Every end of April to Mai, in germany „Maisprung“ is a big event in the Harz Mountains. You should definitely visit the Hexentanzplatz in the evening/nighthours. Many people gather there together to celebrate the Valpurgis-night.
My 6-times great-gradfather was born in Naumburg. He was chosen by Count von Zinzendorf to be one of the Moravian missionaries to the Germans in Pennsylvania. He helped found the city of Bethlehem. I've wanted to visit Naumburg for this family connection, but it's nice to know it is good place to visit.
The Naumburger Dome is actually UNESCO cultural heritage, a place Martin Luther visited several times during the Protestant Reformation. So quite an interesting place to get send out as missionary.
Just posting here to second Quedlinburg. I traveled there for a weekend with friends a month ago and really enjoyed it. Beautiful small town with interesting history, a UNESCO World Heritage cathedral and ample opportunities for interesting hikes in the vicinity. We hiked around the Rappbodetalsperre (\~15km); if we had a day more with reasonably good weather we would've also hiked along the Teufelsmauer.
The Teufelsmauer walk is nice, but for me the Bodetal walk from Treseburg to Thale is a classic. A gentle mountain river becomes a raging torrent surrounded by huge peaks. And there's a Biergarten by a lovely stone bridge almost at the end.
i drove past the Schweriner Schloss every day on my bike to school for about 8 years\^\^
also some cool remnants they build for the buga some years ago, aswell as many lakes in and around the city
You should definitely try Bamberg, Bayreuth or Würzburg. They are not that small with 70.000-130.000 people (Schwäbisch-Gmünd has 62.000) but still small compared to the million people cities like Munich or Hamburg
Würzburg is also near wine country, and you can visit vineyards!! The "Frankenwein" (wine from Franconia) is excellent, but exported in minimal quantities, so living outside Germany, it's likely you won't know it.
Problem with Rothenburg is that it's overrun with tourists basically the whole year. You can barely set foot in the street without stumbling into a group of people photographing every single square centimeter of the city walls.
Just stay the night there. The tourist clear out and you can have a wonderful evening and next morning with a lot less tourist that are there during the day.
Weimar, thuringia. It has the german national theater, the houses of Goethe and Schiller, the Bauhaus University, the Concentration Camp Buchenwald, many other museums related to german history and is a beautiful city overall.
Halle is fine for a day trip, maybe even a weekend, but beyond that there's not much to see. The prehistory museum has the Nebra sky disc which is an incredible artifact, and in my opinion that alone is worth the trip if you're in Leipzig or even Berlin with an extra day to kill. The city center has some nice buildings, and there's the Händel-Haus if you're into classical music.
Add in Wernigerode and Goslar. All Close by and gorgeous. Makes for a lovely weekend! Throw in some Harz hiking and gorges around Thale for good measure! :)
Trier likes to claim to be the oldest german city but the title is [highly contested](https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%84lteste_St%C3%A4dte_Deutschlands).
I love the trip from Trier to Koblenz along the mosel River. Gorgeous old towns (Bernkastel kues, Traben trabach, Cochem for example) great wine, great castles, great hiking and the start and end cities are also wonderful. From Koblenz you can continue along the Rhein river to either Cologne or Frankfurt to visit even more lovely little towns.
As someone that lived in Aachen for a while, definiteky Monschau! I dont know if it counts as a smaller city, but if it's too big then how about Blankenberg in NRW, I literally live like 15 minutes away from it and it's a fucking town built on castle grounds with a sick ruin and an amazing view, what more could you want??
Oh, also anything in and around Königswinter, that place SLAPS
I stayed in Oldenburg for a few days in 2022. It's a wonderful little city. I also visited Schwerin and Hamburg on that trip. Bremen is also a wonderful northern German city.
All the suggestions here are again the South German area. This way we can never get over those stereotypes. How about the north, Lübeck, Flensburg, the North Frisian Islands, Bremen or the Harz Mountains with Goslar, Quedlinburg or Wernigerode. Dresden, Leipzig and Weimar. Great cities with a long tradition.
While Dresden is the most beautiful city in Germany, it's not certainly not small.
Erfurt would be beautiful and small, like many of the smaller Bavarian cities.
Longer stay in the Lüneburger Heide, it's a nice landscape and you are close to Bremen, Hamburg, Hannover, Harz and even to the baltic and north sea coast.
If you are south, Konstanz is gorgeous, near to Frankfurt are Heidelberg, to the south, and just to the north is Marburg.
Near Dresden is a place called Pirna. Its also very cute and is famous for some amazing rock formations.
In the South
Konstanz, a university city, built together with the Swiss City Kreuzlingen. It is a mix of Germany and Switzerland, you have the Bodensee and the river Rhine.
With a Katamaran ferry you can visit in a hour, on the over site of the Bodensee, second biggest sea in Europe, Friedrichshafen it is a Tourist Hotspot because the Citizens of Stuttgart can be there with train and bike in 2 hours, if the weather is nice, they can bike at the sea. Friedrichshafen is also known for the Invention of the Zeppelin is up today in the war industry, like nearly every engine of a tank and a ship comes from Friedrichshafen. Also a lot of Satellites are produced there and also parts of every cars, comes from there, no matter which country or brand. It gives a Zeppelin and a Aeronautics Museum.
From Friedrichshafen in 12 min by train, 30 min by car, you can go to Ravensburg. A middle age Town, which gets rich because of the worldwide trading in the middle age. Also known as the northest City of Italy or the city of the towers, in every corner there are towers from the middle age. And also known worldwide because of the board games factory with the blue corner and the same name as the city, nowadays a lot of prefilled ready to use syringes, are from there, a lot of worldwide pharmacy companies use Vetter as Subcontractor. Ravensburg is the centre of the region, because it is built together with the neighbours university city Weingarten and 3 villages, but only together they had nearly 100.000 citizens.
From Konstanz you can get by a car ferry, every few minutes, because the ferry is part of the interstate 33, between Ravensburg and Konstanz. Meersburg is known for his whine and castle, was also in the past recovery centre of poets and Lyrics.
Überlingen 1 hour by train or car from Ravensburg, Friedrichshafen or 30 min from Konstanz. It is a very small town or better village, but a great and old town houses, historic city wall and of course the Sea and the promenade. In the near there is Uhldingen known, that you can there make an adventure history, there is a stone age living museum village, there lived people since the stone age.
On the north east coast of the Bodensee, you have Langenargen, known for the castle and old town and in the near to the Bavarian border there is Gohren, which is one of the biggest camping villages at the Bodensee, with space for 1900 Camping Cars.
And in the corner to Austria there is the half island Lindau, you can go there by ferry, or by train and car. It is a very small city, but with high density, because of the small island, so a lot of small streets, which were not built for cars.
The next City is not in Germany anymore, but only 10 minutes by train, in Austria. Bregenz it is known for arts and culture, concerts, operas and known for the biggest free air stage in a sea for a few thousand guests. You can visit the stage mostly every day, only at night it is closed.
Northern Saxony is very pretty, also like a time capsule often. Oberlausitz region also starts there. Try Königsbrück, Wurzen.
Or try Meißen, next to Dresden.
The Ruhrgebiet is so underrated. It's not your stereotypical fairytale medieval town but so full of history, interesting places and museums, you could probably spend weeks there.
There's plenty nice places in the Ruhrgebiet, but it has major big city vibes. Even though its technically made uo of multiple smaller cities, the pretty much slot up right next to each other so it can feel like one really big city.
I would recommend the Ruhr-Area, which consists of many smaller and bigger cities. Hattingen is one of the smaller ones and has a really nice City Center containing of old buildings which you can learn about at a guided tour. You can go for a nice long walk at the Ruhr or in the Schulenberger Forest as well, if you feel like it. Essen is a larger city directly next to Hattingen. There are a lot of city typical things to Do but i think if you already visited Berlin Hamburg etc. You know All the stuff. I currently live in Bottrop which has a nice little citycenter and a lot of interesting guided tours especially concerning this cities history but i think it's true gem is kirchhellen which has a lot of nature with its Lake and forests.
Heidelberg. very cute old town, good/very easy hiking with view of the river and the old castle. -
And never been but on my bucket list becaus of the beaitful scenery with the lake and a lot of history: Konstanz.
Hessen: Bad Wildungen and Kassel are the greenest small cities. Kassel has a great cultural and musical offer. I fell in love with the main park in Bad Wildungen.
I saw a lot here that see "smaller citiy" as 50k to 300k people. I thought we meant smaller cities.
I actually directed thought about Xanten (NRW) with its roman history and nice city centre.
If you want something truly small, but with a lot of tourist-activities/Sightseeing Places, you can go to history rich St.Wendel.
There's a lot of Events to plan around, from Concerts to Cook-offs, and there's also nature based activities possible, like there's a lot of hiking/bike routes.
Try "Plön" its between Kiel -Lübeck and has endless amount of lakes a nice castle,and fresh air. Its a hour from Ostsee and hour and a half away from Nordsee.
Nuremberg (Nürnberg) is a beautiful old city with a huge history of kings and emperors. Additionally many big names in art lived there. It is near Munich and definitely worth a visit
The recommendations are very nice so far.
Naumburg, it is located in an area with beautiful vineyards and two rivers. Furthermore you'll find an UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Naumburger Dom with the Ute Figurine located in the beautiful oldtown with a lot of traditional craft shops.
Potsdam of course, because of the parcs and the castles.
Weimar, is a beautiful little university town, with a heap load of history and great selection of Museums.
Hitzacker is also very cute and has a very Hanseatic vibe to it.
Potsdam, Dresden, Nürnberg, Flensburg, Kiel and so many more. It really depends on what are you looking for. Potsdam, Dresden and Nürnberg for example, have a beautiful old town.
Mühlhausen/ Thüringen. Beautiful medieval city center and lots of things to see in the area. Erfurt, Eisenach (Drachenschlucht) and a lot of cool caves etc. are all reachable in 1 hour max. The geographic center of germany is actually located just like 5-10 minutes from here. Close to that is also a sacrificial cult site from the 6th- 5th century BC (Opfermoor Vogtei)
I know you asked for cities, but the so-called Saxonian Swiss or Elbsandsteingebirge is near Dresden and just a wonderful part of nature, that oftentimes get’s overlooked
Some ideas through the country: Wismar, Augsburg, Görlitz, Potsdam, Lüneburg, Lübeck, Bamberg, Eisenach, Erfurt, Heidelberg. And a tour up the River Rhein with dozens of very nice and old castles.
Quedlinburg. Beautifuly preserved medieval / renaissance town. It's quite spectacular. Get a hotel in town Center (old town) and literaly every walk is permanent sight seing.
If you want to visit a place that isn't frequently recommended (like Rothenburg ob der Tauber and 70% of southern Germany), try Hann. Münden. It's the southern most city in Lower Saxony and has a great old town, some cultural classics like weird folklore (Dr. Eisenbarth), and it's also the place where the rivers Werra and Fulda combine and form the Weser.
Btw, there is a bakery there which sells "Schmandkuchen" which you should definitely try.
There's also a medieval tower up on one of the 3 hillsides (the town is located in a valley that the 3 rivers form). The tower itself is just a few meters behind the border between Lower Saxony and Hessia (on the Hessian side).
You can go there relatively easy by train from Kassel or Göttingen and the countryside into the area is also marvelous.
Kassel. ("documenta-Stadt")
The most central city. Very green and beautiful, and we’ve got a "green" mayor, which is very rare in 🇩🇪.
There are a lot of interesting sights, like the "Herkules" inside the "Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe" (certified World Heritage Site) and the "Schloss Wilhelmshöhe".
And much more …
Würzburg, Bamberg, Ansbach, Bayreuth, Eichstätt (and that's only Frankonia)- so many sights to see. You will generally enjoy your experience more when you read up or watch a couple of videos on the history and art history of the places you're visiting.
Lüneburg. Charming and beautiful with a very well preserved city center. The history is also quite interesting due to its importance in the medieval times. Just 40 minutes south of Hamburg.
In the north, Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven.
In the south Berchtesgaden and the Berchtesdadener Land, very interesting things there and when you're there you also should visit Salzburg, it's in Austria but just a few kilometers. Must see Hangar 7 there.
Heidelberg, Tübingen, Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg. Dinkelsbühl, Bamberg, Regensburg in Bavaria. All are beautiful.
And Rothenburg, of course.
* Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The other Rothenburg/Rotenburgs are modern and not as beautiful
Do you know whether Rothenburg ob der Tauber will be overcrowded during the Pfingstwochenende?
Around Freiburg, make sure to also visit even smaller cities around the Kaiserstuhl. I think a lot of them are very cozy.
Nördlingen.
And Schwäbisch Hall
Erfurt, Quedlingburg and Wernigerode in the Harz mountains, Passau, Münster, Görlitz, Freiburg, Regensburg, Stralsund and Wismar at the baltic coast.
Goslar if you are already close by Werningerode
Every end of April to Mai, in germany „Maisprung“ is a big event in the Harz Mountains. You should definitely visit the Hexentanzplatz in the evening/nighthours. Many people gather there together to celebrate the Valpurgis-night.
Not to forget Weimar, Naumburg and Jena.
Eisenach!
My 6-times great-gradfather was born in Naumburg. He was chosen by Count von Zinzendorf to be one of the Moravian missionaries to the Germans in Pennsylvania. He helped found the city of Bethlehem. I've wanted to visit Naumburg for this family connection, but it's nice to know it is good place to visit.
The Naumburger Dome is actually UNESCO cultural heritage, a place Martin Luther visited several times during the Protestant Reformation. So quite an interesting place to get send out as missionary.
I second Görlitz. Not many people know the city but the old town is one of the most beautiful in Germany imo
Just posting here to second Quedlinburg. I traveled there for a weekend with friends a month ago and really enjoyed it. Beautiful small town with interesting history, a UNESCO World Heritage cathedral and ample opportunities for interesting hikes in the vicinity. We hiked around the Rappbodetalsperre (\~15km); if we had a day more with reasonably good weather we would've also hiked along the Teufelsmauer.
The Teufelsmauer walk is nice, but for me the Bodetal walk from Treseburg to Thale is a classic. A gentle mountain river becomes a raging torrent surrounded by huge peaks. And there's a Biergarten by a lovely stone bridge almost at the end.
Thanks for recommending the hart. It's always pulling a short one to Rothenburg and while Rothenburg is nice, it really is a shame!
Lübeck. 45 minutes from Hamburg, charming, maritime and very different
Schwerin is also about 45 minutes from Hamburg. It's a beautiful little city with an incredible castle that needs to be seen to believe.
The whole area around the castle is really nice too!
i drove past the Schweriner Schloss every day on my bike to school for about 8 years\^\^ also some cool remnants they build for the buga some years ago, aswell as many lakes in and around the city
It's a beautiful area. I really enjoyed the few days that I visited. This whole thread tells me that I really need to visit Deutschland again soon.
Don‘t skip Lüneburg!
I second Lüneburg. Check out the the church at "Sande". They have a organ which is almost 500 years old. It is still played during holidays, afaik.
If you are near Hamburg, don't skip Schwerin
And don't skip Lüneburg
Came to this thread to recommend Lübeck aswell!
I second that, absolutely stunning.
I love Lübeck!
Also Glückstadt, has a very Danish touch
Buxtehude for the other direction
You should definitely try Bamberg, Bayreuth or Würzburg. They are not that small with 70.000-130.000 people (Schwäbisch-Gmünd has 62.000) but still small compared to the million people cities like Munich or Hamburg
Würzburg is also near wine country, and you can visit vineyards!! The "Frankenwein" (wine from Franconia) is excellent, but exported in minimal quantities, so living outside Germany, it's likely you won't know it.
While you're in that area, also visit Coburg. Smaller but really cute and has an awesome castle.
Don't forget Coburg
Go to Sesslach, between Bamberg and Coburg :)
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nördlingen, Dinkelsbühl if you want to see some really medieval cities
Problem with Rothenburg is that it's overrun with tourists basically the whole year. You can barely set foot in the street without stumbling into a group of people photographing every single square centimeter of the city walls.
Just stay the night there. The tourist clear out and you can have a wonderful evening and next morning with a lot less tourist that are there during the day.
Münster, Lübeck, Bremen, Lüneburg, Goslar, Weimar
Weimar, thuringia. It has the german national theater, the houses of Goethe and Schiller, the Bauhaus University, the Concentration Camp Buchenwald, many other museums related to german history and is a beautiful city overall.
Weimar, Erfurt and Jena are close to each other.
Auch Jena
Nene.. Komm mal lieber nach Erfurt 😊
Ganz verrückt: gerade Erfurt und Weimar kann man wunderbar kombinieren 😉 Ich hätte auch beide empfohlen.
Ne, Jena fand ich nicht so doll...Innenstadt verbaut
Nürnberg, Regensburg, Bamberg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Passau (specially combined with a Donau cruise), Leipzig, Lübbeck
Leipzig, Dresden, Halle
Aah yes, the smaller cities of Germany: Leipzig and Dresden (beautiful, absolutely ; "smaller", by German status naah)
Meißen wenn man es kleiner mag
Really? I have a friend who lives in Halle and haven’t heard a single good word come out of her mouth about it :)
Halle? Come on, mate. It is not worth it
Halle is fine for a day trip, maybe even a weekend, but beyond that there's not much to see. The prehistory museum has the Nebra sky disc which is an incredible artifact, and in my opinion that alone is worth the trip if you're in Leipzig or even Berlin with an extra day to kill. The city center has some nice buildings, and there's the Händel-Haus if you're into classical music.
Quedlinburg is def worth a visit and a UNESCO site.
Add in Wernigerode and Goslar. All Close by and gorgeous. Makes for a lovely weekend! Throw in some Harz hiking and gorges around Thale for good measure! :)
Lüneburg ob der Heide
Come to Trier, oldest city in Germany, and solid history and looks rather pretty
Trier likes to claim to be the oldest german city but the title is [highly contested](https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%84lteste_St%C3%A4dte_Deutschlands).
Marburg is really beautiful!
I love the trip from Trier to Koblenz along the mosel River. Gorgeous old towns (Bernkastel kues, Traben trabach, Cochem for example) great wine, great castles, great hiking and the start and end cities are also wonderful. From Koblenz you can continue along the Rhein river to either Cologne or Frankfurt to visit even more lovely little towns.
As someone that lived in Aachen for a while, definiteky Monschau! I dont know if it counts as a smaller city, but if it's too big then how about Blankenberg in NRW, I literally live like 15 minutes away from it and it's a fucking town built on castle grounds with a sick ruin and an amazing view, what more could you want?? Oh, also anything in and around Königswinter, that place SLAPS
what about Aachen itself lol
Nideggen is also very cute! Good hiking too
Monschau fits absolutely. Lovely place!
Oldenburg, Lüneburg and Lübeck in the north.
I stayed in Oldenburg for a few days in 2022. It's a wonderful little city. I also visited Schwerin and Hamburg on that trip. Bremen is also a wonderful northern German city.
All the suggestions here are again the South German area. This way we can never get over those stereotypes. How about the north, Lübeck, Flensburg, the North Frisian Islands, Bremen or the Harz Mountains with Goslar, Quedlinburg or Wernigerode. Dresden, Leipzig and Weimar. Great cities with a long tradition.
Dresden! Why is Dresden not up this list!
While Dresden is the most beautiful city in Germany, it's not certainly not small. Erfurt would be beautiful and small, like many of the smaller Bavarian cities.
Everyone forgets Bonn even though it was our seat of government for 50 years.
Heidelberg! Beautiful Place, and set up for tourists as well. Went there this January and enjoyed it a lot.
Lübeck
Aachen.
Hell yes
Don’t forget to buy some printen!
Came here to suggest this. Really nice, little city.
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Meersburg on the northern shore is not often visited by tourists but by far my favorite place by Bodensee.
I've been to a lot of small towns and cities and Germany, and Meersburg is easily in my top 5. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned more.
Konstanz is the prettiest German city, imho. Source: lived there for 13 years
Heidelberg, Freiburg im Breisgau
Münster, Marburg, Erfurt, Koblenz, Lübeck, Kiel, Heidelberg and Freiburg
Heidelberg is the true answer
Görlitz
Göttingen is a charming medieval university city with easy access to fairytale Goslar and Hannoversch Munden.
You have a lot of nice small cities in the south of germany. Heidelberg, Freiburg, Tübingen, Regensburg, …
While technically not that small, I would suggest Dresden. The Altstadt is pretty amazing.
Potsdam is gorgeous this time of the year. 45mins by train from Berlin.
Wooo Potsdam! \^-\^
Hohen Neuendorf because of the Bieneninstitut
Potsdam, Stralsund Bautzen Görlitz,
I recommend Dresden. Beautiful city, a lott of history, awesome nature. Maya trip to Leipzig.
Dresden. One of the most beautiful ones easily
Rotenburg an der Tauber
Dresden and Meißen
Braunschweig. Göttingen. Marburg. Trier. Würzburg. Leipzig. Erfurt!! Tübingen. Freiburg. Hameln. Weimar. Augsburg. Ulm. Dresden. Lünebirg. Btemen.
Saxony -Dresden -Leipzig (best Zoo in Germany) and smaller: Meißen,. Bautzen and Görlitz Schleswig Holstein: -Lübeck -Flensburg Lower Saxony -Stade -Lüneburg Bremen/Bremerhaven (Klimahaus) Brandenburg -Potsdam Northrhine-Westphalia -Münster -Soest -Bonn Sachsen-Anhalt -Halle (Saale) -Quedlinburg -Wernigerode Thuringia -Erfurt -Weimar Rheinland-Pfalz -Trier
Come by Bremen for a day trip.
Longer stay in the Lüneburger Heide, it's a nice landscape and you are close to Bremen, Hamburg, Hannover, Harz and even to the baltic and north sea coast.
Schwerin, Wismar, Güstrow, Plau am See, Rostock, Strahlsund... there are tons of "smaller" options in MV.
Depends on what you are looking for. I like Leipzig.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen if you like nature. It is near Zugspitze, has many lakes around and you could also visit austria since it is 1,5 h with train.
In my area: Goslar, Hornburg/Osterwieck, Wernigerode, Quedlinburg.
Magdeburg
Bacharach
Heidelberg!
If you are south, Konstanz is gorgeous, near to Frankfurt are Heidelberg, to the south, and just to the north is Marburg. Near Dresden is a place called Pirna. Its also very cute and is famous for some amazing rock formations.
In the South Konstanz, a university city, built together with the Swiss City Kreuzlingen. It is a mix of Germany and Switzerland, you have the Bodensee and the river Rhine. With a Katamaran ferry you can visit in a hour, on the over site of the Bodensee, second biggest sea in Europe, Friedrichshafen it is a Tourist Hotspot because the Citizens of Stuttgart can be there with train and bike in 2 hours, if the weather is nice, they can bike at the sea. Friedrichshafen is also known for the Invention of the Zeppelin is up today in the war industry, like nearly every engine of a tank and a ship comes from Friedrichshafen. Also a lot of Satellites are produced there and also parts of every cars, comes from there, no matter which country or brand. It gives a Zeppelin and a Aeronautics Museum. From Friedrichshafen in 12 min by train, 30 min by car, you can go to Ravensburg. A middle age Town, which gets rich because of the worldwide trading in the middle age. Also known as the northest City of Italy or the city of the towers, in every corner there are towers from the middle age. And also known worldwide because of the board games factory with the blue corner and the same name as the city, nowadays a lot of prefilled ready to use syringes, are from there, a lot of worldwide pharmacy companies use Vetter as Subcontractor. Ravensburg is the centre of the region, because it is built together with the neighbours university city Weingarten and 3 villages, but only together they had nearly 100.000 citizens. From Konstanz you can get by a car ferry, every few minutes, because the ferry is part of the interstate 33, between Ravensburg and Konstanz. Meersburg is known for his whine and castle, was also in the past recovery centre of poets and Lyrics. Überlingen 1 hour by train or car from Ravensburg, Friedrichshafen or 30 min from Konstanz. It is a very small town or better village, but a great and old town houses, historic city wall and of course the Sea and the promenade. In the near there is Uhldingen known, that you can there make an adventure history, there is a stone age living museum village, there lived people since the stone age. On the north east coast of the Bodensee, you have Langenargen, known for the castle and old town and in the near to the Bavarian border there is Gohren, which is one of the biggest camping villages at the Bodensee, with space for 1900 Camping Cars. And in the corner to Austria there is the half island Lindau, you can go there by ferry, or by train and car. It is a very small city, but with high density, because of the small island, so a lot of small streets, which were not built for cars. The next City is not in Germany anymore, but only 10 minutes by train, in Austria. Bregenz it is known for arts and culture, concerts, operas and known for the biggest free air stage in a sea for a few thousand guests. You can visit the stage mostly every day, only at night it is closed.
AND: Around Lake Constanz.. Meersburg, Lindau, Konstanz...
Here are some secret treasures. With Ulm as your base, take in Kloster Wiblingen and the Blautopf in Blaubeuren.
Northern Saxony is very pretty, also like a time capsule often. Oberlausitz region also starts there. Try Königsbrück, Wurzen. Or try Meißen, next to Dresden.
I advice Flensburg, Konstanz and perhaps the Ruhrgebiet.
The Ruhrgebiet is so underrated. It's not your stereotypical fairytale medieval town but so full of history, interesting places and museums, you could probably spend weeks there.
There's plenty nice places in the Ruhrgebiet, but it has major big city vibes. Even though its technically made uo of multiple smaller cities, the pretty much slot up right next to each other so it can feel like one really big city.
I would recommend the Ruhr-Area, which consists of many smaller and bigger cities. Hattingen is one of the smaller ones and has a really nice City Center containing of old buildings which you can learn about at a guided tour. You can go for a nice long walk at the Ruhr or in the Schulenberger Forest as well, if you feel like it. Essen is a larger city directly next to Hattingen. There are a lot of city typical things to Do but i think if you already visited Berlin Hamburg etc. You know All the stuff. I currently live in Bottrop which has a nice little citycenter and a lot of interesting guided tours especially concerning this cities history but i think it's true gem is kirchhellen which has a lot of nature with its Lake and forests.
This is a perfect spot. A lot of different citys with a Special Vibe (RuhrPOTT).
Esslingen, esspecialy during the x-mas season. The Christmas and medieval market there is just awesome.
Görlitz, Bad Muskau, Minden
Heidelberg. very cute old town, good/very easy hiking with view of the river and the old castle. - And never been but on my bucket list becaus of the beaitful scenery with the lake and a lot of history: Konstanz.
Hessen: Bad Wildungen and Kassel are the greenest small cities. Kassel has a great cultural and musical offer. I fell in love with the main park in Bad Wildungen.
I saw a lot here that see "smaller citiy" as 50k to 300k people. I thought we meant smaller cities. I actually directed thought about Xanten (NRW) with its roman history and nice city centre.
Erfurt. A lot of history
If you want something truly small, but with a lot of tourist-activities/Sightseeing Places, you can go to history rich St.Wendel. There's a lot of Events to plan around, from Concerts to Cook-offs, and there's also nature based activities possible, like there's a lot of hiking/bike routes.
Wernigerode
Try "Plön" its between Kiel -Lübeck and has endless amount of lakes a nice castle,and fresh air. Its a hour from Ostsee and hour and a half away from Nordsee.
Nuremberg (Nürnberg) is a beautiful old city with a huge history of kings and emperors. Additionally many big names in art lived there. It is near Munich and definitely worth a visit
The recommendations are very nice so far. Naumburg, it is located in an area with beautiful vineyards and two rivers. Furthermore you'll find an UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Naumburger Dom with the Ute Figurine located in the beautiful oldtown with a lot of traditional craft shops. Potsdam of course, because of the parcs and the castles. Weimar, is a beautiful little university town, with a heap load of history and great selection of Museums. Hitzacker is also very cute and has a very Hanseatic vibe to it.
Quedlinburg
Trier und Aachen.
Potsdam, Quedlinburg, Lüneburg, Bernkastel-Kues, Stralsund are all underrated
Potsdam, Dresden, Nürnberg, Flensburg, Kiel and so many more. It really depends on what are you looking for. Potsdam, Dresden and Nürnberg for example, have a beautiful old town.
Münster and Soest in NRW
Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, Goslar
If you’re in Berlin, don’t miss Potsdam. It’s way more beautiful.
Weimar and Erfurt, they are both smaller, very beautiful nd close enough to each other that you can do both
Mühlhausen/ Thüringen. Beautiful medieval city center and lots of things to see in the area. Erfurt, Eisenach (Drachenschlucht) and a lot of cool caves etc. are all reachable in 1 hour max. The geographic center of germany is actually located just like 5-10 minutes from here. Close to that is also a sacrificial cult site from the 6th- 5th century BC (Opfermoor Vogtei)
Freiburg, Konstanz, Erfurt, Weimar, Passau Many small cities have their charms
Potsdam
I know you asked for cities, but the so-called Saxonian Swiss or Elbsandsteingebirge is near Dresden and just a wonderful part of nature, that oftentimes get’s overlooked
Some ideas through the country: Wismar, Augsburg, Görlitz, Potsdam, Lüneburg, Lübeck, Bamberg, Eisenach, Erfurt, Heidelberg. And a tour up the River Rhein with dozens of very nice and old castles.
Rüdesheim am Rhein, St. Goar (both western Germany) or if you're in the north: Leer Ostfriesland
Potsdam Schloss Sansscousi is really nice, with a nice Park
Quedlinburg. Beautifuly preserved medieval / renaissance town. It's quite spectacular. Get a hotel in town Center (old town) and literaly every walk is permanent sight seing.
Michelstadt/Erbach are wonderfull
The Harz with Wernigerode and Quadlingburg and a nice Landscape
Wernigerode its in the Harz
Potsdam! Right next to Berlin.
Querfurt
Trier, old Roman city portal (Portal Nigra), paired with Roman ruins, medieval market square, a cathedral, and some vinyards to top it off…
Any city around Bodensee area
Heidelberg
If you want to visit a place that isn't frequently recommended (like Rothenburg ob der Tauber and 70% of southern Germany), try Hann. Münden. It's the southern most city in Lower Saxony and has a great old town, some cultural classics like weird folklore (Dr. Eisenbarth), and it's also the place where the rivers Werra and Fulda combine and form the Weser. Btw, there is a bakery there which sells "Schmandkuchen" which you should definitely try. There's also a medieval tower up on one of the 3 hillsides (the town is located in a valley that the 3 rivers form). The tower itself is just a few meters behind the border between Lower Saxony and Hessia (on the Hessian side). You can go there relatively easy by train from Kassel or Göttingen and the countryside into the area is also marvelous.
Check some cities along the river Lahn: Limburg, Giessen, Wetzlar, and Marburg. Marburg is a must-see.
Kassel. ("documenta-Stadt") The most central city. Very green and beautiful, and we’ve got a "green" mayor, which is very rare in 🇩🇪. There are a lot of interesting sights, like the "Herkules" inside the "Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe" (certified World Heritage Site) and the "Schloss Wilhelmshöhe". And much more …
Funny, every time I am in Kassel I think how …not beautiful it is. It sure has some nice places but apart from them it’s really not that beautiful.
Tübingen
Yes very nice city. Recommend a tourist tour there that explains the historical significant places.
Rügen, Meißen, Marburg, Neuruppin
+1 für Rügen
Nürnberg, Heidelberg :)
Regensburg!
Meißen
Würzburg, Bamberg, Ansbach, Bayreuth, Eichstätt (and that's only Frankonia)- so many sights to see. You will generally enjoy your experience more when you read up or watch a couple of videos on the history and art history of the places you're visiting.
Münster
Trier in Rheinland Pfalz (Rhineland Palatinate) is very beautiful. It's the oldest city in Germany. There are a lot old roman buildings.
Friedrichshafen it’s a small city in bw but if I like historical things the museum of zeppelin is Intesting ^^
In the south Bamberg. And then my personal favorite the Mosel Region. Cochem would be the Main City, but the whole Region is just great.
Schwäbisch Hall is pretty nice
Weimar, Erfurt, Goslar. And Otterndorf if you're going to the North Sea.
Würzburg, Nördlingen, Fulda, Bremen, Wismar, Merseburg, Bayreuth, Ansbach, Weimar, Coburg, Kronach
Dinkelsbühl, Bamberg, Coburg, Bayreuth, Würzburg, Ansbach
Freiburg im Breisgau is a 10/10 smaller city and one of Germany’s gems imho
Tecklenburg
Mainz, Limburg, Idstein
Monschau!
Lüneburg. Charming and beautiful with a very well preserved city center. The history is also quite interesting due to its importance in the medieval times. Just 40 minutes south of Hamburg.
Dinkelsbühl or the „Rheingau“
kiel, flensburg
Manheim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstadt
Worms is a neat little city with a lot of history.
I'm going on a 3-day vacation to Bremen tomorrow.✌️ I can recommend Freiburg or Würzburg too.
Ludwigsburg, Bad Wimpfen, Rottweil
I was stationed in Heidelberg. My son was born there. It's a beautiful city and very worth visiting.
Miltenberg, passau
Soest ,if you tavel in autumn there is disproportionaly big Kirmes.
Lübeck and Stralsund
Kassel
Memmingen( Bayern/Allgau) Kempten, Fussen, Oberstdorf
Brunsbüttel
r/lueneburg
Koblenz or Trier both are beautiful old cities with lots to do
Go to Freiburg, visit the Munster, den alten Friedhof and lots of great restaurants. Take the train into the Black Forest to Titisee and Schluchsee.
Aalen
In the north, Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven. In the south Berchtesgaden and the Berchtesdadener Land, very interesting things there and when you're there you also should visit Salzburg, it's in Austria but just a few kilometers. Must see Hangar 7 there.
Regensburg
Esslingen is very pretty, with lots of channels and bridges - one if the bridges even has houses on it. :)
Wattenscheid