One of Berlin’s most historically significant and symbolic locations, Friedrichstrasse runs straight through the center of the city. This buzzing shopping street and cultural hub was the site of part of the Berlin Wall, and today it still bears reminders of that turbulent period in Germany’s past. In fact, Checkpoint Charlie stands at one end.
Opened in 2001, Hamburg’s Miniatur Wunderland holds the Guinness World Record for the largest model railway. One of Germany’s most popular tourist attractions, the vast landmark encompasses more than 1,000 trains, as well as myriad model airplanes, cruise ships, and other vehicles.
Being around 310 miles (500 kilometers) from the coast, the landlocked city of Munich is perhaps one of Europe's most unlikely surfing spots. However, surfers have been flocking to ride the city’s artificial Eisbach Wave since the 1970s. The continuous wave is about 3 feet (1 meter) high and the ideal spot for surfers to practice year-round.
Heidelberg’s Old Bridge—the Karl Theodor Bridge or the Alte Brucke—is a pedestrian bridge spanning the Neckar River. The bridge dates back to 1786 with sandstone arches, towers, dungeons that were part of medieval fortifications, and various sculptures—including a lucky monkey statue (the “Brückenaffe”).
The Bavarian State Opera (Bayerische Staatsoper) is a historic opera company in Munich that dates back to 1653. It hosts around 400 events every year, with 600,000 spectators, and the main headquarters are at the National Theater Munich on Max-Joseph-Platz in central Munich. Visitors come to see ballet, concerts, music recitals, and operas.
Explore a Renaissance castle that dates back to the late 1400s during a visit to the Dresden Royal Palace. Once home to Saxony’s kings, today the palace houses the Dresden State Art Collections including the acclaimed Green Vault. Plan a visit here to learn about the building’s history, including damage from World War II bombings, and see a wide variety of art and antiques.
A series of eight enclosed courtyards, ringed with art nouveau (jugendstil) buildings, Hackesche Höfe is the largest complex of its kind in Berlin. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the courtyard area has become a popular central meeting point, home to numerous bars, restaurants, shops, and galleries.
Karl-Marx-Allee, formerly known as Stalinallee, is a monumental boulevard that was once the most famous street in East Berlin. Built as part of the Soviet reconstruction project, it is lined with classic Soviet-style buildings including large residential blocks. It still remains a popular street for shopping, eating, relaxing, and reveling.
Centrally located, Berlin’s Mitte (which means “middle”) is a great base from which to explore the city’s historical and cultural center, as the bulk of the city's most famous attractions like Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, and Museum Island are in this neighborhood. High-end shopping streets and excellent restaurants, cafés and bars round out the reasons to visit.
Billed as the world’s largest technology museum, the Deutsches Museum is so vast that it takes over an entire island in the center of Munich. Six floors of exhibitions are devoted to topics like aviation, energy, and natural science, with hands-on displays and activities that make it fun and educational for all ages.
The best-known of Cologne’s seven bridges, the Hohenzollern Bridge (Hohenzollernbrücke crosses the famed Rhine River. First debuted in 1911 and later reconstructed following the devastation of World War II, the Hohenzollern Bridge is located near the Cologne Cathedral, and is today celebrated as a romantic destination.
Featuring four halls and an enduring mission to support innovation within music, the Wiener Konzerthaus is one of Vienna’s most important musical institutions. The concert hall opened in 1913 and holds roughly 750 performances each calendar season, from classical orchestral concerts to jazz and world music.
This Museum serves as a moving tribute to one of the everyday heroes of World War II. Otto Weidt was a visually impaired man who owned and ran a factory that produced brooms and brushes. Weidt employed many blind and deaf Jewish workers, and during the war he went to great lengths to protect them from persecution and deportation.
Housed in a futuristic mirrored building, the BMW Museum is located at company headquarters near Munich’s Olympic Park. Inside you can find motorcycles and cars ranging from vintage Rolls-Royces to classic MINIs, with a series of interactive exhibits detailing 90 years of automobile design.
Named after the city of Paris to commemorate the overthrow of Napoleon in France, this public square lies directly in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Today, travelers visit Pariser Platz day and night to see and photograph the famous Brandenburg Gate—one of the most iconic landmarks in Berlin—and watch horse-drawn carriages waiting to take tourists on rides through the Tiergarten.
Munich’s Beer & Oktoberfest Museum offers a glimpse into the history and culture of the city’s most beloved drink. Set inside Munich’s oldest townhouse—right in the city center—visitors will explore several floors of suds-related exhibits, showcasing everything from the Bavarian monks’ purity laws and the unique quality of Munich’s beer to the history of Oktoberfest and historical artifacts, like old beer steins and brewing equipment. Don’t miss the ground-floor pub, which serves plenty of wurst to go with samples of the city’s best brews.
Located close to the Austrian border and soaring to a height of 9,718 feet (2,962 meters), the snow-crowned Zugspitze is Germany's highest mountain and one of its most popular ski resorts. The views from the top are spectacular, spanning the German and Austrian Alps.
The perfect place to learn about Germany’s past—the German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum) is the country’s national history museum. Centrally located in Berlin’s Mitte, it contains a diverse range of objects—including paintings, sculptures, and rare artifacts, as well as interactive areas and digital exhibitions.
The Otto Weidt Museum (Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt) tells the story of an everyday hero of World War II: Otto Weidt. This visually impaired broom and brush factory owner employed blind and deaf members of the Jewish community and helped save them from persecution during the Holocaust by falsifying documents and providing safe places to hide.
Nuremberg’s Hauptmarkt is a bustling square in the center of the Old Town. Known for its market stalls selling fresh produce, crafts, and local goods, it’s also the setting of Nuremberg’s famous Christmas market. Notable landmarks include the Schönen Brunnen fountain and the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).
That St. Paul's Church (Paulskirche) was one of the first buildings to be rebuilt post WWII says a lot about its importance. The landmark church is not only a center of worship; it also played a significant role in Frankfurt’s history, serving as the seat of the 1848 Frankfurt Parliament, the first freely elected German parliament.
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof is many visitors’ first look at this historic city. In fact, it’s many visitors’ first look at the region. Thanks to its location in the center of Europe, it’s widely regarded as not just Frankfurt’s Central Station, but Germany’s. With 120 tracks and service from Amsterdam to Paris, this is where Frankfurt adventures begin.
In the late 1960s, if you wandered into the basement of Grosse Freiheit 36 (Kaiserkeller) you might’ve caught John, Paul, George, Stuart, and Pete—as there was no Ringo yet—perfecting their act. Today, Kaiserkeller and Freiheit are on the list of the world’s most famous nightclubs, attracting everyone from Meat Loaf and R.E.M. to The Black Eyed Peas and the Backstreet Boys.
The St. Nikolai Church was first constructed in the 12th century, a fantastic Gothic cathedral on the River Alster. Rebuilt several times over, it was mostly destroyed during World War II air raids—miraculously, the cathedral tower still stands. Some 35,000 people were killed during Operation Gomorrah; today, the church ruins serve as a museum and memorial to those lives lost.
The looming steel peaks of the Iron Bridge (Eiserner Steg) have framed Frankfurt’s skyline since 1869; a homage to the city’s industrial age. The only footbridge across the Main River, the Iron Bridge links the Old Town and Römerberg Square on the north bank, with Old Sachsenhausen and the Museum Embankment on the south bank.
Inaugurated in 1880, Frankfurt’s Old Opera House (Alte Oper) was among Germany’s elite opera houses during its 20th-century heyday. Left in ruins after WWII, it finally reopened in 1981 and is now one of the city’s leading concert venues, hosting around 300 classical and popular music events throughout the year.
St. Lorenz Church is a Gothic Lutheran building in Nuremberg’s Old Town that dates back to the 13th century. Despite being bombed during World War II, its rare artwork was protected, and its structure was restored. Travelers come here to see medieval altars and one of the world’s largest three-part pipe organs.
Modeled on Florence’s Loggia dei Lanzi, Field Marshals’ Hall (Feldherrnhalle) towers over the southern end of Odeonsplatz. Built during the 1840s, its three archways host bronze sculptures that honor Bavarian military heroes: Count Tilly, who fought Swedes; General von Wrede, who battled Napoleon; and the army from the Franco-German War.
The largest of the seven mountain lakes in the Black Forest, Lake Mummelsee is a crystalline lake notable for its white water lilies (called mummel in German). According to legend, a crystal palace under the lake is inhabited by a bevy of water sprites who only come to the surface at night.
Built in 1120, Imperial Castle of Nuremberg (Kaiserburg) was once a residence for kings of the Holy Roman Empire. Despite suffering damage over the years (especially during WWII), the castle has been carefully restored to showcase its original Gothic and Romanesque architecture.
