Germany travel calendar for 2020

In 2020 Bonn will celebrate the 250th birthday of its most famous son: Ludwig van Beethoven. The house where he was born is newly renovated and the concert calendar is already full to bursting at the beginning of the year: featuring the opera "Fidelio", the 5th symphony and lots of chamber music. Maybe January is the ideal month to visit Bonn - before the Beethoven hype really takes off.

Great days, crazy nights - in February a lot of Germany will be in party mode! The Rosenmontag parades on February 24th, will be the highlight of the carnival season. A special feature that can only be seen in Mainz: the huge "Schwellköpp" (swollen heads), made of papier-mâché which make fun of various Mainz characters. Who says Germans don't have a sense of humour and don't know how to party!

If you're looking for spring, then head south! Freiburg is considered particularly warm and sunny and is also a pioneer in all aspects of solar energy. A clever city, which also boasts a cosy old town and an impressive cathedral. In 2020, the people of Freiburg will celebrate the 900th birthday of their city — so why not join in the celebrations!

500 years ago, on April 6, 1520, the Italian painter Raphael died. Why then should you go to Dresden? Because one of his most beautiful works can be found here, the Sistine Madonna, with the two famous angels at the bottom of the picture. Just in time for the anniversary, the renovation work on the Dresden Old Masters Picture Gallery is also due to be completed.

Oberammergau, a Bavarian community like out of a picture book! Everywhere you currently meet men with beards and long hair. That's just part of their role in the Passion Plays: Every ten years, the townspeople perform the life and suffering of Christ. The last time, in 2009, over 500,000 visitors from all over the world came to Oberammergau for the Passion Plays.

In June, the Heidelberg Castle ruins will be presented in a very special way: on June 6, the first of a total of three summer fireworks nights will take place. And on June 14, the Heidelberg Castle Festival begins: Theatre and music performances under the open sky, set in front of one of the most beautiful backdrops in the world!

The summer is festival time. And Ferropolis, the open-air industrial museum in eastern Germany, is the venue for two top-class events: the hip-hop festival SPLASH ( July 9-11) and the rock and electro festival MELT ( July 17-19). Thousands of fans will then dance between discarded open-cast mining excavators. Beats rather than lignite, that's also in line with the current climate discussion!

Windjammers are considered "queens of the seas". Once every five years the most beautiful tall ships of the world gather at the Sail Bremerhaven. From August 19 to 23, more than 200 ships from 20 nations will be cruising the North Sea. Ship sightseeing, harbor tours and a huge public festival are part of the accompanying program.

Why is it called Oktoberfest if it starts on September 19? Because the beer festival known locally as "Wiesn" used to actually take place in October, until it was brought forward by a month due to the unpredictable October weather. But the reservation of places starts much earlier: for the Schottenhamel and Hofbräuzelt already in January, the other festival tents follow in spring.

On October 3, Germans will celebrate 30 years of reunification, and the central festivities will take place in Potsdam. Like many cities of the former East Germany, Potsdam has flourished in recent decades: the city centre has been renovated, the City Palace has been rebuilt and the magnificent palace and garden landscape has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What is the city in the Ruhr Area famous for? The suspension railway and for Friedrich Engels. The philosopher, communist and companion of Karl Marx was born on November 28, 1820 in the district of Barmen. His 200th birthday is a good opportunity not only to visit the Engels Museum but also to take a ride on the suspension railway.

There are many reasons to go to Berlin at the end of the year: The streets and boulevards are festively illuminated, the choice of Christmas markets is enormous and the New Year's Eve celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate are a real highlight. And along the way, you can test whether BER Airport - as recently promised - will finally open on October 31st.