Loreley Rock

Munich's central square, framed by the New Town Hall whose glockenspiel figures perform daily above the crowd.

One of the largest urban parks in Europe, with beer gardens, open meadows and a standing river wave surfed year-round.

The Baroque summer palace of the Bavarian rulers, with a long canal frontage and a park of pavilions west of the centre.

Ludwig II's nineteenth-century castle stands on a rock spur above the village of Hohenschwangau, facing the Alps and two lakes. The interior is visited only on timed guided tours booked ahead, and the classic view is from the Marienbrücke footbridge across the gorge behind it. It is a long day trip from Munich by train and bus.

Saxon Switzerland is a national park of eroded sandstone towers, gorges and plateaus along the Elbe upstream of Dresden. Marked trails link viewpoints such as the Bastei bridge and the table mountains of Lilienstein and Königstein, and the rock towers are a historic free-climbing area. Trains from Dresden run along the river to most trailheads.

A stone bridge of 1851 spanning the gaps between sandstone pinnacles nearly 200 metres above the Elbe.