DE · Curated travel guide
Cologne Cathedral, Neuschwanstein Castle, Brandenburg Gate and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Germany and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. 4 are on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
World Heritage
Historic church in Cologne, Germany
A Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, where the Archbishop of Cologne has his seat and the Archdiocese of Cologne its administration.
Photo: Thomas Wolf , www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Palace in Bavaria, Germany
A historicist palace of the 19th century on a rugged hill in the Alpine foothills, in Germany's far south close to Austria. It stands in Schwangau municipality, in Bavaria's Swabia region, above the village of Hohenschwangau, where Hohenschwangau Castle also stands.
Photo: Thomas Wolf , www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Triumphal arch and gate in Berlin, Germany
A neoclassical monument of the 18th century in Berlin, Germany, and among the country's best-known landmarks. It stands where an old city gate once marked the start of the road to Brandenburg an der Havel, formerly capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg.
Photo: Thomas Wolf , www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0
Public university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 at the instruction of Pope Urban VI, it is the oldest university in Germany and one of the oldest surviving anywhere; in the Holy Roman Empire only Prague (1347) and Vienna (1365) had universities earlier.
Photo: Pumuckel42 at German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
A town in the eastern part of Baden-Württemberg, a German state, east of Stuttgart by about 70 kilometres (43 mi) and north of Ulm by 48 kilometres (30 mi). It is the Ostalbkreis district's seat and biggest town, and the biggest in the Ostwürttemberg region.
Photo: Memorino, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Municipality in Bavaria, Germany
An Alpine ski town in Bavaria, in the south of Germany, and the seat of government of Garmisch-Partenkirchen district, in the Oberbayern region along the Austrian border.
Photo: Milei.vencel, CC BY-SA 4.0
World Heritage
Catholic cathedral in Aachen, Germany
The cathedral of the Diocese of Aachen: a Catholic church in the German city of Aachen.
Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0
Seat of the federal parliament of Germany
A historic legislative building on Platz der Republik in Berlin, where the Bundestag parliament sits. The Federal Convention, which elects Germany's president, also meets there.
Photo: Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0
World Heritage
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World Heritage
Church in Speyer, Germany
Officially the “Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen” (in Latin, “Domus sanctae Mariae Spirae”), a historic church in Speyer, Germany, where the town's Roman Catholic bishop has his seat; his diocese is suffragan to Bamberg's Roman Catholic archdiocese.
Photo: Carsten Steger, CC BY-SA 4.0
Officially the Federal Republic of Germany, a country in Central and Western Europe, with the North Sea and the Baltic Sea on its north and the Alps on its south. Its 16 constituent states are home to over 83 million people, more than any other member state of the European Union (EU).
Officially The Federal Republic of Germany. Known locally as Deutschland.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Cologne Cathedral, Neuschwanstein Castle, Brandenburg Gate and Heidelberg University and others. Cologne Cathedral, Aachen Cathedral, Wartburg and Speyer Cathedral are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Germany that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
4 of the 10 in this guide: Cologne Cathedral, Aachen Cathedral, Wartburg and Speyer Cathedral. That is not the full count for Germany, only the listed sites that made this guide.
German. The currency is EUR.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $1.81 for 2GB per day. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
O2 and Vodafone. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to O2 and Vodafone once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2GB per day Cheapest | 2 GB | 1 day | $1.81 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $2.15 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $2.54 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $2.69 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $2.86 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $3.04 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
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