937 Best Sights in Germany

This broad street of shops, which cuts through the city's Altstadt, is one of Hamburg’s major thoroughfares. Built between 1908 and 1911 to connect the main train station to the town hall, but only open to taxis and buses, the street is perfect for a stroll. Home to the GALERIA department store, electronics megastore Saturn, mindblowing buildings such as the Levante Passage, as well as a host of global brand stores from Adidas to Zara, it swells with local and out-of-town shoppers on Saturday. The best cafés and restaurants tend to be found on side streets off Mönckebergstrasse, where the rents for shop space are generally not as high.

Perched on a hill overlooking the charming old town, the castle, which was built in the 13th century, offers stunning panoramic views of the village and surrounding countryside. This medieval fortress, with its imposing stone walls and well-preserved interiors, provides a glimpse into the region's historical past. Once a strategic stronghold, it now invites visitors to explore its towers and ramparts, echoing the tales of knights and nobles who once roamed its halls.

The road to Gernsbach, a couple of miles east of Baden-Baden, skirts this 2,000-foot-high mountain peak, named after a monument to the god Mercury that dates from Roman times and still stands just below the mountain summit. You can take the Merkur Funicular Railway to the summit, but it's not a trip for the fainthearted—the incline (54 degrees) is one of Europe's steepest.

Seasonal boat tours depart from just outside the Sea Life Aquarium at noon, 2, and 4. The trip lasts about 1½ hours and offers a unique look at Speyer's old harbor and its fascinating network of rivers.

Did you know that Munich was a pioneer of the European graffiti scene? Since 2016, MUCA has contributed to the historical acknowledgment of the urban street art scene and is the first museum of urban art in Germany in the very heart of Munich’s city center. While the facade of the former World War II bunker is an artwork in itself, the three floors showcase changing exhibitions as well as permanent works of national and international street artists. The museum also offers Street Art Bike Tours to known and hidden graffiti art, which end at the MUCA Museum. If you want to add a fancy meal to your visit, the mural restaurants serves lunch and dinner on select days. 

Begun in 816, the Münster of St. Maria and St. Markus, the monastery's church, is the largest and most important of Reichenau's Romanesque churches. Perhaps its most striking architectural feature is the roof, whose beams and ties are open for all to see. The monastery was founded in 725 by St. Pirmin and became one of the most important cultural centers of the Carolingian Empire. It reached its zenith around 1000, when 700 monks lived here. It was then probably the most important center of manuscript illumination in Germany. The building is simple but by no means crude. Visit the Schatzkammer (Treasury) to see some of its more important holdings. They include a 5th-century ivory goblet with two carefully incised scenes of Christ's miracles, and some priceless stained glass that is almost 1,000 years old.

The huge Münster St. Nikolaus was built between 1512 and 1563 on the site of at least two previous churches. The interior is all Gothic solemnity and massiveness, with a lofty stone-vaulted ceiling and high, pointed arches lining the nave. The single most remarkable feature is not Gothic at all but opulently Renaissance: the enormous high altar, carved by Jörg Zürn from lime wood that almost looks like ivory. The subject of the altar carvings is the Nativity.

The square around Freiburg's cathedral, which once served as a cemetery, holds a market Monday to Saturday. You can stock up on local specialties, from wood-oven-baked bread to hams, wines, vinegars, fruits, and Kirschwasser (cherry brandy). The south side, in front of the Renaissance Kaufhaus (Market House), is traditionally used by merchants. On the north side of the square are farmers with their produce. This is where you can sample some local sausages served with a white roll and heaps of onions.

Originally built between 1563 and 1567, the ground floor was home to Duke Albrecht V's stables, the second floor to living quarters for the servants, and the third to the ducal collection of high art and curiosities (6,000 pieces by 1600). Between 1809 and 1983 it housed the Bavarian mint, and a neoclassical facade, with allegories of copper, silver, and gold, was added in 1808–09. Today, with its slightly garish green exterior on three sides, it can appear to be little more than the somewhat undistinguished home to the Bavarian Land Bureau for the Conservation of Historic Monuments, but step inside the inner arcade to see a jewel of German Renaissance architecture.

Don't leave Bremen's Altstadt without strolling down this street that was once lined by coopers (barrel makers). Between 1924 and 1931 the houses were torn down and reconstructed in a style at once historically sensitive and modern by the Bremen coffee millionaire Ludwig Roselius. (He was the inventor of decaffeinated coffee and held the patent for decades.) Many of the restored houses are used as galleries for local artists. At one end are two separate museums housed in the 17th-century Ludwig Roselius-Haus, one which showcases late-medieval art and a silver treasury, and a unique collection of German and Dutch art; these pieces contrast with the paintings of Paula Modersohn-Becker, a noted early expressionist of the Worpswede art colony whose work is housed in the same building. Notice also the arch of Meissen porcelain bells at the rooftop. Except when freezing weather makes them dangerously brittle, the bells chime daily on the hour from noon to 6 from May to December (only at noon, 3, and 6 from January to April).

Step inside the beautiful Neue Residenz, through the stately baroque entrance revealing a magnificent staircase—a scintillating study in marble, fresco, and stucco—and you'll find this excellent cathedral museum. It's home to one of Bavaria's largest collections of religious treasures—the legacy of Passau's rich episcopal history—along with a baroque book collection, colorful frescoes, and antique furnishings.

Located just behind Trierer Dom, this collection focuses on medieval sacred art, and includes fascinating models of the cathedral as it looked in Roman times. Look for the 15 Roman frescoes discovered in 1946, that may have adorned Emperor Constantine's palace.

At this small but very well cared-for museum, you can see the most intact set of Roman surgical tools ever discovered (2nd century), period rooms from the Rhine Romantic era, and displays about Abbess St. Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), one of the most remarkable women of the Middle Ages. An outspoken critic of papal and imperial machinations, she was a highly respected scholar, naturopath, and artist whose mystic writings and (especially) music became very popular starting in the 1990s, when her work was rediscovered and popularized by feminist religious scholars. An excellent illustrated booklet in English on Rhine Romanticism, The Romantic Rhine, is sold at the museum shop. The museum is housed in a former power station (1898) on the riverbank.

More than 30,000 decorative objects are exhibited in this modern white building designed by American star architect Richard Meier. Chairs and furnishings and medieval craftwork are some of the thematic sections you'll find on the same floor. The exhibits are mainly from Europe and Asia, including nine rooms from the historic Villa Metzler, spanning baroque to Art Deco.

This small modern-art museum holds works by Matisse, Klee, Giacometti, and Picasso, who is particularly well represented with more than 120 works. Heinz Berggruen (1914–2007), a businessman who left Berlin in the 1930s, amassed this fine collection of paintings and sculpture. The museum is closed for major renovations until at least 2025.

The town museum, housed in the 14th-century Kurfürstliche Burg (Elector's Castle) built by the archbishop of Trier, has exhibits on Boppard's Roman and medieval past, as well as an extensive collection of bentwood furniture designed by the town's favorite son, Michael Thonet (1796–1871). The cane-bottom Stuhl Nr. 14 (Chair No. 14) is the classic found in coffeehouses around the world since 1859.

The Museum der Dinge or “Museum of Things” is exactly that—a collection of stuff that represents the best, the worst, and the quirkiest in 20th-century and contemporary design. Although there are a lot of things here, a museum for hoarders this is not. The objects come from the archive of the Deutsches Werkbund (DWB), a hundred-year-old, quasi-utopian consortium that sought perfection in everyday construction and design. The thousands of things are housed in a former factory building on Kreuzberg’s busy Oranienstrasse and arranged beautifully by color, material, or use. Browsing the exhibition, one is hit not only by the sheer volume of what was created in the last century, but also by the impressive range—Soviet kitsch toys stand near mobile phones, delicate dishware next to industrial tools. Don’t miss the so-called Frankfurt Kitchen a space-saving prototype kitchen from the 1920s that was meant to be replicated over 10,000 times in various housing estates.

The main attractions at this bright, airy museum are the fascinating remains of five 4th-century wooden Roman warships, on display with two full-size replicas. The remains were unearthed in 1981, when the foundation for an expansion to the Hilton hotel was dug. For more than a decade, the wood was injected with a water-and-paraffin mixture to restore its stability. There's also an extensive exhibit dedicated to the history of shipbuilding and an educational area for children. To arrange a tour, contact the service office. The museum is closed for major renovations until late 2025.

A highlight of any visit to Festung Marienberg is likely to be this remarkable collection of art treasures. Be sure to visit the gallery devoted to Würzburg-born sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider (1460–1531). Also on view are paintings by Tiepolo and Cranach the Elder, as well as porcelain, firearms, antique toys, and ancient Greek and Roman art. Other exhibits showcase enormous old winepresses and narrate the history of Franconian wine making.

This is the place for visiting the past and the future of communication technology, in an airy, modern glass building. Exhibitions on historic methods include mail coaches, a vast collection of stamps from many countries and eras, and ancient dial telephones, with their clunky switching equipment.

The museum houses a wide range of exhibits, from 15th- to 18th-century scientific instruments to an art nouveau interior complete with ornaments and furnishings. Its founder, Justus Brinckmann, amassed a wealth of unusual objects, including ceramics from around the world.

Austrian architect Hans Hollein designed this distinctive triangular building, shaped like a wedge of cake. The collection features more than 5,000 works from 1904 to today by such artists as Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys. There are free guided tours in English on Saturday at 4 pm.

The former home of painter, sculptor, and architect Johann Christian Wentzinger (1710–97) houses the City History Museum, which contains fascinating exhibits, including the poignant remains of a typewriter recovered from a bombed-out bank. The ceiling fresco in the stairway, painted by Wentzinger himself, is the museum's pride and joy.

This museum, part of Goethe University, is set in a beautiful neoclassical villa along the strip of museums in Sachsenhausen and focuses on paintings from the 19th century and early 20th century. The artists are drawn mainly from the Rhine-Main region.

The former 16th-century \"Wedding House\" stands just steps away from the market square, housing the regional history museum. Its collection recounts 1300 years of the city's history with displays and multimedia stations. The ground floor is dedicated to the period from pre-history to the Reformation, while the first floor illustrates the city's history to the present day. 

Housed in a century-old former granary alongside the Main River, huge galleries are filled with a collection that ranges from historical paintings to contemporary art and sculptures. Portraits from the 1880s flow into a gallery of photos of pre-World War II Würzburg; kinetic sculptures move as you walk past or around them; there's also a collection of neon art.  One mesmerizing multi-dimensional artwork changes shape and perspective as the viewer moves around it.

This building once served as the headquarters of the city's detachment of the Communist secret police, the dreaded Ministerium für Staatssicherheit. The exhibition Stasi—Macht und Banalität (Stasi—Power and Banality) presents not only the Stasi's offices and surveillance work, but also hundreds of documents revealing the magnitude of its interests in citizens' private lives. Although the material is in German, the items and atmosphere convey an impression of what life under the regime might have been like. The exhibit about the death penalty in the GDR is particularly chilling. For a detailed tour of the Revolutions of 1989, be sure to download the museum's app.

This branch of the Jewish Museum is built on the site of the Bornerplatz Synagogue, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) in 1938, and includes the foundations of mostly 18th-century buildings that were once part of the Jewish quarter, or Judengasse, dating from 1460.