Rick Steves Germany

by Rick Steves

Overview

From fairy-tale castles and alpine forests to quaint villages and modern cities: experience it all with Rick Steves! Inside Rick Steves Germany you'll find:

• Fully updated, comprehensive coverage for planning a multi-week trip through Germany
• Rick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites
• Top sights and hidden gems, from the towering Zugspitze and jagged Alps to rustic villages and delicious strudel
• How to connect with local culture: Stroll through a Cristkindlemarkt around Christmas, chat with fans about the latest fussball match, or kick back in a biergarten
• Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insight
• The best places to eat, sleep, and relax with a Berliner Weisse in hand
• Self-guided walking tours of lively neighborhoods and incredible museums
• Vital trip-planning tools, like how to link destinations, build your itinerary, and get from place to place
• Detailed maps, including a fold-out map for exploring on the go
• Over 1,000 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down
• Coverage of Munich, Bavaria, Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Baden-Baden, the Black Forest, Rothenburg, Würzburg, Frankfurt, Rhine Valley, Mosel Valley, Trier, Cologne, Nürnberg, the Luther Trail, Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, and more

Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Germany.

Planning a one- to two-week trip? Check out Rick Steves Best of Germany.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641716499
Publisher:	Avalon Publishing
Publication date:	07/15/2025
Series:	Rick Steves Travel Guide Series
Edition description:	15th ed.
Pages:	1056
Product dimensions:	4.70(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent about four months a year exploring Europe. His mission: to empower Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening. Rick produces a best-selling guidebook series, a public television series, and a public radio show, and organizes small-group tours that take over 30,000 travelers to Europe annually. He does all of this with the help of more than 100 well-traveled staff members at Rick Steves' Europe in Edmonds, WA (near Seattle). When not on the road, Rick is active in his church and with advocacy groups focused on economic and social justice, drug policy reform, and ending hunger. To recharge, Rick plays piano, relaxes at his family cabin in the Cascade Mountains, and spends time with his son Andy, daughter Jackie, and his grandson...baby Atlas. Find out more about Rick at www.ricksteves.com and on Facebook.

Connect with Rick:
Facebook.com/RickSteves
X: @RickSteves
Instagram: ricksteveseurope

Table of Contents

Germany 5

Germany's Top Destinations 11

Planning Your Trip 19

Travel Smart 27

Munich 29

Bavarian Alps 137

Füssen 143

The King's Castles 158

Wieskirche 171

Oberammergau 173

Linderhof Castle 180

Ettal Monastery 183

Zugspitze 185

Reutte, Austria 188

Salzburg, Austria 207

Baden-Baden & the Black Forest 291

Baden-Baden 293

Freiburg 313

Staufen 332

The Black Forest 339

Rothenburg & the Romantic Road 352

Würzburg 400

Frankfurt 423

Rhine Valley 459

Mosel Valley 509

Trier 533

Cologne & the Unromantic Rhine 553

Nürnberg 575

The Luther Trail 614

Erfurt 620

Wartburg Castle 643

Wittenberg 647

Leipzig 668

Dresden 699

Berlin 747

Near Berlin 872

Potsdam 872

Sachsenhausen Memorial & Museum 886

Hamburg 894

Germany: Past & Present 933

Practicalities 951

Travel Tips 951

Money 954

Sightseeing 959

Sleeping 961

Eating 971

Staying Connected 983

Transportation 986

Resources from Rick Steves 1004

Appendix 1007

Holidays & Festivals 1007

Books & Films 1009

Conversions & Climate 1014

Packing Checklist 1017

German Survival Phrases 1019

Index 1021

Map Index 1044

Editorial Reviews

"The country's foremost expert in European travel for Americans."—Forbes

"Steves is an absolute master at unlocking the hidden gems of the world's greatest cities, towns, and monuments."—USA Today

“Every country-specific travel guidebook from the Rick Steves publishing empire can be counted upon for clear organization, specificity and timeliness."—Society of American Travel Writers

"Pick the best accommodations and restaurants from Rick Steves…and a traveler searching for good values will seldom go wrong or be blindsided."—NBC News

"…his books deserve to be in the pop-history canon. Steves possesses a surprisingly strong authorial voice, one that permeates through the expected contrivances of a typical guidebook."

—Slate

"His guidebooks are approachable, silly, and even subtly provocative in their insistence that Americans show respect for the people and places they are visiting and not the other way around."—The New Yorker

"Travel, to Steves, is not some frivolous luxury—it is an engine for improving humankind, for connecting people and removing their prejudices, for knocking distant cultures together to make unlikely sparks of joy and insight. Given that millions of people have encountered the work of Steves over the last 40 years, on TV or online or in his guidebooks, and that they have carried those lessons to untold other millions of people, it is fair to say that his life’s work has had a real effect on the collective life of our planet."—The New York Times Magazine

"[Rick Steves] laces his guides with short and vivid histories and a scholar's appreciation for Renaissance art yet knows the best place to start an early tapas crawl in Madrid if you have kids. His clear, hand-drawn maps are Pentagon-worthy; his hints about how to go directly to the best stuff at the Uffizi, avoid the crowds at Versailles and save money everywhere are guilt-free."—TIME Magazine

"Steves is a walking, talking European encyclopedia who yearns to inspire Americans to venture 'beyond Orlando.'"—Forbes

“…he’s become the unofficial guide for entire generations of North American travelers, beloved for his earnest attitude and dad jeans."—Outside Magazine

"His books offer the equivalent of a bus tour without the bus, with boiled-down itineraries and step-by-step instructions on where to go and how to get there, but adding a dash of humor and an element of choice that his travelers find empowering."—The New York Times

"His penchant for creating meaningful experiences for travelers to Europe is as passionate as his inclination for making ethical choices his guiding light."
 —Forbes

"[Rick Steves'] neighborhood walks are always fun and informative. His museum guides, complete with commentary about historic sculpture and storied artworks are wonderful and add another dimension to sometimes stodgy, hard-to-comprehend museums."—NBC News

From the Publisher