Hidden places in Germany

Hundreds of colourful half-timbered houses around a ducal palace.

Slate-and-timber houses packed along a narrow river valley in the Eifel.

A Baltic port with brick Gothic churches and a big market square.

A half-timbered wine village in the castle-lined Rhine Gorge.

A town hall built on a river bridge, in a medieval old town spread over seven hills.

A half-timbered imperial town in the Harz mountains with a historic silver mine.

A remarkably intact old town on the Polish border, often used as a film set.

An island town on Lake Constance with a lion statue guarding its harbour.

A castle and cathedral on a hill above the Elbe, home of Europe's first porcelain.

Painted alpine houses below steep peaks, known for violin making.

Over a thousand half-timbered houses spanning six centuries.

A Hanseatic brick town on the Baltic, gateway to Rügen island.

A university town of colourful houses along the river Neckar.

The town of Goethe, Schiller and the Bauhaus.

A colourful half-timbered town below a fairytale castle.

A castle on a vine-covered hill above the Moselle river.

A walled medieval town of half-timbered houses on the Romantic Road.

A fairytale castle on a crag above alpine lakes.

Germany's highest waterfalls in the heart of the Black Forest.

A clear green lake at the foot of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak.

Forest and lakes on the west side of Berlin.

White chalk cliffs and beech forest on the island of Rügen.

A fjord-like lake in the Bavarian Alps, with a red-domed chapel on its shore.

A legendary slate cliff above the narrowest bend of the Rhine.

Purple heather moors with juniper bushes and grazing sheep.

A flower island on Lake Constance with a palace and butterfly house.

A narrow gorge with a path carved through the rock near Garmisch.

A stone bridge spanning sandstone pillars high above the Elbe.

A maze of canals through forest, where the post is still delivered by boat.

A North Sea island of dunes and long beaches, reached by train over a causeway.

A glacial lake surrounded by the forests of the Black Forest.

Charlemagne's cathedral and thermal springs, next to the Dutch border.

A grand market square and the crooked lanes of the Schnoor quarter.

A twin-spired cathedral by the Rhine and traditional Kölsch beer halls.

A Baroque skyline rebuilt along the Elbe river.

A medieval city with a bridge covered in houses.

A sunny gateway to the Black Forest, with little streams running through its streets.

A port city of red-brick warehouses and the wave-shaped Elbphilharmonie.

A creative city of arcades, music history and converted factories.

A brick Gothic old town on an island, entered through the Holstentor gate.

A gabled old town and a bike-loving university city.

A medieval old town below an imperial castle.

Royal palaces and lakeside parks, half an hour from Berlin.

A medieval old town with a stone bridge across the Danube.

A gold-domed palace on an island in a lake.

Germany's oldest city, with a huge Roman gate on the Moselle.

A Baroque palace and an old bridge lined with statues, among vineyards.

A creative capital full of history, street art and parks.

Castle ruins above a romantic university town on the Neckar river.

Beer gardens, Baroque churches and the Alps on the horizon.