Country guide
Germany runs from the Baltic and North Sea coasts in the north down to the Alps in the south, and its 16 states have kept enough separateness that the country r...
Photograph · Llez · CC BY-SA 3.0
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
Germany runs from the Baltic and North Sea coasts in the north down to the Alps in the south, and its 16 states have kept enough separateness that the country reads as a set of destinations rather than one. Over 83 million people live in them, more than any other European Union member. Berlin is the capital and the largest single city, Frankfurt is the financial centre, and the largest urban area is neither - it is the Ruhr, a belt of western towns that have grown into each other. Choosing between the Bavarian south, the Rhine, the Hanseatic north and the eastern cities is the actual planning decision; the distances are short and the places are not variations on one another.
Checked 2026-08-25
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photograph · Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
95 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
Museum Brandhorst is a contemporary art museum in Munich's Maxvorstadt district. It opened in 2009 and houses the collection of Udo and Anette Brandhorst, featuring works from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
DDR-Museum
The DDR Museum is an interactive Berlin museum about everyday life in the former German Democratic Republic. Rather than presenting East German history only through cases of documents, it invites visitors into reconstructed domestic spaces and hands-on displays.
Musikinstrumenten-Museum
Berlin Musical Instrument Museum, known locally as Musikinstrumenten-Museum, is a specialist Berlin museum devoted to musical instruments.
Kunstgewerbemuseum
Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts, the Kunstgewerbemuseum, explores the history of applied art and design through objects made for use, display and ceremony. It forms part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and brings together craftsmanship across several centuries.
BMW Welt is a major visitor destination in Munich associated with the Bavarian automaker. The facility serves as a delivery center, exhibition space, and brand experience venue.
Museum Berlin-Karlshorst is a memorial and historical museum in Berlin’s eastern Karlshorst district. It occupies the building where German armed forces signed the unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945, bringing the Second World War in Europe to its end.
James-Simon-Galerie
The James Simon Gallery serves as the main entrance building for Berlin's Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Named after Jewish art patron James Simon, the structure was designed by British architect David Chipperfield.
Topographie des Terrors
The Topography of Terror is an outdoor and indoor history museum in Berlin, Germany. It stands on the former site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters, the central instruments of Nazi persecution.
Sammlung Schack
The Schack Collection, known locally as Sammlung Schack, is an art museum in Munich. It ranks as a notable visitor destination within the city's cultural offerings.
Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst
The State Museum of Egyptian Art, locally Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, is Munich’s specialist museum for ancient Egyptian art and archaeology. Its identity comes from a concentrated collection of sculptures, reliefs, funerary objects, and related artefacts connected with Egyptian culture.
Paläontologisches Museum
The Palaeontological Museum in Munich is a specialized natural-history museum devoted to fossils, ancient life and the geological story of evolution. It forms part of the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology, connecting public display with scientific research.
Museum Berggruen
Berggruen Museum, also known as Museum Berggruen, is a focused modern-art museum in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district. Its galleries present works associated with Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, and Alberto Giacometti.
Jüdisches Museum
The Jewish Museum Munich, known locally as Jüdisches Museum, is a cultural institution in Munich dedicated to Jewish history, art, and culture in the city.
Hofbräuhaus
Hofbräuhaus am Platzl is a working beer hall on a small square behind the Munich residence, and it is a tavern rather than a museum: nothing inside is roped off, and everyone in the room is there to eat and…
Bröhan-Museum
The Bröhan-Museum is a Berlin museum dedicated to Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and functionalist design. It occupies a historic building in Charlottenburg, near Schloss Charlottenburg.
Kupferstichkabinett
Kupferstichkabinett Berlin is Berlin’s Museum of Prints and Drawings and part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. It is a specialist collection devoted to graphic art on paper, with works spanning multiple centuries and major European artistic traditions.
MVG-Museum
The MVG Museum is a transport museum in Munich dedicated to the history of public transit in the city.
Tierpark Hellabrunn
Tierpark Hellabrunn is Munich's principal zoological garden, situated in the southern borough of Thalkirchen. Established in 1911, it operates as a geo-zoo where animals are grouped by continent of origin rather than by species type.
Archäologische Staatssammlung
The Bavarian State Archaeological Collection, known locally as Archäologische Staatssammlung, is a museum institution in Munich. It serves as a central archaeological repository for Bavaria, preserving and presenting material culture from prehistoric periods through early historical eras.
Bier- und Oktoberfestmuseum
The Beer and Oktoberfest Museum occupies a historic townhouse in Munich's old town, housed in one of the city's oldest preserved residential buildings dating from the 14th century.
Museum Fünf Kontinente
The Five Continents Museum, known locally as Museum Fünf Kontinente, is an ethnographic museum in Munich. It houses extensive collections representing cultures from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and parts of Europe.
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung is Munich’s specialist museum for graphic art: a focused place for studying drawings, prints, and other works on paper rather than a broad survey of painting and sculpture.
Münchner Stadtmuseum
Munich City Museum, or Münchner Stadtmuseum, is devoted to the history and changing identity of Munich. Its focus is the city itself: how people lived, worked, celebrated, built communities, and shaped the Bavarian capital over time.
Deutsches Jagd- und Fischereimuseum is a specialised Munich museum about hunting and fishing. Its city-centre setting inside a former Augustinian church gives the visit a strong architectural character as well as an exhibition focus.
Haidhausen Museum
Haidhausen-Museum introduces Munich’s Haidhausen district through local history. The museum’s focus is the neighbourhood’s social and urban development, making it a useful stop for travellers who want to understand how an area changes over time.
Seven to ten days works for Berlin plus one connected region, or for a focused Rhine, Bavaria or northern-city route. Germany’s rail network makes multi-city travel practical, but changing bases every night still reduces useful time.
Germany’s Federal Foreign Office is the official visa reference. Review its nationality-specific entry rules and the Schengen application guidance for the passport and route being used.
Intercity and high-speed trains connect Germany’s major cities, with regional services completing shorter journeys. Deutsche Bahn publishes the integrated timetable; airport choice should follow the route rather than defaulting to one national gateway.
May through September favours outdoor city and countryside travel, while December has a distinct seasonal-market pattern. Alpine, North Sea and urban conditions differ enough that the intended region should determine clothing and reservations.
Germany uses the euro (EUR). Cash and card practices are not stated as a single national rule in the cited source, so travellers should carry a backup and check the payment method before ordering or boarding.
For Germany, 112 reaches medical and fire services and 110 reaches police. Type C and F plugs use 230 V, and mains tap water is recorded as safe.
