Places to visit in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
15 places to visit in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Aachen Cathedral, Augustusburg Palace, Cologne Cathedral and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your North Rhine-Westphalia volume.
5 UNESCO World Heritage sites · 6 Famous places to visit · 4 Hidden gems
UNESCO World Heritage sites in North Rhine-Westphalia (5)
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Aachen Cathedral
A Catholic church in Aachen built around the octagonal chapel that Charlemagne ordered in the late 8th century. For about six centuries it was the coronation church of German kings, and it was among the first sites inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 1978.
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Augustusburg Palace
A Rococo palace in Brühl between Cologne and Bonn, built from 1725 for the Archbishop and Elector of Cologne. It is known for its grand staircase by Balthasar Neumann, and it stands with the hunting lodge Falkenlust as a World Heritage Site.
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Cologne Cathedral
A Gothic Catholic cathedral beside the Rhine in the centre of Cologne, begun in 1248 and only finished in 1880. Its twin spires reach 157 metres, and it holds the medieval Shrine of the Three Kings. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Corvey Abbey
A former Benedictine abbey on the Weser near Höxter, founded in 822. Its westwork, finished in 885, is a rare surviving Carolingian church front. The monastery was turned into a princely residence and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex
A former coal mine and coking plant in Essen, once among the largest in Europe, closed in 1986. Its Bauhaus style Shaft 12 headframe is a landmark of the Ruhr, and the site now holds a design museum and the Ruhr Museum.
Famous places to visit in North Rhine-Westphalia (6)
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Externsteine
A group of tall sandstone rock pillars in the Teutoburg Forest, reaching about 40 metres. A medieval rock relief of the Descent from the Cross is carved into one, and steps lead to a chapel and viewing platform on top.
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Hermannsdenkmal
A giant copper statue in the Teutoburg Forest near Detmold, honouring Arminius who defeated Roman legions in 9 AD. With its base it is about 53 metres high, and it was completed in 1875.
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Neandertal
A small valley of the Düssel river east of Düsseldorf where fossil bones were found in 1856 and the species Neanderthal man was named. A museum and an open air site mark the discovery in a wooded setting.
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Teutoburg Forest
A range of low forested hills in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, where a Germanic alliance is believed to have destroyed three Roman legions in 9 AD. Today it has hiking trails, the Hermann Monument and the Externsteine.
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Vaalserberg
A hill at the meeting point of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, rising to 322.4 metres, the highest point of the Netherlands on the European mainland. A tripoint marker stands close to the German side near Aachen.
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Wuppertal Schwebebahn
A suspended railway in Wuppertal, opened in 1901, where cars hang from a steel track above the Wupper river and streets. It runs about 13 km and is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world.
Hidden gems in North Rhine-Westphalia (4)
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Aachen Town Hall
A Gothic town hall in the Altstadt of Aachen, built in the first half of the 14th century. It is a landmark of cultural significance and stands beside the cathedral. It stands on the site of the palace of Charlemagne, and its hall was where later German kings held coronation banquets.
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Beethoven House
A memorial site and museum in Bonn dedicated to the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. It was founded in 1889 by the Beethoven-Haus association, which also studies his life and work. Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770, and the museum holds manuscripts, letters and instruments from his life.
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Hohenzollern Bridge
A bridge over the Rhine in Cologne at river kilometre 688.5, beside the cathedral. It was destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt, and today it carries railway lines and a footpath rather than road traffic.
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Schloss Drachenburg
A private villa styled as a palace, built in only two years from 1882 to 1884 on the Drachenfels hill above the Rhine at Königswinter. It sits just south of Bonn and has views over the river valley.
Collecting in North Rhine-Westphalia
What are the best places to visit in North Rhine-Westphalia?
LOQAH lists 15 places in North Rhine-Westphalia. The best known include Aachen Cathedral, Augustusburg Palace, Cologne Cathedral, Corvey Abbey and Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in North Rhine-Westphalia?
15, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in North Rhine-Westphalia?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in North Rhine-Westphalia before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose North Rhine-Westphalia and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
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