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.

Stralsund

This world-heritage city had a long history under Swedish control. The red-brick Gothic Marienkirche was for decades the world's tallest building and is the highlight among the city's impressive late medieval churches.

The Nikolaikirche's interiors are intricate and colourfully painted and its high altar is delicately carved with more than 100 figures. It also contains an astronomical clock. The St-Jakobi-Kirche, with sections from the 14th and 15th centuries, is another imposing monument, today used for cultural events as well as sightseeing.

Several historical small churches, monasteries and a collection of preserved town houses from varying periods help make up the streetscape. The town hall, built in the 13th and 14th century, is a remarkable structure with four wings, open passageway and galleries.

Other drawcards are the large Ozeanmuseum, with an extraordinary array of sea aquariums, and the museum sailing ship Gorch Fock I.