Munich
Marienplatz, beer gardens, the English Garden and easy day trips to the Alps and Neuschwanstein.
Best Places to Visit in Germany: Our City Guides and a State-by-State Guide
Where should you actually go in Germany? Here are the cities we’ve written full guides for, the smaller towns we love, and a quick tour of all 16 states, from the Alps in the south to the islands in the north.
Where to go in Germany
Short answer: For a first trip of about a week, pair Munich with a castle day trip and one or two Franconian towns like Nuremberg and Rothenburg. With more time, add Berlin and Dresden, or head west to Cologne, the Rhine and Heidelberg.
Germany is a federal country of 16 states, and each one feels a little different: the food, the dialect, the holidays, even what people say when you walk into a bakery. That’s half the fun of traveling here.
My tip: the trains make it easy to combine two or three bases. Rather than changing hotels every night, pick a city and do day trips from there. It’s how we travel with our boys.
States
16
Full city guides
10, more coming
Best first base
Munich or Berlin
Fast trains
ICE between all major cities
Christmas markets
From 16 Nov 2026 (Cologne)
Our home
Bavaria
Our city guides
Each guide has our favorite sights, a day planner, month-by-month tips and checked Christmas market dates.
Swipe for more →
Nuremberg
The Imperial Castle, a medieval old town, important WWII history and the famous Christkindlesmarkt.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
A walled medieval town you can walk around on the ramparts. Stay overnight to see it without the day-trip crowds.
Bamberg
The Old Town Hall in the river, a UNESCO old town and smoked Rauchbier. An easy day trip from Nuremberg.
Dresden
Baroque Dresden on the Elbe: the Frauenkirche, the Zwinger, the Green Vault and the Striezelmarkt.
Leipzig
Bach’s city, the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, shopping arcades and a great zoo.
Berlin
Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island, the Wall and neighborhoods you could explore for a week.
Hamburg
The harbor, the Speicherstadt, the Elbphilharmonie and Miniatur Wunderland.
Cologne
The cathedral, Roman history, Kölsch and some of the earliest Christmas markets in Germany.
Heidelberg
Castle ruins, the Old Bridge and Germany’s oldest university town on the Neckar.
Smaller towns we love
No full guide yet, but every one of these is worth a day.
Swipe for more →
Würzburg
The baroque Residence (UNESCO), the fortress on the hill and a glass of wine on the old Main bridge.
Good to know: about an hour from Nuremberg by train.
Regensburg
A medieval old town on the Danube with a stone bridge from the 12th century and a UNESCO old town.
Good to know: about 1.5 hours from Munich by train.
Lübeck
The Holstentor gate, brick Gothic churches and marzipan, in the old queen of the Hanseatic League.
Good to know: under an hour from Hamburg by train.
Quedlinburg
More than a thousand half-timbered houses and a UNESCO old town at the edge of the Harz mountains.
Good to know: pair it with a trip on the Harz narrow-gauge railways.
Freiburg
A sunny university town at the edge of the Black Forest, with a red sandstone minster and little streams running through the streets.
Good to know: the gateway to the southern Black Forest.
Lindau
An island old town on Lake Constance with a lion and a lighthouse guarding the harbor, and the Alps across the water.
Good to know: the Hafenweihnacht Christmas market runs from 26 Nov to 20 Dec 2026.
Meissen
The town where European porcelain was first made, with a castle and cathedral above the Elbe.
Good to know: an easy S-Bahn ride from Dresden.
Potsdam
Sanssouci and the other palaces and gardens of the Prussian kings, half an hour from Berlin.
Good to know: Sanssouci uses timed tickets and is closed on Mondays.
Germany state by state
A one-minute tour of all 16 states and what we’d go there for.
Swipe for more →
Bavaria (Bayern)
Munich · Alps · castles
Our home: beer gardens, Neuschwanstein, the Alps, Franconian towns and the most Christmas markets. See Munich, Nuremberg, Bamberg and Rothenburg.
Baden-Württemberg
Black Forest · Heidelberg
The Black Forest, Lake Constance, Stuttgart’s car museums and Heidelberg.
Berlin
Capital city
History on every corner, world-class museums and the best of modern Germany. See our Berlin guide.
Brandenburg
Potsdam · Spreewald
Palaces in Potsdam and canals in the Spreewald, where people still get around by punt.
Bremen
Town hall · Town Musicians
A UNESCO town hall, the Roland statue and the Bremen Town Musicians from the fairy tale.
Hesse (Hessen)
Frankfurt · Rhine wine
Frankfurt’s skyline and old town, Rüdesheim’s wine lanes and the university town of Marburg.
Lower Saxony
Harz · North Sea
The Harz mountains, the East Frisian islands, Lüneburg and Hanover’s Herrenhausen Gardens.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Baltic coast · lakes
Baltic beaches, the chalk cliffs of Rügen, Schwerin Castle and the Hanseatic towns of Stralsund and Wismar.
North Rhine-Westphalia
Cologne · Ruhr
Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen and the industrial heritage of the Ruhr.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhine · Moselle · Trier
Castles on the Rhine, Eltz Castle near the Moselle and Roman Trier, Germany’s oldest city.
Saarland
French flair
The Saar loop at Mettlach, Völklingen Ironworks (UNESCO) and a cuisine with a French accent.
Saxony (Sachsen)
Dresden · Leipzig
Baroque Dresden, musical Leipzig, Saxon Switzerland and the Ore Mountain Christmas traditions.
Saxony-Anhalt
Luther · Bauhaus
Wittenberg, where the Reformation began, the Bauhaus in Dessau and half-timbered Quedlinburg.
Schleswig-Holstein
Two seas
Lübeck, Kiel Week, the island of Sylt and the North Sea mudflats.
Thuringia (Thüringen)
Weimar · Wartburg
Goethe and Schiller in Weimar, the Wartburg above Eisenach and Erfurt’s cathedral square.
Tips for planning your route
🚆
Use the trains
ICE trains link the big cities fast. Book saver fares early, or use the Deutschlandticket on regional trains if you live in or are staying a while in Germany.
🏨
Pick two or three bases
Day trips beat packing every morning. Munich, Nuremberg, Berlin, Dresden and Cologne all make great bases.
🗓️
Watch the holidays
Public holidays differ by state, and shops close on them. Our festivals by month page has the big dates.
🎄
Come in Advent
Every town on this page has a Christmas market. Our calendar has the checked dates.
🥨
Eat regional
Ask for the local dish and the local beer or wine. It changes every 50 kilometers, and so does the bread.
👦
Plan with kids
Mix a city day with something outdoors. Our boys still talk about the ramparts in Rothenburg more than any museum.
Destination questions
What is the most beautiful place in Germany?
It depends what you love. For a fairy-tale castle, Neuschwanstein. For a medieval town, Rothenburg or Bamberg. For mountains, the Bavarian Alps around Garmisch-Partenkirchen. For a river, the Middle Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz.
How many days do I need for Germany?
A week lets you see one region well, for example Munich, a castle day trip and Franconia. With two weeks, add Berlin and Dresden or Cologne and the Rhine.
Which German city is best for a first visit?
Munich or Berlin. Munich is easy, walkable and close to the Alps and castles. Berlin is big, historic and full of museums.
Which cities have the best Christmas markets?
Nuremberg, Dresden, Cologne and Munich are the classics. See our guide to German Christmas markets for our favorites and dates.
How many states does Germany have?
Sixteen. Three of them, Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen, are city-states.
Still have a question? Ask me and I’ll answer it.
More guides for your trip
Castles in Germany
Our favorite castles and palaces, and how to visit them.
The best regions in Germany
The Rhine Valley, the Black Forest, the Alps and more.
German Christmas markets 2026
The best markets across Germany, with checked dates for every one.
Get my free Germany packing list
What to wear to the Christmas markets, what to pack for the Alps, and everything else you'll forget. Plus one short email from me once a month: which markets and festivals are coming up, what's worth the trip, and one money-saving train tip.
Instant download.
Pfiat di (take care), Brian 👋
Updated October 2026. Opening hours, prices and dates were checked on each official website in October 2026 and can change, so check before you go.
Photo credits: Lindau harbor: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0; Nuremberg: Uoaei1, CC BY-SA 4.0; Rothenburg: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0; Bamberg: Palickap, CC BY 4.0; Dresden: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0; Leipzig: Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0; Berlin: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0; Hamburg: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0; Cologne: Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0; Heidelberg: HDLara, CC BY-SA 3.0 de; Würzburg: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0; Regensburg: Dguendel, CC BY 3.0; Lübeck: Christian Wolf (www.c-w-design.de), CC BY-SA 3.0 de; Quedlinburg: Tobias Paul, CC BY-SA 4.0; Freiburg: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0; Lindau: Julian Herzog (Website), CC BY 4.0; Meissen: Jörg Blobelt, CC BY-SA 4.0; Potsdam: Wolfgang Staudt from Saarbruecken, Germany, CC BY 2.0; Neuschwanstein: C.Stadler/Bwag (talk / email), CC BY-SA 4.0; Bacharach: abbilder, CC BY 2.0.