48 historic sites
Castles in Germany
Germany's castle landscape stretches from the Rhine's medieval fortresses to Bavaria's romantic 19th-century fantasies. With over 20,000 castle sites, no country has more concentrated castle heritage — from Neuschwanstein's fairy-tale peaks to Heidelberg's noble ruins.
germany · Berlin
Charlottenburg Palace
Berlin's largest palace — a queen's memorial that grew into the finest Baroque and Rococo complex in northern Germany
germany · Bavaria
Munich Residenz
130 rooms of Wittelsbach splendour at the centre of Munich — Germany's greatest palace museum
germany · Bavaria
Nymphenburg Palace
The Wittelsbachs' Baroque summer palace, 700 metres of facade reflected in a canal running to the Alps
germany · Bavaria
Linderhof Palace
Ludwig II's smallest palace, an Alpine valley turned into a private fantasy of grottos and mirrored rooms
germany · North Rhine-Westphalia
Drachenburg Castle
A neo-Gothic fantasy built in two years by a self-made millionaire who never lived in it
germany · North Rhine-Westphalia
Augustusburg Palace
A prince-archbishop's Rococo extravagance, with a staircase architects still travel from across Germany to study
germany · Bavaria
Herrenchiemsee Palace
Ludwig II's private Versailles on a pine-covered island in Lake Chiemsee, crowned by the Hall of Mirrors
germany · Bavaria
Hohenschwangau Castle
The childhood castle of King Ludwig II — the Gothic Revival palace where the fairy-tale obsession began
germany · Brandenburg, Potsdam
Cecilienhof Palace
Where the postwar world was divided — the last Hohenzollern palace, built in English Tudor style for Crown Princess Cecilie, hosted the Potsdam Conference of 1945 and set the borders of Cold War Europe in its panelled rooms
germany · Bavaria
Faber-Castell Castle
The ancestral castle of the world's oldest pencil maker, with 260 years of family history and pencils that have flown to the Moon
germany · Baden-Württemberg
Altes Schloss Stuttgart
Stuttgart's oldest royal building — a Renaissance courtyard wrapped around 2,000 years of Württemberg history
germany · Brandenburg, Potsdam
New Palace (Neues Palais)
Frederick the Great's defiant statement palace — 213 metres of High Baroque built in 6 years after the Seven Years' War to show Prussia's rivals that the country was unbroken, with a Grotto Hall of shells and semi-precious stones and a theatre used by Kaiser Wilhelm II until 1918
germany · Rhineland-Palatinate
Marksburg Castle
The only Rhine castle never destroyed — 900 years of unbroken medieval history
germany · Berlin
Palace of Köpenick
An island Baroque palace where a cobbler in a fake uniform once robbed the entire town treasury
germany · Bavaria
Weissenstein Castle
A prince-archbishop's private Baroque palace, built in seven years and still owned by the same family three centuries later
germany · Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains, Saxony
Pillnitz Palace
Augustus the Strong's chinoiserie Baroque on the Elbe, with a 230-year-old camellia in a mobile greenhouse — Pöppelmann's river palace east of Dresden, where the GYG Elbe cruise offers views from the water but no castle entry
germany · Brandenburg
Rheinsberg Palace
Frederick the Great's happiest years, and the design laboratory for Sanssouci
germany · Baden-Württemberg
Sigmaringen Castle
The Hohenzollern dynasty's seat on the Danube — where the prince who became the first King of Romania grew up, surrounded by 3,000 weapons and six centuries of dynastic history
germany · Rhineland-Palatinate, Rhine Gorge
Stolzenfels Castle
The castle that Schinkel rebuilt for a Prussian prince smitten with the Rhine — a medieval toll fortress destroyed in 1689, reimagined in 1842 as the defining monument of German Rhine Romanticism
germany · Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Wesenberg Castle
A 13th-century watchtower between two lakes, in Germany's quietest corner, for about two euros
germany · Hesse
Braunfels Castle
The fairy-tale castle still lived in by the family that built it — Braunfels has been in the Solms-Braunfels princely family since the 13th century, visited by guided tour only, rising above one of the best-preserved half-timbered towns in Hesse
germany · Rhineland-Palatinate (Eifel)
Manderscheid Lower Castle
Two castles on opposite ridges, one valley between them — Manderscheid's twin ruins face each other across the Lieser gorge, the Lower Castle burned in the 17th century and never rebuilt, accessible only by Sunday guided tour in German
germany · Rhineland-Palatinate, Rhine Gorge
Lahneck Castle
Where a Holy Roman Emperor was formally deposed — the Archbishop of Mainz's 1226 Rhine-Lahn confluence fortress, privately owned since 1907, with a legendary Templar last stand and a Saturday afternoon guided tour
germany · Upper Swabia, Baden-Württemberg
Waldburg Castle
The seat of the Hereditary Marshals of the Holy Roman Empire — Waldburg Castle in Upper Swabia gave its name to one of Germany's oldest noble families, whose title of Reichserbtruchsess placed them among the hereditary office-holders at the apex of the imperial court hierarchy
germany · North Rhine-Westphalia
Sparrenburg Castle
300 metres of underground casemates beneath the castle that built Bielefeld — and the city that, according to a persistent German internet conspiracy, doesn't exist
germany · Saxony-Anhalt
Giebichenstein Castle
A twin castle on a porphyry cliff — one half ruined by the Saale River, the other intact and housing one of Germany's great art schools, both subjects of German Romantic painters
germany · Thuringia
Beichlingen Palace
Not a museum — a real palace in rural Thuringia where you solve ten puzzles in normally inaccessible rooms, passages, and hidden corners
germany · Dresden, Saxony
Dresden Castle
The Wettin dynasty's restored royal palace — treasure vaults, armories, and a 327-step tower with the best view in Dresden
germany · Rhineland-Palatinate
Eltz Castle
The fairy-tale castle that has belonged to the same family for 33 generations — rising from the Moselle Valley forest
germany · Bavaria
Neuschwanstein Castle
The fairy-tale castle that inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty
germany · Bavaria, Franconia, Nuremberg
Nuremberg Castle
The mandatory first stop for every newly elected Holy Roman Emperor — and keeper of the imperial regalia for two centuries
germany · Lower Saxony, Harz district — Goslar historic town, UNESCO World Heritage
Goslar Imperial Palace
The 11th-century Romanesque palace where Henry III governed the Holy Roman Empire — and where his heart has been entombed in the chapel for nearly a thousand years
germany · Saxony
Moritzburg Castle
A Baroque hunting palace rising like a mirage from a Saxon lake
germany · Brandenburg
Sanssouci Palace
Frederick the Great's summer escape — Prussia's most personal and intimate palace
germany · Bavaria, Oberschleißheim — 15km north of Munich
Schleißheim Palace
Elector Max Emanuel's unfulfilled answer to Versailles — a Baroque palace north of Munich built at the scale of an imperial ambition that never came true
germany · Saxony
Albrechtsburg Castle
Germany's oldest palace — birthplace of European porcelain
germany · Upper Franconia, Bavaria — Bamberg, on the Altenburg hill, 390m above city level
Altenburg Castle
A 900-year-old fortress crowning the highest of Bamberg's seven hills, with sweeping views over the UNESCO old town
germany · Bavaria
Burghausen Castle
The world's longest castle — 1,051 metres of Gothic towers and courtyards perched above the Salzach River on the Bavarian-Austrian border
germany · Bavaria, Swabia
Harburg Castle
One of the best-preserved medieval castles in Germany, overlooking the Romantic Road
germany · Baden-Württemberg
Heidelberg Castle
Europe's most romantic ruin — a Renaissance palace half-destroyed and twice as beautiful
germany · Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Schwerin Castle
Germany's fairy-tale island palace — the Versailles of the North
germany · Rhineland-Palatinate, Rhine Gorge
Stahleck Castle
A medieval Rhine castle turned youth hostel, commanding the UNESCO gorge above Bacharach
germany · Thuringia
Wartburg Castle
Where Luther translated the Bible and St. Elisabeth lived — the castle that shaped German history and language
germany · Swabia
Hohenzollern Castle
The ancestral seat of the Kaisers — a Neo-Gothic peak rising from the Swabian Alps
germany · Baden-Württemberg
Lichtenstein Castle
Germany's fairy-tale clifftop castle, inspired by a Romantic novel
germany · Saxony
Lichtenwalde Castle
A Saxon Baroque palace with one of Germany's most ornate cascade fountain parks — a sister castle of Augustusburg and Scharfenstein in the Ore Mountains region
germany · Rhineland-Palatinate
Cochem Castle
The jewel of the Moselle — a medieval castle above Germany's greatest wine river
germany · Saxony
Scharfenstein Castle
A medieval hill castle in the Ore Mountains, where guides in historical costume lead tours through the keep, a 36-metre cistern, and the legends of the folk hero Karl Stülpner