From Berlin to Bavaria - What Tourists Want to See

Germany's 16 federal states stretch from the Alps to the North Sea and Baltic Sea coast. But which ones were the most popular tourist destinations in 2023? Checkout our ranking to find out! We'll also share some tourist highlights from each one of them.
How many German federal states have you visited so far?
00:00 Intro
00:30 16th place: Saarland
00:45 15th place: Thuringia
01:02 14th place: Saxony-Anhalt
01:20 13th place: Bremen
01:34 12th place: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
01:49 11th place: Brandenburg
02:07 10th place: Saxony
02:27 9th place: Schleswig-Holstein
02:44 8th place: Hamburg
03:01 7th place: Lower Saxony
03:17 6th place: Rhineland-Palatinate
03:42 5th place: Hesse
04:05 4th place: Berlin
04:35 3rd place: North Rhine-Westphalia
05:03 2nd place: Baden-Württemberg
05:38 1st place: Bavaria
Report: Andreas Kirchhoff
Supervising Editor: Elisabeth Yorck
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[@DWTravel]

Dear Users, unfortunately, we made a mistake in this video: Frankfurt am Main is not the capital of the Federal State of Hessen. The capital is Wiesbaden of course. We have removed this part of the video and apologize for this factual error!

[@SophieYT_R]

Guys, the capital of Hessen is Wiesbaden, not Frankfurt.

[@dorisschneider-coutandin9965]

Was about to say exactly the same.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Also these figures are skewed by things like that Frankfurt is the country's major entry/exit point by air. Thus many visitors spend some nights there before/after heading off to much more interesting destinations - often not within the local province.

[@stavas05]

They never said that Frankfurt is the state capital

[@SophieYT_R]

​​@@stavas05they did, but then they recognized their mistake and updated the video. There is a comment on that from DW above

[@dorisschneider-coutandin9965]

@@stavas05 But they did in the previous version.

[@ageoflove1980]

My favorite areas to hike : Thueringer Wald, Harz Mountains, Southern Bavaria and the Eifel region!

[@christopherx7428]

Yes, the Thüringer Wald was nice. Harz has sadly been rather deforested in recent years, at least along the route I took (Via Romea Germanica). I plan to do the Rheinsteig this summer, have you tried it? If so, why was it not a favourite?

[@ageoflove1980]

@@christopherx7428 No I havent. Im from The Netherlands and I've only been hiking in Germany for a couple of years so there is a lot that I still need to check out. But ill check out the Rheinsteig!

[@pigoff123]

I have been on both sides of the Brandenburg gate before the wall came down. It was amazing. I love Heidelberg and my mom was born and raised in Esslingen

[@user-mu4hl3ye2x]

Germany 🇩🇪 is great and very beautiful 😻

[@Uunartoq2018]

I love Germany! 😊❤🇩🇪 Greetings from Phuket Island 🏝️

[@pigoff123]

Born in Bavaria and raised in Hanau.

[@wandilismus8726]

Schleswig-Holstein has a North- and a Baltic Sea Coastline @DWTravel We are the only state to do so Lübeck is on the Baltic Sea, Sylt in the North Sea

[@DWTravel]

That's right, we should have mentioned the Baltic Sea!

[@suspiciousafternoon]

wow 16 states learning something new everyday!

[@d.sazzles4217]

Thanks for highlighting that Baden Württemberg has very beautiful castles too,wonderful other cities besides Heidelberg,the swabian mountains and the mediterranean weather areas like Oberrheinebene and the Kaiserstuhl which is the warmest and sunniest place in Germany,good wine culture and good food as well 🖤💛

[@D12Min]

The Oberrheinebene is warmer than the rest of Germany but not mediterranean.

[@tamikovacs3887]

Great video as always!

[@olaleyeabiodun6625]

I still look forward to visiting more region 😊😊😊

[@SwordMaster1978]

Bávaria is beatiful

[@JustSomeTommy]

I found the video interesting. I would have thought Berlin would be ranked first or second.

[@MegaMaxime94]

It's important to note that Berlin is a city state so it has to compete against entire states on this list. States, of course, are much bigger and have a lot more tourist attractions to offer (cities, remote areas, landscapes etc). If they compared cities, Berlin would be number 1.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

@@MegaMaxime94 Yep. Like the saying goes - There are Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics! 😉😊

[@dennis12dec]

I'm from the Philippines 🇵🇭 and the favourite places in Deutschland for Filipino visitors is in Baden Württemberg particularly Heidelberg where our National Hero and Patriot Dr. José Rizal trained as an Eye Doctor and nearby town of Wilhelmsfeld where he stayed for 6 months and there's a street named in his honor, these places have become pilgrimage sites for Filipino visitors retracing the footsteps of our National Hero.

[@suchendnachwahrheit9143]

Cool! There were several interesting personalities in Baden-Württemberg. I'm glad to know of one more.

[@peterjohnson1091]

In Saxony Anhalt don't forget the medieval cities of Quedlingburg and Wernigerode.

[@raymondyu412]

I want to visit Stettin, Breslau, Danzig, and Koenigsberg in Germany.

[@RABBY748]

BEAUTIFUL city 🤗🤗

[@lokesh303101]

Yes!

[@kaaxhi4631]

Germany🇩🇪 ❤Beautiful country .. gr8 history

[@luismarrero6600]

..LOVE YOU NICOLE !!💖🌹

[@firmanprawirawardhanafirma5644]

how long there?

[@martymcfly256]

It's a fact that you haven't seen the best of Germany unless you have visited the Markgräflerland.

[@BlueTravelHQ]

Berlin 🥰🥰

[@reisender9132]

from where you got the statistics? i cant believe that have bremen more tourists then the states thuringia and saxony anhalt??

[@DWTravel]

They are from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany.

[@angriboi]

Not hard to believe for me. Eastern Germany is not very popular among tourists.

[@NickyMitchell85]

Auf Deutsch: 🇩🇪🇦🇹 Deutschland ist ein wunderschönes und großartiges Land, und die deutsche Sprache ist auch großartig. In English: 🇬🇧🇺🇸 Germany is a beautiful and awesome country, and the German language is awesome too.

[@QDPeter]

Baden-Württemberg und Bayern!

[@martinbitter4162]

The popularty of Nordrhein Westfalen surprised me.

[@D12Min]

It´s probably immigrant family visitors plus Catholics visiting the Dome of Cologne.

[@pigoff123]

My Aunt lives in Hamburg

[@bukakeprinz_tv8282]

Cool

[@Seetha-Golden]

North Rhine Westphalia is the best! Once you land either in best international cities like Düsseldorf or Cologne, you can easily hop on to other great cities like Bonn, Koblenz, Essen Duisburg, Leverkusen, Aachen even Frankfurt AM and it was so close to the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Not to mention the breathtaking landscapes and the loveliest German people you will meet.

[@bastian6625]

Seriously? 😂

[@uncle.d.]

So true. Not to forget Krefeld as highlight ☠️🥰

[@bedarbakht5915]

GERMANY. IS. SO. BUTIFUL. WHERE. IS. GUSTED .PLEASE

[@finnleywoyczeck8635]

Wieso besuchen so viele NRW?

[@generalkhalid1192]

Wiesbaden is the capital of Hesse, me stupid iraqi knows it but a german youtube channel does not 😂

[@Exodius3]

You are goddamn right, they fixed it. Common mistake though. Congrats for your knowledge! How do you know that?

[@ontariomcbelgium1804]

NRW auf dem 3. Platz🫤? Stimmt das echt?

[@DWTravel]

Wenn man nach der Anzahl der Übernachtungen 2023 geht, ja.

[@juanDE1703]

not the Ruhrgebiet....

[@bedarbakht5915]

O. I. M. SORY. I. DONTKNOW. WHERE. IS. GUSTED

[@maisamsadigi1658]

I leave for 10 years in Germany and I was all over Germany but I don’t see only one skyscraper 😂

[@johannkruschwitz3959]

Then go to Frankfurt. They have tons of skyscrapers😊

[@abdulhadimalik3312]

Seems like Germany is famous among middle age tourists. Doesn't have much youth appeal

[@unionemeuropam2102]

well, berlin?

[@yusalpa]

Cultural diversity in Bavaria?

[@hape3862]

You really should update your prejudices ... (or better get rid of them altogether)

[@arnodobler1096]

Oberbayern, Niederbayern, Allgäu, Oberfranken, Unterfranken 🤔🤷‍♂Yes!

[@user-nn8md7ye2g]

All look the same

[@ericzuber114]

The best city is Dresden. Berlin is ugly

[@afjo972]

Can you stop showing the alps every time ?! They are in the southernmost corner of Bavaria and absolutely not representative for the country. There are plenty of other mountain ranges that are just as beautiful

[@bastian6625]

What an argument is that? Then people should stop showing pictures of Venice or Rome about Italy as there are many other nice cities and they don't represent the whole country. 🙄

[@D12Min]

Which other mountain range in Germany is as beautiful as the alps? This must be a joke.