The most beautiful cities in Germany

Germany’s most beautiful cities and towns stand among the best places to visit in the European Union. They span almost the full range of European variety.

• There are cities with Roman origins and remains such as Trier, Cologne, Regensburg and Mainz.
• Medieval cities such as Nuremberg, Erfurt, Bamberg and Worms and the half-timbered Harz region towns of Goslar, Quedlinburg and Wernigerode.
• Renaissance showpiece cities such as Lübeck, Augsburg or Bremen.
• Cities with Baroque survivals, including Dresden, Heidelberg or Passau.
• Plenty of German cities have beautiful palaces on their streets or nearby, like Potsdam, Munich, Stuttgart, Würzburg and Weimar.
• The great cathedrals such as Cologne, Regensburg, Bamberg, Mainz, Erfurt, Worms, with countless other churches, sometimes in Romanesque but more commonly in the Gothic style. The münster of Ulm has the tallest spire of them all.
• Museums of culture and art among world’s best, including Deutsches Museum, Deutsches Nationalmuseum, Alte Pinakothek and the Pergamonmuseum.

All these places can be reached by train and bus (Quedlinburg is on a branch line). All offer a range of hotels, hostels, guest houses and other types of accommodation. All are very walkable and, like most German towns and cities, are really best seen on foot. But trams and buses help get people to and from hotels or attractions and for the bigger centres, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Nuremberg, there are fast regular options in the form of S-bahn and U-bahn trains and light-rail transport.

Public holidays

Public holidays can be national or regional but most are recognised under the laws of federal states. They will generally close banks, post offices and most shops and businesses where observed, as well as some attractions, though restaurants will most often remain open. Transport arrangements might also vary on some of these days.

When planning for the days listed below, double check with tourist information offices and read timetables carefully for exceptions. Generally opening times at attractions follow the principle of using Sunday hours on public holidays. Germany does not transfer holidays to weekdays when they fall on the weekend.

Many festival days are drawn from the Lutheran or Catholic calendars and accordingly can vary in observance in various parts of the country.

Holidays

New Year’s Day (Neujahrstag, national) – January 1. New Year’s Eve (Silvester, see below) is party time.

Epiphany (Epiphanie, Ephiphanias or Heilige Drei Könige, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony-Anhalt)  – January 6

Shrove or Pancake Tuesday (Fastnacht, Fasching or Karneval) – not strictly a public holiday, this late February festival, before Ash Wednesday and the fast of Lent, brings Rose Monday (Rosenmontag) night parades and events that affect normal business and access in many cities. This is especially so in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bonn and Aachen and other parts of Nordrhein-Westfalen, as well as Mainz and parts of Rheinland-Pfalz and Baden-Württemburg. It also closes many public monuments and museums. Restaurants may serve fish on Ash Wednesday.

Good Friday (Karfreitag, national) – Businesses closed.

Easter Sunday (Ostern, national) – Businesses closed.

Easter Monday (Ostermontag, national) – Businesses closed.

Labour Day (Tag der Arbeit or Maifeiertag, national) – May 1, combining the traditional May feast with the international celebration of labour and its parades.

Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt, national) – The Thursday 39 days after Easter Sunday.

Pentecost or Whitsunday (Pfingsten, national) – Seven weeks after Easter Sunday.

Whit Monday (Pfingstmontag, national) – 50 days after Easter Sunday.

Corpus Christi (Fronleichnam, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, parts of Saxony and Thuringia) – Thursday, 60 days after Easter Sunday.

Peace of Augsburg (Augsburger Friedensfest, Augsburg) – August 8. Oddly this remembrance of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia is gazetted only for the Bavarian city.

Assumption Day (Mariä Himmelfahrt, Saarland, parts of Bavaria) – August 15.

Unity Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit, national) – October 3, commemorating the 1990 reunification of East and West Germany.

Reformation Day (Reformationstag, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Pomerania) – October 31.

All Saints’ Day (Allerheiligen, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland) – November 1.

Day of Prayer and Repentance (Buß- und Bettag, Saxony) – The third, or occasionally fourth Wednesday of November.

Remembrance or Eternity Sunday (Ewigkeitssonntag or Totensonntag, except Hamburg) is the last Sunday before Advent, closing some attractions or Christmas markets on the grounds of traditional prohibitions against public music.

Christmas Eve (Weihnachtsabend or Heiligabend), not a true public holiday, closes many museums and other attractions – December 24.

Christmas Day (Weihnachten, national) – December 25.

Boxing Day or St Stephen (Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag or Stephanstag, national) – December 26.

New Year's Eve (Silvester), not a true public holiday, nonetheless closes many museums and other attractions – December 31.