937 Best Sights in Germany

Siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, fellow students Alexander Schmorell and Christian Probst, and Kurt Huber, professor of philosophy, were the key members of the Munich-based resistance movement against the Nazis in 1942–43 known as the Weisse Rose (White Rose). All were executed by guillotine. A small exhibition about their work is in the inner quad of the university, where the Scholls were caught distributing leaflets and denounced by the janitor. A memorial to White Rose is just outside the university.

A proud symbol of Bavaria, the lion is Lindau's most striking landmark. Carved from Bavarian marble and standing 20 feet high, the lion stares out across the lake from a massive plinth at the harbor's entrance.

Within the Sony Center is the small but fun Museum für Film und Fernsehen, which presents the groundbreaking history of German moviemaking with eye-catching displays. Descriptions are in English, and there's an audio guide as well. Memorabilia include personal belongings of Marlene Dietrich and other German stars, while special exhibitions go into depth about outstanding directors, movements, and studios. A good selection of films, from the best classics to virtually unknown art-house finds, are shown in the theater on the lower level. A shop on the ground floor sells books and other media for cinephiles.

The German Architecture Museum is housed in a late-19th-century villa, which was converted in the early 1980s by the Cologne-based architect Oswald Mathias Ungers. He created five levels, including a simple basement space with a visible load-bearing structure, a walled complex on the ground floor, and a house-within-a-house on the third floor. With more than 180,000 drawings and plans, and 600 scale models, the museum features a wealth of documents on the history of architecture and hosts debates and exhibitions on its future, including sustainable urban design. A permanent exhibit features the most comprehensive collection of model panoramas in the history of German architecture.

This pointed bit of land, jutting into the river like the prow of an early ironclad warship, is at the sharp intersection of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. In 1897, an equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I, first emperor of the newly united Germany, was erected here as one of the more effusive manifestations of German nationalism. It was destroyed at the end of World War II, and replaced for 40 years by a ponderous monument to Germany's unity, but a new statue of Wilhelm was placed here in 1993—and still stands today. It's accompanied by three pieces of the Berlin Wall on the Mosel side, a memorial to those who died as a result of the partitioning of the country.

This unique (even in a country with a national tendency for excessive cleanliness) and unfortunately named museum relates the history of public health and science. The permanent exhibit offers lots of hands-on activities. The building itself once housed the Nazi eugenics program, and the special exhibit on this period is not recommended for children under 12.

This quirky museum is in the enormous former St. Augustus Church, and it contains a large collection of fishhooks, taxidermy animals (including a 6½-foot-tall brown bear and a grizzly from Alaska), and a 12,000-year-old megaloceros (giant deer) skeleton. You'll even find the Wolpertinger, a mythical creature with body parts of various animals. There are also rotating special exhibitions exploring native wildlife, as well as the history of hunting and fishing.

The Stralsund aquarium of Baltic Sea life is part of this three-floor museum, which also displays the skeletons of a giant whale and a hammerhead shark, and a 25-foot-high chunk of coral.

The country's largest and most fascinating maritime museum, the Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum, includes a harbor, open from mid-March through October, that shelters seven old trading ships as well as a separate submarine-turned-technology-museum.

A must if you're traveling with children, this museum will enchant anyone who's interested in technology or fascinated with trains, planes, and automobiles. Set in the remains of Anhalter Bahnhof's industrial yard and enhanced with a glass-enclosed wing, the museum has several floors of machinery, including two airplane rooms on the upper floors crowned with a \"Rosinenbomber,\" one of the beloved airplanes that delivered supplies to Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Airlift of 1948. Don't miss the train sheds, which are like three-dimensional, walkable timelines of trains throughout history.

In the center of Furtwangen, 16 km (10 miles) south of Triberg, drop in on the Uhrenmuseum, the largest such museum in Germany. It charts the development of Black Forest clocks and exhibits all types of timepieces—from cuckoo clocks, church clock mechanisms, kinetic wristwatches, and old decorative desktop clocks to punch clocks and digital blinking objects. The museum is closed for renovations until 2026.

A former church converted to house this fascinating documentation of packaging and package design of brand-name products. Representing the years 1800 to the present, historic logos and slogans are a trip down memory lane. The entrance is in a courtyard reached via an alley.

It's Christmas year-round at the German Christmas Museum, a hit among visitors even in the summer heat, as it provides an in-depth history of the holiday and many of its symbols, including Christmas trees. There's a unique collection of 150 historical Santa Claus figurines, mostly from the 1870s to the 1950s, and other holiday items, including hand-carved and hand-painted figures.

Oppenheim and its neighbors to the north, Nierstein and Nackenheim, are home to some of Rheinhessen's best-known vineyards. The Deutsches Weinbaumuseum has wine-related artifacts that chronicle the region's 2,000-year-old winemaking tradition, not to mention the world's largest collection of mousetraps and more than 2,000 corkscrews.

Displays include the 1885 Daimler machine that started us on the road to motorized mobility, the world's first mass-produced motorcycles (Hildebrand and Wolfmüller), and exhibits on racing. Also here is the NSU Museum, an early motorbike manufacturer acquired by the predecessor of the company now called Audi, which has an auto production facility in Neckarsulm. The collections are arranged over five floors in a handsome 400-year-old castle that belonged to the Teutonic Knights until 1806. The Audi factory in nearby Neckarsulm offers tours.

On this half-hour tour through a 2½-million-year-old cave on the outskirts of Steinau, you may stumble upon sleeping bats as you explore the unique geological formations, including stalactites and stalagmites that reach up to 82 feet high and 36 feet in circumference as well as a so-called chapel room with ceilings up to 26 feet tall.

The little town of Diessen am Ammersee at the southwest corner of the lake has one of the most magnificent religious buildings of the whole region: the Augustine abbey church of St. Mary (aka Marienmünster). The great Munich architect Johann Michael Fischer designed this airy, early rococo structure. François Cuvilliés the Elder, whose work can be seen all over Munich, did the sumptuous gilt-and-marble high altar. Don't leave without at least peeping into neighboring St. Stephen's courtyard: its cloisters are smothered in wild roses. Diessen has also attracted artists and craftspeople since the early 20th century. Among the most famous who made their home here was the composer Carl Orff. From Herrsching, you can take the ferry to Diessen (30 minutes, €9.20). The ferries operate between mid-April and mid-October, however, the schedule varies depending on the season. 

Directly adjacent to the Bamberg Dom, this museum contains one of many nails and splinters of wood reputed to be from the true cross of Jesus. The \"star-spangled\" cloak stitched with gold, given to Emperor Heinrich II by an Italian prince, is among the finest items displayed. More macabre exhibits in this rich ecclesiastical collection are the elaborately mounted skulls of Heinrich and Kunigunde. The building itself was designed by Balthasar Neumann (1687–1753), the architect of Vierzehnheiligen, and constructed between 1730 and 1733.

Just as much a draw for its architecture and history as for the quirky, off-kilter art shows and events that take place here, Direktorenhaus is a relative newcomer to the Berlin art scene and also the producer of the annual Illustrative Festival each September. This Spree-side building was once part of the State Mint. The large, Berlin-heavy roster of artists includes Olaf Hajek, Daniel Becker, and Lauren Coleman. The gallery has no public hours, and viewings are by appointment.

Set within the never-finished Kongresshalle (Congress Hall) on the southeastern outskirts of the city, this museum documents the political, social, and architectural history of the Nazi Party. Sobering exhibits help to illuminate the whys and hows of Hitler's rise to power during the unstable period after World War I and the end of the democratic Weimar Republic. It's one of the few museums that documents how the Third Reich's propaganda machine influenced the masses. The permanent exhibition is in the process of being remodelled and expanded, and expected to reopen in late 2025—until then, a still-sizable interim exhibit explores the rise of the Nazi Party and their Nuremberg rallies, the wartime use of the Zeppelin Field as a POW camp, and the current uses of the old rally grounds for concerts (including an annual rock festival). To get to the Documentation Center, take bus 36 from Burgstrasse to the Doku-Zentrum stop, or drive and park in the small, unmonitored (but free) parking lot.

Construction on Würzburg's Romanesque cathedral, the fourth-largest of its kind in Germany, began in 1045. Centuries of design are contained under one roof; the side wings were designed in a late-Gothic style in the 16th century, followed by extensive Baroque stucco work 200 years later. Most of the building collapsed following the bombing of the city near the end of World War II. Reconstruction, completed in 1967, brought a combination of modern design influences alongside a faithful restoration of the past thousand years of the church's history. Visit the side chapel designed by the baroque architect Balthasar Neumann, and tombs of the bishops of Würzburg, designed by Tilman Riemenschneider. Tours (in German only) are offered daily at 12:30 from mid-April through October.

Augsburg's imposing cathedral contains the oldest cycle of stained glass in central Europe and important paintings by local resident Hans Holbein the Elder, which adorn the altar. The celebrated stained-glass windows from the 11th century are on the south side of the nave and depict the prophets Jonah, Daniel, Hosea, Moses, and David. Originally built in the 9th century, the cathedral stands out because of its square Gothic towers, products of a 14th-century update. A 10th-century Romanesque crypt also remains from the cathedral's early years. Those celebrated stained-glass windows, from the 11th century, are on the south side of the nave and depict prophets Jonah, Daniel, Hosea, Moses, and David.

A short walk from the cathedral takes you to the quiet courtyards and small raised garden of the former episcopal residence, a series of 18th-century baroque and rococo buildings that now serve as the Swabian regional government offices. To the back of the cathedral at Kornhausg. 3–5 is the Diocese Museum of St. Afra, where the cathedral's treasures are on display.

Regensburg's transcendent cathedral, modeled on the airy, powerful lines of French Gothic architecture, is something of a rarity this far south in Germany. Begun in the 13th century, it stands on the site of a much earlier Carolingian church and can hold a remarkable 6,000 people, three times the population of Regensburg when building began (though only a fraction of the population when it was finally finished by Ludwig I of Bavaria almost 600 years later).

Before heading into the Dom, take time to admire the intricate and frothy carvings of its facade. Inside, the glowing 14th-century stained glass in the choir and exquisitely detailed statues of Gabriel and the Virgin in the crossing (the intersection of the nave and the transepts) are among the church's outstanding features. Don't miss the small octagonal chapel, all sturdy grace and massive walls, built by Italian masons from the mid-12th century; you can barely make out the faded remains of stylized 11th-century frescoes on its ancient walls. And consider visiting the Domschatz (Cathedral Treasury) to see valuables dating back to the 11th century, including some vestments and monstrances still used during special services; it's under renovation but should reopen September 2025.

Behind the Rathaus is one of Bautzen's most interesting sights: Dom St. Petri is eastern Germany's only Simultankirche, or \"simultaneous church.\" An early effort to avoid the violence that often occurred during the Reformation, St. Peter's has a Protestant side and a Roman Catholic side in the same church. A short fence, which once reached a height of 13 feet, separates the two congregations. The church was built in 1213 on the sight of a Milzener (the forerunners of the Sorbs) parish church.

From the Middle Ages until secularization in the early 19th century, the archbishops of Mainz, who numbered among the imperial electors, were extremely influential politicians and property owners. The wealth of religious art treasures they left behind can be viewed in the cathedral cloisters.

Winningen marks the start of several of the region's loveliest and most informative short walks: the educational Weinpfade (wine trails). There are five trails to choose from, with varying lengths from 4 to 9 km (2½ to 5½ miles), but the best introductory trail is the Domgarten-Weinpfad (Cathedral Garden Wine Trail). It starts and ends at the Weinhof (also a Tourist Information Office), leading up and through the vineyards that lie above the town. The beautiful, medium-difficulty, 4½-km (3-mile) circular route is lined with signs explaining the grape-growing and wine-making processes, as well as plenty of benches for enjoying the spectacular river views. The whole thing usually takes around two hours, excluding stops—and if you find you still have energy, there are four more trails to tackle.

This large square in front of the Dom stands on the earliest-settled part of the city. In addition to the cathedral, it's bordered by a host of sturdy 17th- and 18th-century buildings, including the Alte Residenz, the former bishop's palace and now a courthouse. The neoclassical statue at the center of the square is Bavarian King Maximilian I, who watches over the Christmas market in December.

The cathedral houses sacred art from late antiquity and the Carolingian, Ottonian, and Hohenstaufen eras. A bust of Charlemagne on view here was commissioned in the late 14th century by Emperor Karl IV, who traveled here from Prague for the sole reason of having it made. The bust incorporates a piece of Charlemagne's skull. Other highlights include the Cross of Lothair and the Persephone Sarcophagus.

This museum contains valuable treasures going back to the 11th century. Some of the vestments and the monstrances, which are fine examples of eight centuries' worth of the goldsmith's trade, are still used during special services. The entrance is in the nave.