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. Raven Travel Guides Germany include:

• 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.

Rostock

Rostock was part of the Hanseatic League for 150 years and has the the medieval red-brick churches typical of the Baltic. The Marienkirche has a cross plan but otherwise shows typical Baltic features. Uncharacteristic is the church's extraordinary 15th century astronomical clock inside, claimed to be the oldest in original condition. The Nikolaikirche and Petrikirche also follow the northern tradition.

Some fortifications survive or were rebuilt after World War II bombing. The Steintor and its pointed tower, made over in the 16th century in Dutch Renaissance style, is the mightiest of the four surviving city gates. In the 54 metre Gothic tower Kröpeliner Tor is a small display of city history.

The Rathaus is an ensemble whose former Gothic frontage would have looked like Lübeck's or Stralsund's but for a Baroque makeover in front. Facing it on Neuer Markt are historical gabled houses.