The 10 Best Museums To Visit In Germany

Germany has more than 6,200 museums covering every topic imaginable, including mustard. Walk to the centre of any city and you’ll find ten or twenty or so to choose from. How, then, do you decide where to go? Randomly pointing on a map is fun, but for readers who like to plan ahead a bit more, here are 10 truly exceptional museums in Germany.

Mercedes-Benz Museum

Museum

Even visitors who aren’t car nerds will enjoy a visit to this auto museum in Stuttgart. The history of Mercedes is the history of cars. Covering 16,500 square metres over nine floors, 160 vehicles and 1500 exhibits leave no stone unturned. Guided tours add even more detail. For those wishing for less, lunch time concerts and an excellent café await.

Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 9am-6pm. Closed on Mondays.

Deutsches Museum

Museum

Deutsches Museum Tours

The German Museum in Munich leaves dinosaurs and paintings behind and focuses on science, technology and astronomy. The Experimental Workshop allows children and adults to explore physics and other science disciplines with their hands. The rest of the 25,000 square metre space is divided into five sections (natural sciences, energy, communication, humanity, transport) to help visitors decide what to see. Opening Hours: Daily 9am-5pm.

Neandertal Museum

Museum, Park

Dusseldorf Tours

Situated in the Neander Valley about 12km outside Düsseldorf, the Neandertal Museum is home to the very first discovery of Neanderthal man in 1856. Aside from the indoor exhibits, which show the evolution of man, there is an archaeological park surrounding the museum, a Stone Age workshop, an art trail and an Ice Age game reserve.

Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 10am-6pm. Closed on Mondays.

International Maritimes Museum

Museum

Hamburg Tours

Shipping nerds, or at least people who are somewhat partial to boats, will love this ode to the high seas. The International Maritimes Museum houses the private collection of Peter Tamm, which he started when he was six years old. The over 40,000 pieces now include construction plans, model ships, maritime art, various uniforms and a 3,000 years old dugout canoe. You’ll find the museum in Germany’s largest port city, Hamburg.

Opening Hours: Daily 10am-6pm.

DDR Museum

Museum

DDR Museum Tours

Ever wonder what life was like in Germany behind the Iron Curtain? The Deutsches Demokratisches Republic Museum in Berlin can help. Divided into three broad spaces – Public Life, State and Ideology and Life in a Tower Block, the museum aims to make learning about life in the DDR fun. It’s even possible to drive a Trabant.

Opening Hours: Daily 9am-9pm.

Museum für Naturkunde

Building, Museum

Berlin Museum Tours

With over 30 million exhibits, the Natural History Museum in Berlin literally has something for everyone. Kids will go crazy for the world’s largest dinosaur skeleton, (the creature formerly known as Brachiosaurus) and other extinct animals like the world’s oldest bird and something called a Tasmanian tiger. There is also a T-Rex called Tristan.

Opening Hours: Tuesday – Friday 9.30am-6pm; Saturday – Sunday 10am-6pm. Closed on Mondays.

Ballinstadt Emigration Museum

Museum

Ballinstadt Museum Tours

From the 1850s to the 1930s, more than 5 million people from Germany, Russia, Poland the adjacent lands boarded ships bound for the New World, for a chance at a new life. The mirror of Ellis Island, the Ballinstadt Museum in Hamburg shows what the living quarters were like for those waiting for their ship as well as discussing the stress, fear of disease and difficult decisions emigrants had to make before they even got on the boat.

Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 10am-6pm (closes at 4.30pm from start of November until end of February). Closed on Mondays.

National Museum of Contemporary German History

Museum

Bonn Tours

Concentrating on Germany from 1945 to the present, the National Museum of Contemporary German History deals largely with life during the Cold War. With West Germany allied with the USA and East Germany with Russian, things got complicated. Exhibits include some 75,000 political cartoons, the Chancellor’s residence and some documents from Oskar Schindler. You’ll find this museum in the charming city of Bonn.

Opening Hours: Tuesday – Friday 9am-6pm; Saturday – Sunday 10am-6pm. Closed on Mondays.