Best Places to Visit in Germany: Castles, Cities & Christmas Markets

The capital keeps its history in plain sight: the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag dome, the museums of Museum Island. After dark it becomes Europe’s most serious nightlife city, with clubs that run from Saturday night into Monday.

The gateway to Bavaria and home of Oktoberfest, which runs on the Theresienwiese from 19 September to 4 October 2026. Beer halls, the Residenz palace and the English Garden fill the city, and the Bavarian Alps start an hour south.

Germany’s port city, built around canals, red-brick warehouses and the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. The Reeperbahn handles the nightlife, and the Baltic and North Sea beaches sit a short train ride north.

The Gothic cathedral beside the station is the most visited landmark in Germany. Cologne also runs one of the country’s largest Christmas markets and a February Carnival that shuts the whole city down.

Baroque palaces rebuilt along the Elbe, including the Zwinger and the Frauenkirche. Dresden also works as a base for Saxon Switzerland National Park, where sandstone cliffs and arches sit an hour upriver.

A banking skyline and a half-timbered old town in the same square kilometre. Frankfurt airport is Germany’s main long-haul gateway, and both the Rhine Valley vineyards and Heidelberg are under an hour by train.

ICE trains link Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne and Frankfurt at up to 300 km/h, and Berlin to Munich takes under four hours. Cities run integrated day tickets across metro, tram and bus. A rental car earns its keep on the Romantic Road, in the Black Forest and around Bavarian villages like Oberammergau and Berchtesgaden, and long stretches of autobahn in Germany still carry no speed limit.

May, June and September bring long days and temperatures around 20 to 25°C. July and August are the warmest and the busiest. Late November through December is Christmas market season, cold and dark but worth the trip. Weather in Germany splits by region: the Rhineland stays mildest, while Bavaria and the Alps take the most snow.

Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden cost noticeably less than Munich, Hamburg or Frankfurt. The Deutschland-Ticket covers regional trains, buses and trams nationwide for €63 a month, museum entry usually falls between €8 and €20, and a beer hall meal costs less than the same plate in a restaurant.

Pair a couple of cities with one region. Berlin and Dresden with Saxon Switzerland, Munich with Neuschwanstein and the Bavarian Alps, or Frankfurt with the Rhine Valley and the Black Forest. In December any city route doubles as a Christmas market trip.

Germany’s landmarks run from Neuschwanstein on its alpine crag to the twin spires of Cologne Cathedral and the Brandenburg Gate. Bavaria alone holds Linderhof, Herrenchiemsee and the fully walled town of Nördlingen.

The cuisine in Germany changes every hundred kilometres. Bavaria has weisswurst and pretzels, Nuremberg grills its own small sausages, Berlin claims currywurst and döner. Then there is rye bread, Black Forest gâteau and roughly 1,500 breweries. Food in Germany rewards eating regionally.

From late November the Christmas markets in Germany take over the city squares: Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt, Dresden’s Striezelmarkt, running since 1434, and Cologne’s market under the cathedral. Glühwein, roasted almonds and wooden stalls come standard.

Bayern is the Germany most visitors picture. Munich beer halls, Garmisch-Partenkirchen under the Zugspitze, the turquoise Eibsee, Berchtesgaden and the Königssee, plus old towns like Bamberg, Regensburg, Würzburg and Passau.

The Schwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg covers 6,000 square kilometres of fir forest, waterfalls, spa towns and cuckoo-clock villages. Saxon Switzerland’s sandstone arches and the Rhine gorge account for much of the rest of Germany’s natural attractions.

The beaches in Germany sit on the Baltic and North Sea coasts, around Rügen, Sylt and Usedom. For cultural attractions, Berlin’s Museum Island, Dresden’s Zwinger and the Hamburger Kunsthalle carry most of the weight.

Just over the Bavarian border, Austria adds Salzburg, Vienna and the Tyrolean Alps. Munich to Salzburg takes about 90 minutes by train, which makes it one of the easiest side trips from Germany.

The Black Forest ends near the Swiss border, so Basel, Zurich and Lucerne sit within a couple of hours of southwest Germany. Good for scenic rail journeys and lakeside towns.

Prague is four hours from Berlin and two from Dresden by train, and Český Krumlov is close to the Bavarian border. Costs drop noticeably once you cross over.

Amsterdam is under three hours from Cologne on the ICE, with Rotterdam and Utrecht on the same line. An easy add-on to any Rhineland itinerary.

Berlin to Poznań and Warsaw runs direct, and Kraków is a night train away. Poland suits travellers who want eastern European cities without long flights.