Germany Travel Guide 2026: Rhine Valley, Cologne, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Black Forest and Romantic Road Complete Itinerary
Browse more guides: Germany travel | Europe destinations Germany Travel Guide 2026: Rhine Valley, Cologne, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Black Forest and Romantic Road Complete Itinerary TL;DR Germany packs more variety into one Schengen passport stamp than almost any country I plan trips around. On my last circuit I started in Frankfurt, took the ICE to Cologne in under an hour, floated past forty Rhine castles, walked Heidelberg's Old Town at dusk, then drove into the Black Forest for cuckoo clocks, kirschtorte and a Roman thermal bath in Baden-Baden. This guide covers the central and western core most first-timers book: the UNESCO Upper Middle Rhine Valley (listed 2002), Cologne Cathedral (UNESCO 1996, 157 metres, 11 million visitors a year), Frankfurt's ECB skyline and Römerberg, Heidelberg's ruined Schloss and 1386 university, and the Black Forest with Triberg, Titisee and Baden-Baden. I also fold in shorter notes on Dresden, Hamburg's Speicherstadt (UNESCO 2015), Br...