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Germany

10 city guides · Europe

Cities in Germany (10)

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🇩🇪 Germany

Berlin

Berlin is Europe's most consistently reinventing city. Destroyed in 1945, divided by a wall in 1961, reunified in 1989 — and now the capital of Germany and one of the world's most creative cities. The history is everywhere: the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Holocaust Memorial, the East Side Gallery. But Berlin is also the city of techno clubs in former power stations, of world-class museums, and of a food and coffee scene that punches well above its weight.

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Bremen

Bremen (population 570,000 city, 790,000 metropolitan area: the capital of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen — the smallest of the 16 German federal states, consisting of the city of Bremen and the port city of Bremerhaven 60km to the north on the Weser estuary) is one of the oldest and the most historically important commercial cities in northern Germany: a founding member of the Hanseatic League (the most important medieval commercial trading network in northern Europe: the Hanse — the federation of merchant cities and guilds that dominated the trade of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea from the 13th to the 17th centuries: Bremen joined the Hanse in 1358 and remained one of the most important Hanse cities until the League's final dissolution in 1669). The city is famous throughout the world for the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten" (the "Town Musicians of Bremen" — the story of the donkey, the dog, the cat and the rooster who set out for Bremen to become city musicians but never actually arrive: the most internationally recognized German fairy tale set in a specific city: the bronze sculpture of the four animals (the donkey + the dog on its back + the cat on its back + the rooster on top) by the sculptor Gerhard Marcks (1977) in front of the Rathaus is the most photographed monument in Bremen).

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Cologne

Cologne (Köln in German — population 1.08 million — the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-largest city in Germany) is one of the oldest cities in Germany, founded as the Roman colony of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (CCAA) in 50 AD by Emperor Claudius (whose wife Agrippina the Younger was born in a Roman military settlement at this spot on the Rhine in 15 AD — the settlement was elevated to a full Roman colonia in her honor). Cologne's history is shaped by three forces: the Rhine (the river that made Cologne one of the most important trading cities in medieval Europe — the Rhine tolls collected by the Archbishop of Cologne were the foundation of the city's medieval wealth), the Catholic Church (Cologne was the ecclesiastical capital of the Holy Roman Empire: the Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven Electors who chose the Holy Roman Emperor, and the city's skyline was dominated by 12 Romanesque basilicas built between the 10th and 13th centuries — the largest concentration of Romanesque church architecture in the world), and the Cathedral (Kölner Dom — the Gothic cathedral begun in 1248 (the foundation stone was laid in 1248) and not completed until 1880 (the construction was paused for 632 years (1473–1842)) that is the most visited landmark in Germany (6 million visitors/year) and was the tallest building in the world from 1880 to 1884). Cologne is also the birthplace of Eau de Cologne (4711 Kölnisch Wasser — the perfume created in 1792 by the Italian perfumer Giovanni Maria Farina, who named it "Köln water" after his adopted city — the specific blend of citrus, neroli and rosemary that has been produced continuously in Cologne since 1792), the city of Kölsch (the pale, top-fermented beer produced exclusively within the Cologne city limits (the Kölsch Konvention of 1986 — the agreement restricting the name to the 24 Cologne breweries) and served only in the Kölsch glass (the 200ml cylindrical glass called the Stange)), and the home of the largest carnival in Germany (the Kölner Karneval — 3 days of "the crazy days" (die tollen Tage), beginning on the 11th of the 11th at 11:11am and culminating in the Rosenmontagszug (Rose Monday Parade): the fourth-largest carnival procession in the world with 2 million spectators).

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Dusseldorf

Düsseldorf (population 645,000) is the most fashion-forward and the most internationally Japanese-populated single German city — the "Little Tokyo on the Rhine" (the most precisely Japanese-business-community-concentrated single European city outside London: 8,000+ Japanese residents making Düsseldorf the most important single Japanese business hub in Continental Europe). The Altstadt (the Old Town — the most bar-dense single city district in Germany: the Altstadt contains more bars per square kilometre than anywhere else in Germany — the "longest bar in the world" is the nickname for the Altstadt's 260 bars concentrated in 1.5km²). The MedienHafen (the most architecturally diverse new riverside development in Germany: the Frank Gehry "Neue Zollhof" buildings — the most dramatically deconstructivist single trio of buildings in Germany), the KIT cultural centre, and the Königsallee (the "Kö" — the most luxurious single shopping boulevard in Germany: the most Chanel-and-Hermès-boutique-lined single German commercial street). Düsseldorf is the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia (the most economically productive single German state) and the most important art fair city in Germany (Art Düsseldorf, the IGEDO fashion fair).

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Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main (population 775,000) is the most internationally financial-hub-concentrated single German city — the "Mainhattan" (the most precisely Manhattan-skyscraper-analogy single German city nickname: the most high-rise-banking-tower-dense single European city outside London: the European Central Bank (ECB), Deutsche Börse stock exchange, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank — the most banking-institutionally-significant single Continental European city). The Römerberg (the most precisely half-timbered-and-Gothic-town-hall single German reconstructed historic city centre: the most photographically iconic single German Christmas market location), the Museumsufer (the most densely museum-per-riverbank-kilometre single German cultural district: 12 world-class museums on 2km of the Main riverbank), Goethe's birthplace (the most important single German literary house museum: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe born in Frankfurt on 28 August 1749 — the most precisely Goethe-birthdate-specific single Frankfurt literary connection), Frankfurt Airport (FRA — the most passenger-volume-important single Continental European airport hub), and the Sachsenhausen cider tavern district (the most "Ebbelwoi" apple-wine-serving single German pub quarter).

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Hamburg

Hamburg is Germany's second city and its most cosmopolitan — a Hanseatic port of 1.8 million people on the Elbe River, 110km from the North Sea, where merchant wealth built the Speicherstadt (UNESCO, a kilometre of red-brick warehouse islands connected by canals), the 19th-century Alster lakes in the heart of the city, and the Reeperbahn entertainment district that launched the Beatles in the early 1960s. The Elbphilharmonie (Herzog & de Meuron, 2017 — a concert hall of tilted glass panels perched on a 19th-century warehouse, with a free public plaza at 37 metres offering the best free view of the port) defined Hamburg's transformation from working port to cultural capital. The city has Europe's second-busiest port (after Rotterdam) still operating, so Hamburg never lost its sailor city energy: fish sandwiches eaten at 05:30 at the Sunday Fischmarkt, container ships 200 metres long sliding past the Landungsbrücken piers, and the Elbe beach (Elbstrand) where Hamburgers sunbathe on the river bank with freighters rolling past. Population: 1.8 million city. Best months: May–September.

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Munich

Munich is the capital of Bavaria and one of Europe's most prosperous and well-organised cities — home to BMW and Siemens, to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites within day-trip range, and to the Oktoberfest that brings six million visitors to the Theresienwiese meadow each autumn for the world's largest folk festival. Yet Munich is more than Lederhosen and Märzenbier: the Deutsches Museum is the world's largest science and technology museum; the Alte Pinakothek holds one of the finest Old Master collections in Europe (Rubens, Dürer, Raphael); and the English Garden (Englischer Garten) at 3.7 km² is larger than Central Park and has a standing river wave (Eisbachwelle) where surfers ride an artificial bore year-round. The city's history has its dark chapters — the NSDAP was founded here, and the Nazi Documentation Centre on Königsplatz confronts this honestly — but postwar Munich reinvented itself as the model of German civic prosperity: excellent public transport, world-class museums, Biergarten culture and proximity to the Alps (1 hour to Zugspitze) that make it one of Europe's most complete city experiences.

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Nuremberg

Nuremberg is Bavaria's second city and one of the most historically charged cities in Germany — the medieval city that hosted the Holy Roman Emperors for 500 years (every new emperor was required to hold his first diet in Nuremberg), was Hitler's "City of the Reich" where the Nazi rallies drew half a million people, was the site of the 1945–1946 war crimes trials that established the Nuremberg Principles of international law, and is today a city that has made honest confrontation with its own history into a civic identity. The medieval old city (Altstadt) within its 5 km of walls is one of the best-preserved in Germany — the Kaiserburg Imperial Castle on its sandstone cliff, the St Sebaldus and St Lorenz churches with their extraordinary Gothic sculpture, the twin-bridged Pegnitz River, and the Hauptmarkt with its golden Schöner Brunnen fountain and the annual Christmas Market (Christkindlesmarkt, one of Europe's oldest and largest, since 1628). Nuremberg cuisine is equally distinctive: Nürnberger Rostbratwurst (the finger-sized grilled sausages, protected designation of origin, served in threes with sauerkraut on tin plates), Lebkuchen (the honey-spice gingerbread sold year-round but synonymous with Christmas), Elisenlebkuchen (the premium version with almonds and hazelnuts, no flour) and Schäufele (braised pork shoulder). The 1935 Nuremberg Laws that stripped Jews of citizenship were enacted here; the Documentation Centre at the Nazi rally grounds confronts this directly.

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Potsdam

Potsdam is the capital of Brandenburg state in Germany, a city of 185,000 on the Havel River 26 km southwest of central Berlin — the city of Prussian kings and German emperors, where the most important conference of the post-war world order (the Potsdam Conference, July–August 1945, Stalin, Truman and Churchill/Attlee) divided Germany and shaped the Cold War, and one of the most extraordinary concentrations of royal palaces and park landscapes in Europe. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed palaces and parks of Potsdam (inscribed 1990) cover 500 ha of interlinked palace grounds containing 30 palaces, 150 buildings and 700 ha of landscape parks — the ensemble was created by the Hohenzollern dynasty over 500 years from the 17th to 20th century and represents the most complete expression of Prussian royal taste in architecture and garden design. Sanssouci ("Without Worry" in French, the language of the Prussian court) was Frederick the Great's personal summer palace (1747), a single-storey rococo building on 6 terraced vine-covered hillside with 300 rooms of extraordinary interiors — the palace where Frederick lived for 40 of his 46 years on the throne, composed his flute concertos, exchanged letters with Voltaire (who stayed here 3 years, 1750–1753) and received Kant. The Potsdam Conference (July 17–August 2, 1945) took place in the Cecilienhof Palace (the last royal palace built by the Hohenzollerns, 1917) where the Big Three decided the post-war borders of Germany and Europe, arranged the demilitarization and denazification of Germany, established the Oder-Neisse border between Germany and Poland, and agreed on the terms of the Nuremberg Trials — decisions that shaped the 20th century. Potsdam is a 30-minute S-Bahn ride from Berlin and can be visited as a day trip, but deserves two days to do the palaces justice.

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Regensburg

Regensburg is one of Germany's best-preserved medieval cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2006) — a Bavarian city on the Danube River with an almost completely intact medieval Old Town (Altstadt) spanning 1,000 years of architectural history, including Germany's oldest stone bridge (Steinerne Brücke, 1146 AD, 310 m long, built in 11 years with no mortar joints wider than 2 mm using techniques still not fully understood) and the only medieval town in Germany with its own 12th-13th-century tower houses — Regensburg has 20+ medieval patrician tower houses (torre, built by competing merchant families in a medieval game of wealth display similar to San Gimignano in Tuscany), giving the city a skyline of medieval stone towers unique in Germany north of the Alps. Regensburg was the largest German city north of the Alps in the 12th century (population 80,000) when it was the first Roman colony north of the Alps (Castra Regina, 179 AD, built by Marcus Aurelius, the emperor-philosopher who wrote the Meditations here on the Danube frontier) and the capital of the East Frankish/Carolingian Empire; the Porta Praetoria (the north gate of the Roman fortress, 179 AD) is still standing in the city centre. The most important food site in Regensburg — and possibly in Bavaria — is the Historische Wurstkuchl (the Historic Sausage Kitchen, 1146 AD, built at the same time as the stone bridge to feed the bridge workers, making it the oldest public restaurant in the world still serving food in its original location, open since 1146 without interruption except wartime); the Regensburg Bratwurst (shorter, thinner and more highly spiced than the Nuremberg Bratwurst) served with sauerkraut and mustard.

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