Dortmund
You can see it from afar – the golden ‘U’ atop the tower once used for beer storage by the now defunct Union Brauerei. Once one of Dortmund’s largest and…
Must-see attractions in Cologne & Northern Rhineland
Aachen
Fifty life-sized statues of German rulers, including 30 kings crowned in Aachen between AD 936 and 1531, adorn the facade of Aachen's splendid Gothic town…
Cologne
Cologne's Third Reich history is poignantly and exhaustively documented in the NS Documentation Centre housed in the very building that served as the…
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
Part of Brühl's park-and-palace ensemble, Jagdschloss Falkenlust is a petite rococo jewel designed by François Cuvilliés as a hunting palace. This is…
Münster
One of Münster’s finest churches, the late-Gothic St Lambertikirche was built in 1450. It's filled with wonderful treasures but the most fascinating…
Cologne
This ethno-museum makes a bold opening statement with a huge rice barn from Sulawesi filling its cavernous lobby. Beyond here are three floors of theme…
Cologne
The Museum Schnütgen is an exquisite repository of medieval religious art and sculpture from the Rhineland region presented within the serene ambience of…
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
It was on the Rathaus steps that the Peace of Westphalia was proclaimed on 25 October 1648, ending the Thirty Years' War. The preceding peace negotiations…
Cologne
If you look at Cologne’s coat of arms, you’ll see what looks like 11 apostrophes. In fact, the squiggles represent St Ursula and 11,000 virgins who were…
Dortmund
Dating to 1280, the Reinoldi church is named after the city’s patron saint. As the story goes, after Reinold was martyred in Cologne, the carriage…
Cologne
Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) was a famous early 20th-century German artist whose social and political awareness lent a tortured power to her lithographs,…
Aachen
A modern triangular building in the midst of where the great man walked, this museum looks at not only the life and times of Charlemagne but also Aachen's…
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
The unbalanced towers are just one of the idiosyncratic architectural features that make Osnabrück's cathedral an intriguing place. Parts date to 1100,…
Dortmund
Marienkirche is the oldest of Dortmund’s churches, and its Romanesque origins are still visible in the round-arched nave. The star exhibit here is the…
Düsseldorf
The Kunstpalast stages changing exhibitions drawn from its well-respected art collection and often presented in paradigm-shifting ways. As such, old…
Münster
A treat for fans of Pablo Picasso, one of the 20th century's seminal artists, in this 18th-century neoclassical mansion whose changing exhibits are drawn…
Cologne
The striking clover-leaf choir is an architectural feature pioneered at this 11th-century Romanesque church, where major treasures include the ethereal…
Aachen
In a former umbrella factory, the well-respected Ludwig Forum trains the spotlight on American and European contemporary art (Warhol, Richter, Holzer,…
Cologne
Remnants of the Praetorium (governor's palace), the political power nexus of Roman Cologne, have been discovered beneath the medieval town hall. In a well…
Aachen
The Suermondt Ludwig Museum is especially proud of its medieval sculpture but also has fine works by Cranach, Dürer, Macke, Dix and other masters. An…
Cologne
The most eccentric looking of Cologne's many Romanesque churches, St Gereon grew from a late-Roman chapel into this massive complex lidded by a 10-sided…
Cologne
If Aalto, Eames and Olivetti are music to your ears, you should swing by the Museum of Applied Arts, which displays a prestigious and extensive collection…
Bonn
The landmark Münster Basilica was built on the graves of the two martyred Roman soldiers who later got promoted to be the city’s patron saints. It got its…
Düsseldorf
This early baroque church, built from 1622 to 1629, is drenched in fanciful white stucco. Six baroque saint sculptures from the original altar are…
Cologne
The noise of the city fades to a quiet hum on the viewing platform located at a lofty 103m atop the KölnTriangle office tower on the right Rhine bank…
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
Ahrweiler’s Roman roots spring to life at the Museum Roemervilla on the northwest edge of town. Protected by a lofty glass and wood structure are the…
Ring°Werk Motorsport Erlebnismuseum
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
At this indoor theme park at the Nürburgring race car track, you can get misty-eyed over legendary cars, learn about 80 years of racing history, discover…
Historisches Rathaus & Friedenssaal
Münster
Dominating Prinzipalmarkt, Münster's city hall played a key role in ending the calamitous Thirty Years' War when an important sub-treaty of the Peace of…
Dortmund
The 14th-century Petrikirche's showstopper is the massive Antwerp altar (1520), featuring 633 individually carved and gilded figurines in scenes depicting…
Düsseldorf
A short detour off the Rheinuferpromenade takes you to the Hetjens Museum, famous for its comprehensive survey of 8000 years of ceramic art from around…
Düsseldorf
Young artists – many from the local art academy – get the nod in this underground exhibition space housed in a spectacularly adapted tunnel below the…
Erich Maria Remarque Friedenszentrum
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
The novelist Erich Maria Remarque, whose most famous work All Quiet on the Western Front deals with the horrors of WWI, was born in Osnabrück in 1898…
Düsseldorf
For innovative artistic expression, head to the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf; it primarily deals in cutting-edge media, including digital art, and mounts…
Düsseldorf
Burgplatz marks the northern end of the Rheinuferpromenade, where cafes and benches fill with people in fine weather, creating an almost Mediterranean…
Düsseldorf
When you've had your shopping fill, head on over to the pleasant Hofgarten, dotted with statues of Heinrich Heine, Robert Schumann and other German greats.
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
Westphalian writer Annette von Droste-Hülshoff penned some of her finest work at the petite Haus Rüschhaus, where she lived for 20 years from 1826. Her…
Dortmund
The Zollern II/IV Coal Mine was considered a 'model mine' when operation began in 1902. It boasted state-of-the-art technology and fantastic architecture,…
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
In Havixbeck, about 10km west of Münster, Burg Hülshoff is a red-brick Renaissance chateau and the birthplace of one of Germany’s pre-eminent women of…
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
The Nibelungenlied (Song of the Nibelungs) is an epic medieval poem about love, jealousy, murder and revenge that shot to international stardom in the…
Cologne & Northern Rhineland
The 1913 Nibelungenhalle is a temple-like shrine to the composer Richard Wagner, decorated with scenes from his opera cycle Ring of the Nibelungen. Part…
