How do I get between the three cities?

By Deutsche Bahn ICE high-speed train. Hamburg to Berlin takes about an hour and three-quarters, and Berlin to Munich about four hours, both running roughly hourly. Book Sparpreis advance fares for the best prices, reserve seats, and you'll never need a car.

Is 12 days enough for Hamburg, Berlin and Munich?

Comfortably. Three days in Hamburg, four in Berlin and four in Munich cover each city's headline sights at a steady pace, with the two travel days built in. If you have longer, add a Munich day trip to Neuschwanstein or the Alps, or a stop in Dresden or Nuremberg between Berlin and Munich.

Which direction should I travel?

This route runs north to south, starting in Hamburg and ending in Munich, which has its own airport with easy links to the Alps and Austria. Reverse it if your flights favour arriving in the south — the trains run just as well the other way.

Do I need a car for this trip?

No. All three cities are best explored on foot and by their excellent U-Bahn/S-Bahn networks, and the ICE links them fast and comfortably. A car only helps if you add rural day trips like the Bavarian castles or the Alps.

When is the best time to go?

May to September gives the warmest weather, long days and lively beer gardens and harbour life. December is special for Christmas markets in all three cities, though it's cold; spring and early autumn are quieter and cheaper than peak summer.

Grand Tour of Germany: 12 Days, Hamburg to Munich

The Grand Tour of Germany: 12 Days from Hamburg to Munich

12 days3 stopsTravellers who want to see Germany end to end — northern harbour city, historic capital and Bavarian south — by train, without a car

See the itinerary

This twelve-day route runs the length of Germany by fast ICE train, from the windswept north to the Bavarian south. You'll spend three days in maritime Hamburg, exploring its harbour, the red-brick Speicherstadt and the soaring Elbphilharmonie, then ride the ICE ninety minutes east to Berlin for four days of the Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island and the Wall. A final high-speed leg drops you in Munich for four days of Marienplatz squares, world-class museums, Englischer Garten beer gardens and the baroque palace of Nymphenburg. It's built entirely around Deutsche Bahn, so you never need a car — just book your Sparpreis tickets ahead and watch the country roll by the window.

The route

Hamburg3n
Berlin4n
Munich4n

Everywhere you'll go

Every stop on this itinerary — tap a card for details or to save it.

Landmark

St. Pauli Landungsbruecken

Hamburg's floating landing stages stretch nearly 700 metres along the Elbe, their tuff-stone terminal flanked by two green-domed towers. A working ferry and excursion-boat hub since 1839, the quayside is the classic spot to watch container ships pass while eating a fish sandwich.

St. Pauli

Landmark

Old Elbe Tunnel

Opened in 1911 as continental Europe's first tunnel beneath a river, the twin tiled tubes run 426 metres under the Elbe between St. Pauli and the Steinwerder shipyards. Pedestrians and cyclists still descend by the original lift cages, free of charge, for a glimpse of an early engineering marvel and a fine view back at the skyline.

St. Pauli

Landmark

Speicherstadt

The world's largest unified warehouse complex stretches for more than a kilometre of red-brick gables, little towers and loading hoists set on oak piles above a network of tidal canals. Built from the 1880s as a customs-free port zone, it earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 2015 and is at its most atmospheric when the facades are floodlit at night.

HafenCity

Museum

Miniatur Wunderland

Home to the world's largest model railway, this Speicherstadt attraction packs kilometres of track, tiny airports, and meticulously detailed miniature worlds spanning regions from Hamburg to America across several floors. Day-and-night lighting cycles and countless hidden moving scenes have made it Hamburg's single most-visited attraction.

Speicherstadt

Landmark

Elbphilharmonie

Hamburg's signature 21st-century landmark rises 108 metres over the harbour, crowning a converted 1960s cocoa warehouse with a wave-like glass crown. Beyond its three concert halls, a curving escalator carries visitors up to the public Plaza on the 8th floor for a 360-degree sweep across the city and the Elbe.

HafenCity

Restaurant

Old Commercial Room

Founded in 1795 near St. Michaelis church, this clubby tavern of mahogany and brass is the classic place to try Hamburg's seafarer dish Labskaus, alongside fresh North Sea fish. It is one of the city's most enduring pieces of Hanseatic dining tradition, open every day of the year bar Christmas Eve.

Neustadt

Architecture

Hamburg Rathaus

The seat of Hamburg's parliament and senate is a lavish Neo-Renaissance palace of 647 rooms, completed in 1897 atop thousands of oak piles. Its sandstone facade bristles with twenty imperial statues, while guided tours reveal the opulent ceremonial halls within.

Altstadt

Landmark

Jungfernstieg

Hamburg's grandest boulevard runs along the southern shore of the Binnenalster lake, lined with cafes, department stores and the historic Alsterpavillon. Laid out as a promenade for the city's well-to-do and asphalted in 1838 (a German first), it remains the social heart of the centre and a hub for Alster ferries.

Neustadt / Altstadt

Landmark

Chilehaus

This ten-storey office block is the masterpiece of 1920s Brick Expressionism, its dark clinker walls tapering to a dramatic point like the prow of a ship. Designed by Fritz Hoeger and named for owner Henry Sloman's Chilean saltpetre trade, it anchors the Kontorhaus District inscribed by UNESCO in 2015.

Kontorhausviertel, Altstadt

Museum

Hamburger Kunsthalle

One of Germany's largest art museums, the Kunsthalle spans seven centuries from medieval altarpieces and Old Masters to 19th-century Romanticism (including Caspar David Friedrich) and a dedicated contemporary wing, the Galerie der Gegenwart. Its interconnected buildings sit in a landmark complex between the main station and the Alster lakes.

Altstadt

Landmark

St. Nikolai Memorial

Once briefly the tallest building in the world, this Gothic Revival church was gutted in the 1943 firestorm and deliberately left in ruins as an anti-war memorial. A glass lift now climbs the surviving 147-metre spire to a viewing platform, with an exhibition on the air war housed in the former crypt below.

Altstadt (Hamburg-Mitte)

Restaurant

Bullerei

Celebrity chef Tim Mälzer's lively brasserie and deli, opened in 2009 inside a former cattle-auction hall in the trendy Schanzenviertel, serves hearty, ingredient-led grill plates with Mediterranean leanings. It remains one of Hamburg's best-known see-and-be-seen dining rooms.

Schanzenviertel (Sternschanze)

Viewpoint

St. Michael's Church

Hamburg's most beloved Baroque church, affectionately called the Michel, is crowned by a 132-metre copper spire that has guided ships up the Elbe for centuries. Visitors can ride or climb the tower for a panoramic harbour view, or descend into the crypt beneath the nave.

Neustadt

Landmark

Krameramtsstuben

Tucked behind the Michel, this row of half-timbered houses around a narrow courtyard was built around 1620 to lodge the widows of grocers' guild members. As the last surviving enclosed 17th-century courtyard of its kind in Hamburg, it now shelters small shops, a restaurant and a museum apartment furnished in 1850s style.

Neustadt

Museum

Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg

Spread across ten decks of a restored 19th-century brick Kaispeicher warehouse, this museum traces some 3,000 years of seafaring through one of the world's largest private maritime collections of ship models, uniforms, instruments and over a million photographs. Highlights include vast scale fleets, a gold-and-ivory model armada and maritime art.

HafenCity

Landmark

Deichstrasse

Lining the Nikolaifleet canal, Deichstrasse preserves a rare stretch of Hamburg's pre-industrial old town in its tall gabled merchant houses, where counting room, home and warehouse once shared a single roof. The 1842 Great Fire began here yet spared part of the row, which was saved again from demolition by a 1972 referendum.

Altstadt

Landmark

Bismarck Monument

Towering some 34 metres above the Alter Elbpark, this colossal granite figure of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck has loomed over the harbour since 1906. The largest of the world's many Bismarck monuments, it depicts the statesman as a sword-bearing knight keeping watch over the port.

St. Pauli (Alter Elbpark)

Restaurant

The Table Kevin Fehling

Kevin Fehling's three-Michelin-star restaurant seats every guest at one sweeping cherry-wood counter curving around the open kitchen, dissolving the usual barrier between diner and chef. The single set menu roams across modern European cooking with global accents, precise and intricately layered.

HafenCity

Must visit

Memorial5.0

Brandenburg Gate

Berlin's defining neoclassical landmark, completed in 1791 by Carl Gotthard Langhans as a triumphal arch modelled on the Propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis. Topped by the Quadriga chariot sculpture, it stood trapped in the death strip during the Cold War and became the symbol of German reunification in 1989.

Mitte

Must visit

Memorial5.0

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Peter Eisenman's haunting field of 2,711 concrete stelae of varying heights creates a disorienting, wave-like landscape. The underground information center documents individual victims' stories.

Mitte

Scenic Spot5.0

Gendarmenmarkt

Widely regarded as Berlin's most beautiful square, flanked by the matching French and German cathedrals and anchored by Schinkel's neoclassical Konzerthaus. The harmonious ensemble of 18th-century architecture creates a rare sense of grandeur in a city otherwise defined by its contrasts and gaps.

Mitte

CulturalFree

Reichstag Dome Visit

Walk the spiraling ramp inside Norman Foster's glass dome atop the German parliament for 360-degree city views. Free entry but advance booking is mandatory. The audio guide explains Berlin's political history.

Mitte (Tiergarten)1-2 hours

Book this tour

Cultural€19 (day pass)

Museum Island Day

UNESCO World Heritage ensemble of five world-class museums on a Spree river island. From Babylonian gates to Egyptian busts to 19th-century painting, it covers 6,000 years of human civilization.

Mitte (Museum Island)5-7 hours

Book this tour

Temple4.0

Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom)

A monumental neo-Renaissance Protestant cathedral completed in 1905 on Museum Island, crowned by a 98-metre copper dome. The lavish interior features mosaics, the Hohenzollern crypt with over 90 royal sarcophagi, and a Sauer organ with 7,269 pipes. The dome gallery offers sweeping city views.

Mitte

Must visit

Restaurant5.0

Mogg

New York-style deli serving towering pastrami sandwiches inside a beautifully restored former Jewish girls' school. The 12-hour smoked pastrami is the star of the menu.

Mitte

Architecture

Hackesche Hoefe

Eight interconnected Art Nouveau courtyards from 1906 with ornate Jugendstil tile facades. The first courtyard's geometric blue-and-white tiles are especially striking. Cafes, boutiques, and a cinema fill the spaces.

Mitte

Street

TV Tower from Karl-Marx-Allee

The Fernsehturm framed by the monumental Stalinist architecture of Karl-Marx-Allee creates a quintessentially Berlin composition. The wide boulevard's socialist-realist buildings lead the eye straight to the tower.

Friedrichshain / Mitte

Memorial5.0

Berlin Wall Memorial

The primary memorial site of German division, preserving an original section of the Wall with watchtower, death strip, and documentation center. More historically informative than the East Side Gallery.

Mitte

Must visit

Memorial5.0

East Side Gallery

The longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall at 1.3km, transformed into an open-air gallery with over 100 murals by international artists. Includes the iconic Fraternal Kiss painting.

Friedrichshain

Restaurant4.0

Mustafas Gemuese Kebab

Legendary street food stand famous for its roasted vegetable doner kebab. The queue can stretch for 30+ minutes but locals insist it is worth every second of waiting.

Kreuzberg

Architecture

Oberbaumbruecke

Berlin's most beautiful bridge connecting Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg over the Spree. The red brick Gothic towers and yellow U-Bahn crossing create a striking composition, especially at blue hour with reflections.

Friedrichshain / Kreuzberg

Memorial5.0

Treptower Park Soviet War Memorial

A monumental WWII memorial and military cemetery in Treptower Park, the largest Soviet war memorial outside the former USSR. The vast symmetrical complex is anchored by a 12-metre bronze statue of a Soviet soldier carrying a child and crushing a swastika underfoot. Over 7,000 Soviet soldiers are buried beneath the landscaped grounds flanked by carved marble sarcophagi depicting the war's progression.

Treptow

Bar4.0

Klunkerkranich

Hidden rooftop bar on top of a parking garage with panoramic sunset views over Berlin. Regular DJ sets, live music, and a community garden vibe. Take the elevator to the top floor and walk up.

Neukoelln

Castle4.0

Charlottenburg Palace

Berlin's largest and most opulent palace, built in 1699 for Sophie Charlotte, the first Queen of Prussia. The baroque and rococo state rooms, the Golden Gallery, and the extensive landscaped gardens offer a rare window into Prussian royal grandeur that survived wartime bombing.

Charlottenburg

Park4.0

Tiergarten

Berlin's sprawling 520-acre central park, once a royal hunting ground, now a green sanctuary crisscrossed by tree-lined paths, ponds, and meadows. The Victory Column rises at its centre, the English Garden offers a secluded lakeside cafe, and shaded beer gardens along the waterways draw locals on warm afternoons. A vital green artery connecting the Brandenburg Gate to the Zoo.

Tiergarten

Landmark

Victory Column (Siegessaeule)

A 67-metre column crowned by a gilded bronze statue of Victoria, originally erected in 1873 to celebrate Prussian military victories. Relocated to its current position at the Tiergarten's central roundabout by the Nazi regime in 1939, the column now offers one of Berlin's finest panoramic viewpoints. The 285-step spiral climb rewards with sweeping views of the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, and the park stretching in every direction.

Grosser Stern, Tiergarten

Street

Potsdamer Platz

Once Europe's busiest intersection before being obliterated in WWII and left as wasteland in the Wall's death strip, Potsdamer Platz was rebuilt in the 1990s as a showcase of contemporary architecture. The Sony Center's tent-like glass atrium, designed by Helmut Jahn, creates a dramatic covered public space illuminated by colour-changing lights after dark. A handful of original Wall segments stand alongside as silent witnesses to the square's divided past.

Potsdamer Platz, Mitte / Tiergarten border

Restaurant4.0

Cocolo Ramen

Authentic Japanese ramen in a cozy basement space along the Landwehr Canal. Rich tonkotsu and miso broths with perfectly chewy noodles at Berlin-friendly prices.

Kreuzberg

Must visit

Club5.0

Berghain / Panorama Bar

The world's most famous techno club housed in a brutalist former power plant. Panorama Bar upstairs plays house, the main floor is relentless techno. No photos allowed inside.

Friedrichshain

Landmark

Marienplatz

Munich's central square and civic heart since 1158, dominated by the neo-Gothic New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) whose tower carries the famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel. The animated carillon re-enacts a 16th-century royal wedding (Duke Wilhelm V and Renata of Lorraine, 1568) and knights' tournament for crowds gathered below the spires.

Viewpoint

New Town Hall Tower

Two elevators inside Munich's neo-Gothic New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) carry visitors up the Rathausturm to an observation platform roughly 85 metres above Marienplatz, a step-free alternative to the city's church-tower stair climbs (e.g. Alter Peter). The 360-degree platform looks out over the Old Town rooftops and landmarks such as the Frauenkirche, Alter Peter and Theatinerkirche and, on clear days, south to the Alps.

Landmark

Frauenkirche

The brick-Gothic Cathedral of Our Dear Lady is Munich's defining skyline silhouette, its twin copper-domed towers rising to nearly 99 metres (north 98.57 m, south 98.45 m) — a height the city protects by capping nearby high-rises. Entry to the vast hall-church nave is free; the south tower can be climbed for views toward the Alps.

Market

Viktualienmarkt

Munich's most famous food market: a permanent open-air market of more than 100 stalls just southeast of Marienplatz in the old town. Established at its current site by royal decree in 1807, it sells fresh produce, game, poultry, fish, cheese, spices, flowers, juices and Bavarian specialties, and centers on a popular beer garden.

Museum

Deutsches Museum

Set on an island in the Isar (the Museumsinsel), the Deutsches Museum is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with tens of thousands of objects spanning mining, aerospace, robotics, energy and dozens of other fields. A major multi-year modernization expanded its hands-on demonstrations, making it a long-standing favorite with families.

Cafe

Tambosi

Tracing its roots to a coffee kiosk opened at the Hofgarten in the 1770s (commonly dated to 1775; taken over by Luigi Tambosi in 1810), Tambosi is widely regarded as Munich's oldest café. Today it is an all-day café-restaurant on Odeonsplatz with a sunny Hofgarten terrace, serving coffee and cake by day and running late as a bar on weekends.

Park

Englischer Garten

One of the world's largest inner-city parks (~3.7 km² / about 375 hectares), the Englischer Garten stretches along the Isar through central Munich. Laid out from 1789 in the naturalistic English landscape style (commissioned by Elector Karl Theodor, designed under Benjamin Thompson/Count Rumford and Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell), it is famous for the Chinese Tower (Chinesischer Turm) beer garden, the Eisbach standing wave where surfers ride year-round, and vast open meadows. It is free and freely accessible at all hours.

Market

Markt am Wiener Platz

The smallest of Munich's four permanent grocery markets, set on the village-like Wiener Platz in Haidhausen, where the market has stood since 1 November 1889 (the square itself was named Wiener Platz in 1891). Its wooden stalls sell everyday fresh food — fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, bread and flowers — alongside small snack and drink stands. Note: the historic market is under structural renovation (Bestandssanierung) expected to finish in 2027, with an interim market operating on the square around the Fischerbuberl fountain (official opening 25 April 2026).

Haidhausen

Museum

Alte Pinakothek

One of the oldest and most important picture galleries in the world, the Alte Pinakothek holds an outstanding collection of European Old Master paintings from the 14th to 18th centuries, with works by Duerer, Rubens, Rembrandt and Leonardo. It anchors Munich's Kunstareal museum quarter.

Museum

Pinakothek der Moderne

Munich's largest modern art museum unites four collections under one rotunda-lit roof: modern and contemporary art (Sammlung Moderne Kunst), the State Graphic Collection (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung), Die Neue Sammlung design museum, and the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Munich (Architekturmuseum der TUM). Designed by Stephan Braunfels and opened in 2002, it sits at the heart of the Kunstareal.

Cafe

Man Versus Machine Coffee Roasters

Independent third-wave specialty-coffee roastery in Munich's Glockenbachviertel (Müllerstraße 23). Founded in 2014, Man Versus Machine roasts its own specialty-grade beans and keeps a tight menu of espresso, flat white and rotating filter brews (V60, AeroPress, syphon) in a minimalist, dark-walled space. It is widely regarded as a cornerstone of Munich's specialty-coffee scene; the brand also operates additional cafes elsewhere in the city (e.g. Maxvorstadt/Schwabing).

Glockenbach / Isarvorstadt

Museum

Lenbachhaus

Housed in the Florentine-style villa of painter Franz von Lenbach with a bold golden modern extension, the Lenbachhaus holds the world's largest collection of art by the Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) group, including Kandinsky, Münter, Marc and Klee. It also shows 19th-century Munich painting and contemporary art.

Park

Schlosspark Nymphenburg

The expansive landscape park behind Nymphenburg Palace blends formal baroque parterres, tree-lined canals, and naturalistic English-style woodland (redesigned from 1799 by Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell) across roughly 180 hectares within the garden wall (about 229 ha for the whole complex). Dotted with fountains and ornamental pavilions (Amalienburg, Badenburg, Pagodenburg, Magdalenenklause), it is a free, gated park with seasonal hours and a favorite for strolls and birdwatching.

Landmark

Nymphenburg Palace

A sprawling Baroque summer residence of the ruling Wittelsbach dynasty, Nymphenburg pairs lavish state rooms like the frescoed Great Hall (Steinerner Saal) with a vast landscaped park and garden pavilions. It remains one of Germany's grandest royal palace ensembles.

Park

Westpark

Created for the 1983 International Garden Exposition (IGA 83), Westpark is a large public park (~60 ha per the city portal; other sources cite up to ~72 ha) in southwest Munich's Sendling-Westpark district. Highlights include an extensive rose garden, authentic East Asian gardens (Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Nepali), beer gardens, and a lakeside stage (Seebuehne) hosting open-air cinema and concerts in summer.

Viewpoint

Olympiaberg

A roughly 60-metre grass-covered hill raised from WWII rubble (heaped up 1947–1958 from war debris) in Munich's Olympic Park. The Olympiaberg is a free, freely-accessible viewpoint with a gently ascending paved path to a summit platform offering panoramic views over the park, the city and — on clear days — the Alps. It is one of Munich's favourite sunset and picnic spots.

Viewpoint

Frauenkirche South Tower

The south tower of Munich's twin-domed Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Lady) is one of the highest viewpoints accessible in the old town. Visitors climb a short, narrow spiral staircase (about 86 steps) to an intermediate level and then take a lift up to the enclosed tower room, whose viewing platform sits at roughly 80 metres with windows opening onto a sweeping panorama over the historic centre and, on clear days, the Alps. The tower reopened to the public in March 2022 after an approximately ten-year restoration.

Day by day

Day 1Hamburg