Tourism in Germany

Bavaria is the German state with the most visitors.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with its beaches at the Baltic Sea has the highest density of tourists. It is favourably located between Germany's major cities Berlin and Hamburg.

The table below shows the distribution of national and international visitor nights spent in each of the sixteen states of Germany in 2017.

Germany overall had 178.23 million visitor nights in 2017, of which 37.45 million were of foreign guests (21.01 percent). With 94.3 million nights spent in hotels, hostels or clinics, Bavaria has the most visitors. With 18.472 nights per 1.000 inhabitants, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has the highest density of tourists per population (German median: 5.568 nights per 1.000 people).[7]

Most visitors arriving to Germany on short-term basis are from the following countries of nationality:[8][9]

Rank	Country	2014	2016
1	Netherlands	4,237,865	4,477,100
2	Switzerland	2,778,455	3,115,456
3	United States	2,371,086	2,558,495
4	United Kingdom	2,415,477	2,551,061
5	Austria	1,725,259	1,818,872
6	France	1,617,901	1,725,854
7	Italy	1,642,443	1,651,933
8	Denmark	1,466,561	1,592,500
9	Belgium	1,310,693	1,424,482
10	China	1,256,800	1,363,979
	Total international arrivals	32,999,298	35,555,391

The official body for tourism in Germany is the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), represented worldwide by National Tourist Offices in 29 countries. Surveys by the GNTB include perceptions and reasons for holidaying in Germany, which are as follows: culture (75%), outdoors/countryside (59%), cities (59%), cleanliness (47%), security (41%), modernity (36%), good hotels (35%), good gastronomy/cuisine (34%), good accessibility (30%), cosmopolitanism/hospitality (27%), good shopping opportunities (21%), exciting nightlife (17%) and good price/performance ratio (10%) (multiple answers were possible).

About 242 million nights, or two-thirds of all nights spent in hotels in Germany, are spent in spa towns.[10] Germany is well known for health tourism, with many of the numerous spa towns having been established at a hot spring, offering convalescence (German: Kur) or preventive care by means of mineral water and/or other spa treatment. Spa towns and seaside resorts carry official designations such as Mineral and mud spas (Mineral- und Moorbäder), Healthy climate resorts (Heilklimatische Kurorte), Kneipp cure resorts (Kneippkurorte = water therapy resorts), Seaside resorts (Seebäder), Climatic resorts (Luftkurorte), and Recreation resorts (Erholungsorte). The largest and most well known resorts also have casinos, most notably at Bad Wiessee, Baden-Baden (Kurhaus), Wiesbaden (Kurhaus), Aachen, Travemünde and Westerland (Kurhaus).

Dune on the North Frisian island of Sylt

Stubbenkammer on the Baltic island of Rügen

The most visited tourist regions in Germany are the East Frisian and North Frisian Islands, the Baltic Sea coasts of Holstein, Mecklenburg and Vorpommern, the Rhine Valley, the Bavarian and Black Forest, and the Bavarian Alps.

The table below shows the five most visited rural districts in 2008:[11]

Other popular regions include

• in the North: Usedom, Holstein Switzerland, the Lüneburg Heath, Harz and Mecklenburg Lake District
• in the West: Teutoburg Forest, Sauerland, Eifel and the Moselle Valley
• in the East: Saxon Switzerland, Thüringer Wald, Erzgebirge and the Elbe Valley
• in the South: Taunus, Spessart, Rhön, Odenwald and Allgäu.

A cuckoo clock, symbol of the Black Forest.

Since the 1930s, local and regional governments have set up various theme routes, to help visitors get to know a specific region and its cultural or scenic qualities. The table below shows some of the most prominent theme routes. Other popular German theme routes include parts of the European Route of Brick Gothic and European Route of Industrial Heritage, the Harz-Heide Road, Bertha Benz Memorial Route and Bergstrasse.

View of Bolsterlang, Oberallgäu

The main winter sport regions in Germany are the Bavarian Alps and Northern Limestone Alps, as well as the Ore Mountains, Harz Mountains, Fichtel Mountains and Bavarian Forest within the Central Uplands. First class winter sport infrastructure is available for alpine skiing and snowboarding, bobsledding and cross-country skiing.

In most regions, winter sports are limited to the winter months November to February. During the Advent season, many German towns and cities host Christmas markets.

Tourist biking in Berlin

Berlin has a yearly total of about 135 million day visitors, which puts it in third place among the most-visited city destinations in the European Union. Berlin had 781 hotels with over 125,000 beds in June 2012.[13] The city recorded 20.8 million overnight hotel stays and 9.1 million hotel guests in 2010.[14] In the first half of 2012, there was an increase of over 10% compared to the same period the year before.[13]

In 2007, more than 3,985,105 visitors with 7,402,423 overnight stays visited the city.[15] The tourism sector employs more than 175,000 people full-time and brings in revenue of €9.3 billion, making the tourism industry a major economic force in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Hamburg has one of the fastest-growing tourism industries in Germany. From 2001 to 2007, the overnight stays in the city increased by 55.2% (Berlin +52.7%, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania +33%).[16]

A typical Hamburg visit includes a tour of the city hall and the grand church St. Michaelis (called the Michel), and visiting the old warehouse district (Speicherstadt) and the harbour promenade (Landungsbrücken). Sightseeing buses connect these points of interest. As Hamburg is one of the world's largest harbours many visitors take one of the harbour and/or canal boat tours (Große Hafenrundfahrt, Fleetfahrt) which start from the Landungsbrücken. Major destinations also include museums.

The area of Reeperbahn in the quarter St. Pauli is Europe's largest red light district and home of strip clubs, brothels, bars and nightclubs. The Beatles had stints on the Reeperbahn early in their careers. Others prefer the laid-back neighbourhood Schanze with its street cafés, or a barbecue on one of the beaches along the river Elbe. Hamburg's famous zoo, the Tierpark Hagenbeck, was founded in 1907 by Carl Hagenbeck as the first zoo with moated, barless enclosures.[17]

• 
  The Brandenburg Gate at night. Berlin is Germany's largest and most visited city
• 
  View over Hamburg Binnenalster
• 
  Frankfurt at night
• 
  Heidelberg with its famous Castle ruins
• 
  The Semperoper in Dresden is the most famous building of an opera house in Germany
• 
  The Butchers' Guild Hall in Hildesheim is one of the most famous half-timbered houses in Germany
• 
  View over Leipzig old town, Germany's Boomtown
• 
  View over Quedlinburg
• 
  The small town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a destination for tourists from around the world
• 
  The Stone Bridge and Cathedral St. Peter of Regensburg (UNESCO world heritage)
• 
  View over Munich's Old Town
• 
  The Aula Palatina of Trier, a basilica constructed during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337 AD)
• 
  The Palatine Chapel, Aachen, built during the reign of the Carolingian emperor Charlemagne (r. 800-814 AD)

The table below shows some of the largest annually recurring events in Germany:

Note: This list only includes the largest, annually recurring events in selected categories. This list may be incomplete.

visitors at IAA 2007

The Leipzig Book Fair in 2012

Germany is home to several of the world's largest trade fairgrounds, and many of the international exhibitions are considered trend-setters or industry leaders. Thousands of national and international trade fairs, conventions and congresses are held in Germany annually. In 2008, 10.3 million people visited the 150 largest trade fairs alone. More than half of these visitors come from abroad, more than one third from countries outside Europe. The table below shows some of the most visited trade fairs.

Note: This list only includes trade fairs with 250,000 visitors per year or more. This list may be incomplete.

The table below shows the most visited protected areas in Germany.

The Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park

Lilienstein at Saxon Switzerland

Note: This list only includes protected areas with 1 million or more visitors per year. This list may be incomplete.

¹ World Heritage Site in Germany

The Cathedral of Cologne is Germany's most visited landmark

Neuschwanstein Castle was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty's Castle

The Zwinger in Dresden

The German Tourism Association (Deutscher Tourismusverband) irregularly publishes statistics on the most visited landmarks. With an average of over 6 million visitors entering Cologne Cathedral per year, the cathedral is Germany's most visited landmark. Second and third places go to the Reichstag building in Berlin and the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. Other much visited architectural landmarks include the Drosselgasse in Rüdesheim (3.0m), the medieval old towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber (2.5m), Regensburg (2.0m), Frauenkirche in Dresden (2.5m), Bad Münstereifel (2m), the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and the Holsten Gate in Lübeck ¹.

Note: This list only includes physical landmarks with 1.0 million visitors per year or more. This list may be incomplete.

¹ World Heritage Site in Germany

The table below shows some of the most visited theme parks or related facilities in Germany.

Atlantica SuperSplash in Europa-Park

Note: This list only includes the largest theme parks/facilities in selected categories. This list may be incomplete.