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 LĂĽbeck, 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, WĂĽrzburg 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 mĂĽnster 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.
Time
Times in Germany are given according to the 24-hour clock. Germany operates on Central European Time (CET), one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT – also referred to as Coordinated Universal Time or UTC). All Germany’s immediate neighbours share this time zone and, of the countries that can be reached by Baltic ferry, only Finland and the Baltic states (GMT+2 hours) differ.
Opening hours in Raven Guides are abbreviated thus: M-F 9-17 (9am to 5pm Monday to Friday), M-Sa 10 to 16.30 (10am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday), Tu-Su 17-1 (5pm to 1am Tuesday to Sunday and closing 1am Monday).
Summer time: Daylight saving or summer time, which advances clocks one hour, operates half the year for the whole CET zone, beginning after midnight on the last Sunday in March and ending in Germany after midnight on the last Sunday in October.
Time differences: When on CET, you will find:
Auckland/Wellington are 11 hours ahead (+11 hours)
Sydney/Melbourne +9 hours
Hong Kong +7 hours
Singapore/Kuala Lumpur +6 hours
New Delhi +4.5 hours
Johannesburg/Jerusalem +1 hour
London/Dublin are 1 hour behind (-1 hour)
New York/Miami -6 hours
Chicago -7 hours
Los Angeles -9 hours
