Germany’s Stereotype Tourist Photos

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos
Germany’s Stereotype Tourist Photos: Lederhosen!

Germany’s Stereotype Tourist Photos | Germany in the eyes of an overseas tourist means: playing football, eating Sauerkraut, drinking beer, driving German cars, dressing in Dirndls and Lederhosen, listening to Rammstein or Kraftwerk and pretending to be grumpy. International tourists prefer to collect their proof of evidence in the Bavarian countryside and maybe up to a small degree in Berlin or Cologne. But honestly let’s forget about these two cities. Both Berlin and Cologne can only be described as one big misunderstanding. Curious Germany tourists leaving the state of Bavaria do it wrong. Outside Bavaria there is almost nothing to explore. Ok, we can give you Baden-Württemberg. It’s nearby Bavaria and also worth a ride. But that’s pretty much it.

The following 10 snapshots represent Germany’s Stereotype Tourist Photos thru the eyes of an average foreign traveler. So here is the plan: Try to visit at least half of them, and quickly tick Germany off your bucket list :)

Disneyland Blueprint Neuschwanstein

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Neuschwanstein Castle near Füssen, Bavaria
Neuschwanstein Castle near Füssen, Bavaria. Photo by Chili.

No. 1: Neuschwanstein Castle. This unique Disneyland blueprint is located at the southern end of Germany’s “Romantic Road” in Bavaria. The castle has no architectonical value but is a perfect background for any kind of selfie.

Medieval Rothenburg

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Rothenburg, probably Germany's No. 1 medival town.
Rothenburg, probably Germany’s No. 1 medival town. Photo by Chili.

No. 2: Rothenburg (ob der Tauber). Another top tourist hot spot in Germany, located at the “Romantic Road”. It is most likely Germany’s best preserved medieval town. Since Germany counts three cities named Rothenburg, please look out for the one that ends with … ob der Tauber.

Germans love old cars and bikes

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Romantische Strasse
Germans love their combust engine cars and motobikes.

No. 3: Germans love their cars and bikes. But pretty soon this will remain the only source of automobile pride left. In particular the German car industry has been misguided by a bunch of narrow minded people. While the rest of the world was seeing only the positive potential with electric cars, these ill advised German decision makers dug out all potentially ugly outcomes for Tesla & Co. A clear case of humans molesting a good idea from a competitor for their own interests. Tourists can visit the soon-fossilized remains of combust engine driven Mercedes and BMW. -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_Museum and -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Museum

Heidelberg

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg
Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg

No. 4: Heidelberg at the river Neckar in Baden-Württemberg. Heidelberg is a popular tourist destination due to its romantic cityscape, including Heidelberg Castle, the Philosophers’ Walk, and a baroque style old city center. And since it’s located between Frankfurt and Munich, it’s in comfortable reach for tourists.

Rakotz Bridge

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Regensburg
Rakotz Bridge, Rhododendron Park, Kromlau. Photo wikipedia (CC)

No. 5: Rakotz Bridge, Kromlau in Saxony. This is a very famous internet photo, NOT representing a Casper David Friedrich painting, but a real bridge. One can visit the fairytale Rakotz Bridge at Rhododendron Park in Kromlau, Saxony – although it’s bit off the beaten path. The park has no entry fee and can be accessed any time. Chili and Churp tip: make it part of your itinerary only if you plan to stay in Dresden or Görlitz. From there it will take you approx. 1.5 hours by car to reach this rather not so touristy place in the outskirts of nowhere.

Lake Constance

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Bodensee
Lindau, Bodensee. Photo by Chili.

No. 6: Lake Constance (German: Bodensee) is in large parts located in Baden-Württemberg. But the Swiss, Austrians and Bavarians also own some snippets. Via Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, this region is well mapped by tourists because it’s clustered with touristy hotspots such as Lindau, Konstanz, Mainau Island, Friedrichshafen, Stein-am-Rhein, Bregenz in Austria and Kreuzlingen in Switzerland. At the Austrian strip of Lake Constance you even get a bit of Alp Mountains feeling.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Berlin, Brandenburg Gate. Photo taken by Pierre-Selim Huard (CC BY 4.0)
Berlin, Brandenburg Gate. Photo by Pierre-Selim Huard (CC BY 4.0)

No. 7: Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy and David Hasselhoff were here. Now it’s up to you to make it to Berlin. Mainstream tourists tend to follow each other with a herd mentality anyway. No need to be ashamed :)

Cologne Cathedral

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Cologne Cathedral
Germany’s Stereotype Tourist Photos: Cologne Cathedral

No. 8: Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) simply makes it into our list of the most photographed tourist attractions in Germany because it’s big and beautiful. For some reason the construction of Cologne Cathedral took from 1248 until 1880. That’s a whooping 632 years of construction. It commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century. The cathedral finally was completed to the original plan in 1880. It is one of the largest Gothic churches on earth and has the second-tallest spires.  Two impressive towers give the cathedral the largest facade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio of any medieval church: 3.6 to 1.

Lübeck

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Lubeck
Lübeck.

No. 9: Lübeck. The old part of Lübeck is on an island enclosed by the river Trave. That’s where you should go. Because of its extensive Brick Gothic architecture, Old Lübeck is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Church of Our Holy Lady, Dresden

Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos Dresden
Dresden, Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche).

No. 10: Church of Our Lady in Dresden was an 18th century masterpiece of a large Baroque Lutheran building. But due to an almost endless chain of stupidity this beautiful building vanished from Dresden’s skyline on February 15, 1945 (why stupid? Go to wikipedia and type in “World War II”). Not even a burned-out shell remained. The blackened stones of the Church of Our Lady would wait in loose piles in the centre of Dresden’s city for the next 45 years. Luckily popular sentiment discouraged the authorities from clearing the ruins away to build a car park or other crap. Between 1989 and 2005 the church was rebuilt at a cost of €180 million.


Germanys Stereotype Tourist Photos. By Chili & Churp | © International Destinations | Visit our German Gems page.