman trade route connecting the valley’s fertile farmlands and markets and is one of only a handful of castles in Rhineland-Palatinate that have never been destroyed ...

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  • Officially known as the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Stephen, the Speyer Cathedral is the most prominent landmark in the historic town of Speyer and a des-ignated UNESCO World Heritage Site. It dates back to 1030 when its foundation stone was laid by Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor and it has long served as the resting place of the Salian dynasty ...

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  • Believed to have been built around the year 1000 by the Palatinate count, Ezzo, Cochem Castle boasts a commanding hilltop setting overlooking the River Moselle. It was pawned by King Adolf of Nassau in 1294 to pay for his coronation as German Emperor and remained under the archbishops of Trier until it was set on fire and blow up by French troupes in May 1689 ...

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  • Located in the town of Nürburg, the Nürburgring is a famous motorsports complex that features a Grand Prix race track and a longer “North Loop” track that weaves around the town and its medieval castle. It has a capacity for 150,000 spectators on race days but it’s the Nürburgring's open-for-all Touristenfahrten that attracts many auto enthusiasts. Test your skills on the Nordschleife “North Loop”, which extends for 22 ...

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  • The oldest wine route in the world, the German Wine Route extends through the sprawling wine growing region of the Palatinate between the Palatinate Forest and the Rhine Rift. It was established in 1935 following a record harvest and with the idea that it would help to boost wine sales in the connected villages. The beginning of the 85-kilometer-long route is marked by the grand sandstone German Wine Gate in Schweigen-Rechtenbach ...

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  • Forming part of the UNESCO-designated Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve (one of the largest forests in Europe), the Palatinate Forest is a protected swathe of low mountains in the southwest of Germany. Once seen as a source of energy supplies and raw materials, the forest is now protected as a nature park that makes for a popular recreational destination. The Palatinate Forest Nature Park was established in 1958 as the third nature park in Germany and designed as a place for workers in the polluted cities of the Rhine Valley to escape for some R&R ...

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  • 85 Ahr Valley

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    Beginning at the Ahr Spring in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ahr Valley is a picturesque region of vineyards, Roman ruins and hiking trails. It extends east to Ahrweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate and on to the Ahr River’s meeting point with the Rhine at the the Golden Mile near Kripp. It provides a relaxing escape, with medicinal springs and healing spas, not to mention spectacular rural scenery to explore ...

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  • Forming part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage, the Völklingen Iron-works is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed destination in the Saarland town of Völklingen. The ironworks dates to 1881 when it was constructed by Carl Röchling and didn’t close its doors until 1986. It now stands as the world’s only sur-viving smelting works from the 19th and 20th-century Golden Age of iron and steel ...

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  • Transporting visitors back to the prehistoric world of the dinosaurs, GONDWANA - the Prehistorium is an interactive and immersive science museum in Schiffweiler. Visitors are greeted by an introductory 3D film “Evolution” that explores nearly four billion years of evolution and offers a fascinating insight in-to our past. Wander through the life-like primeval landscapes of the Evolution Live exhibit to experience the sights, sounds and smells of the prehistoric world, then learn about the developments of mammals and humans in the Time Travel area ...

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  • Located near the villages of Borg and Oberleuken, the Roman Villa Borg is a beautifully reconstructed Roman villa that was discovered at the end of the 19th century. The site consists of a villa rustica agricultural facility that encompasses a large palatial residence and its surrounding settlement. Excavations have indicat-ed little activity at the site since Roman times, resulting in the preservation of its remains ...

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  • Consisting of several partially-recreated structures of a Gallo-Roman settlement, the Schwarzenacker Roman Museum is an open-air archaeological museum in the district of Schwarzenacker. It was established by archaeologist Alfonso Kolling who led the excavations at the site and exhibits the remains of a Roman vicus (country town) where around 2,000 people lived from the 1st century AD until it was destroyed by Alemanni in 275 AD ...

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  • Discover the industrial heritage of Saarland at the Saarländisches Bergbaumuseum, a museum that’s dedicated to the region’s mining legacy. Surrounded by beautiful parklands, the museum is located in the Hindenburg Tower and follows the coal mining history of Saarland dating back to the 15th century. It was August Ferdinand Cullmann, a lawyer from Zweibrücken and a liberal member of the Frankfurt am Main National Assembly, who in 1879 transformed the pit into the largest coal mine in Germany’s southwest ...

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  • Originally built as a lohmühle to serve the purposes of a local tannery, Schloss Fellenberg was transformed into the castle seen today by the Swiss manufacturer, William Tell von Fellenberg. Located in the charming capital of Merzig-Wadern, it features ornate carved sandstone, turrets and oriel bay windows, together with drainage pipes and bauziers, making it a striking example of 19th-century archi-tecture ...

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  • Located on Kreuzberg Hill in the charming town of Merzig (near where Germany, France and Luxembourg meet), the Garden of the Senses is a leafy oasis designed around 11 themed gardens that are divided into hedge-lined sections. It’s been created to ignite all of the senses - sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste - through carefully thought out plant and flower selections. Visitors are greeted by a geometric, modern-art sculpture at the entrance to the garden that is themed around the element of water, which is vitally important for the garden to thrive ...

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  • Serving as the headquarters of the famous Villeroy & Boch ceramics company for more than 200 years, the Benedictine Abbey in Mettlach boasts a rich history. Its Old Tower stands as the oldest religious building in the Saarland and it’s surrounded by a garden that’s planted with a diversity of native deciduous and evergreen trees. The former Benedictine monastery was purchased by Jean-François Boch in 1809 and restored following damage during the 18th-century War of the First Coalition ...

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  • Following the Saar River from Saarbrücken (near the French border) to the city of Konz (where the Saar River meets the Moselle), the Saar Cycle Route has been designated as a four-star premium route by the German Cyclists’ Federation. It can be completed in either direction, with relatively level cycling paths that make it ideal for young and old alike. The Saar Cycle Route encompasses asphalt paths and farm tracks while winding through terraced vineyards and steep valleys ...

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  • Nestled in the Harz Mountains overlooking the town of Wernigerode, the Wer-nigerode Castle is one of the most popular tourist landmarks in Saxony-Anhalt. Dating to the Middle Ages, it’s an impressive example of the Norddeutschen Historismus building style and exhibits similarities to the fairytale-like architecture of Schloss Neuschwanstein in southwest Bavaria ...

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  • 96 Brocken

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    The highest peak in the Harz Mountains, the Brocken towers to 1,141 meters (3,743 feet) between the Weser and Elbe rivers in the far west of Saxony-Anhalt. It has long played a significant role in local folk legends, such as the tale of the child witch Bibi Blocksberg, as well as influencing Goethe’s acclaimed work “Faust”. The Brocken is protected within the Harz Mountain National Park, which strad-dles the border between Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony ...

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  • 98 Lutherhaus

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    Originally built as part of the University of Wittenberg in 1504, the Lutherhaus is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed writer’s house museum that served as the home of Martin Luther for much of his adult life. It was here that he wrote his 95 Theses and it’s considered a significant location in the history of the Protestant Reformation. After the University of Wittenberg was opened in 1903, the monks of the Order of Saint Augustine began building a cloister that became known as the Black Monastery ...

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  • Housed in the 16th-century fortified castle of the Moritzburg, Saxony-Anhalt’s Kunstmuseum (art museum) exhibits an outstanding collection of artworks dating from the medieval period. The Moritzburg served as the former residence of the Archbishops of Magdeburg and combined elements of late-Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Historicism in its design. Much of the castle was destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War and the West Wing where the Kunstmuseum is situated had remained largely in ruins when its shell was transformed into the modern art gallery seen today in 2008 ...

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  • Located at the confluence of the Mulde and Elbe Rivers, Dessau has long been associated with the Bauhaus school of design. Founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, Bauhaus design aesthetics were applied in the construction of numerous buildings across Dessau, many of which have now been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

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List of attractions by theme: Roman ruins
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