Germany Travel Guide

Hike in the Bavarian Alps

The most thrilling place to hike in Germany is in Bavaria. The Bavarian Alps encompass several ranges which form part of the Northern Limestone Alps.

The resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a very practical base for hiking in the Alps. Check out these guides:

• Best Things to Do in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
• Best Hikes around Garmisch-Partenkirchen
• Lake Eibsee
• Partnach Gorge Hike
• Alpspitze Via Ferrata
• Kreuzeck to Höllentalklamm Gorge Hike
• Hochplatte Hike

To string together the most sensational destinations in the Northern Alps, follow this 10-Day Bavarian Alps & Tyrolean Alps Road Trip.

If you’re planning a winter trip to the Bavarian Alps, read our Garmisch-Partenkirchen winter guide.

Drink Wine in the Moselle Valley

For anyone who equates Germany with Beer only, think again. Germany is also the land of wine.

The Moselle Valley (Mosel in German) is a region that surrounds the Moselle River and extends across north-eastern France, south-western Germany, and eastern Luxembourg.

This region is famous for its wine, especially its Riesling. In Germany, you can drive the Wine Road, Römische Weinstraße, which closely follows the Moselle River.

With vineyards and castle ruins on one side of the road and the River on the other, the Römische Weinstraße is easily one of the most romantic drives in Germany.

Along the route, you’ll pass through many wine-making villages filled with wine taverns (Weinstuben in German), wineries, and restaurants. We recommend driving slowly and stopping often. 

Where to Stay in the Moselle Valley:

• Trier
• Bernkastel-Kues
• Beilstein
• Cochem

Read Next: Moselle Valley Travel Guide

Bathe in Baden-Baden

Visiting a Therme is an essential experience to have in Germany. It’s not only relaxing, but it’s also a cultural experience that’s very valued by the German people.

The ultimate place to experience a thermal bathhouse is in the historical spa town that’s called “to bathe – to bathe,” or Baden-Baden.

It was the Romans who first discovered the healing waters of Baden-Baden and set up a wellness complex here for their soldiers and citizens. The foundations of the Roman bath ruins are still viewable in the city.

Today, Baden-Baden is home to two famous thermal spas: Friedrichsbad and Caracalla Spa.

Friedrichsbad was opened in 1877 and at the time was considered the most modern bathing establishment in Europe. The main attraction was and is the mineral thermal water rich in calcium and magnesium.

The concept of the spa is achieving relaxing through a sequence of warm and hot dry air baths, a soap & brush massage, steam baths, thermal pools, and thermal water showers.

Learn more about Friedrichsbad and Palais Thermal: Black Forest Travel Guide

Celebrate Karneval in Cologne

Likely when you hear the word “Carnival” you think of places like Venice, New Orleans, and Rio de Janeiro. But, there’s another city you should add to that list. That city is Cologne.

Karneval in Cologne isn’t just a few days, it’s a whole season. In fact, they call it the 5th Season. It begins on November 11th each year at precisely 11:11 a.m. and it doesn’t end until midnight before Ash Wednesday.

Karneval is so important to the people of Cologne that we would go as far as to say: you can’t understand Cologne until you’ve experienced Karneval.

During the 5th season, it’s very common to see people in costume, hear Karneval Lieder (songs), and see Karneval Corps troops gathered in public spaces. The main festivities to attend and see are:

• Weiberfastnacht (Shrove Thursday)
• The official parade on Rosenmontag (Carnival Monday). Parade participants are dressed spectacularly and throw out tons of candy (Kamelle) and flowers (Strüßjer) to spectators.
• Nubbelverbrennung – The burning of the Nubbel is the final celebration that marks the end of the carnival days in Cologne. Everywhere around the city, people gather to burn the Nubbel, a symbolic straw figure that represents all sins committed during the season. After the burning, participates link arms and sing Karneval Lieder for the last time.

Learn more about Cologne: Cologne in Winter and Cologne Day Trips

Hike the Red Wine Trail in the Ahr Valley

We want to share with you a secret. There’s a small region in Western Germany called the Ahr Valley (Ahrtal in German) that is only visited by locals and wine lovers.

Tourism has a minimal impact here, which makes visiting so special. You won’t see souvenir shops or tourist buses.

Read Next: Ahr Valley Travel Guide

We explored Germany’s largest red wine growing region by hiking the Red Wine Trail (Rotweinwanderweg in German). It’s a 35-kilometer trail that is easy, mostly flat, and clearly signed with a red grape motif.

The point of this hike is to savor the local wine and hop slowly from one winemaking village to another. The region is well known for its Spätburgunder (pinot noir), Portugieser, Dornfelder, and Frühburgunder red wines. They also produce some exceptional blanc de noir white wines.

If you’re exploring the Rhine Valley or the Moselle Valley, you could add 1 to 2 days to your itinerary for an Ahr Valley detour.

Visit an NS (National Socialism) Documentation Center

NS Documentation Centers are learning centers and places of remembrance that investigate, chronicle and expose the causes, context, and consequences of National Socialism in Germany.

These centers are incredibly thorough. Information is presented both visually and aurally (via audio guide). As of 2017, there are four NS Documentation Centers in Germany:

1. NS Documentation Center in Cologne
2. Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg
3. Munich Documentation Center in Munich
4. Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre in Berlin

These centers occupy former Nazi buildings. The Nuremberg center is in the unfinished Nazi Congress Hall, designed to hold 50,000 people. The Cologne center is in the El-De Building which was the headquarters of the Cologne Gestapo (secret state police).

By occupying former Nazi buildings, these centers hope to keep the crimes, devastation, and terror of the Third Reich in public memory.

We visited the NS Documentation Centers in Nuremberg, Munich and Cologne. Each center has a unique focus. The Nuremberg NS-DC focuses on Nazi propaganda. It shows how the Nazis used architecture, party rallies, and mass events to stage “Volksgemeinschaft,” the people’s community, for their propaganda.

The Cologne NS-DC thoroughly investigates the way National Socialism developed in Cologne, reveals the role the Cologne Gestapo played in the Third Reich and identifies which minorities and groups of people were persecuted, abused, and murdered in World War II. The Munich NS-DC focuses on how the city contributed to the rise of Nazism, how democracy failed, and how citizens have worked to combat the erasure of National Socialism and WWII from public memory. 

Visit Berlin, Europe’s Coolest City

Berlin isn’t a pretty city. But, that’s not the point. It’s expressive and edgy as well as wounded and honest. Berlin doesn’t shy away from its past. It takes its history of unimaginable crime and division and presents it for all to see.

The Holocaust Memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe), with its 2,711 grave-like concrete slabs, is just steps away from the Brandenburg Gate, the most well-known landmark of Berlin.

Berlin’s museums are a great starting place to unraveling and deconstructing WWII as well as the country’s division between East (DDR, German Democratic Republic) and West (Federal Republic of Germany) in the Cold War era.

We highly recommend the exhibition Daily Life in the GDR in Museum in der Kulturbrauerei, (Address: Knaackstraße 97, 10435 Berlin). And for those who love art, Berlin boasts over 400 galleries. Art matters to this city – and you’ll sense that when you visit.

Unlike most European capital cities, Berlin doesn’t have a heart-beating center. The geographical city center is almost lifeless. However, you will find life and plenty of hearts beating in Berlin’s many neighborhoods.

Drink Smoked Beer in Bamberg

Bamberg is a disarmingly good-looking city in Franconia, the northern region of Bavaria. The entire Altstadt is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Situated on several rivers, Bamberg pretty much has it all in terms of European charm.

When you’re done admiring the colorful buildings, the Altes Rathaus, the Neue Residenz, and Bamberger Dom, the first order of business is visiting a brewery or tavern.

Bamberg makes liquid bacon, or smoked beer (Rauchbier in German). In fact, that dark smokey beer is the only thing we’ll ask you to do in Bamberg. Here are a few places to enjoy Bamberg’s liquid gold: Klosterbräu, Schlenkerla (they have the smokiest beer), Brauerei Fässla.

As you wander through Bamberg, keep an eye out for the 6 pointed Brewer’s Star, which you might think is the Jewish Star of David (at least we did).

The star is usually displayed outside Breweries and has its roots in alchemy. It symbolizes the balance of the masculine, the feminine, and the four elements of fire, air, water, and earth.

One last thing. There’s a cool story about Bamberg’s beautiful Altes Rathaus. The legend goes that the bishop of Bamberg did not grant the citizens any land for the construction of a town hall.

So the townsfolk created an artificial island in the river Regntiz. There they built the town hall that they so badly wanted.

Visit Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg ob der Tauber (“Red Fort on the River Tauber”) is the quintessential storybook town in the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It’s located on the Romantic Road, south of Würzburg and North of Dinkelsbühl.

Wandering through the streets of the impeccably-preserved medieval town is like walking into a Disney fairy tale movie. The colorful town is surrounded by a massive stone wall with 42 towers.

The town wall is walkable. You can access it from several points of entry, throughout the city.

One thing not to miss is the intricately carved altars in the Lutheran Church of St. Jakobs. The church houses the Altar of the Virgin Mary (1520), The High Altar (1466), and The Altar of the Holy Blood (1499-1505).

The latter is a masterpiece by Tilman Riemenschneider in terms of its detail and humanism.

It was commissioned by the Rothenburg Council to provide a respectable setting for a relic containing a capsule of holy blood.

Tour the Romantic Rhine Valley

The Romantic Rhine Valley, aka the Upper Middle Rhine Valley (Oberes-Mittelrheintal in German), is the region along the River Rhine that stretches for 65-km between the city of Koblenz and the towns of Bingen and Rüdesheim am Rhein.

This region is celebrated for its wine-making towns, steep vineyards, and hill-top castles.

Whether you cruise, hike, cycle or drive along the spellbinding Rhine River, you’ll feel transported to another time.

Where to Stay in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley:

• Bacharach
• Sankt Goar
• Oberwesel

Warm up with Glühwein at a Christmas Market

Germany really dresses up for Christmas. The streets are decked with lights and wreaths. Christmas Markets (Weihnachtsmärkte or Christkindlmärkte in German) emerge in town squares and public gathering spaces.

And, the air smells like spiced wine, raclette, and candied nuts. It’s festive, it’s fun and most of all, it’s for everyone. Winter in Germany lasts forever, but during the festive Christmas season, you don’t even mind your numb toes.

Christmas markets are open to the public. There’s no entry cost. Some have specific themes. And, there are multiple stalls/huts selling different goodies. 

We don’t go to Christmas markets to buy souvenirs, which you absolutely can do. Instead, we go to the markets to enjoy a mug of spiced wine (Glühwein in German) and to savor the season’s treats.

No matter where you are in Germany during the Advent season, you’ll find Christmas Markets to go to. If you’re in Western Germany, don’t miss out on the Cologne and Aachen advent markets.

If you’re in Berlin in December, head to the Potsdam Christmas Market.