7 Underrated German Cities Australians Never Visit (But Should)

Ask an Australian who has visited Germany which cities they saw and you will hear the same answer in eight out of ten cases: Berlin and Munich, sometimes Hamburg, occasionally the Rhine Valley on a river cruise. This is understandable — Berlin and Munich are extraordinary cities that deserve their reputation.

But Germany has a depth of city culture that most Australian itineraries never touch. The country's medieval fragmentation — dozens of independent principalities, city-states, and kingdoms that spent centuries competing culturally and architecturally — produced a remarkable diversity of significant cities, each with its own identity, history, and reason for being. Unlike France, which channelled everything through Paris, or Britain, which made London the gravitational centre of everything, Germany spread its cultural wealth across dozens of cities that are each, in their own way, complete.

These seven cities are the ones Australians consistently miss and consistently wish they had found.

1. Leipzig — The City That Changed History

Leipzig is arguably Germany's most underrated city for Australian visitors and the one that produces the most consistent reaction of "why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

The music: Leipzig was home to Bach, who served here as Thomaskantor at the Thomaskirche for 27 years. Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatory — one of Europe's first music schools — here. Wagner was born here. Schumann lived and worked here. The Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the world's oldest and most respected. Hearing Bach's music performed at the Thomaskirche — in the church where he wrote and performed it, where he is buried — is a genuinely moving experience.

The history: On 9 October 1989, 70,000 people gathered in Leipzig for a Montagsdemonstration (Monday Demonstration) against the East German state — despite the presence of security forces in the streets. They were not shot. The demonstration swelled the following weeks. The Berlin Wall fell a month later. Leipzig was where the peaceful revolution that ended the Cold War in East Germany began. The Forum of Contemporary History (Zeitgeschichtliches Forum) in Leipzig is one of Germany's finest modern history museums, examining this history with the seriousness it deserves.

The architecture: Leipzig's city centre contains an extraordinary concentration of Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) and Gründerzeit commercial architecture — banks, department stores, and covered passages (Passagen) built during the late 19th century when Leipzig was one of Europe's wealthiest trading cities. The Mädlerpassage and Specks Hof passages are among Germany's finest.

The cost: Leipzig is one of Germany's most affordable major cities — significantly cheaper than Berlin in accommodation, restaurants, and almost everything else. A city break to Leipzig costs considerably less than the equivalent in Munich or Hamburg.

How to get there: 1.5 hours from Berlin by ICE, 4.5 hours from Munich.

2. Nuremberg (Nürnberg) — History in Multiple Layers

Nuremberg carries its history with visible and sometimes uncomfortable weight. The city was one of the most important cities of medieval Germany — a free imperial city, home to Albrecht Dürer, and the location of some of the most spectacular Gothic architecture in southern Germany. It was also the city chosen by Hitler for the Nazi party rallies and the location of the war crimes tribunal that established international criminal law.

Both histories are present and inescapable, which makes Nuremberg one of the most intellectually serious travel destinations in Germany.

The medieval old town: Almost entirely rebuilt after wartime destruction — the reconstruction is so faithful that it is largely invisible unless you look for it. The Hauptmarkt (main square) with the Gothic Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) and the Frauenkirche, the Imperial Castle (Kaiserburg) above the city, and the network of medieval lanes and half-timbered houses make Nuremberg's old town one of the finest in Germany.

The Nazi Documentation Centre: The Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände is built into the unfinished Congress Hall of the former Nazi Rally Grounds — the largest building the Nazis ever started. The museum inside is one of Germany's best examinations of National Socialism — how ordinary people participated, how propaganda worked, and how the system functioned. The rally grounds themselves are accessible and partly used for other purposes (including concerts) — the scale of the intended architectural domination becomes comprehensible on site in a way no photograph conveys.

The Nuremberg Trials Memorial: The Memorium Nürnberger Prozesse in the Palace of Justice where the trials were held — the very courtroom preserved and documented. For Australians with any interest in international law, human rights, or modern history, this is one of the most significant sites in Europe.

Nuremberg Christmas Market: Germany's most famous Christmas market (Christkindlesmarkt) — running since 1628, centred on the Hauptmarkt, and genuinely extraordinary in ambience and quality.

How to get there: 1.5 hours from Munich, 2.5 hours from Frankfurt by ICE.

3. Heidelberg — The University and the Castle

Heidelberg is the German city that non-Germans most frequently describe as quintessentially German — and Germans find this amusing, because for them it has been so thoroughly consumed by tourism that it no longer feels fully theirs.

The Australian response to Heidelberg tends to reverse this: it is extraordinarily beautiful and the tourism, while present, does not overwhelm as much as warned. The Heidelberg Schloss — a red sandstone castle ruin dramatically positioned on the hillside above the city — is genuinely one of the most spectacular ruined buildings in Europe. The Altstadt below, the oldest university in Germany (founded 1386), and the Neckar River setting combine into a city that earns its reputation.

What to do in Heidelberg: Visit the Schloss early morning (cable car or walking path) before the tour groups. The ruined great hall and the vast wine barrel in the cellar (Heidelberger Fass — the world's largest wine barrel, holding 219,000 litres) are highlights.

Walk the Philosophenweg (Philosophers' Walk) — a path along the hillside opposite the Altstadt offering the famous view of Heidelberg with the castle and old bridge. The walk takes 90 minutes.

The Karl-Theodor-Brücke (old bridge) and the Altstadt market square are the social centres — both excellent, both crowded midday.

One honest caveat: Heidelberg receives extraordinary tourist volumes for its size. The main street (Hauptstraße) is a somewhat overwhelming experience of souvenir shops and tourist restaurants on peak season weekends. Visit on a weekday, arrive early, and walk above the crowds.

How to get there: 1 hour from Frankfurt, 45 minutes from Stuttgart.

4. Freiburg — The Sunniest City in Germany

Already described in the Black Forest guide, Freiburg deserves its own entry here as a city independent of its regional context. It is simply one of Germany's most liveable and most pleasant cities — a university town of 230,000 people that manages to combine excellent museums, a UNESCO-calibre Gothic cathedral, the famous Bächle water channels, excellent food markets, and proximity to the Black Forest and the French Alsace.

What makes Freiburg specifically valuable for Australians:

It is the closest thing to a quiet, pleasant, genuinely German city experience without the tourist infrastructure of more famous destinations. You can eat at restaurants where the other diners are locals. You can browse the market where farmers sell directly. You can sit in a wine bar and not be surrounded by other tourists. This is increasingly rare in Germany's most popular cities.

How to get there: 1.5 hours from Stuttgart, 3 hours from Frankfurt.

5. Cologne (Köln) — The Cathedral and the Culture

Cologne is often mentioned but rarely visited by Australians who stop in Frankfurt or fly directly to Munich. This is a pity — Cologne has one of Europe's great cathedrals, a brilliant cluster of Roman history museums, a serious contemporary art scene, and a social culture (Kölsch beer drunk in small glasses, the famous Cologne Karneval) that is distinctly different from Bavaria.

The Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom): 157 metres tall, 632 years in construction (1248–1880), and still Germany's most visited landmark with 6 million visitors per year. The scale is incomprehensible until you stand before it — which is true of every famous cathedral but particularly true of the Dom. The interior — full of medieval stained glass including some of the oldest surviving in Germany — is extraordinary.

The Chocolate Museum (Schokoladenmuseum): Consistently rated one of Germany's best small museums despite its apparently frivolous subject. The history of chocolate production, including a working production line and a chocolate fountain. A genuine delight for all ages.

The Roman Museums: Cologne was Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium — one of Rome's most important northern cities. The Romano-Germanic Museum (currently being renovated but its collections visible in temporary exhibition) and the visible in-situ Roman mosaics beneath the Dom are the best Roman archaeology accessible in northern Europe outside Rome itself.

Kölsch: Cologne's distinctive light, top-fermented beer, served in narrow 0.2-litre glasses (Stange) by waiters (Köbes) who replace your glass automatically until you put a beer mat on top to indicate you have finished. The custom is enforced with considerable good humour and mild pressure. An excellent reason to sit in a traditional Kölsch brewery (Brauhaus) for several hours.

How to get there: 1 hour from Frankfurt, 4.5 hours from Munich.

6. Weimar — The City of Everything

Weimar's historical density is extraordinary for a city of 65,000 people. Goethe lived here for 57 years. Schiller lived here. Liszt directed the court music here. Nietzsche spent his last lucid years here. The Bauhaus art school was founded here in 1919, producing the most influential design movement of the 20th century. The Weimar Republic — Germany's first democracy — was named after the city where its constitution was written. And 8 kilometres from Weimar's elegant city centre lies Buchenwald — one of the largest Nazi concentration camps on German soil.

Weimar holds within it the best and worst of German cultural history within walking distance of each other. For any Australian with intellectual curiosity about modern European history, it is one of Europe's most remarkable destinations.

The Goethe House: The house where Goethe worked and lived for 57 years, preserved essentially as he left it in 1832. The library, the study, the art collection — all intact. One of the most intimate connections to a major literary figure available anywhere in Europe.

The Bauhaus Museum: A new purpose-built museum (opened 2019) covering the Bauhaus movement's founding years in Weimar — the radical rethinking of design, architecture, and craft that shaped everything from IKEA to the Bauhaus apartments of Tel Aviv to Australian modernist architecture.

Buchenwald Memorial: 8 kilometres from Weimar, accessible by bus. The site of a concentration camp that held 280,000 prisoners between 1937 and 1945. The memorial is managed with appropriate seriousness. Visiting is not comfortable; it is important.

How to get there: 2.5 hours from Frankfurt, 3.5 hours from Berlin.

7. Lübeck — Merchant Gothic on the Baltic

Lübeck is the kind of city that makes you feel like you have discovered something the world has overlooked. A UNESCO World Heritage old town on the Baltic coast, the former capital of the Hanseatic League, the city of Thomas Mann (who set the opening sections of Buddenbrooks here), and a city of brick Gothic architecture that is genuinely unlike anywhere else in Germany.

The seven brick church towers rising from the island old town (Lübeck is built on a river island), the Holstentor gate that has become the city's symbol, the medieval hospital of the Heiligen-Geist-Hospital still functioning in its 750-year-old building, and the extraordinary density of Gothic brick architecture in the streets all combine into a city that feels definitively north German — different in character from anything in Bavaria or the Rhineland.

Marzipan: Lübeck claims the invention of marzipan (in competition with Toledo, Spain, and other claimants) and takes this seriously. Niederegger Marzipan, the city's premier confectioner since 1806, occupies a multi-storey confectionery house on the Breite Straße. The marzipan here is made with raw almonds and rose water in proportions unchanged since the 19th century — completely different from the commercial marzipan available in Australia.

Thomas Mann: Buddenbrooks won the Nobel Prize in 1929 and is one of German literature's most important novels. The Buddenbrookhaus museum traces the Mann family history and literary output. Reading Buddenbrooks before visiting Lübeck provides a literary frame for the city that transforms the experience.

Day trip from Hamburg: Lübeck is 45 minutes by regional train from Hamburg — easily combined as a day trip. But overnight stays allow you to experience the city after the day visitors have left.

How to get there: 45 minutes from Hamburg by regional train.

The Common Thread

These seven cities share something important: they are all places where Australians consistently have a better time than they expected, and all places where the absence of overwhelming Australian tourist presence makes the experience feel more genuine and more locally connected.

The Germany that exists beyond Berlin and Munich is a Germany of independent cities, each shaped by its own history, economy, and regional character. Visiting one of these cities does not give you "Germany" in the generalised sense — it gives you a specific place, which is always more interesting.

German Travel Phrases for Exploring New Cities

Können Sie mir die Sehenswürdigkeiten empfehlen? — Can you recommend the sights? Was ist die Geschichte dieser Stadt? — What is the history of this city? Gibt es hier etwas Besonderes zu essen? — Is there something special to eat here? Wo wohnen die Einheimischen gern? — Where do the locals like to live? Welches Museum lohnt sich am meisten? — Which museum is most worth visiting? Ich möchte abseits der Touristenpfade. — I want to go off the tourist trail. Was macht diese Stadt einzigartig? — What makes this city unique?

Summary

Germany's depth of city culture is one of the country's most undervalued assets for Australian travellers. These seven cities — Leipzig, Nuremberg, Heidelberg, Freiburg, Cologne, Weimar, and Lübeck — represent a range of experiences that Berlin and Munich simply cannot provide. Add one to your next German itinerary. You will find a Germany that feels discovered rather than consumed, and you will come back with stories that none of your friends have told before.

Related reading: Black Forest Germany — Australian Guide | Dresden Travel Guide for Australians | Germany by Train — Australian Guide