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The Brandenburg Gate lit up at night, with the Quadriga on top and the empty Pariser Platz in front
Neuschwanstein Castle seen from the Marienbrücke gorge bridge in spring
The glass and steel dome of the Reichstag against a blue sky, with its spiral ramp visible inside
St. Bartholomä church on the Königssee below the east face of the Watzmann
The Zugspitze massif above the Eibsee and its wooded islet on a clear spring day
The Loreley rock rising above the Rhine near St. Goarshausen

Things to do in Germany: 29 experiences worth the trip

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Photo: Thomas Wolf, CC BY-SA 3.0

Schwangau

Tour Neuschwanstein Castle on a timed ticket

Check dates and prices

Photo: Ximonic, Simo Räsänen, CC BY-SA 3.0

Berlin

Climb the Reichstag dome on a free booked slot

Check dates and prices

Photo: Ank Kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0

Schönau am Königssee

Take the boat across the Königssee to St. Bartholomä

Check dates and prices

Photo: Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 4.0

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Ride up the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak

Check dates and prices

Photo: Dguendel, CC BY 4.0

St. Goarshausen

Cruise the Rhine gorge past the Loreley rock

Tours in Germany

Photo: Rolf Heinrich, Köln, CC BY 3.0

Germany is a country you can cross by train in a day, and the list below follows that: Berlin's Cold War sites and museums, Hamburg's harbour, Cologne and the Rhine gorge, Dresden and the sandstone rocks of Saxon Switzerland, the Black Forest, and the Bavarian Alps with Ludwig II's castles.

The planning truth that matters most is that several big names now run on fixed times. Neuschwanstein and Sanssouci sell timed tickets, the Reichstag dome needs a free registration in advance, and since 1 July 2026 Cologne Cathedral charges tourists for entry. Book those first and fit the free sights, the Brandenburg Gate, the Wall memorials, the Bastei, around them.

Two dated warnings: the Eagle's Nest above Berchtesgaden has been closed since a fire on 23 October 2026, and from mid October many seasonal sights, from Rhine boats to the Venus Grotto at Linderhof, switch to shorter winter schedules.

29 things to do in Germany

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The Brandenburg Gate and its Quadriga in morning light

Walk through the Brandenburg Gate from Pariser Platz

Berlin

Free

Walk through a gate closed to everyone from 1961 to 1989, free at any hour, under Schadow's Quadriga.

Tours in Germany
Neuschwanstein Castle seen from the Marienbrücke gorge bridge in spring

Tour Neuschwanstein Castle on a timed ticket

Schwangau

30-minute tour, plus 30 to 40 minutes' walk each wayTimed entry

Neuschwanstein sits a steep climb above Hohenschwangau, and a 30-minute guided tour with a fixed start time takes you inside.

Check dates and pricesDay trip from Munich with castle entry and LinderhofTicket guide
The twin Gothic spires of Cologne Cathedral

Visit Cologne Cathedral and climb the south tower

Cologne

30 to 45 minutes for the tower climb aloneBook ahead

Climb 533 steps up Cologne Cathedral's south tower to a platform roughly 100 m above the square, right next to the main station.

Tours in Germany
The Hacker-Festzelt beer tent on the Theresienwiese during Oktoberfest 2025

Find a seat in an Oktoberfest tent on the Theresienwiese

Munich

Free

Entry to the Oktoberfest grounds and beer tents is free, and plenty of seats are never reserved if you arrive before lunch.

Tours in Germany
The preserved border strip at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße

Follow the Berlin Wall strip on Bernauer Straße

Berlin

Free

This is where Berlin keeps the border as it was: wall installations left as they stood when the Wall fell, with a watchtower.

Tours in Germany
The glass and steel dome of the Reichstag against a blue sky, with its spiral ramp visible inside

Climb the Reichstag dome on a free booked slot

Berlin

Timed entry

Walk the spiral ramp inside the Bundestag's glass dome for free, with the government quarter lit up below on an evening slot.

Check dates and pricesGuided government quarter walk with the dome
The Plönlein fork of lanes with the Siebers tower in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Walk Rothenburg's town wall and climb the town hall tower

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

About 2.5 hours for the full wall circuitNo booking needed

Walk the wall right round Rothenburg's old town, free at any hour, past the Plönlein, then look down from the town hall tower.

Tours in Germany
The Gutach cascading over rocks in the forest at the Triberg Waterfalls

Climb beside the Triberg Waterfalls in the Black Forest

Triberg im Schwarzwald

No booking needed

The Gutach drops 163 m over seven main steps, and lit paths climb beside it through forest full of squirrels.

Tours in Germany
The sandstone dome of the Frauenkirche over Dresden's Neumarkt

See the rebuilt Frauenkirche and climb its dome

Dresden

No booking needed

Climb the rebuilt Frauenkirche by steps, a spiral ramp round the outer dome and a last steep stair to a platform at 67 m.

Tours in Germany
Model trains and a miniature landscape at Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg

Spend a morning at Miniatur Wunderland's model railway

Hamburg

About 3 hours to see the whole layout onceBook ahead

Watch day turn to night every 15 minutes over 16,491 m of model track, from the Alps to Rio and a replica airport.

Tours in Germany
The Zugspitze massif above the Eibsee and its wooded islet on a clear spring day

Ride up the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

3 to 4 hours for the round tripGo alone or with a tour

Ride a cogwheel train up to a glacier plateau and a lift to Germany's highest summit, then drop by cable car to Lake Eibsee.

Check dates and pricesDay trip from Munich with cable car and cog train
The facade of the Hofbräuhaus beer hall on the Platzl in Munich

Drink a Mass at the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl

Munich

No booking needed

Share long tables with strangers over one-litre mugs in a beer hall built in 1589, with Bavarian music playing.

Tours in Germany
Sanssouci Palace at the top of its vineyard terraces in Potsdam

Climb the vineyard terraces to Sanssouci Palace

Potsdam

Timed entry

Arrive at Frederick the Great's summer palace the right way, on foot up the vineyard terraces he planned it on in 1743.

Tours in Germany
Christkindlesmarkt stalls on Nuremberg's Hauptmarkt with St. Sebaldus behind

Drink Glühwein at Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarkt

Nuremberg

Free

Glühwein, Nuremberg gingerbread and small bratwurst grilled at the stalls, among handmade decorations on the old town's main square.

Tours in Germany
The sandstone Bastei Bridge among the rock towers of Saxon Switzerland in the morning

Hike to the Bastei Bridge above the Elbe

Kurort Rathen

About 2 hours on foot from Stadt Wehlen to RathenFree

A sandstone bridge from 1851 spans the Bastei rocks 194 m above the Elbe, reached on foot through the forest from the S-Bahn.

Tours in Germany
The rose garden and palm house on Mainau Island, Lake Constance

Spend a day on Mainau, Lake Constance's garden island

Konstanz

No booking needed

An island off Konstanz given over to gardens: Italian roses, dahlias, a palm house, a baroque palace and a butterfly house.

Tours in Germany
The Carolingian octagon inside Aachen Cathedral

See Charlemagne's chapel and throne in Aachen Cathedral

Aachen

No booking needed

Stand in the octagon that was Charlemagne's palace chapel, where some 30 German kings were crowned, and see his throne on a tour.

Tours in Germany
The Elbphilharmonie's glass wave roof on top of the brick Kaispeicher A

Hear a concert at the Elbphilharmonie, or walk its Plaza

Hamburg

Book ahead

Ride a curved escalator to a deck 37 m above the harbour and walk right round the concert hall, with or without a concert ticket.

Tours in Germany
The Kehlsteinhaus perched on the Kehlstein ridge above Berchtesgaden

Ride up to the Eagle's Nest, closed since the October 2026 fire

Berchtesgaden

No booking needed

A rock tunnel and a brass-lined lift lead to a mountain house at 1,834 m, closed since a severe fire in October 2026.

The Loreley rock rising above the Rhine near St. Goarshausen

Cruise the Rhine gorge past the Loreley rock

St. Goarshausen

About 1 hour 45 minutes from Rüdesheim downstreamNo booking needed

Sail the UNESCO-listed Rhine gorge past Bacharach, Kaub and castles on the slopes to the 132 m Loreley cliff.

Tours in Germany
The painted limestone bust of Nefertiti in the Neues Museum

See the bust of Nefertiti in the Neues Museum

Berlin

Book ahead

Stand before the 3,300-year-old painted limestone bust of Nefertiti, the star of the Egyptian collection on Museum Island.

Tours in Germany
Heidelberg Castle above the old town, seen from the Old Bridge

Explore Heidelberg Castle and its Great Tun

Heidelberg

No booking needed

Ride the funicular up to a red sandstone ruin above the old town, home to a barrel that holds 220,000 litres.

Tours in Germany
The twin-towered brick Holstentor in Lübeck seen from Holstenplatz

Pass through Lübeck's Holstentor into the old town

Lübeck

No booking needed

Walk into Lübeck's old town through the Holstentor, a gate that leans because it kept sinking into soft, marshy ground.

Tours in Germany
The Taron launched roller coaster at Phantasialand

Ride Taron and Black Mamba at Phantasialand

Brühl

A full day, 9:00 to at least 18:00 in seasonBook ahead

Taron launches you through the rock village of Klugheim and Black Mamba, an inverted coaster, runs through Deep in Africa.

Tours in Germany
A watchtower on the east side of the Dachau concentration camp memorial

Visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

Dachau

Free

One of the first Nazi concentration camps, opened in March 1933, now a free memorial with daily guided tours in English.

Tours in Germany
St. Bartholomä church on the Königssee below the east face of the Watzmann

Take the boat across the Königssee to St. Bartholomä

Schönau am Königssee

About 35 minutes each way to St. BartholomäGo alone or with a tour

An electric boat across the Königssee to a red-roofed church below the Watzmann, with a trumpet echoing off the rock wall.

Check dates and pricesDay trip from Munich with the lake boat and salt mine
Linderhof Palace and its formal gardens near Ettal in summer

Tour Linderhof Palace and its Venus Grotto

Ettal

25-minute palace tour, 15 minutes for the Venus GrottoNo booking needed

The smallest of Ludwig II's palaces and the only one he saw finished, with an artificial cave and its own lake in the park.

Tours in Germany
The Landungsbrücken piers on the Elbe in Hamburg, where harbour tours depart

Take a harbour boat tour from the Landungsbrücken

Hamburg

1 to 2 hoursNo booking needed

Hamburg's port reads best from the water, past the docks, HafenCity and the Elbphilharmonie on a low traditional barge.

Tours in Germany

Plan your trip

  • When to go

    May to September is the season for Alpine lifts, Rhine boats, beer gardens and Mainau's flowers. Oktoberfest fills Munich in the second half of September (18 September to 3 October in 2027), so book Munich beds early for those dates. Late November to 24 December is Christmas market season, with Nuremberg's the best known. Winter works for cities and museums, but expect shorter hours elsewhere: KD's Rhine boats move to a reduced winter timetable after mid October, Linderhof's Venus Grotto closes from 16 October to 14 April, and the Zugspitze lifts stop for maintenance for a few weeks in November.

  • How many days

    Ten days covers a solid first trip: three in Berlin with a half day in Potsdam, three in Munich with Neuschwanstein as a long day trip, and two between Cologne and the Rhine gorge, plus travel days. Two more buy you Dresden and the Bastei, or Hamburg with a half day in Lübeck. Germany's distances are short by train, but the castle and mountain trips eat whole days, so do not stack them.

  • Getting around

    Long-distance ICE and IC trains are cheapest booked ahead, and Deutsche Bahn sells them up to about 180 days before departure. For regional travel the Deutschlandticket costs €63 a month in 2026 (€66.80 from January 2027) and covers every regional train (RB, RE, S-Bahn), bus, tram and U-Bahn in the country, but not IC, EC, ICE or FlixTrain. It is a subscription that renews itself, so cancel by the 10th of the month. For a single day in one region, a state day ticket (Länder-Ticket) can be cheaper. Most motorways are toll-free for cars.

  • Money and payments

    Germany still leans on cash more than its neighbours. Small cafés, bakeries and Christmas market stalls may not take foreign cards, so carry euros; supermarkets, chains and fast-food places accept cards and contactless. Shops close on Sundays and public holidays nationwide, apart from station shops and petrol stations, so plan groceries on Saturday. Tipping means rounding up, rarely beyond 10%, and you tell the server the total you want to pay.

Questions travellers ask

Do you need to book Neuschwanstein Castle in advance?

In practice, yes. The castle is only visited on a guided tour with a fixed start time, sold online through the official shop at hohenschwangau.de for a €2.50 fee on top of the €21 ticket. The Ticket Center in Hohenschwangau sells only leftover tickets for the same day, and they often run out.

Is the Reichstag dome free to visit?

Yes, but you must register online in advance with each visitor's name and date of birth, and bring an original passport or ID card. The Visitors' Service centre can issue walk-in slots if any are left, at least two hours ahead. The dome closes for cleaning several weeks a year, while the roof terrace stays open.

When is Oktoberfest 2027?

Oktoberfest 2027 runs from 18 September to 3 October on the Theresienwiese in Munich. Entry to the grounds and the beer tents is free. You do not need a table reservation, since part of every big tent is kept unreserved, but arrive early at weekends.

Is the Deutschlandticket worth it for tourists?

It pays off if you will use regional trains and city transport over several days, since €63 covers a whole month in 2026. It does not cover ICE, IC or EC trains, and it is a subscription: cancel it by the 10th of the month or it renews.

Does Cologne Cathedral charge an entrance fee?

Since 1 July 2026 tourists need a ticket for the interior, €12 on the cathedral's price list (€6 reduced, free under 14), bookable up to three months ahead. Entering to pray, light a candle or attend a service is still free through the north portal.

Is the Eagle's Nest open?

Not at the moment. Its operator closed the Kehlsteinhaus, the bus shuttle and the lift until further notice after a severe fire on 23 October 2026. Check kehlsteinhaus.de before planning a trip to Berchtesgaden around it.

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