A guide to Germany’s towns and cities

From the Baltic Sea to Bavaria, via firework festivals, fairy tales, sculptures and gastronomy, Germany is rich in cultural experiences. While some are justly famous, others remain a glorious secret. Here’s what to visit next…

Germany is the home of Bauhaus, and disciples of Walter Gropius, the design school’s German-American founder, are usually directed first to Weimar. This hitherto-classical city is where his functionalist revolution began.

Weimar’s lily-white Haus am Horn, built in 1923, was the model for the quintessential Bauhaus structure. Other must-sees include the main Bauhaus University hub and, naturally, the city’s Bauhaus Museum. You’ll find another one of those in Dessau- Roßlau, where the design school relocated and reopened in 1926. The town is also littered with fine examples of this design, including Gropius’ milestone Bauhaus Building. The Bauhaus Museum Dessau is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026 with an exciting calendar of programmes and events.

If Baroque is more your bag, head to Dresden’s riverside for a glimpse of the Zwinger palace. After admiring its arched galleries and grand pavilions, plus the adjacent Semperoper opera house, ride a paddle steamer to Pillnitz, another palace where Oriental flourishes add to its design allure.

Back in central Germany lies Fulda, a historic settlement known as the ‘Baroque City’, whose bevvy of 17th- and 18th-century gems explains its nickname. Handily, its stand-out sights, headlined by the town’s magnificently austere cathedral, all lie close together.

Much more rustic are the 2,000 half- timbered buildings found cheek by jowl in unsung Quedlinburg, a Hanseatic League-era city that fringes the folklore- rich Harz Mountains. The overview from St Servatius church is a good way to take its sights in all at once

Did you know that there are five German cities whose Altstadt (Old Town) has UNESCO World Heritage status? Three of them are in the north, beginning with Lübeck, the old de facto capital of the Hanseatic League.

Among Lübeck’s heady attractions are gabled houses, tranquil courtyards, marzipan makers and the towers of Holsten Gate, which once adorned German banknotes. Further east along the Baltic Sea appears Wismar, with its huge market square and white-plaster town hall. From there, the designated European Route of Brick Gothic leads travellers on to fish-loving Stralsund, whose harbour island features 500 historic buildings.

Back among the margins of the Harz Mountains, under-the-radar Goslar’s Old Town is a riot of cobbles, spires and wonky half-timbered houses. The UNESCO site here also incorporates the nearby Rammelsberg mine – the only mine to have been in continuous use for more than 1,000 years until its operations ceased in 1988. Lastly, Regensburg’s low-arched stone bridge, which has traversed the Danube since 1135, leads to the Bavarian city’s own Old Town, crowned by St Peter’s Cathedral. Its alleyways link palaces with Patrician mansions; you’ll also encounter many students and pubs – often at the same time.

You can learn about everything from livestock and cucumbers to the Brothers Grimm in Germany’s 6,800 museums. Five are congregated on Museum Island on Berlin’s River Spree, where art lovers can visit the Old National Gallery for masterpieces by Monet, Renoir and Rodin before admiring a bust of beautiful Nefertiti inside the New Museum. Another art hotspot is Frankfurt, whose 39-strong Museumsufer trail takes in 700 years’ worth of sculptures, paintings and photos by major names, thanks in part to the pre-eminent Städel Museum.

North-west of here, visitors to Cologne’s Lindt Chocolate Museum can drink from a calorific fountain and learn about cocoa’s aphrodisiac powers. The sciencey Deutsches Museum in Munich houses a replica of the first-ever computer – as big as a wardrobe – and Stuttgart’s Mercedes- Benz Museum recounts automotive history. In Hamburg, back on the Baltic Coast, Miniatur Wunderland reigns as the planet’s largest model railway.

Over at pretty Passau – a staple Rhine cruise stop – you will find the Passau Glass Museum that author Friedrich Dürrenmatt declared as ‘the most beautiful glass house in the world’, while the Augsburg Puppet Theatre’s exhibition is a mecca for marionette fans.

Where to start but wurst ? Whether grilled, boiled, baked or fried, the humble sausage is synonymous with Germany. True connoisseurs should scoff some pork-and-veal bratwurst from the smoky grill at cosy Faustfood in Erfurt’s medieval centre.

Beer is another Deutschcornerstone, yet Düsseldorf and its dark, malty altbier remain decidedly underrated. Six main varieties are concocted beside the Rhine here, with guided ‘safaris’ combining brewery tours with tastings.

Wine buffs sensibly gravitate further south to Rheinhessen, a region where Riesling dominates the 75km Rhine Terraces walking trail from Worms to Mainz. If that sounds too hard, venture east to Franconia. Amid this area’s old-world wine capital of Würzburg, locals gather at sunset on the Main River to clink glasses of silvaner.

For a fully fledged foodie break, consider Baden-Württemberg. As well as meaty maultasche dumplings and noodle-like spätzle , this south- western state supplies almost a third of the country’s Michelin-starred establishments.

Here, too, is also student-filled Freiburg, whose restaurants champion local orchards and farms. And finish in the ritzy spa town of Baden-Baden, where time-trapped Café König still serves exemplary Black Forest gateau.

A raft of extraordinarily diverse festivals take place across Germany all year round. Some need no introduction, such as the capital’s international Berlinale film festival — running from February 12-22 in 2026 — and summer’s Bayreuth Festival, an operatic gala dedicated to Richard Wagner and his complex compositions. This year’s expanded version, doubling as the event’s 150th anniversary, sold out in 90 minutes.

Northern Europe’s biggest summer bash? Some say that’s the Kiel Week sailing regatta, involving concerts and parades as well as races beside its namesake port every June. That is 140 years old, yet the roots of Rhine in Flames — a May-September extravaganza involving five firework displays and spectators riding illuminated boats along the famous waterway between Bonn and Rüdesheim — stretch back still further, to around 1756.

Just to the west, Frankfurt is 2026’s World Design Capital, inspiring some 2,000 forward-thinking, year-round events and installations from green-architecture exhibitions to sand sculptures. Also celebrating is Hamelin, an old-fashioned town near Hanover in the country’s northeast. This summer marks the 70th edition of its Pied Piper Open-Air Play, with performances every Sunday of this endearing amateur rendition of Hamelin’s world-famous legend.

Out west near Leipzig — itself canal-laden and abutting a lignite-mining landscape turned lake district — Halle is so rich in gardens, parks and sports areas that precisely 15.9 per cent of it is a green space. No other German city can top that. Helping Halle’s cause are escapist river-splitting islands protected as nature reserves; a lovely, leafy accompaniment to the centre’s large Beatles museum and another devoted to hometown hero Friedrich Händel.

Equally good for green-seekers is Aschaffenburg, or “the Bavarian Nice”. That nickname rings true courtesy of this lively place’s mild climate, famously strong shopping scene and glorious Renaissance architecture; just as satisfying are the vast, rural-style gardens hugging its petite Schönbusch Palace. Secluded streams, bridges and meadows are easily found on strolls here.

Other cities serve as ideal jumping-off points for nature. From the alpine hub of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Southern Germany, you can easily hike along the bright blue Lake Eibsee or ride cable cars up Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain, before skiing down. Alternatively, Aachen — a historic spa town next to the Netherlands — is a gateway to the Eifel National Park’s beech forests and volcanic landscapes.

Teetering on clifftops, hiding in forests and lining rivers, an estimated 25,000 castles dot Germany. Fortress fanatics might tick off 70 at once by motoring along the 485-mile Castle Road, which connects Mannheim, a cultured-filled southeastern city, with Prague in Czechia.

No German castle is more famous than Bavaria’s Neuschwanstein. This tall, turreted fantasia — which even inspired Disney’s logos — was built not to deter or defend, but rather for Ludwig II’s personal whimsy. Tours, taking in a two-storey Throne room, are best booked months ahead. Base yourself in mountain-flanked Füssen, which boasts its own, far quieter gothic fortress.

Other options include dramatic Hohenzollern, south of Stuttgart, whose gilded rooms host portraits of Prussian royals; a part-ruined, sandstone stunner in Heidelberg once declared the “eighth wonder of the world” during its tumultuous, 700-year history; and the twee, pond-facing Mespelbrunn Castle, easily reached from Frankfurt. One glance at the round tower here, complete with a solitary door, and you’ll understand why some allege — wrongly — that it inspired the Brothers Grimm’s Rapunzel fairytale. It should certainly inspire you, just like Germany’s cities and towns in general.