Article: Germany's Smaller, Hidden Gems

I'd never designate Regensburg or Bamberg as hidden. Slightly less touristed; maybe. Meersburg is also pretty touristy, but more as a secondary place of interest around the Bodensee. Monschau is off the beaten path and quite nice.

Nothing hidden about them. Bamberg is mentioned here very frequently. Meersburg is a main town on the Bodensee. Regensburg is popular and is the sister city of Tempe, AZ where I lived for 25 years.

There are so many towns in Germany that are infrequently visited by Americans. Altho there are a handful here on the forum that mention Gengenbach, it is rarely visited by Americans. The only English speakers I have heard in over 10 days there was one English couple.

I enjoyed 4 nights in Lichtenfels - the basket city. Anyone here on the forum ever been thete. From there I visited Bamberg, Coburg, and Kulmbach. Not many mentions of the later two on any forum I visit, yet they have a lot to offer.

Check your history for actual bomb damage in Regensburg and civilian casualties. It was part of some of the double strike Schweinfurt–Regensburg raids. The outlying Messerschmitt factories were hit but most of the old city left untouched. Regensburg civilian casualties in these raids were @400 to include forced laborers. Regensburg's churches, narrow streets and towers remain. It's a UNESCO City.

Just off the top of my head in Bayern is Landshut, Murnau am Staffelsee, Spitzingsee, Reit im Winkl and Traunstein. Obertsdorf and the surrounding Allgäu area. The Franken Main River wine region, Niederbayern Bavarian Forest and the Franken Schweitz east of Forchheim.

Monschau is extremely charming and virtually unknown to travelers from outside of Europe. We spent 2 nights there about 2 decades ago when we traveled with our extended family. We rarely ever use the car in Germany, but partly because we had Monschau in our sights, we went with a van rental for our travel in this corner of Europe. Getting to Monschau and back from places like Aachen or Cologne would be extremely time-consuming and inconvenient, so IMO calling it "off the beaten path" doesn't do justice to Monschau's remoteness. Maybe "buried treasure" applies here.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Most American travelers don't know of these cities. I knew of only Bamberg, which I have visited, and Regensburg, which on my last trip I was thinking about visiting.

And mchpp, thanks for the information you provided. However, I did know that Regensburg's historical center largely escaped bomb damage in the war because the targeted factories were located on its outskirts (although daylight bombing was often not terribly accurate). The August 1943 Regensburg-Schweinfurt mission was the subject of episode 3 of the Masters of the Air miniseries, which appeared a few years ago on Apple.

Koblenz
…visit-koblenz.de/en

Gorlitz is magnificent ! I spent a week there several years ago after a stay in Dresden before going on to Berlin . The architecture was the main draw for me , and Gorlitz did not disappoint . The motivation to make a visit there was , frankly , the fine Wes Anderson film " The Grand Budapest Hotel " , largely filmed there . ( Other major parts of the film were shot in Dresden and Karlovy Vary )

Have been to Regensburg and Bamberg.
My top favorite small towns are Büdingen, Gelnhausen, Limburg, Marburg, Idstein, Seligenstadt, Eltville, Kronberg, Bad Homburg, Michelstadt.

Been to 4/5. Bamberg when I was in the service for a short stay and 5 or 6 times lately. Last summer we spent the day shopping and enjoying the smoke beer. Monschau for the Christmas Markets. We were in Aachen and spent the night there. You could not ask for a more beautiful village at night. Come on it is less then 30 minutes from Aachen. Rent a car. Germany is a great place to drive. Regensburg a number of times. No more though we think it is over hyped. Been there twice for the Christmas markets. OK. Gorlitz well we think it is a jewel. The walk over the bridge and eating and shopping in Poland is just outstanding. If you get a chance swing by the Passion of Jesus. I wish I could think what the name of it is. Goggle it.

As mentioned, Coburg is beautiful and (except for the weekend of the Samba Festival) has very little tourist traffic. It is more historically significant than most of the towns mentioned. Its medieval fortress is almost unparalleled and I would put it ahead of Wartburg. The nearby tiny restored medieval village of Sesslach is neat. Bayreuth and the neighboring Eremitage are very nice. Schmalkalden is very cute and gets comparatively little American tourist traffic. Bad Langensalza is also pretty but it is quite small. The old town of Gotha and its Friedenstein Palace are nice but I would favor Coburg or Schmalkalden over it. Kulmbach is nice. I haven’t yet been to Kronach (which is a neighbor to both Coburg and Kulmbach) but I’ve heard it’s nice. As others have pointed out, there is no shortage of picturesque villages in Germany. Most regions have a tourist website that will list information on many towns. I’ve found that a good way to find the many towns that don’t get love from the guidebooks.

Also, in hotels in major cities, you can find free regional guides (though they will probably be in German) that give much love to the surrounding region and list the many wonderful towns nearby. At the moment, I am holding one titled "die burgenstrasse" (I added the double s) that I picked up in either Nuremberg or Bamberg. Its website is www.burgenstrasse.de.

Regensberg and Bamberg are ultra touristy so don’t go there thinking they are hidden. They are cute though.

A quick note: To my knowledge, the RS Germany guidebook does not mention Bamberg or Regensburg. They are not "hidden" like the smaller towns listed. But does either one really get a huge number of American tourists?

If you go to Görlitz, I highly recommend a side trip to Bad Muskau and perhaps also the Rakotzbrücke.

These are lovely places, though not exactly hidden. It is also important to remember that Markovich also has a travel agency and assists clients in booking these types of places; it is helpful to her to recommend places far enough off to feel different and still touristy enough to be appealing to her clients. These are also not in the north or central regions of Germany. I am surprised at how many people miss cities like Quedlinburg or Schwerin or Lüneburg or even Lübeck. They rarely pop up in articles despite being amazing places. Perhaps more on this forum, but in things the average Joe reads about travel to Europe or in magazines or the NYT, you never see them. And then there are the myriad small towns (again, people have never heard of Glückstadt despite its having a harbor that looks very similar to Copenhagen's Nyhavn and a cobbled downtown square and neat alleys to rival almost any little town in Europe) that of course are everywhere and absolutely unknown.

These are lovely places, but not hidden.

After seeing the movie the town of Görlitz piqued my interest. Unfortunately , I have only been to 2: Bamberg (too brief) and Regensburg where I spent 3 nights in 1989. .

Aside from WW2 the city of Regensburg was involved in the Napoleonic Wars when the Austrians attacked the French in that year of Habsburg resurgence.

Germany has numerous, numerous "hidden gems", smaller lovely places where the visitors are just about exclusively German. You'll see that in the Tourist Office. I have my own list of lovely "hidden gems" some of which are mentioned above.

A late hit... We were in Görlitz last year for the first Advent and opening of the Weihnachtsmarkt. We stayed in a nice apartment in Poland. Walking was easy. It was a really nice 3 overnight trip that I can recommend. Some good restaurants on both sides of the Lausitzer Neiße. Schlesisches Museum zu Görlitz was interesting. Had a short organ concert in Pfarrkirche St. Peter und Paul.

I went to Görlitz last March, as a day trip by train (almost two hours) from Dresden. I was slightly disappointed. It's certainly a pretty town, but a lot of it added up to (to me...) as a Rostock or Wismar, but with shorter, two-story buildings. I can see that it would be more charming while staying there. Crowding was not a problem in March. Do note that the famous period-department store (also a film location, I think) interior is only seen by one or two, guided-tour-only visits per week, run by a charity unrelated to the real estate owner. The tour only shows one floor of the place. Otherwise, it's locked up. I got the idea that Bautzen, halfway between Dresden and Görlitz, might be nice, but I had not enough time to stop there.

I can vouch favorably for Monschau, which we had a car to see. It has a huge parking lot, and I saw some tour busses, so there might be (seasonal ??) other ways to get there. It's smaller, but just as crowded as Český Krumlov, for example. Idstein is also very nice, and more accessible. But Monschau has exceptionally unbroken rows of magnificent Fachwerk.

A comment about the Department store that Tim mentions - When they made the movie , they constructed the three incarnations of the hotel in layers ( one on top of the one preceding ) , took the shots and then stripped each layer away .. .The upper floors of the building were used for offices , and storage space . When we visited , we were able to walk around the interior ( ground floor only ) at will . There were , at the time , descriptive posters on display giving pertinent information about the building .This article goes into a fair amount of detail about the film , and the craft and technology that went into its creation . - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Budapest_Hotel

I had the pleasure of seeing the department store back in the days when it was still exactly this (Karstadt) - much, much nicer than now, so vibrant! But frankly, this former department store is IMO only one of the minor sights in Görlitz.

The town is one of the few in Germany that was not damaged in WWII and has excellent architecture from medieval times, Renaissance and Baroque there. Plus 19th century, Art Nouveau and Art Deco in newer districts. Not to mention some larger parts of preserved city walls with towers, nice parks, museums. An overnight is definitely recommended, you feel like in a fairy tale in the old town by night. Oh, and restaurants and cafes are pretty good, too - I'll meet up with friends there for breakfast next Wednesday ;-)

Agree with Monschau being a hidden gem. It is only 30 - 40 minutes from Aachen and there is a bus as well from Hauptbahnhof. The drive through the Eifel will take you through some of the most gorgeous countryside with half timbered villages like Rollesbroich and Simmerath.
When you get to Monschau you will be amazed at how the medieval town is preserved. It is just stunning, and the flowers and the river running through it only add to the charm. Is it worth a half hour drive each way? You bet this hidden gem is well worth it.

When I resumed traveling in 2015 after having retired in 2006, I took a summer-long trip that included eastern Germany. High on my target list were some places that had been on my personal radar for decades: Gorlitz, Quedlinburg, Schwerin and Erfurt. What they had in common, aside from their locations in the former DDR, was that I learned of them from feature articles in the Travel section of the NY Times that said they had come through WWII relatively undamaged. All were beautiful, and I'd be happy to revisit them.

I've been to Gorlitz twice. In addition to its architectural beauty, Gorlitz is interesting to me for its annual outdoor ceramics market, the Schlesischer Tippelmarkt. References to it in travel literature are rare. Google will turn up the date for the next market, but probably less than a year in advance. The 2026 market fell on July 18-19; I missed it because I was in England at the time.

Görlitz - Filmography
Görliwood - European Film Location
https://www.visit-goerlitz.com/Filmography.html