The Black Forest
The Schwarzwälder Freilichtmuseum spirals around the Vogtsbauernhof, a self-contained early-17th-century farmstead. Farmhouses shifted from their original…
Must-see attractions in Stuttgart & the Black Forest
Freiburg
With its lacy spires, cheeky gargoyles and intricate entrance portal, Freiburg’s 11th-century minster cuts an impressive figure above the central market…
Stuttgart
The neoclassical-meets-contemporary Staatsgalerie bears British architect James Stirling’s curvy, colourful imprint. Alongside big-name exhibitions, the…
The Black Forest
From the baroque-meets-neoclassical Schloss, Karlsruhe’s 32 streets radiate like the spokes of a wheel. Karl Wilhelm, margrave of Baden-Durlach, named his…
Baden-Baden
A Joan Miró sculpture guards the front of this architecturally innovative gallery, designed by Richard Meier. The star-studded collection of modern and…
The Black Forest
Embracing the global craft gin craze, Monkey 47 has scooped awards for its batch-distilled, handcrafted dry gin, with piney, peppery notes. Distillery…
The Black Forest
Sticking out above Rottweil like a sore thumb, the futuristic, environmentally progressive Testturm is the brainchild of steel-engineering giant…
The Black Forest
Niagara they ain’t but Germany’s highest waterfalls do exude their own wild romanticism. The Gutach River feeds the seven-tiered falls, which drop a total…
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Ulm
'Ooh, it’s so big'… First-time visitors gush as they strain their neck muscles gazing up to the Münster. It is. And rather beautiful. Celebrated for its…
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Lake Constance
Near the eastern end of Friedrichshafen’s lake-front promenade is the Zeppelin Museum, housed in the Bauhaus-style former Hafenbahnhof (harbour station),…
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Konstanz
Crowned by a filigreed spire and looking proudly back on 1000 years of history, the sandstone Münster was the church of the Diocese of Konstanz until 1821…
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Lake Constance
Awarded Unesco World Heritage status in 2011, the Pfahlbauten represent one of 11 prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. Based on the findings of…
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Stuttgart & the Black Forest
Nicknamed the 'Swabian Versailles', the Residenzschloss is an extravagant 452-room baroque, rococo and Empire affair. The 90-minute chateau tours (in…
Lake Constance
Jutting out over the lake and bursting with flowers, the lusciously green islet of Mainau is a 45-hectare Mediterranean garden dreamed up by the…
Stuttgart
A terrific park for a wander right in the heart of the city, Stuttgart's sprawling Schlossgarten threads together the Mittlerer Schlossgarten, with its…
Lake Constance
Lions and voluptuous dames dance across the trompe l’oeil facade of the flamboyantly baroque Haus zum Cavazzen, which contains this museum, showcasing a…
Stuttgart
Stuttgart's pride and joy is this central square, dominated by the exuberant three-winged Neues Schloss, an impressive, Versailles-inspired baroque palace…
Ulm
Lording it over the Marktplatz, the 14th-century Rathaus sports a step-gabled, lavishly frescoed Renaissance facade. Out front is the Fischkastenbrunnen,…
Ulm
South of the Fischerviertel, along the Danube’s north bank, runs the red-brick Stadtmauer (city wall), the height of which was reduced in the 19th century…
Ulm
The charming Fischerviertel, Ulm’s old fishers’ and tanners’ quarter, is slightly southwest of the centre. Beautifully restored half-timbered houses…
Lake Constance
This exuberant, powder-pink Cistercian abbey church is one of Lake Constance's architectural highlights and a popular pilgrimage destination. It was built…
The Black Forest
Looming above Freiburg, the Schauinsland peak (1284m) is topped by a lookout tower commanding fabulous views to the Rhine Valley and Alps, plus walking,…
Stuttgart
Like a pearly white spaceship preparing for lift-off, the barrier-free Porsche Museum is a car-lover's dream. Audioguides race you through the history of…
Stuttgart
A futuristic swirl on the cityscape, the Mercedes-Benz Museum takes a chronological spin through the Mercedes empire. Look out for legends such as the…
The Black Forest
A rival to the hotly contested giant-cuckoo-clock crown, the so-called 'world's oldest-largest cuckoo clock' kicked into gear in 1980 and took local…
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Upper Danube Valley Nature Reserve
The Black Forest
Theatrically set against cave-riddled limestone cliffs, dappled with pine and beech woods that are burnished gold in autumn, and hugging the Danube's…
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Konstanz
In AD 724 a missionary named Pirmin founded a Benedictine monastery on Reichenau, a 4.5km-by-1.5km island (Lake Constance’s largest) about 11km west of…
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Stuttgart
Domed Schloss Solitude, perched above Stuttgart, was built in 1763 for Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg as a hunting palace and summer residence. Blending…
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Stuttgart
To really slip under Stuttgart’s skin, mosey through one of the city’s lesser-known neighbourhoods. Walk south to Hans-im-Glück Platz, centred on a…
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Stuttgart
When King Wilhelm I of Württemberg’s beloved wife Katharina Pavlovna, daughter of a Russian tsar, died at the age of 30 in 1819, the king tore down the…
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The Black Forest
Billed as the best-preserved medieval monastery north of the Alps, this one-time Cistercian monastery was founded by Alsatian monks in 1147. It was born…
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Freiburg
Dip into the past as represented by artists working from the Middle Ages to the 19th century at this superb museum in a sensitively modernised monastery…
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Freiburg
The forested Schlossberg dominates Freiburg. Take the footpath opposite the Schwabentor, leading up through sun-dappled woods, or hitch a ride on the…
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The Black Forest
Sharp angles contrast with graceful swirls on Frank Gehry’s strikingly postmodern Vitra Design Museum. The blindingly white edifice hosts thought…
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Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie
The Black Forest
Set in a historical munitions factory, the ZKM is a mammoth exhibition and research complex fusing art and emerging electronic media technologies. The…
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Stuttgart
Billing itself as the world’s biggest pig museum, the Schweinemuseum is one heck of a pigsty: 50,000 paintings, lucky trinkets, antiques, cartoons, piggy…
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Stuttgart
When temperatures soar, Stuttgarters head to Max-Eyth-See for pedalo fun on the lake and picnicking beside the Neckar River. Murky water rules out…
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Lake Constance
No zoo-like cages, no circus antics, just happy Barbary macaques free to roam in a near-natural habitat: that's the concept behind conservation-oriented…
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Ulm
A nod to Ulm’s most famous son, this fiendishly funny bronze fountain by Jürgen Goertz shows a wild-haired, tongue-poking-out Albert Einstein, who was…
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Lake Constance
In summer the harbourside promenade has a happy-go-lucky air, with its palms, bobbing boats and folk sunning themselves in pavement cafes.
