Things to do in Germany

The 18 best things to do in Germany

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1. 1BerlinBook ahead

   Walk up the glass dome of the Reichstag

   The Reichstag, finished in 1894, has housed the German parliament again since 1999, when Norman Foster completed his redesign of the war-damaged building. Its glass dome sits directly above the debating chamber: a mirrored cone at its center directs daylight into the hall below and gives visitors a view of it. Two steel ramps curve up inside the dome in a double helix, a 230 m walk up and down with wide views over the government district and the city's sights. Audio guides in twelve languages, picked up on the roof terrace, explain what you see in about 20 minutes. Every visit to the dome needs a registration made in advance.

   Tip: Register online well before your trip and bring a passport or ID card, which is checked at registration and again at the entrance; without a booking, try the service center on Platz der Republik, which issues any free places at least 2 hours ahead.

   Free; register online in advance
   Search tours on TiqetsSources: German Bundestag; visitBerlin (Berlin's official travel website)
2. 2Berlin

   Stand beneath the Brandenburg Gate on Pariser Platz

   Berlin's only surviving historical city gate was built between 1788 and 1791 to designs by Carl Gotthard Langhans, inspired by the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens. It stands 26 m high on two rows of six Doric columns and has carried the Quadriga statue since 1793; Napoleon took the Quadriga to Paris in 1806, and it came home in 1814. When the Wall went up in 1961, the gate was stranded in a closed border zone, and 100,000 people gathered for its official opening on 22 December 1989. Today it faces Pariser Platz and stands for a reunited Berlin, with the Reichstag, Unter den Linden and the Holocaust Memorial close by.

   Tip: Pick up maps and tickets at the Berlin Tourist Info in the gate's south wing, then use the gate as your starting point for the Reichstag and the Holocaust Memorial.

   Free to visit
   Search tours on TiqetsSources: visitBerlin, Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH
3. 3SchwangauBook ahead

   Tour King Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein Castle

   Ludwig II laid the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein in 1869 as a private refuge, yet only ever saw it as a building site; it opened to the public seven weeks after his death in 1886 and now draws about 1.4 million visitors a year. Behind the medieval look sat the latest technology, from hot air central heating to telephones, and the wall paintings follow the medieval legends behind Richard Wagner's operas, with the swan as a recurring motif. Visits are by guided or audio tour only, about 30 minutes, at a fixed time. Take the train to Füssen and the bus to Hohenschwangau, then walk about 30 to 40 minutes uphill, or ride the shuttle bus to the Marienbrücke lookout above the castle.

   Tip: Buy a timed ticket from the official online shop well ahead, since same-day tickets at the Ticket Center in Hohenschwangau often sell out early, and leave spare time for the climb and security checks because late arrivals miss their tour.

   Adult base admission: €21 (about $24) · Book a time slot; online booking charge extraFee changed?

   Last verified Nov 4, 2026

   Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: Bavarian Palace Administration (official); Bavarian Palace Administration (official); Bavarian Palace Administration (official); Bavarian Palace Department (Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung); Bavarian Palace Department (Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung); Bavarian Palace Department (Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung)
4. 4Berlin

   Trace the Berlin Wall along Bernauer Strasse

   When the Wall went up in August 1961, it ran right along the house fronts of Bernauer Strasse: residents abseiled out of their windows to flee, and border soldier Conrad Schumann jumped the barbed wire into West Berlin two days after the border closed. This stretch was one small part of a 155 km border that encircled West Berlin. The Berlin Wall Memorial now follows the old border strip with an open-air exhibition and a 70 m section of original Wall with its watchtower, showing how the border looked in the late 1980s. Across the street, the Documentation Center tells the story of 1961, and its observation tower looks down on the preserved fortifications.

   Tip: Start at the Documentation Center and its observation tower for the overview, then walk the open-air exhibition along the street at your own pace.

   Free to visit
   Search tours on TiqetsSources: visitBerlin, Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH; Berlin Wall Foundation (official)
5. 5Munich

   Watch the Glockenspiel play on Marienplatz

   Marienplatz is Munich's central square and the best place to start in the old town, framed by the neo-Gothic New Town Hall, built between 1867 and 1909, and the Old Town Hall of 1470 to 1475. High in the New Town Hall tower, the Glockenspiel's 43 bells and moving figures act out two stories: a knights' tournament held for the wedding of Duke Wilhelm V and Renate of Lorraine in 1568, and below it the coopers' dance, said to have cheered the city after a plague. It plays daily at 11 AM and noon, and also at 5 PM from March to October. The Frauenkirche, Alter Peter and the Viktualienmarkt are a few minutes' walk away.

   Tip: Arrive a few minutes early for a clear view of the tower, or come for the quieter 9 PM night show with the night watchman and the angel.

   Free to visit
   Sources: muenchen.de (City of Munich official portal); muenchen.de (City of Munich official portal)
6. 6Berlin

   Meet Queen Nefertiti at the Neues Museum

   The Neues Museum on Museum Island was designed by Friedrich August Stüler and built from 1843 to 1855, then left as a bombed-out ruin after World War II. David Chipperfield's restoration kept the scars of the war visible instead of patching them over, and the museum reopened in 2009. Inside, Egyptian art, prehistoric finds and classical antiquities from three collections trace early cultures from the Middle East to the Atlantic and from North Africa to Scandinavia. The star is the bust of Queen Nefertiti in the North Dome Hall, and the Egyptian Court and the stair hall with its historical plaster casts are worth a slow look too. Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

   Tip: Book a ticket online before you go, and see Nefertiti early in your visit before the North Dome Hall gets busy.

   €[fee]Know the fee?
   Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (official); Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (official)
7. 7Berlin

   Walk the murals of the East Side Gallery

   At 1,316 m along the Spree in Friedrichshain, the East Side Gallery is the longest continuous section of the Berlin Wall still standing. Right after the Wall fell on 9 November 1989, 118 artists from 21 countries began painting its former east side, and it opened as an open-air gallery on 28 September 1990. More than a hundred paintings comment on the changes of 1989 and 1990, among them Dmitri Vrubel's Fraternal Kiss of Brezhnev and Honecker and Birgit Kinder's Trabant breaking through the Wall. Out in all weather, the works have been restored several times, most fully in 2009. Warschauer Strasse and Ostbahnhof stations sit at either end.

   Tip: Walk it from Ostbahnhof toward Warschauer Strasse, then carry on across the Oberbaum Bridge into Kreuzberg.

   Free to visit
   Sources: visitBerlin, Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH
8. 8Berlin

   Walk the Field of Stelae at the Holocaust Memorial

   Germany's central Holocaust memorial, a short walk from the Brandenburg Gate, remembers up to six million Jewish victims. The German Bundestag decided to build it in 1999, and it opened on 10 May 2005. Architect Peter Eisenman covered 19,000 square meters with 2,711 concrete stelae of different heights on gently sloping, uneven ground, so the field feels different wherever you stand, and it is open day and night from all four sides. Beneath it, the Information Center documents the persecution and murder of the Jews of Europe through individual lives, with photographs, diaries and farewell letters in rooms such as the Room of Families and the Room of Names.

   Tip: Walk the field slowly and quietly as a place of remembrance, then go down to the Information Center, which keeps its own opening hours.

   Free to visit
   Search tours on TiqetsSources: Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe; visitBerlin, Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH
9. 9Munich

   Graze the stalls of the Viktualienmarkt

   A few steps from Marienplatz, the Viktualienmarkt is Munich's year-round food market, with more than 100 vendors on 18,591 square meters selling fruit and vegetables, meat, cheese, fish, bread, spices and flowers. In the middle of the stalls sits a beer garden that pours beer from Munich's six major breweries in turn, switching about every five to six weeks. You may bring your own Brotzeit, the Bavarian snack plate, as long as you buy your drinks there, or pick up food from the stalls around it. Look out for the maypole and the six fountains honoring Munich folk figures. The market trades Monday to Saturday, and each stall sets its own hours.

   Tip: Come in the morning while it is calm, since the food stalls and beer garden get busy around lunchtime, and remember there is no regular market trading on Sundays.

   Pay as you go
   Sources: muenchen.de (City of Munich official portal)
10. 10Munich

    Watch the Eisbach surfers in the English Garden

    Laid out from 1789 for the whole population rather than one class, the English Garden is one of the largest inner-city parks in the world, 376 hectares stretching about 5.5 km from the old town into open country. At its southern entrance on Prinzregentenstrasse, surfers ride a standing wave on the Eisbach stream almost all year, often watched by a crowd. Walk on to the Monopteros, a temple added in 1837 on an artificial hill, for a view over the city, then to the Chinese Tower, built in 1790, whose beer garden is the second largest in Munich with about 7,500 seats. You can also take a boat out on the Kleinhesseloher See.

    Tip: Come in daylight to watch the surfers from the bank, since surfing on the Eisbach is banned from 10 PM, and respect the posted rules at the wave.

    Free to visit
    Search tours on TiqetsSources: Bavarian Palace Administration (official); muenchen.de (City of Munich official portal); City of Munich; muenchen.de (City of Munich official portal)
11. 11Munich

    Share a table at the Augustiner-Keller beer garden

    Beer gardens are part of everyday life in Munich, and the Augustiner-Keller has the oldest in the city, first mentioned in 1812. Its 5,000 seats fill up whenever the weather is good, with locals and visitors from all over the world at the same tables. It sits a few minutes' walk from Hackerbrücke S-Bahn station and not far from the main train station, which makes it an easy first evening after you arrive. Order a Radler, a shandy of beer and lemonade, with a classic Bavarian dish. On days when the beer garden stays closed, the restaurant inside is open.

    Tip: Save it for a warm, dry evening, and check the home page that day, since it posts whether the beer garden is open.

    Pay as you go
    Sources: muenchen.de (City of Munich official portal); Augustiner-Keller (official)
12. 12Potsdam

    Day trip to Frederick the Great's Sanssouci in Potsdam

    Frederick the Great had his architect Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff build Sanssouci, French for "without a care", in 1745 to 1747 as a small summer palace above terraced vineyards. It is elegant rather than opulent, and its intimate rooms keep their original designs and furnishings. The park around it holds the New Palace, the New Chambers, the Chinese House, the Orangery and Charlottenhof Palace, and Frederick rests on the top terrace, where he was reburied in 1991. Potsdam's palaces and parks are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city lies just southwest of Berlin, inside fare zone C of Berlin's public transport.

    Tip: Buy a palace ticket online in advance, since the number of tickets per day is limited and each one comes with a fixed admission time.

    Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: visitBerlin (Berlin's official travel website); Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation (SPSG, official); visitBerlin (Berlin's official travel website); visitBerlin (Berlin's official travel website)
13. 13Munich

    Explore the royal rooms of the Munich Residence

    From 1508 to 1918 the Residence was the seat of government and home of Bavaria's dukes, electors and kings. It began in 1385 as a castle in a corner of the city and grew over the centuries into a huge palace, with rooms and art collections running from the Renaissance through the early Baroque and Rococo to Neoclassicism. Much of it was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt from 1945. Today it is one of the largest museum complexes in Bavaria, with the Residence Museum, the Treasury and the Cuvilliés Theatre. You explore on your own, with an audio guide in nine languages including English, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.

    Tip: In winter, arrive by early afternoon, since last entry to the Residence Museum and Treasury is at 4 PM from late October to late March.

    Residence Museum: €10 (about $11) · Ticketed entryFee changed?

    Last verified Nov 4, 2026

    Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: Bavarian Palace Administration (official); Bavarian Palace Department (Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung)
14. 14BerlinBook ahead

    Ride up the Berlin TV Tower at Alexanderplatz

    The GDR built the TV Tower in the 1960s, partly to show off the strength of the socialist system, to an original design by architect Hermann Henselmann. Its sphere, mounted at a height of 200 m, was meant to recall the Soviet Sputnik satellites. Today, like the Brandenburg Gate, it is a symbol of reunified Germany and the highest point in Berlin. An elevator traveling at 6 m per second reaches the observation deck in about 40 seconds, and the deck gives a 360-degree view over the city. You can also eat in the Sphere restaurant, which slowly revolves, or have a drink at the bar.

    Tip: Buy your ticket online ahead of time, and expect a short admission line even with a ticket in hand.

    Standard ticket online, from: €20 (about $22) · Book online; prices vary by time slotFee changed?

    Last verified Nov 7, 2026

    Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: Berlin TV Tower (official); Berliner Fernsehturm; Berliner Fernsehturm
15. 15Dachau

    Visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

    On 22 March 1933, weeks after Hitler became Reich Chancellor, a concentration camp for political prisoners opened in Dachau; it became the model for all later camps. Over 12 years, more than 200,000 people from across Europe were held here and in its subcamps, and 41,500 were murdered before American troops liberated the survivors on 29 April 1945. Survivors shaped the memorial site, founded in 1965, and its exhibition follows the path of the prisoners. It opens daily from 9 AM to 5 PM except 24 December, with English guided tours daily at 11 AM and 1 PM. Take the S2 from Munich Hauptbahnhof, about 25 minutes, then bus 726.

    Tip: Treat the grounds as the cemetery they are: no eating, smoking or alcohol on the former camp, and the memorial advises against bringing children under 12.

    Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (official); Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (official); Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (official)
16. 16Berlin

    Climb to the dome walkway of Berlin Cathedral

    Kaiser Wilhelm II meant his new cathedral to be Berlin's answer to St. Peter's in Rome. The old building came down in 1893, the foundation stone was laid in 1894, and the church was consecrated in 1905; badly damaged in World War II, it then stood in East Berlin. A visit takes in the main church, the baptismal and wedding church, the cathedral museum and the Hohenzollern crypt, which reopened in March 2026 and spans 500 years of Brandenburg-Prussian burials. The highlight is the climb of 270 steps to the walkway around the outside of the dome, with panoramic views over the city center.

    Tip: Buy your ticket online and check the cathedral's daily schedule first, since services and concerts fill parts of the day.

    Adult: €15 (about $17) · Ticketed entryFee changed?

    Last verified Nov 4, 2026

    Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: Berlin Cathedral (official); visitBerlin, Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH
17. 17MunichBook ahead

    See where Ludwig II was born at Nymphenburg Palace

    Nymphenburg began in 1664 as a summer residence celebrating the birth of the long-awaited heir Max Emanuel, and grew under him and his successors into a vast Baroque ensemble west of the old center. Its Great Hall glows with Rococo decoration by Johann Baptist Zimmermann and François Cuvilliés the Elder, and the park, opened to the public in 1792, hides small palaces such as the Amalienburg with its Hall of Mirrors. King Ludwig II, who built Neuschwanstein, was born here on 25 August 1845. There are no regular guided tours, so pick up the audio guide, offered in ten languages, and allow time for a walk through the park.

    Tip: Visit between April and mid-October to see the park palaces, since the Amalienburg and its neighbors close for the rest of the year.

    Palace: €10 (about $11) · Book a time slotFee changed?

    Last verified Nov 4, 2026

    Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: Bavarian Palace Administration (official); Bavarian Palace Department (Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung)
18. 18Munich

    Climb the 306 steps of Alter Peter

    Munich's people fondly call St. Peter's, the oldest parish church in the city, and above all its tower "Alter Peter", Old Peter. Right beside Marienplatz, the tower is one of the best viewpoints in Munich: 306 steps lead up to a platform with a view over the whole city and, in clear weather or when the warm Föhn wind blows, as far as the Alps about 100 km away. The tower is also a working belfry, and on the way up you can look through windows at its eight historic bells, including one cast for the city's 800th anniversary. You need a little breath for the climb, but it rewards you in any weather.

    Tip: Save the climb for a clear or Föhn day, when the Alps can show on the horizon.

    Adult: €5 (about $6) · Ticketed entryFee changed?

    Last verified Nov 4, 2026

    Search tickets and tours on TiqetsSources: Catholic parish of St. Peter, Munich; muenchen.de (City of Munich official portal)

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